Image-Accounting Software Tools Information Exchange

Integrating Multiple Accounting Tools for Information Exchange

Web Application Development,

This article will be helpful for those developers who are trying to integrate multiple accounting tools with a custom web or desktop application; with the accounting tool database exposed either using ODBC/JDBC or APIs.

The solution was explored when I worked in a project where there was a need to automate the data transmission (bi-directional) between different accounting tools (like Adagio, QB Desktop and Online version, etc.) interfacing with a central database. And make it possible for devices (like iPhone) to transmit data to the central database and subsequently to the accounting tools. In a nutshell, the main application, devices and multiple accounting tools needed to be in sync all the time/whenever required.

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The Solution

The major features that were provided/implemented:

  • Connector: it acts as a bridge between web API and desktop/online accounting tool.
  • Data transmission between different entities using customized XML
  • Logging request and response on each event with a different status
  • The parser in the background (it basically parses the data from XML and maps it with the database)
  • Common database structure to handle request and response for different tools

Following diagram shows the flow and integrations process-:

 

Here, the user has the freedom to use different custom applications based on need. For e.g. in some cases where the API is exposed to the outside world for web accounting tools, we can merge the request-and-response processes in one place along with the parsing of data.

#1 Window Service

It is being used for parsing data coming internally from accounting tool in a specified format. Here, the approach can change as per need because sometimes the customer doesn’t want to put extra load on the server; then we can do it at the same level (i.e. in the request-and-response process).

#2 Web Service/Web API

It is used for running the connector. Actually, the connector will act as a bridge between the accounting tools and the central database.

#3 Main web or window application-

Here we need to have one page which will facilitate the user to generate requests in specified formats (XML or JSON) for required entities (like retrieving customer data or adding a new customer in the Accounting tool).

#4 Accounting tool

Accounting tool which exposes database/API to the outside world. Nowadays most of the applications have shared API or database to the outside world for integration with other applications.

The diagram below describes the data flow between different applications in a stepwise manner:

 

 

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Error handling and Logs

Since accounting tools are being used here, it means there are bound to be information pertaining to the flow of money involving different vendors and stakeholders. This section thus holds a lot of relevance. The provision for logging is done either in the database or somewhere else on the disk. Since there different levels and sublevels like web service/API for connector  has 4 important  sublevels (Authenticate(), SendRequest(), ReceivedResponse() and CloseConnection() ), it is highly relevant to know at every step exactly what data got processed. Also, the availability of results opens up the provision for performing analyses later, whenever needed. Logging makes it possible to handle internal errors as well.

Security Handling 

The whole solution should follow the security rules as per the industry norms like SSL implementations for all web-based calls, Cryptographic methodology (wherever required), AntiForgery checks once session established, etc.

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The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author. To know more about our company, please click on Mindfire Solutions. 

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User Interface Design

The Trick of Designing User Interfaces that Slay!

User Centric Design, , , ,

Very often at work, I used to get bombarded with user-interface related questions. Some of those would be ones I would be hunting tangible answers for myself. Typical ones would be:

“Does this website look good?”
“Which interface looks better?”
“Should I place the button to the left or to the right?”
“Do I keep the logo Green or Red?”

Now, the problem every time was the expectation to offer perfect answers, along with supporting reasons. Although my intuition helped me get through on a few, the part I would struggle most was in offering convincing reasons to support my answers. I felt my supposed intuition had some underlying logic and concepts but I needed to reify those. I needed to have constructs that  I could use to easily judge any Design, be it a web page, mobile application UI or even a poster.

What followed was a lot of google search, expert advice seeking and directionless research. Finally, I came across a course based on Design Thinking which paved the way to a whole new perspective of looking at any design.

I now use a personal knowledge kit, heuristics of sorts, that I have been able to develop, courtesy this course, which helps me analyze any User Interface. If you are facing similar problems, this blog should be of help. So here are the points: 

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1. Evaluate your Work

Before making an Interface public, make an evaluation yourself by asking these questions:

How easily can someone

  • Determine the function of the system and possibilities?
  • Determine the mapping from the intention of the user to actual operation?
  • Perform the action?
  • Tell the state of the system? Tell if the desired action has been completed or not?
  • Determine the mapping from the state in which the system is into what the user understands?

If all the questions have already been addressed in your design, then you’re good to go. If not, then you need to enhance one or some of the aspects listed below to make the User Interface better i.e. providing

  • Visibility and Feedback
  • Consistency
  • Non-destructive operations (undo)
  • Discoverability (menus)
  • Reliability
  • And events should not happen randomly

All these points sum up to nothing but an implementation of the following statement
“Immediate feedback on actions AND Continuous representations of objects” – This is what lies at the core of the best designs that are made.

