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  • Partner Blog Series: PwC Perspectives - "Is It Time for an Upgrade?"

    - by Tanu Sood
    Is your organization debating their next step with regard to Identity Management? While all the stakeholders are well aware that the one-size-fits-all doesn’t apply to identity management, just as true is the fact that no two identity management implementations are alike. Oracle’s recent release of Identity Governance Suite 11g Release 2 has innovative features such as a customizable user interface, shopping cart style request catalog and more. However, only a close look at the use cases can help you determine if and when an upgrade to the latest R2 release makes sense for your organization. This post will describe a few of the situations that PwC has helped our clients work through. “Should I be considering an upgrade?” If your organization has an existing identity management implementation, the questions below are a good start to assessing your current solution to see if you need to begin planning for an upgrade: Does the current solution scale and meet your projected identity management needs? Does the current solution have a customer-friendly user interface? Are you completely meeting your compliance objectives? Are you still using spreadsheets? Does the current solution have the features you need? Is your total cost of ownership in line with well-performing similar sized companies in your industry? Can your organization support your existing Identity solution? Is your current product based solution well positioned to support your organization's tactical and strategic direction? Existing Oracle IDM Customers: Several existing Oracle clients are looking to move to R2 in 2013. If your organization is on Sun Identity Manager (SIM) or Oracle Identity Manager (OIM) and if your current assessment suggests that you need to upgrade, you should strongly consider OIM 11gR2. Oracle provides upgrade paths to Oracle Identity Manager 11gR2 from SIM 7.x / 8.x as well as Oracle Identity Manager 10g / 11gR1. The following are some of the considerations for migration: Check the end of product support (for Sun or legacy OIM) schedule There are several new features available in R2 (including common Helpdesk scenarios, profiling of disconnected applications, increased scalability, custom connectors, browser-based UI configurations, portability of configurations during future upgrades, etc) Cost of ownership (for SIM customers)\ Customizations that need to be maintained during the upgrade Time/Cost to migrate now vs. waiting for next version If you are already on an older version of Oracle Identity Manager and actively maintaining your support contract with Oracle, you might be eligible for a free upgrade to OIM 11gR2. Check with your Oracle sales rep for more details. Existing IDM infrastructure in place: In the past year and half, we have seen a surge in IDM upgrades from non-Oracle infrastructure to Oracle. If your organization is looking to improve the end-user experience related to identity management functions, the shopping cart style access request model and browser based personalization features may come in handy. Additionally, organizations that have a large number of applications that include ecommerce, LDAP stores, databases, UNIX systems, mainframes as well as a high frequency of user identity changes and access requests will value the high scalability of the OIM reconciliation and provisioning engine. Furthermore, we have seen our clients like OIM's out of the box (OOB) support for multiple authoritative sources. For organizations looking to integrate applications that do not have an exposed API, the Generic Technology Connector framework supported by OIM will be helpful in quickly generating custom connector using OOB wizard. Similarly, organizations in need of not only flexible on-boarding of disconnected applications but also strict access management to these applications using approval flows will find the flexible disconnected application profiling feature an extremely useful tool that provides a high degree of time savings. Organizations looking to develop custom connectors for home grown or industry specific applications will likewise find that the Identity Connector Framework support in OIM allows them to build and test a custom connector independently before integrating it with OIM. Lastly, most of our clients considering an upgrade to OIM 11gR2 have also expressed interest in the browser based configuration feature that allows an administrator to quickly customize the user interface without adding any custom code. Better yet, code customizations, if any, made to the product are portable across the future upgrades which, is viewed as a big time and money saver by most of our clients. Below are some upgrade methodologies we adopt based on client priorities and the scale of implementation. For illustration purposes, we have assumed that the client is currently on Oracle Waveset (formerly Sun Identity Manager).   Integrated Deployment: The integrated deployment is typically where a client wants to split the implementation to where their current IDM is continuing to handle the front end workflows and OIM takes over the back office operations incrementally. Once all the back office operations are moved completely to OIM, the front end workflows are migrated to OIM. Parallel Deployment: This deployment is typically done where there can be a distinct line drawn between which functionality the platforms are supporting. For example the current IDM implementation is handling the password reset functionality while OIM takes over the access provisioning and RBAC functions. Cutover Deployment: A cutover deployment is typically recommended where a client has smaller less complex implementations and it makes sense to leverage the migration tools to move them over immediately. What does this mean for YOU? There are many variables to consider when making upgrade decisions. For most customers, there is no ‘easy’ button. Organizations looking to upgrade or considering a new vendor should start by doing a mapping of their requirements with product features. The recommended approach is to take stock of both the short term and long term objectives, understand product features, future roadmap, maturity and level of commitment from the R&D and build the implementation plan accordingly. As we said, in the beginning, there is no one-size-fits-all with Identity Management. So, arm yourself with the knowledge, engage in industry discussions, bring in business stakeholders and start building your implementation roadmap. In the next post we will discuss the best practices on R2 implementations. We will be covering the Do's and Don't's and share our thoughts on making implementations successful. Meet the Writers: Dharma Padala is a Director in the Advisory Security practice within PwC.  He has been implementing medium to large scale Identity Management solutions across multiple industries including utility, health care, entertainment, retail and financial sectors.   Dharma has 14 years of experience in delivering IT solutions out of which he has been implementing Identity Management solutions for the past 8 years. Scott MacDonald is a Director in the Advisory Security practice within PwC.  He has consulted for several clients across multiple industries including financial services, health care, automotive and retail.   Scott has 10 years of experience in delivering Identity Management solutions. John Misczak is a member of the Advisory Security practice within PwC.  He has experience implementing multiple Identity and Access Management solutions, specializing in Oracle Identity Manager and Business Process Engineering Language (BPEL). Praveen Krishna is a Manager in the Advisory Security practice within PwC.  Over the last decade Praveen has helped clients plan, architect and implement Oracle identity solutions across diverse industries.  His experience includes delivering security across diverse topics like network, infrastructure, application and data where he brings a holistic point of view to problem solving. Jenny (Xiao) Zhang is a member of the Advisory Security practice within PwC.  She has consulted across multiple industries including financial services, entertainment and retail. Jenny has three years of experience in delivering IT solutions out of which she has been implementing Identity Management solutions for the past one and a half years.

