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| Expert Interviews |
| Lotus Domino / Lotus Notes |
R: Reporter. I: Ms. Ice Chow, Axisoft Software Architect (Lotus Domino / Lotus Notes Development), Hong Kong. R: How long has your team been in this field? And what have you been doing all those times? I: We have more than 10 years of system design and development experiences on the Lotus Domino and Notes platform. We have worked on various products and projects in this field. For example, Document Management System, Imaging, Workflow, CRM System, Office Automation, Reporting, System maintenance and enhancement. Besides the Notes client based applications, we have rich skills on the Domino web based applications with JavaScript, AJAX, html, XML, etc. Also, we have rich experiences on the integration with external system with the other tools, such as Oracle, SQL server, Visual Basic and .Net, etc. R: Compared to the many outsourcing companies out there, how is your team different? I: Many Domino-based outsourcing companies work on a project-basis without a long-term commitment and management on a single product. Our company manages our own products as well. SQUARE, our flagship products on Document and Imaging Management, is developed on the Domino platform. During the development process, we have acquired rich skills on Domino system designs and development. It is from our continuous work on our flagship products that keeps ourselves always updated, always experienced for projects of various scales, and always maintain that unparalleled team spirit in and out of projects. R: A great application cannot do without good quality assurance. How do you ensure that? I: We have a team of experienced Domino staffs to ensure the quality of our Domino products and projects. Being intensive Domino users and long-time fans, we implemented most of our internal applications on the Domino platform. In that sense, we are Domino application developers as well as we are the users. Hence we know what users need the most, and how to improve our products and projects to get there. R: Thank you very much for your time Ice. I: It’s been my pleasure. |
| PowerBuilder |
R: Reporter. X: Mr. Xin Xu, Axisoft Global Services Technical Leader (PowerBuilder Development), China. R: Thank you very much for your time, Xin. X: The honor is all mine. R: So for how many years have you specialized in PowerBuilder, and why PowerBuilder amongst the sea of development tools? X: I have more than 9 years of experience in programming, 8 of which is in PowerBuilder. I guess my academia in Enterprise Information System and the fact that PowerBuilder is the first development tool I was exposed to contribute to my dedication. Come to think of it, it was love at first sight. R: What do you think is good about PowerBuilder? X: PowerBuilder is a flexible design tool with powerful capabilities on database management. Its web-style interface, interoperability with minimal modifications, rapid deployment and, probably most importantly, relatively low cost, all contribute to our clients’ interest and my undivided addiction to PowerBuilder. R: So, any bad comments about PowerBuilder? I am sure many would like to hear that from enthusiasts like you. X: I think PowerBuilder is a bit weaker in network communication and system integration. Regarding its datawindow, it’s convenient but there are times we need workarounds and extra efforts to resolve some technical hurdles. However, since PowerBuilder’s version 11, things have improved a lot, including its .net support. I am anticipating on its future enhancements. R: What do you think the Axisoft Global Service PowerBuilder team can help clients in their endeavors? X: In line with our corporate culture of attentive to details and professional quality control, I believe the best we can offer to our clients are implementation, testing, and requirement analysis. Nonetheless, my lads are really experienced PowerBuilders themselves. So they can really shine at system and structure designs in PowerBuilder projects. R: Thank you very much for your time Xin. X: Thank you. |
| PowerCenter |
R: Reporter. Z: Bryan Zhou, AGS Consultant, Zhuhai. R: Comparing yourself with your competitors, what are your advantages? Z: We are one of the first China-based companies to provide PowerCenter outsourcing services. Stepping into 2009 would be our 6th year in PowerCenter developments. Our clients are renowned international banks who have cooperated with us for years to optimize their project efficiency as well as to perfect our skills. I would like to really thank our clients for giving us the experience that allows us to be the leading position we are in today. R: ETL is a relatively new development in China, how do you keep your team members up-to-date? Z: I would have to thank our years of experience for that again. We have compiled a comprehensive knowledge base from previous projects and we have learnt to compile this knowledge, as well as any updates in the market, into internal training material. Our team members, existing and the newly abroad, will receive frequent training from a practical perspective to keep us top-notch at all times. What’s more, when a project is being implemented, we assign experienced project manager and conduct code reviews, quality assurance procedures from time to time to ensure quality. Of course, we will deliver interim builds to the client to ensure things are on the right track with the desired quality. R: Another common worry about outsourcing is communication and IPR (Intellectual Property Rights). How do you deliver an ease of mind? Z: Communications for traditional offshore outsourcing are mostly based on phone and emails and of course we have those. But thanks to our development team, we have an installation-free multimedia-based online meeting service called "MeToShow" that allows our clients to be in contact with us via voice and pictures ubiquitously. As of IPR, we put our clients’ IPR as our top priority. We have strict guidelines to all team members and host IPR training and seminars from time to time to heighten their awareness on the issue at all times. R: Thanks for your time. Z: You are welcome. |