2. Understanding Mental Models

Even before a user starts performing an action, a mental image is formed in the user’s mind which depicts the user’s understanding of the Interface, which is called the Mental model. Very often a user thinks something and the system does something else, which leads to this gap between the mental model of the user and the designer.

This can be overcome by experimenting with multiple beta users and analyzing how your interface performs. Additionally, through our Interface, we can provide a good idea of how each object works and how to control it leading to the Interface itself disclosing how it is used.

3. Representation Matters

This lays emphasis on just one thing –  What to show and What not to.
Representation plays a significant role in simplifying or complicating matters, and so, a Good Representation shows all of the relevant information, and nothing else.

Use pictures where words seem monotonous. As the saying goes, ‘A picture is worth a 1000 words’, the same principle can be used to build great interfaces. It takes time for the user to read and make a mental image and then process the information. This time can be cut out be using images directly and where ever they can be in the UI. Icons facilitate visual recognition and come handy when you know what something looks like but not what it’s called.

Some other factors that are often ignored are Whitespaces and Contrasts. Important information can be delineated by smart use of spaces and contrasts.

4. Typography

Typography is defined as “The art and technique of arranging type to make written language legible, readable, and appealing when displayed”

Something to be aware of when working with text-based applications is the Serif Hypothesis, which states that “Serif is easier to read as the letters contain anchors and tails which provide comfort to human eyes while reading texts for extended duration of time”

So, if you have a lot of written content on your webpage, you now know which text format to consider.

5. Layout

Every UI is designed with Grids in Mind. For example, have a look at the pictures below :

Paytm Home Page
Paytm Home Page

Yahoo Home PageYahoo Home Page

Things to be kept in mind are :

  • Alignment guides the eye and so we should avoid glitches there.
  • We automatically and unconsciously notice patterns/deviations that fall out of place.
  • That is why it is very important that we stick to mathematically accurate patterns.
  • In case we decide to deviate from a pattern, it has to be strategical.
  • Use visual proximity and scale to convey semantic information

6. Color

Effective use of colors can enhance the user experience to a great level. Colors can be used to highlight essential elements on the screen or to direct user attention.

Now, each color is associated with a certain meaning that has been proven over the years in various studies. The emotions that various colors invoke are as follows:

  • Red — Symbolizes lust, power, excitement or love
  • Yellow – Competence and happiness
  • Green – Good taste, envy
  • Blue – Masculine, high competence, high quality corporate
  • Pink – Sophistication, sincerity, feminine
  • Purple – Royalty, authority, sophistication, power
  • Brown – Ruggedness, earthiness, toughness
  • Black – Grief, sophistication, expensive, fear, evil
  • White – Happiness, sincerity, purity

These are widely agreed notions that will not change anytime soon.

7. Positioning

Users automatically pay attention to certain elements basing on their position on the webpage. More often than not, they seem to define a trend in which a webpage is viewed.

Neilsen Norman Group came out with a heatmap after conducting research on human eye tracking on webpages.

The highly colored area shows the highest density of the user eye views. That is where most users looked at most of the time. This just means one thing to us: put the more important content in that high-density area.

Now let’s look at the simplified pattern for a web page: This image shows the optimum positioning of information on a webpage based on the level of importance.

Important stuff needs to be in Priority 1 blocks followed by others.
Credit: Poynter Institute www.poynter.org/extra/eyetrack2004

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The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author. To know more about our company, please click on Mindfire Solutions. 

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WordPress Malware Infection

What is WordPress Malware Infection? How do you deal with it?

Security, Thoughts, , , ,

WordPress is the most popular content management system on the web. Besides the popularity, it has many advantages. But unfortunately, it comes with certain downsides as well. if you go by statistics, more than 70% of WordPress installations are vulnerable to hacker attacks.

In WordPress websites, we generally install third-party plugins/themes for integrating additional features. But most of the time, we are not aware of the inherent security vulnerabilities of these plugins/themes which act as critical loopholes that are targeted by hackers/malware botnets, etc. Some plugins provide regular updates for patching those issues. But if we fail to do them, it leads to the exploitation of the vulnerabilities and severe malware infection.

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Why secure WordPress websites before enabling SEO?

We know that bots crawl websites. But nowadays, bots make more visits to websites than human traffic. Malware Bots attack by trying a set of tentative URLs on websites. If a website has a vulnerability, and it gets figured out by the malware through this approach,  the website becomes a candidate for exploitation. So, before enabling SEO on a website, we need to make sure that the website is secure; otherwise, you are at the mercy of bad bots which will take advantage of it. In some cases, malware can damage a site’s relationship with leading search engines by injecting malicious contents.

