| Company Profile | | | | Leveraging its tool sets enables HSS to achieve |
| Hanu Software Solutions Inc. (HSS) is a global | | | | development savings at every phase and for |
| consulting and IT services company that provides | | | | every task of a project. The following case study |
| end-to-end software solutions for various | | | | illustrates this. |
| industries including publishing, finance, insurance, | | | | Project Needs |
| and retail. Headquartered in Monmouth Junction, | | | | A company approached HSS because its web |
| NJ, and with an offshore development center in | | | | application, written in ASP, was not sufficiently |
| Gurgaon (New Delhi), India, HSS offers a unique | | | | stable. The ASP code needed to be migrated to |
| value proposition to our customers. The company | | | | .NET, which required re-architecting the application |
| believes in providing the highest quality software | | | | to .NET standards. |
| solutions at a very cost-effective rate. | | | | Using Faster.NET Tools |
| | | | The HSS development team increased time to |
| Background | | | | market for this project by applying Faster.NET |
| HSS's technology-centric solutions center delivers | | | | tools as follows: |
| exceptional customer value by using innovative | | | | Step 1: HSS engineers used the migration tool to |
| and specialized tools and processes that are | | | | migrate the software to .NET, before changing |
| unique in nature. This paper illustrates how | | | | the architecture. The estimators determined that |
| Faster.NET, a development framework developed | | | | migration would take approximately 200 person |
| by the HSS .NET Center of Excellence (COE), | | | | days, which means that a four-person team could |
| enables the company's technology-aligned service | | | | complete the migration in just two months or, if |
| organization to deliver exceptional value to its | | | | needed, an eight-person team could complete the |
| business and technology customers, strengthening | | | | effort in one month. |
| their competitive advantage. | | | | Step 2: To maximize the efficiency of the |
| The .NET COE: Delivering Agile Solutions on a | | | | re-architecting phase of the project, HSS chose a |
| Microsoft Platform | | | | related, existing architecture from its Solution Blue |
| The HSS COE for .NET is aligned along the | | | | Print (SBP) library. In this case the target |
| Microsoft platform and tool sets and provides | | | | architecture was layered with support for a dual |
| business-critical solutions to a variety of | | | | presentation layer (WAP as well as HTML). The |
| technology and business domains. This COE has | | | | lowest level of this architecture was the database |
| collective IT experience of 200 person-years and | | | | interaction layer. |
| .NET experience of more than 75 person-years. | | | | Because the SBPs are already tested and proven, |
| Other key facts are: | | | | using this SBP rather than developing a new |
| Staff 45 | | | | architecture from scratch saved time in |
| Started 2002 | | | | prototyping and testing, reducing development |
| Number of executed projects 30 | | | | time from the almost 150 person days a |
| Location Gurgaon, India | | | | re-architecting effort typically takes in the |
| Faster.NET - The HSS Development Framework | | | | industry. |
| for .NET Solutions | | | | Step 3: Next, HSS engineers reviewed their library |
| The continuing improvement work that HSS has | | | | of pre-assembled components for components |
| done with the .NET COE has led the company to | | | | suitable for re-use in this application. They chose a |
| create a framework for offering scalable, | | | | data access layer written using VB.NET and |
| on-demand .NET solutions to customers in a | | | | C#.NET. This particular component handles |
| variety of industries. HSS calls this Faster.NET. Its | | | | transaction support, execution of stored |
| key elements are: | | | | procedures as well as embedded queries, and |
| Pre-assembled, reusable software components | | | | data reader as well as data adaptor-based |
| HSS has developed a library of more than 100 | | | | interactions. Moreover, it has robust exception |
| software components that are used frequently in | | | | handling. This component consists of |
| .NET applications. These components are | | | | approximately 5,000 lines of code. |
| tried-and-tested with proven designs, and free of | | | | Re-using it reduced the development effort by |
| critical bugs. The components can be re-used | | | | 100 person days, assuming an average of 50 lines |
| either as-is or with modifications. Reusable | | | | of code per person day of typical coding |
| components include data layers written in all of | | | | productivity. |
| the .NET-based languages, a variety of GUI | | | | Step 4: Simultaneous with the software |
| controls, and security model objects. | | | | development effort, HSS QA engineers |
| At the design phase of a new project, HSS | | | | determined that using the NAnt scripting-based |
| engineers determine which components are | | | | auto build setup could save considerable |
| suitable for the project. Only code unique to the | | | | compilation and build issues. Accordingly, the Visual |
| application is designed and written from scratch. | | | | Studio Build engineer created an automated build |
| Building existing, high-quality software in this way | | | | setup using the scripts. Scheduled to run |
| into a new application saves the customer time | | | | automatically, this automated process proactively |
| and expense, and helps ensure quality in the | | | | provided information about any wrong checkins, |
| deployed application. HSS does not believe in | | | | build issues, and integration issues. |
| developing a new solution from scratch for each | | | | Step 5: The HSS development process includes |
| new project. | | | | thoroughly documenting the lower-level design |
| A reusable engineering tool set for faster speed | | | | (LLD). HSS saves a considerable amount of time |
