| Overview The Microsoft .NET platform marks a | | | | person-years. Other key facts are: Staff 45 Started |
| paradigm shift in the way applications are developed | | | | 2002 Number of executed projects 30 Location |
| for the Internet. It incorporates open standards that | | | | Gurgaon, India Components of the .NET COE This |
| enable businesses to collaborate over the Internet with | | | | diagram illustrates the building blocks of the .NET COE. |
| minimal investment. Hanu Software Solutions Inc. (HSS) | | | | Central is the HSS quality management system (QMS), |
| is an expert in using .NET to develop solution | | | | which controls the activities, tools, and resources of the |
| frameworks and applications. HSS has established a | | | | other elements. Faster.NET - The HSS Development |
| dedicated Center Of Excellence (COE) that leverages | | | | Framework for .NET Solutions Continuing improvement |
| the company's expertise in the .NET platform for the | | | | work with the .NET COE enables HSS to offer |
| benefit of its customers. The HSS COE team delivers | | | | scalable, on-demand .NET solutions to customers in a |
| technical excellence through improved system | | | | variety of industries. The company calls this |
| architectures, applications development capabilities, and | | | | Faster.NET. Its key elements are: * Pre-assembled, |
| reusable enterprise components, and also focuses on | | | | reusable software components * A reusable |
| building business solutions using existing and emerging | | | | engineering tool set that does not require customization |
| .NET technologies and standards. The .NET Center of | | | | for each project, thereby improving development |
| Excellence at Hanu Software Solutions Background | | | | speed * A reusable set of architectures or Solutions |
| Despite all the attention given to returns on IT | | | | Blue Prints (SBP), saving the time of developing |
| investments, little progress has been made in linking all | | | | software architecture from scratch. * Qualified and |
| the elements of IT to what a business is trying to do. | | | | certified engineers The Faster.NET framework |
| Managing IT investments, and demonstrating the value | | | | reduces typical application development time by |
| of IT to a business, are more challenging than ever, | | | | approximately 20% to 40%, depending on the project, |
| and most businesses seem to be losing ground. Often, | | | | its life cycle phase, and how extensively the customer |
| management asks CIOs to justify the very IT | | | | wants to apply the Faster.NET development |
| components that provide value to the business. This | | | | methodology. Key Process Measurements To ensure |
| white paper describes strategies that HSS has | | | | the effectiveness of the .NET COE and to be able to |
| developed to maximize its efficiency in delivering .NET | | | | make continuous improvements, HSS measures the |
| solutions to our customers. As a software service | | | | key aspects of its process. Productivity HSS |
| organization, whose business itself is IT, HSS has | | | | measures development and testing productivity. The |
| learned how to align its operations on | | | | metric for development productivity is lines of code |
| technology-centric Centers Of Excellence (COEs). | | | | written per person per person day. As a typical |
| What is a COE? The term Center of Excellence | | | | example, for a recent project on which HSS added |
| (COE) is a generic phrase used across many types of | | | | features to an existing application, the company |
| institutions, mainly in education, research, and | | | | averaged 80 to 85 non-commented lines of code |
| healthcare. The IT industry picked up this phrase and | | | | (NCLOC) per person day. Redevelopment time is |
| started using it to define the collection of tools, | | | | generally 25% to 30% less than for a new project, |
| resources, and skills used to perform specific | | | | thanks to savings at the requirements phase. |
| development and maintenance tasks by a focused | | | | Estimation accuracy A critical aspect of the HSS ability |
| team working at a single location. Sometimes "COE" | | | | to deliver projects on time and on budget is its ability to |
| became more of a marketing term, with little | | | | accurately estimate the code size of new projects. |
| substance behind it, for IT. This was because IT | | | | HSS begins with the size of the existing .NET modules, |
| service organizations happen to be project-centric | | | | then estimates what would be needed to add the new |
| organizations with defined schedules and objectives, in | | | | features and functions. The company's estimates |
| contrast to other departments that may not have the | | | | always closely match the outcome. Review |
| vision, longevity, and resources to maintain a long-term | | | | effectiveness HSS measures the effectiveness of its |
| delivery system focused along a common thread. | | | | code reviews by counting the number of defects |
| Making Business Sense From the start, HSS has had | | | | found during the software test phase. The review |