Effects of Malware Infection:
  • WP-admin will not be accessible due to unwanted 302 redirects to third-party malicious websites.
  • .htaccess file content will be changed even though it has proper file permission.
  • Files with extension .php.suspected will be created along with many duplicates of stylewpp.php.
  • Random posts will be created in WP DB.
  • Unknown admin users may have been created.
Steps to prevent Malware Infection :
  1. Take a regular backup of codebase and database.
  2. Restore content of .htaccess file and set proper file permission.
  3. Check crontab for any suspicious entries.
  4. Kill suspicious processes on the server.
  5. Check the access log and find suspicious HTTP calls.
  6. Block suspicious IPs which are making malicious attacks.
  7. Most core WordPress files should never be modified. You need to check for file integrity issues in the wp-admin, wp-includes, and root folders. Remove unknown files & folder with cascade delete [Suspected from access log]
  8. Analyze malicious PHP code which is injected into WP folders. It would be great if you can analyze malicious PHP script and decode their intention which will help you to remove infection easily.
  9. Prevent random article creation. We found “content-main.php” file to be executed by malware botnet from access log. It was injected in path “/wp-content/content-main.php”.
  10. Remove suspicious admin users
  11. Update WordPress to the latest version
  12. Change all credentials of cpanel , FTP and DB.
  13. Stop the brute force attack. Even if you will remove all files, folders, kill all malware processes & change passwords, malware will never sit idle. Because it has already entered your site domain name, IP & malware file locations in its database. So it will try to make continuous HTTP calls to malicious PHP script locations which will return 404 error which is fine. You also cannot block all IPs of malware botnet because it keeps on changing IPs.
    It tries the bruteforce login page with breached admin user names against a global database of pawned passwords.
  14. Block xmlrpc
  15. Prevent bad bots
    Modify the robots.txt file to prevent crawling core directories along with themes/plugin directories. Also, identify bad bots and prevent them from crawling website pages.
  16. Use SFTP instead of FTP
  17. Change default wp-login, wp-admin, wp-content urls. Below are some of the WP plugins which you can use for changing url of wp-login, wp-admin, wp-content, plugin urls.
    WPS Hide Login
    Protect Admin
  18. Install any of blow WP security plugins.
    Securi
    Quttera Web Malware Scanner
    Wordfence
  19. Add proper file & folder permissions.
  20. Check for known vulnerabilities in existing installed plugins.
    https://wpvulndb.com/
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Conclusion

Nowadays, malwares are getting injected by botnets instead of humans. They crawl for vulnerable urls and exploit them one by one.

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The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author. Lakin enjoys sharing his thoughts on computing and technology in his personal blog.
To know more about our company, please click on Mindfire Solutions. 

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Banner Universal link

Adding a Universal link to iOS Apps- Challenges & Solution

Mobile App Development, , , , , , Roohul Khan
In this blog, I am going to explain how to, without considerable effort, add Universal link and Deep linking capabilities to an iOS app 

We are going to cover this in 3 sections

  • Understanding deep link, URL scheme, and Universal link
  • The issues with a universal link and the difficulty in incorporating it
  • A nice workaround to get rid of the complexity of universal links.

If you are aware of the universal link and the challenges in having it up and running, feel free to jump to the 3rd section straight away.

Understanding deep link, URL scheme, and Universal link

– As opposed to a common belief, a URL scheme is not the same as a deep link.

Then what exactly is a deep link?

Well, the term “deep link” is the route to a specific spot on a website or a native app. So, for a mobile app, “deep link” is a link that contains all the information required to navigate the user deep into a section of the app instead of just launching the app.

What is a URL scheme and how it works?

A URL scheme can be treated as a specially designed URL just to open a particular app.
For instance, any iOS app can open WhatsApp with “WhatsApp://” URI using the URL scheme. This is possible because WhatsApp has registered itself with the app store with “WhatsApp” as a URL scheme.

However, to send a “Hello” to a particular number in Whatsapp, the URI needs to be like “WhatsApp://send?phone=(actual phone number)&text=Hello”. This, in turn, will open chat for the given number with the supplied text pre-filled. This is an example of a deep link in action.

So, what exactly is a Universal link? and why at all so we need it?

The URL scheme works just fine as long as the app is installed on the user’s phone. In the above example for instance, if WhatsApp is not available, then “whatsapp://” URI will just not work and so as the deep link to send a message to a user.

In this case, a nice solution would have been to

  • Send the user to the website on the mobile browser, then, either redirect to the app, if available or show a prompt to download it from the app store if not.
  • A more elegant way is to directly open the app, if available on phone, without redirecting through the website or in case the app is not installed, open the website with a prompt to get it downloaded from the store. This is exactly how the universal link works.

The same universal link can be used to open the Android app as well.

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The issues with Universal link and the difficulty in incorporating it.

Is Universal link difficult to incorporate?

The elegance and ease that universal link provides to your users come at the cost of having to deal with the complexity of implementing it.

Implementation of a universal link requires a guided approach. If you want to learn about the process in details, click here.