| The HSS development tool set is an important | | | | in its documentation efforts by using a |
| element of the company's ability to deliver | | | | documentation tool called Ndoc which creates |
| solutions for many different life cycles, budgets, | | | | CHM- or MSDN-style code comments |
| and timelines. The HSS tool set includes: | | | | automatically. This tool saved as much as 50 |
| · Migration tools like VB to VB.NET, C# to | | | | person-days that would otherwise have been |
| VB.NET, PHP to C#. NET, SQL to Oracle tools, | | | | needed to create a 200 to 300 page document. |
| and others. | | | | Step 6: The HSS QA group took the existing test |
| · Database tools like SQL compare and | | | | scripts and modified them for the features and |
| data scriptors. | | | | functions of this application. The QA test group |
| · Design tools, reverse engineering tools, | | | | also created an automated test bed using the |
| data migration tools, and many others. | | | | Mercury and Nunit tool sets. HSS was able to run |
| The unique, reusable tool set enables HSS | | | | the test cases numerous times without significant |
| engineers to complete projects quickly and with | | | | additional person-days, ensuring the quality and |
| good quality. | | | | reliability of the software when it was released |
| Solution Blue Prints (SBP)-A reusable set of | | | | from QA to the customer. |
| architectures | | | | Completion: The end result was that HSS |
| HSS has a reusable set of architectures called | | | | successfully migrated and re-architected the |
| Solution Blue Prints (SBPs), ready for common | | | | system with an effort of just 12 person-months. |
| business domain, technology domain, and service | | | | The company deployed the software at the |
| domain problems. Like HSS software components, | | | | customer site within 3 months. |
| these architectures have been tested and proven | | | | Exceptional Added Value |
| in the company's projects. The architectures | | | | Just as important as the savings in development |
| include associated prototypes. Using SBPs saves | | | | time described in the case study is the |
| considerable effort in developing, prototyping, and | | | | exceptional added value HSS provided to this |
| testing software solutions. For example, one SBP | | | | customer: |
| was used to design a property management | | | | 1. This customer was facing tremendous pressure |
| system that the customer has been using | | | | from the users to do something about the |
| successfully for more than a year. | | | | unstable application. The customer's data center |
| Qualified and certified engineers | | | | provider was also pressuring the company to |
| Approximately 60% of HSS programmers have | | | | update the application to .NET. HSS immediately |
| earned internationally recognized certifications | | | | helped the customer manage this situation and |
| including MCP, MCSD, and JSCP. This percentage is | | | | came up with a competitive product and services |
| continually growing, a direct reflection of the | | | | that met the requests of their customers. |
| company's commitment to employing the most | | | | 2. The quality and stability of the enhancements |
| skilled, qualified, and certified engineers. What this | | | | were tremendous - thanks to the inherent |
| means to the customer is superior quality scalable | | | | increased stability of .NET architectures, as well as |
| solutions, delivered quickly. | | | | to the proven, tested components and |
| HSS recruits the finest engineering talent from the | | | | architecture that HSS used for this project. |
| best universities and puts them through six | | | | 3. During the course of this project HSS was able |
| weeks of rigorous classroom and on-the-job | | | | to educate the customer about the software |
| training. HSS also provides ongoing advanced | | | | development life-cycle and development |
| programmer training for all staff. | | | | processes, an education that is a permanent |
| With these elements, the HSS Faster.NET | | | | benefit to him. |
| framework reduces typical application | | | | 4. The user interface (UI) developed by HSS was |
| development time by approximately 20% to | | | | very popular with the customer's end users, |
| 40%. The time saved depends on the project, | | | | attracting many new customers. |
| where it is in its life cycle, and how extensively | | | | 5. HSS provided these services at a highly |
| the customer wants us to apply the Faster.NET | | | | cost-effective rate. Its .NET COE operates from |
| development methodology. | | | | India and engineering costs are quite economical. |
| The Faster.NET Framework in Action: A Case | | | | The savings on development costs were close to |
| Study | | | | 70%. These savings were used to enhance the |
| For a project for which time to market is a | | | | application with new features, providing the |
| critical objective for the customer, HSS evaluates | | | | customer with significant advantages over the |
| the project against its Faster.NET tool set to | | | | competition. |
| determine which tools will be most effective. HSS | | | | Conclusion |
| has measurements for the effectiveness and | | | | HSS is committed to conceiving, developing, and |
| impact of the tools. These measurements enable | | | | implementing internal processes and systems that |
| HSS engineers to determine the most effective | | | | deliver exceptional customer value. The |
| tools to use for a given project. | | | | Faster.NET framework is one example of the |
| As an example, one migration tool enables the | | | | HSS ongoing journey in implementing this |
| company to migrate an existing VB/ASP | | | | commitment. The company's technology-aligned |
| application to .NET with a productivity of 900 to | | | | COEs--using internationally-recognized software |
| 1,000 lines of code per programmer per day. With | | | | development processes--are capable of delivering |
| this measurement, HSS can estimate the length | | | | significant competitive advantages. |
| of time needed to migrate the application. | | | | |