| a strategy of delivering value-added, cost-effective | | | | process finds most of the coding bugs, saving |
| solutions to its customers on a continuous basis. As | | | | development time fixing bugs at the test phase. |
| the company grew, HSS saw the need for a common | | | | Currently, the company's review effectiveness is 88%. |
| set of processes and procedures that would allow its | | | | Delivered defect density HSS uses the internationally |
| developers to create solutions quickly and leverage | | | | accepted standard of 0.5 defects per 1,000 NCLOC to |
| project knowledge across projects, so that the | | | | measure its delivered defect density. The company's |
| company can deliver continuously-improving services | | | | software consistently meet this standard. The COE |
| and solutions. This need also mandated that all | | | | Value Proposition to Customer Organizations To |
| specialized tool sets, languages, and the knowledge of | | | | summarize, the Hanu Software Solutions .NET COE |
| how to use them be available to HSS engineers in a | | | | benefits customers by providing: * Specialized and |
| structured and defined system, enabling them to | | | | industry-certified engineers * Improved time to market |
| develop new solutions flexibly, faster, and at lowered | | | | * A specialized, automated Quality Management |
| costs. Enter the HSS Center of Excellence. The | | | | System * Improved release management Case |
| Elements of an HSS COE HSS has established a | | | | Studies Here are two case studies that illustrate the |
| structure for all of its COEs, consisting of the following | | | | real-world benefits the HSS .NET COE approach to |
| key elements: 1. Languages and Technologies 2. Tools | | | | application development brings to customers. The first |
| 3. Process 4. People Languages and Technologies | | | | case study describes a project where HSS engineers |
| Each COE includes various programming languages, | | | | had to migrate a legacy application onto a new .NET |
| technologies, development libraries, and compilers | | | | system. The second case study describes how HSS |
| related to the particular technology domain of that | | | | developed a fresh application for a start-up business. |
| COE. For example, .NET COE uses the following | | | | Case Study 1: Migrating a Legacy Application to .NET |
| technologies: * Languages: C#.NET, VB, VB.NET, ASP, | | | | A real estate and property management company's |
| ASP.NET, C++.NET, JavaScript, VB Script, XML, XSL, | | | | legacy application, written in ASP, was no longer |
| XPath, and AJAX. * Web Services: SOAP, XML RPC, | | | | meeting the company's growing business needs, and |
| and WSDL. * Distributed Technologies: COM/COM+ | | | | required replacement. This project offered several |
| DCOM/CORBA, RPC, and NET Remoting. Tools The | | | | challenges: * Provide bug fixes for the ASP system. * |
| HSS development tool set is an important element of | | | | Develop a new version of the application in .NET with |
| the company's unique selling proposition, namely, its | | | | the same feature set and ability to access the existing |
| ability to deliver solutions for many different life cycles, | | | | database. * Implement new features in both systems, |
| budgets, and timelines. HSS does not believe in | | | | for a consistent feature set. * Devise a phased |
| developing a new solution from scratch for each new | | | | migration from the legacy to the .NET application, while |
| project. Its tool set includes: * Engineering tools: GUI | | | | keeping the migration transparent to the end users. To |
| controls, reusable components, generic data access | | | | meet these challenges to the satisfaction of the |
| layer, SQL data scriptor, SQL schema scriptor, SQL | | | | customer, HSS took a long-term strategic partnership |
| compare, and many more. * Migration Tools: VB to | | | | approach. At the start of the project, HSS used its |
| VB.NET , VB.NET to C Sharp, ASP to ASP.NET, PHP | | | | ASP-to-ASP.NET migration tool to port two million lines |
| to ASP.NET. * Process automation tools: defect | | | | of code successfully in less than one month. During the |
| management, VSS, dashboard, line counting, MS | | | | migration phase, the engineers implemented a |
| Project. HSS also employs tools for analysis, utilities, | | | | significant architectural improvement by removing all of |
| and controls. Process Process is important at HSS. | | | | the SQL queries and replacing them with |
| The processes that HSS uses are documented and | | | | approximately 400 stored procedures. This change |
| defined in its quality management system (QMS). All | | | | increased performance while making the application |
| HSS development engineers follow these processes. | | | | business layer more secure. Simultaneous with the |
| The QMS implements industry best practices and is | | | | software development phase, the system test |
| based on ISO quality standards and on the Software | | | | members of the .NET COE prepared their test cases |
| Engineering Institute's Capability Maturity Model (CMM), | | | | based on the features of the ASP application. This |