Unfortunately, there are a whole bunch of issues and bugs you will encounter after implementing it. As it deals with iOS, Android and the Web, there needs to be a great deal of coordination and support between them all.

Even for iOS itself, there are multiple ways and factors which are likely to affect how a user interacts with the link. Measures have to be taken to address them. To name a few, you are going to need to support previous versions of iOS, it should be possible for the link to open in SafariViewController for some apps like Skype and Facebook, the user may get redirected to the link instead of reaching there by clicking it, there may be a tracking need on the link. Given the default behavior of the universal link, which is to either open the app, if available or the web if not, it is going to break at some point for one of the above cases.

Unless you are hell-bent on having the universal link with all its properties and willing to put all the resources and time it needs to address the accompanying issues, you should consider the alternate, and the more basic solution available, to get the task done.

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So, what is the hidden solution that can be used as a workaround?

The idea here is that the web URL, the actual HTTP link of the website, will work as a universal link.

But, how?

For Android, it’s easier to connect an HTTP link to the app, with the assumption that the user will be taken to your app on tapping the link if it’s available or fallback to the website if not. At most, you will need to verify the domain ownership. More on this is available here.

For iOS, unfortunately, you can’t use an HTTP link i.e. link to a real website to open the app without using Universal link.

Smart Banners in iOS is the workaround we have been looking for.

Safari has a “Smart App Banner” feature to promote app from the website. Your website can include a meta tag containing the app id of the app, and the Safari mobile browser will show a smart banner. On being tapped, it will open the app if it’s installed or take the user to the app store if the app is not there in the phone.

Here is how smart banner looks for the LinkedIn website.

 

LinkedIn Image1

When the app is not installed on the phone.

 

When the app is installed

 

The meta tag format is :
<meta name=”apple-itunes-app” content=”app-id=myAppStoreID, affiliate-data=myAffiliateData, app-argument=myURL”>

Both “affiliate-data” and “app-argument” are optional.

For more information on adding a smart banner to your app, click here.

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The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author.
To know more about our company, please click on Mindfire Solutions. 

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ISO 8583

Why does ISO-8583 Score Over Other Standards

Thoughts, ,

Of course, it is one of the many financial transaction standards describing how to pack certain data fields such that it could reliably be unpacked as well. However, the distinguishing factors that the standard possesses are :

  • It uses web sockets for communication which is very efficient.
  • This standard helps the electronic system which reads the card number, the transaction amount and other relevant data fields to pack it all up so that it could be transmitted electronically to a transaction processing system where it could then be unpacked back into individual data components and then processed.
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Where do the Others Lack?

There exist numerous methods for packing and unpacking data. It could be as simple as comma separated fields. Eg: I could choose to send the transaction information as simple comma separated values as:

“1234123412341234,1000, INR,987” (Card Number, Amount, Currency, Merchant ID).

The issue with such a simplistic model of data packing is that it lacks meta information i.e. the message itself does not contain any information on what exactly is being packed in it. Not that it could not have been overcome even with a comma-separated version- just that it could get cumbersome

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Principles that drive this Standard

The ISO 8583 message is based on the principles that:

– In a transaction message, you only get to pick the number of fields from a predefined set of fields. So, if you need a field called ‘My girlfriend’s phone number’, sorry, ain’t possible.

– The meta information of which fields are present in the message is also a part of the message payload in a data structure called the ‘bitmap’.

Structure

– Most implementations contain a few bytes dedicated to a fixed header (eg: ^A^TISO016000010) after which the actual ISO 8583 message starts.

– In one of our projects, the header we used was of 14 bytes

MTI – The Message Type Indicator.

The first 4 bytes describe the message type.

Eg: 02 00, which tells that the message is actually a financial transaction request. (The response to this request would also be in ISO 8583 and would carry an MTI: 02 10). Various MTIs exist and can be found on the web.

Bitmap

It is almost a visual representation of which fields are actually present in this message and which fields are not.

Eg: F2 38 80 01 08 E0 80 0F

11110010 00111000 10000000 00000001 00001000 11100000 10000000 00001111
(all the bit positions that are 1 implies the corresponding fields are present)

Hex Binary (Positions that have 1)
F2= 11110010 -> (1,2,3,4,7)
38= 00111000 -> (11,12,13)
80= 10000000 -> (17)
01= 00000001 -> (32)
08= 00001000 -> (37)
E0= 11100000 -> (41,42,43)
80= 10000000 -> (49)
0F= 00001111 -> (61,62,63,64)

We’ve just read the map! Therefore the fields that will be present in this message are field numbers: (1,2,3,4,7,11,12,13,17,32,37,41,42,43,49,61,62,63,64)

Note the first bit. Field 1 is a special field which indicates the presence of an extended bitmap. Since this sample message contains 1 on the 1st position, it means that this message contains another bitmap with another 64 bits.