| Business Objects |
R: Reporter. L: Mr. Alan Li, Axisoft Consultant (Business Objects Development), China. R: It’s nice to meet you, Alan. L: Same here, thanks for interviewing me. R: Can you tell us what you do? L: Sure. Amongst tasks given by our clients, you can usually categorize them into one of the following three things. Business Objects Universe creation, report creations, or report upgrades. R: How would you describe them? L: Universe is usually the most complicated one because it is the backbone of things if you will. Implement a well-logic Universe, you get yourself a simple report generator even for the average users; get it wrong and you pave the road for future disasters. That’s probably why people outsource this to experienced teams like ours for Universe creation. L: For report creations and upgrades, creations are often more complicated than upgrades, but upgrades are often tedious. Both of which are popular outsourced tasks because of the experience needed or the time saved. For creation, sometimes our clients would require ETL and we can comply with the requirements because we also have a great team for PowerCenter. R: Tell me about your clients please? L: Well, we have over 6 years of experience in Business Objects outsourcing already. We have clients from all over the world… Japan, Sweden, India, China, Europe, the United States, Singapore, etc.. Our clients are always satisfied with our work. I guess a good service attitude, project management, technical support, quality control and ability to execute are our major ingredients for the satisfaction. Only with their satisfaction and success do we call our job well-done. R: Thanks for your time Li. L: Thanks. |
| Software Testing |
R: Reporter N: Novina Xu, Team leader (Software testing), China R: We all know the importance of software testing. What is the most memorable chaos you had seen in your work? N: Yes, I think it is very important and necessary to conduct a full test before delivering software to users. In terms of chaos, by most memorable, I think it is also the most frequent. Many times, we have to go the extra mile for our clients on certain Axisoft Global Services projects. This happens when our client gives us no requirement documents to follow; fuzzy code with few or no comments to review; and an ever-changing deadline that only got pushed earlier than later. Of course, to say that we handled all these without a sweat would be lying, but we got them handled. To ensure the deliverable quality, we pull in extra resource and insist on a well-planned procedure for software testing projects. On code review, we understand every line through internal discussion and propose more than one solution to clients for confirmation. At the same time, our testing engineers compose testing cases or checklist to reach agreement with all project team members. In unit testing, developers follow up the cases with high priority; in system testing, testing engineers verify all test cases again carefully. Thus, customer’s satisfaction can be guaranteed. . R: Unlike the Lotus Domino / Lotus Notes, PowerBuilder and Business Objects teams, the Software Testing team in Axisoft Global Services accepts challenges from all sorts of software regardless of its development tools. How do you handle the pressure? N: Yes, it is a great pressure to the SAT team. The testing methodology is universal to all software, but it is also vital to be familiar with the design or developing technology to dig out the potential logic bugs. Due to its obvious importance, the SAT team has never stopped learning popular and critical technical knowledge from other developers or through self-studying. R: What kind of software testing does your team offer to clients? N: I think we can help clients improve their software quality through numerous testing methodologies. Such as: Manual or automated function testing (Quick Test Professional, IBM Rational Robot or Mercury WinRunner), performance testing, (Mercury LoadRunner) etc. Besides, we can provide system security / performance, network security / performance assessment and code review services. R: Software testing can be an endless process. So how do you draw the line? What is the perfect balance between thorough testing and well time management? N: Yes, it is an endless and tedious work, but I think this career offers a special challenge. We feel a great sense of achievement when we find out any potential bug. ‘ASAP (as soon as possible), AMAP (as much as possible)’ are our mottoes. To maintain the perfect balance, testing plan and test cases with priority will be prepared before testing. Suppose a short testing cycle covers 5 days, a smoking testing about major functions will be conducted at the 1st day, then there will be the full test, followed by the test cases if the full test got passed (or this build cancelled if failed, a bug report will be generated to the client at that point). Last but not least, a complete testing report with overall comments will be composed. R: Thank you very much for your time with us. N: Thank you very much. |
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