| and includes: * Formally documented Project | | | | ensured that system test could begin as soon as |
| Management processes, including Planning, scheduling, | | | | development was completed, and that the new |
| progress monitoring, reporting, communications, issues, | | | | version would be thoroughly tested for all of the |
| delivery management and many more. * Formally | | | | features in the original. The effectiveness of this |
| documented Engineering Processes, including | | | | approach became apparent to the customer when, |
| configuration management, requirements development, | | | | during acceptance testing, the customer found only six |
| design, construction and unit test (UT), system testing, | | | | bugs, which, by the way, were fixed within 24 hours. |
| and user documentation development. * | | | | The HSS .NET COE processes enabled the customer |
| Comprehensive quantitative process measurements | | | | to put the new application to use quickly. Because |
| and control, including productivity measurement, | | | | these processes are cost-effective, the customer |
| schedule variance tracking, defect density reporting, | | | | was able to enhance the application with more |
| and effort variation tracking. HSS engineers follow the | | | | features, increasing the customer's competitive |
| following best practice during a software project | | | | advantage. Case Study 2: Creating a New Application |
| lifecycle to reduce the development schedules as well | | | | A start-up business wanted customized contact |
| as the schedule volatility: 1. Inspections - At each stage | | | | management and sales systems based on the XML |
| of development or maintenance, HSS performs a | | | | RPC web-services-based client/server protocol. This |
| detailed, technical peer review of the software design | | | | project offered several challenges: * The client's |
| and code implementation. Identifying and fixing errors at | | | | preferred technology, phpGroupWare, was not stable |
| this early stage prevents bugs from entering the code, | | | | at that time. * Design and develop the client/server |
| saving time and expense, and avoids bugs in the | | | | model with the client running on Windows and the |
| delivered software. 2. Component Reusability - HSS | | | | server on the Linux operating system. * Develop a |
| has developed a library of more than 100 | | | | polished, Windows-based GUI. * Develop the |
| frequently-used software components typical in .NET | | | | application in a cost-effective way for this start-up |
| applications. These components are tried-and-tested, | | | | company. To meet these challenges, HSS assigned a |
| have proven designs, and are free of critical bugs. The | | | | .NET COE team to work exclusively with this |
| components can be re-used without change, or with | | | | customer. This exclusivity enhanced the customer's |
| modifications. At the design phase of a new project, | | | | confidence and ensuring effective communications. |
| HSS engineers identify those components suitable for | | | | Because of the instability of the early version of |
| the new application. Only code unique to the application | | | | phpGroupWare, the COE team fixed the bugs |
| is designed and written from scratch. Building existing, | | | | themselves, and enhanced the phpGroupWare server |
| high-quality software in this way into a new application | | | | with features requested by the customer. Once the |
| saves the HSS customer time and expense, and helps | | | | client/server architecture was designed to the |
| ensure quality in the deployed application. 3. Change | | | | customer's requirements, HSS developed a prototype |
| Control Board - The HSS QMS requires software | | | | in order to verify the architecture design. The |
| developers to strictly adhere to the defined | | | | prototype was implemented using an ASP.NET client |
| requirements for an application. On moderate to very | | | | and a phpGroupWare server. For the GUI, the COE |
| large projects, a central control mechanism is needed | | | | chose InterSoft WebGrid, which best met the |
| to ensure that every change is properly considered | | | | customer's interface requirements. Once the prototype |
| and coordinated. That's why on such projects, HSS | | | | was approved, the .NET COE team started the |
| establishes a Change Control Board. It includes the | | | | implementation. To save time, the system test |
| members from design, development, and test teams. It | | | | engineers wrote the test cases simultaneous with the |
| also sometimes includes the members from the | | | | development of the application. Once the application |
| customer team. Its purpose is to ensure that every | | | | met the HSS QSM standards for release from |
| baseline change is properly considered by all | | | | system test, the customer started the acceptance |
| concerned parties and that every change is authorized | | | | test phase, with support from the .NET COE team. |
| before implementation. The CCB is the body that | | | | The HSS .NET COE processes enabled development |