Extended bitmap, Binary 64 bits

80 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
(=hex .extended bitmap field)
(80)10000000 -> (position 64+1=65)
This extended bitmap shows that field number 65 is also present in this message.

Data Elements

Immediately after the bitmap, the data elements start serially. From the bitmap, we know that fields 2,3,4,7 are present one after the other. All that we need to do is to read them one by one. Each field number has a predefined type in the ISO 8583 definition and has a predefined length. Some fields have a variable length in which case the first N bytes provide the length of the field.

Example:

Data Element 2. Length 16. Value : 0000011319353459 = Primary account number
Data Element 3. Length 6. Value : 011000 =Processing code. 011000 = cash withdrawal
Data Element 4. Length 12. Value : 000000020000 =Amount 200.00
Data Element 7. Length 10. Value : 0804030013 =DateTime DDMMhhmmss
Data Element 11. Length 6. Value : 051028 =Systems Trace number
Data Element 12. Length 6. Value : 083013 =Time, hhmmss
Data Element 13. Length 4. Value : 0804 =Date, MMDD
Data Element 17. Length 4. Value : 0804 =CaptureDate, MMDD
Data Element 32. Length 6. Value : 123456 =Acquiring institution ID code 123456
Data Element 37. Length 12. Value : 192165102801 =Retrieval Ref. No.

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Isn’t ISO 20022 the new standard?

ISO 8583 will be a difficult one to get rid of anytime soon and hence one way or the other, in the financial industry ISO-8583 is here to stay.

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The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author.
To know more about our company, please click on Mindfire Solutions. 

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Google Puppeteer

Puppeteer : Is it time to ditch Selenium?

Automation Testing Tools, JavaScript, Software QA Testing, ,

Google has introduced a new library based on Chromium’s dev tool protocol. The library grants high-level API to interact with chromium and handle most tasks which you can perform using Chromium dev tools. The library is implemented in node.js and is really easy to get started once you install required packages using the node package manager.

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Why Puppeteer?

Puppeteer flexes its muscle where selenium misses out. It is not just limited to interactions with the web application under test performing tasks like for e.g. interacting with dom, submitting forms, generating screenshots and pdf of web pages but also in intercepting network activity, throttling CPU and network, generating timeline trace and mocking API amongst some. The puppeteer can be easily be used to write end-to-end automation test suites with the benefit of getting a detailed timeline of the performance of all the assets (images, javascript files and so on).

Engineers can easily switch between headless and non-headless modes. While writing the automation suite, non-headless mode gives a good view of how the browser is interacting with the application under test and helps in debugging; just like in Selenium. But in production, we can execute suite in a headless mode as it reduces execution time and save resources.

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Is it really that Good?

Yes, it enjoys the goodness of async code execution. You can always perform multiple tasks simultaneously following the latest javascript async await conventions. You can test the behavior of your application under different screen sizes. The network can be throttled on demand to find out how your application will run at low internet speeds. For e.g. if you want to test the error messages in an application when a user loses internet connectivity, puppeteer can easily handle such a scenario. Mocking APIs can also be achieved with utmost ease. For instance, if you want to test your “payment completed” screen but don’t want to go through the payment gateway flow, you can easily perform it with puppeteer by mocking the API response. With a detailed performance matrix, puppeteer can easily be used for performance testing.

So what are the drawbacks?

Google puppeteer supports only Chromium and Chrome out of the box. Third party implementations are available for Firefox and Internet Explorer. But they are experimental as of now and are missing a good chunk of the firepower. The documentation available is minimal as compared to selenium.

Why should you prefer Puppeteer over Selenium?

The targeted audience is the major deciding factor. If it majorly comprises of Chrome users you should go ahead with Puppeteer. Other factors include performing automation tasks which are not possible with selenium, like testing Chrome extensions, mocking API calls and so on. Selenium follows WebDriver protocol and has been from a very long time in the market compared to puppeteer hence itis better documented compared to puppeteer.

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Conclusion

Puppeteer is a powerful library which has revolutionized the automation testing by overcoming functionalities missing in WebDriver protocol used by Selenium. Although it is still in the early stages, it promises a bright future, backed up as it is by the illustrious Chrome dev tools team.

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If you have any queries in this field, talk to Mindfire Solutions. For over 19+ years now, we have been the preferred Software Development Partner of over 1000+ Small and Medium-sized enterprises across the globe.

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Overcoming pain points in offshoring software development

Overcoming the Critical Offshoring Pain Points in Software Development

IT Outsourcing, Thoughts, , ,

It is imperative for businesses today to leverage the effectiveness of software in order to get ahead in the market. This is not limited to the enterprise software pieces they use as part of their day to day operations, but it also relates to the proprietary pieces they offer to their users, clients, and partners.

