The best web applications do not only focus on features, they focus on clarity. We believe that problems should be fixed through simple solutions. The perfect solution needs to be so simple and transparent you forget it is even there. . . . We believe that every new feature creates additional guesswork. By reducing technical complexity an elegantly minimal feature set clarifies the proposition of your web application and simplifies the experience for the user. Any feature that does not help solve problems for your audience should be thought of as a distraction, an unnecessary obstacle that undermines the value of your web application. Simplifying a design to reduce it’s perceived complexity is not always an easy goal to accomplish because some web applications are built around business processes that are inherently very complex. However, simply because a task is complex does not create an excuse for designing a complex user interface or user experience. We believe in architecting solutions around how much control is truly needed. Truly exceptional user experiences are crafted when complexity is removed whilst the level of power and control is maintained. [More]

It is not a secret that most software projects fail either because they are over budget, late, missing functionality, or a combination. So how do we ensure that your project will be successful? Following the software development best practices is the answer. Following are the software . . . development best practices we utilize at Inspired eSolutions:

1. Development process - It is important to choose the appropriate development lifecycle process for the project at hand because all other activities are derived from the process. We use some type of spiral-based methodology for most of our application development projects instead of a waterfall process that is becoming outdated.
2. Requirements - Gathering and agreeing on requirements is fundamental to a successful project. This does not necessarily imply that all requirements need to be fixed before any architecture, design, and coding are done, but it is important for the development team to understand what needs to be built.
3. Architecture - Choosing the appropriate architecture for your web application is key. By applying well-known industry architecture best practices we make sure that your project gets started on the right track.
4. Design - Even with a good architecture it is still possible to have a bad design. Many applications are either over-designed or under-designed. The basic principles that we follow is "Keep it Simple" and “Use Object Oriented Design”. Our Technology Professionals have extensive knowledge of the Object Oriented Design patterns using various industry standard design tools.
5. Construction of the code - Construction of the code is a fraction of the total project effort, but it is often the most visible. There are many coding best practices that our Technology Professionals utilize, such as 1) always using source control system, 2) doing daily automated build and smoke test, 3) using comments effectively, 4) catching specific exceptions instead of highest level class 'Exception', to name a few.
6. Peer reviews - It is important to review other people's work. Our experience has shown that problems are eliminated earlier this way and reviews are as effective, or even more effective than testing. Any artifact from the development process is reviewed, including plans, requirements, architecture, design, code, and test cases.
7. Testing – At Inspired eSolutions testing is an integral part of software development that takes a lot of planning. Testing should never be an afterthought or cutback when the project schedule gets tight. We learned that to be successful at testing, it needs to be done proactively. That means that test cases are planned before coding starts, and test cases are developed while the application is being designed and coded. We also utilize performance testing that helps in discovering architecture and design defects. We use automated tools that simulate load testing on web application before it is deployed, so that we can uncover performance issues before they become problems.
8. Configuration Management - Configuration Management involves knowing the state of all artifacts that make up your web application, managing the state of those artifacts, and releasing distinct versions of a web application.
9. Quality and Defects Management - It is important to establish quality priorities and release criteria for the project so that a plan is constructed to help the team achieve quality software. As the project is coded and tested, the defect arrival and fix rate will help measure the maturity of the code.
10. Deployment - Deployment is the final stage of releasing an application for users. There are things that can go wrong during deployment phase. At Inspired eSolutions we plan for deployment and use a comprehensive Deployment Checklist to track deployment tasks. We have a staff of experienced Implementation Managers who will guide you through the deployment process and ensure it is successful.
11. Project Management - Project management is key to a successful project. Many of the other best practice areas described above are related to project management and a good project manager is already aware of the existence of these best practices. The good news is that we have top Program and Project Managers that are industry certified and ready to lead our clients’ projects.
12. Measuring Success – We measure our development process against an industry standard known as the Capability Maturity Model (CMM) from the Software Engineering Institute at Carnegie Mellon University. By implementing the best practices described above we ensure a higher maturity level and a successful project.

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While the security of software can be attributed to the technologies chosen or processes followed, eventual accountability is ascribed to the people building it. We believe that the “people” component of security is most crucial in building secure, hack-resilient, and compliant web applications . . . . Secure software development involves many stakeholders at Inspired eSolutions ranging from business analysts, architects, developers, testers, to management. We take responsibility for building secure e-solutions for our clients. While no web applications are 100% secure, they can be designed, developed, and deployed with a secure mindset, factoring in necessary security controls that minimize the likelihood of exposure and the impact if exploited.

Breaches leading to critical situations such as disclosure of customer information, denial of service, and threats to the continuity of business operations can have dire financial consequences. Yet the real cost to the organization will be the loss of customer trust and confidence in the organization’s brand. Such a loss may be irreparable and impossible to quantify in mere monetary terms. Therefore, at Inspired eSolutions the need to protect the brand and customer trust is engraved in the mind of our Technology Professionals. We recognize that we are obligated to protect our clients, which motivate us in creating more secure software. Following are the 10 Commadements of Secure Coding Practices that we follow:

1. Protect the Brand Your Customers Trust
2. Know Your Business and Support it with Secure Solutions
3. Understand the Technology of the Software
4. Ensure Compliance to Governance, Regulations, and Privacy
5. Know the Basic Tenets of Software Security
6. Ensure the Protection of Sensitive Information
7. Design Software with Secure Features
8. Develop Software with Secure Features
9. Deploy Software with Secure Features
10. Educate Yourself and Others on How to Build Secure Software

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Open Source technology is any software where the source code is published. Open Source software offers significant benefits when compared to typical commercial software. As a shorthand, we describe this phenomenon as Quality vs. Features. Commercial products typically favour . . . visible features over harder-to measure qualities such as stability, security, clean design, reliability, maintainability and similar less glamorous attributes. Following are the benefits from the use of Open Source technologies that we provide to our clients:

1. Reliability
2. Stability
3. Auditability
4. Cost
5. Support and Accountability

The Open Source community in general attracts very bright, very motivated developers, who are often very disciplined. In addition, these developers are not part of corporate cultures where the best route to large salaries is to move into management, hence some Open Source developers are amongst the most experienced in the industry. In addition all users of Open Source products have access to the source code and debugging tools, and hence often suggest both bug fixes and enhancements as actual changes to the source code. Consequently the quality of software produced by the Open Source community sometimes exceeds that produced by purely commercial organisations [More]

To get real business results for your organization, we look at your web application in the context of your overall business strategy. First we can help you determine how the behavior of users of your web application relates to your overall business goals. The easiest way to think about user behavior is to ask yourself . . . what you want people to do on your site. We refer to these actions as desired behaviors. Desired behaviors include such things as the paths you want users to take, the marketing initiatives you want them to come into contact with, and the products you want them to buy. The next step is to monetize desired behaviors. In other words, we can help you figure out the value of each behavior to your business. Once we identify and monetize opportunities for improvement, we prioritize them based on financial impact to your organization. [More]