| reviews all major change requests and approves it, | | | | of the new systems on budget and deployment on |
| disapproves it, or defer it for more information. Using | | | | schedule. The application works as expected, |
| this Board prevents "feature creep," a typical problem | | | | implementing all required features. The customer and |
| in the software development industry, keeping the | | | | their sales people are very happy with its power and |
| development schedule on track and with the features | | | | ease-of-use. HSS Develops .NET Solutions for Many |
| that the customer expects. 4. Nightly Software Build | | | | Industries HSS develops .NET solutions for a wide |
| and Smoke Test - Each night HSS Build Group makes | | | | range of industries. Some of these industries and |
| a new build of an application and run a series of tests | | | | typical applications are described below. Real Estate - |
| that verify its basic operation. Making builds nightly | | | | HSS can help realtors develop information-rich, easily |
| enables the engineers to find and fix integration errors | | | | navigated Web-based portals and desktop applications |
| almost immediately. It also enables HSS to track | | | | enabling them, their customers, and prospects to easily |
| feature implementation against the schedule, because it | | | | access accurate, up-to-date information. |
| shows on a daily basis the features that have been | | | | Telecommunications - For telecom companies and |
| implemented. 5. Risk List and Plan - As part of its | | | | wireless service providers, the HSS expertise in .NET |
| QMS, HSS develops a list of the top-10 risks for each | | | | technology can build reliable, scalable hosting |
| development project, together with a plan for | | | | infrastructures; integrate computer and telephony |
| addressing each risk should it materialize. The HSS | | | | technologies; and enable consumers and businesses to |
| engineers assess the risks weekly, resolving any and | | | | efficiently access information from PCs and other |
| identifying potential new risks, minimizing impact to the | | | | devices. This enables telecommunications companies |
| schedule and to software quality. People Quality | | | | to use Web services to create new business value. |
| human resources are the fundamental asset in any | | | | Healthcare - Efficient, cost-effective integration of data |
| organization. HSS staffs each COE with employees | | | | from multiple sources is a necessity for organizations |
| who are skilled in the set of tools, languages, and | | | | in the healthcare industry. HSS .NET solutions help |
| products used by that COE. The company hires | | | | providers and insurers realize improvements in areas |
| engineering graduates who are experienced, trained, | | | | such as claims payment, rate setting, pricing, marketing, |
| and certified in internationally recognized IT skill sets. | | | | care management, prescription benefits, eligibility |
| For example, people on the .NET COE are certified | | | | verification, medical records management, and |
| MCPs and MCSDs. HSS recruits the finest engineering | | | | customer service. Retail - HSS makes it easy for |
| talent from the best universities and puts them through | | | | merchandisers to use .NET technology to make |
| six weeks of rigorous classroom and on-the-job | | | | information available to the people who need it, when |
| training. HSS also provides ongoing advanced | | | | and where they need it-from customers using a |
| programmer training for all staff. What this means to | | | | store's web site to security personnel stopping fraud at |
| HSS customers is that their solutions, products, and | | | | the checkout to sales reps closing deals at customer |
| software are developed by certified resources, so | | | | sites. Entertainment and Media - Hanu Software |
| customers need not worry about the people deployed | | | | Solutions is helping media and entertainment |
| on their projects. This also means that HSS customers | | | | businesses realize the ability of .NET solutions to |
| receive value-added recommendations for long-term | | | | provide their customers with seamless media |
| planning and can develop IT roadmaps with the | | | | technologies, audio processing software, education |
| confidence that the recommendations from HSS are | | | | industry solutions, gaming applications, and PDA-based |
| based on the latest knowledge. The .NET COE: | | | | gaming solutions. Manufacturing - With web-based |
| Delivering Agile Solutions on a Microsoft Platform The | | | | information systems utilizing the .NET framework, |
| HSS COE for .NET is aligned along the Microsoft | | | | manufacturers can integrate business and industrial |
| platform and tool sets and provides business-critical | | | | processes, internally as well as with partners and |
| solutions to a variety of technology and business | | | | customers. This integration is a real advantage in |
| domains. This COE has collective IT experience of 200 | | | | today's competitive market. |
| person-years and .NET experience of more than 75 | | | | |