But developing proprietary software is a serious undertaking, and one which might be beyond the reach of the average small or medium-sized business – in terms of cost effectiveness and also the general skill and expertise needed to truly deliver. So what is the answer for SMEs in the market?

Offshoring software development represents a viable solution. This concept in software design refers to hiring a third party team in a different country to handle the development process. This approach to development brings with it immense benefits, as well as significant challenges. So what are the key pain points, and how can businesses navigate through them. Let us look at the critical ones :

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Difficulties Commonly Associated with Offshoring Software Development?

Breakdown in communication between teams

Offshoring means a team operating in a different country or territory – which in turn means potential time zone clashes and a heavy reliance on digital communication tools. There is also the very critical factor of cultural differences existing between the in-house and outsourced teams, leading to communication breakdowns.

Quality not guaranteed

This is a familiar source of anxiety for any businesses working with an outsourced team – How to ascertain the quality of the outcome? There is no guarantee here, but, if the services of a company are hired purely on the basis of low rates, there is a strong likelihood of low quality turning out to be the byproduct. No good service comes cheap.

Sensitive data risk

We are in the beginning of the digital era. Data has already started making the business world go round. This makes outsourcing something of a minefield. On one hand, the team needs the requisite data to do the job and to do it well, while on the other, the companies outsourcing are always going to be nervous about how much access to sensitive data would they be giving away. The risk of data breach, either accidental or malicious, is always high and the ensuing penalty could be significantly detrimental.

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Overcoming the Pain Points

Deployment of digital communication tools

Outsourced teams – both on and offshore – are introducing businesses to a whole new world of flexibility and agility. This is being supported by a wealth of different communication tools which allow collaboration and communication between teams across the globe in real time. With so many high-quality software tools and platforms available, communication breakdowns can be completely eliminated.

Progress reports and regular project appraisals

When a contract is drawn up with an offshore team, regular appraisals and reports have to be included in it to keep a tap on work progress. The result will be a process which is far more streamlined, one unlikely to get hung up or face too many unexpected pitfalls. It enables both the teams to stay on course and make required modifications whenever it is deemed necessary.

Temper cost reduction with a quality-oriented focus

Reducing costs and achieving better resource management are certainly two important and obvious factors for a company when it comes to outsourcing their software development work. What should also be given equal importance is the quality of work. Everything fails otherwise. Clarity is required on two fronts here. Firstly, knowing the impact the quality of the outsourced work will have on the end result. Secondly, having established evaluation criteria to identify the right partner to engage with.

Develop an in-house data security plan, Extend it to outsourced teams

A business should first understand that it is not immune to data breaches from within, and thus, should begin by drafting a high-level data security plan that covers all potential vulnerabilities.With the required processes in place the approach can then be extended to include the offshore partner. Providing them with a copy of one’s data security policy, and ensuring that the same is ratified and agreed upon before the final contract is signed would clearly underline the importance the company puts on the matter.

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If you have any queries in this field, talk to Mindfire Solutions. For over 19+ years now, we have been the preferred Software Development Partner of over 1000+ Small and Medium-sized enterprises across the globe.

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Material Design Image

MaterialStyle.io : Heard of it?

Web Design, , , , , ,

A year ago, I was involved in a project with the requirement to have Material Design styles and animations for the UI. Like always, we looked for frameworks or libraries that meet our requirement. We came across three of them which were quite popular then.

The first library one was Google’s own – Material Design Lite (https://getmdl.io). It is a super lightweight library that doesn’t rely on any JavaScript frameworks. Unfortunately, it didn’t have important components such as Select Boxes. Eventually, Google has stopped its development for this library. Having found it inadequate, we moved on for the next:

MD Bootstrap (https://mdbootstrap.com/), a newcomer with a different approach to provide Material Design components. It was not an independent library but a wrapper that was to be used along with Bootstrap. We were curious to see if it could meet our requirement. Once again, we were left disappointed because it did not provide Material Design animations with its components. Moreover, we could not use all its components unless we purchased the PRO version of it. We were starting to get annoyed until we stumbled upon the next one:

Materialize (https://materializecss.com/). Developed by a team of students from Carnegie Mellon University, it is a complete framework that doesn’t depend on Bootstrap or jQuery but lacks the animation ability. Thus, we still did not have any luck going our way with finding a suitable Material Design package.

We had had enough and then we decided to use Bootstrap as it is and write our own CSS and JS on top of it to fulfill the project’s requirement. This gave me an idea to create a UI wrapper which would have all the bootstrap components, look and behave in accordance with the Material Design guidelines. I set about the developing it and six months later, with some hard work, research and sleepless nights, MaterialStyle.io was born.

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So what exactly is MaterialStyle.io?

It is a UI wrapper that lets you add Material Design styles and animation to Bootstrap 4 components. It is very easy to use. You just have to include the CSS and JS, copy the Markup for the desired component from the Website and you are done.

Why should you prefer MaterialStyle.io to other products?

Well, MaterialStyle.io was built with the intent of overcoming the shortcomings of other products. And hence, it follows the latest Material Design guidelines with includes some extra components which are not included in Material Design. Some notable features which make it stand out from others are:

  1. True Material Design style and animation
  2. Select Boxes with search options
  3. Custom shapes for Buttons, Cards, and Divs
  4. 256 Color classes to choose from
  5. Elevation which lets you define the amount of shadow a component needs to have

There are a few more on the way:

  1. Date picker
  2. Snack bar
  3. Chips
  4. Image gallery
  5. Slider

Now, what on earth is a Material Design?

Material Design (codenamed Quantum Paper) is a design language developed by Google in 2014.

According to Google – “Material Design is a visual language that synthesizes the classic principles of good design with the innovation of technology and science. Material Design is inspired by the physical world and its textures, including how they reflect light and cast shadows. Material surfaces reimagine the mediums of paper and ink.”                                              

Why should I use Material Design?

Needless to say, the design has a strong bearing on forming impressions in the minds of individuals evaluating products or services in a marketplace and does count as a critical factor when it comes to apps. The benefit of using Material Design is that Google has done the UI and UX research for years, thus saving individual developers from expending more effort. What makes it really interesting is the deliberate guideline on interface motion. It not only gives an opportunity to make a brand/product to stand out but also delivers remarkably in user experience.

How is it different from Bootstrap?

Bootstrap is a UI framework for constructing responsive UI using a set of HTML classes and pre-wired CSS styles and behaviors. It doesn’t focus on the look and feel of a webpage. On the other hand, Material design is a design guideline to build frameworks and not a framework by itself. It focuses on how web components should look, behave and interact visually. It starts with general principles around visual elements (physics, light, space, momentum) and expands on those to provide concrete examples and requirements for specific elements (buttons, cards, snack bar, etc.).

So, if you want your app to be visually appealing and interactive, use either Material Design or go for Bootstrap with a bare minimum architecture.

Here is a visual comparison of what you get using Bootstrap VS Material Style

 

Material style vs Bootstrap

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The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author.
To know more about our company, please click on Mindfire Solutions. 

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Distributed IT Team

Overcoming the Obstacles of Running Geographically Distributed IT Teams

Thoughts, , , , , , ,

What it means to operate an IT team has evolved in recent years. Today’s teams are more efficient, flexible, and streamlined than the ones of the past, and much of this is because of a constant desire amongst people in business to enhance their capabilities and to harness the power of the latest technologies. Earlier, it was a given that the key players in a team would have to operate together in one building, or in close proximity. But this way of doing business had its drawbacks, which became evident over the years. There wasn’t room for personal flexibility for one. Also, sticking to this approach had a financial bearing as well.

Over time, technology opened up possibilities to revolutionize the way teams could function, and IT industry was amongst the frontrunners to seize the opportunity. From using video conferencing and Skype to deploying apps like Slack or GoToMeeting/GoToWebinar, teams can leverage technology to have virtual meetings anywhere – which essentially means that the members can work from anywhere too! However, there are challenges of operating a geographically dispersed team. Let’s examine what they are, the impact, and how seasoned business leaders overcome them and manage to get the most out of their teams.

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Perceived power imbalance

According to an article in HBR if more team members are consolidated in one location or they are in the locations that are geographically close to that of the team leader, then there’s a perception that these people have more power or access to power. This can lead to a feeling of isolation for the other team members or for that matter a feeling of complacency amongst the ones closer. Either way, it negatively affects the overall team morale. Since it is not possible to change the geographic locations of members, team leaders can implement creative strategies to diffuse false perceptions. For e.g., a team leader may need to give particular “power” assignments to those who are farther away from the headquarters or who are working in smaller groups.

Cultural insensitivity

Global teams will naturally contain people from diverse cultural backgrounds. Most people will not know everything there is to know about every other team member’s culture. This can lead to some awkward situations, to say the least. It could even lead to some people responding in culturally insensitive ways. One of the ways to nip in the bud is to raise the topic up in common meetings and suggesting that more often than not these problems are due to errors of judgment, ignorance and not malice. That they can be addressed by increasing one’s awareness of other’s cultures.

Language barriers

Usually, the prominent language in IT global teams is English. However, this is unlikely to be the native tongue for many of the team members. Those whose native language is English are likely to have an advantage in meetings with their peers. The less fluent speakers may feel shy about speaking up even if their ideas are good. Leaders can help overcome this impediment by setting forth guiding principles for discussions. An e.g. could be to suggest that the more fluent speakers slow down their speech and refrain from using difficult phrases. In addition, they might limit the amount of time they are given to talk and urge the less fluent speakers to speak more.

Lack of proper technology

The technology for high-level collaboration and remote communication is out there in the market. It is just that many businesses do not use them correctly. For any organization, there has to be some research done to correctly identify the optimal technological solutions they need to operate efficiently. There are multiple products options available in the market for each type of functions that facilitate collaboration for geographically dispersed teams. Getting the right ones is the key and can make the difference between building synergy and causing disruption.

Lack of good leadership

Diversified teams must have exemplary leadership at the helm. Without it, the teams will quickly fall apart. Besides having the required technical expertise the person in charge of leading such teams must have a global mindset, possess high emotional intelligence, and know the art of mending fissures when they appear.

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Conclusion

In a connected world, as businesses look to the future, geographically dispersed IT teams is a reality that has to be dealt with. For companies with a global outlook, not only is this approach a practical step forward but also one which can be harnessed to their advantage. The key is to recognize that the obstacles that exist are perpetual in nature and have to be dealt with on an ongoing basis.

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If you have any queries in this field, talk to Mindfire Solutions. For over 19+ years now, we have been the preferred Software Development Partner of over 1000+ Small and Medium-sized enterprises across the globe.

 

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Confused Face

Musings : Relevance of Asking Questions & Sharing Ideas

Thoughts, ,

Few incidents in the recent past brought back memories of my days in school. Although the narration is a personal one, I am sure many readers would identify themselves
or their friends with it. I was, as a matter of fact, quite a naughty kid and reasonable in studies :).

I would, in particular, be quite terrified on the days we had a question-and-answer session with the teachers. I would put in my best efforts by finding a seat in advance and do my best in concealing myself behind a friend with a more generous built. It would thus reduce the chances of my getting noticed and being at the receiving end of questions.

I would do the same thing if I had doubts on certain topics or sections in a passage..I was always shy and afraid of asking questions. I would be concerned about what my teachers, my classmates, and my friends would think if I asked a worthless one. I stuck to this habit through my days at high school, thus risking to perpetuate my stupidity.

However, as years went by, I felt my outlook beginning to change, not sure how and why; could well be due to the maturity and experience that age brings along, generally so to say.

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The turning point was in a class on Data Structures, taken by one of the better-known professors in our institute. He was explaining Binary Trees that day. Having explained, he said in an emphatic voice “Am I Clear?”

And guess what, the school kid who was always shy to ask questions in early days.. stood up and said. “I didn’t get it”… The lecturer asked

” Is there anybody else?”. And to my surprise, the most intelligent person in our batch stood up as well!

So the professor went ahead and explained the concepts again. I did not hold back this time either and got up and said, “I still didn’t get it, sir”. I could not help it. The act seemed out of nature to me, but I was finding a strange degree of comfort doing it. On the third instance though, the professor remarked, “If you understood it’s good, and if not then it’s “excellent” ;).” Perhaps he got irritated.

Later in the day, the professor called me to his cabin and explained the concept again. To my surprise, he claimed that he was on purpose not explaining things the way he should have in order to check how attentive we were in the class. And that he was not surprised that I failed to understand him every time; indicating that I was the one paying attention.

The incident was a special one for me.  I had managed to overcome my fears and also realized the importance of asking questions. The fact that one should not hesitate to ask. If done with the right intention, one need not get bogged down thinking whether the question will be looked upon as silly or irrelevant. Questions can in fact sometimes lead to throwing up of bright ideas, which might bring about significant happenings, including recognition to the seeker.

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In my professional career so far, I have seen many instances where people hold themselves back from asking questions, only to repent later. Or for that matter hesitate to share their thoughts/ideas. The fear of embarrassment of being judged unfavorably by peers or seniors tends to act as a deterrent. But what they don’t realize is that by not asking questions and letting their doubts persist, they rely on assumptions to act. And in the event of these assumptions going wrong, they set themselves up for disaster. Besides, they also lose out on opportunities to address matters better. Smart questions can lead to better solutions and recognition. Sitting back and allowing questions to die in one’s mind or waiting for others every time to ask is asking too less of oneself.

To all of those who are shy, hesitant or worried about what others may think of their questions, I hope my learnings help you get over your inhibitions. If you happen to work in the field of technology, you are at an advantage already. For the frantic pace of change almost entitles you to ask/share. So every time you feel an itch,approach your peers first, reach out to others in your organization, and if you sense a need to go beyond, connect to the world at large. We have enough tools and channels at our disposal today to facilitate that. Be fearless and ask as many questions as you can think off or share your thoughts/ideas. Just remember if you will not ask/share, then someone else will and you will be left wondering later ” Oh Shoot!  I thought of the same as well“.

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The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author. To know more about our company, please click on Mindfire Solutions. 

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