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  • What Makes a Good Design Critic? CHI 2010 Panel Review

    - by Applications User Experience
    Author: Daniel Schwartz, Senior Interaction Designer, Oracle Applications User Experience Oracle Applications UX Chief Evangelist Patanjali Venkatacharya organized and moderated an innovative and stimulating panel discussion titled "What Makes a Good Design Critic? Food Design vs. Product Design Criticism" at CHI 2010, the annual ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. The panelists included Janice Rohn, VP of User Experience at Experian; Tami Hardeman, a food stylist; Ed Seiber, a restaurant architect and designer; Jonathan Kessler, a food critic and writer at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution; and Larry Powers, Chef de Cuisine at Shaun's restaurant in Atlanta, Georgia. Building off the momentum of his highly acclaimed panel at CHI 2009 on what interaction design can learn from food design (for which I was on the other side as a panelist), Venkatacharya brought together new people with different roles in the restaurant and software interaction design fields. The session was also quite delicious -- but more on that later. Criticism, as it applies to food and product or interaction design, was the tasty topic for this forum and showed that strong parallels exist between food and interaction design criticism. Figure 1. The panelists in discussion: (left to right) Janice Rohn, Ed Seiber, Tami Hardeman, and Jonathan Kessler. The panelists had great insights to share from their respective fields, and they enthusiastically discussed as if they were at a casual collegial dinner. Jonathan Kessler stated that he prefers to have one professional critic's opinion in general than a large sampling of customers, however, "Web sites like Yelp get users excited by the collective approach. People are attracted to things desired by so many." Janice Rohn added that this collective desire was especially true for users of consumer products. Ed Seiber remarked that while people looked to the popular view for their target tastes and product choices, "professional critics like John [Kessler] still hold a big weight on public opinion." Chef Powers indicated that chefs take in feedback from all sources, adding, "word of mouth is very powerful. We also look heavily at the sales of the dishes to see what's moving; what's selling and thus successful." Hearing this discussion validates our design work at Oracle in that we listen to our users (our diners) and industry feedback (our critics) to ensure an optimal user experience of our products. Rohn considers that restaurateur Danny Meyer's book, Setting the Table: The Transforming Power of Hospitality in Business, which is about creating successful restaurant experiences, has many applicable parallels to user experience design. Meyer actually argues that the customer is not always right, but that "they must always feel heard." Seiber agreed, but noted "customers are not designers," and while designers need to listen to customer feedback, it is the designer's job to synthesize it. Seiber feels it's the critic's job to point out when something is missing or not well-prioritized. In interaction design, our challenges are quite similar, if not parallel. Software tasks are like puzzles that are in search of a solution on how to be best completed. As a food stylist, Tami Hardeman has the demanding and challenging task of presenting food to be as delectable as can be. To present food in its best light requires a lot of creativity and insight into consumer tastes. It's no doubt then that this former fashion stylist came up with the ultimate catch phrase to capture the emotion that clients want to draw from their users: "craveability." The phrase was a hit with the audience and panelists alike. Sometime later in the discussion, Seiber remarked, "designers strive to apply craveability to products, and I do so for restaurants in my case." Craveabilty is also very applicable to interaction design. Creating straightforward and smooth workflows for users of Oracle Applications is a primary goal for my colleagues. We want our users to really enjoy working with our products where it makes them more efficient and better at their jobs. That's our "craveability." Patanjali Venkatacharya asked the panel, "if a design's "craveability" appeals to some cultures but not to others, then what is the impact to the food or product design process?" Rohn stated that "taste is part nature and part nurture" and that the design must take the full context of a product's usage into consideration. Kessler added, "good design is about understanding the context" that the experience necessitates. Seiber remarked how important seat comfort is for diners and how the quality of seating will add so much to the complete dining experience. Sometimes if these non-food factors are not well executed, they can also take away from an otherwise pleasant dining experience. Kessler recounted a time when he was dining at a restaurant that actually had very good food, but the photographs hanging on all the walls did not fit in with the overall décor and created a negative overall dining experience. While the tastiness of the food is critical to a restaurant's success, it is a captivating complete user experience, as in interaction design, which will keep customers coming back and ultimately making the restaurant a hit. Figure 2. Patnajali Venkatacharya enjoyed the Sardian flatbread salad. As a surprise Chef Powers brought out a signature dish from Shaun's restaurant for all the panelists to sample and critique. The Sardinian flatbread dish showcased Atlanta's taste for fresh and local produce and cheese at its finest as a salad served on a crispy flavorful flat bread. Hardeman said it could be photographed from any angle, a high compliment coming from a food stylist. Seiber really enjoyed the colors that the dish brought together and thought it would be served very well in a casual restaurant on a summer's day. The panel really appreciated the taste and quality of the different components and how the rosemary brought all the flavors together. Seiber remarked that "a lot of effort goes into the appearance of simplicity." Rohn indicated that the same notion holds true with software user interface design. A tremendous amount of work goes into crafting straightforward interfaces, including user research, prototyping, design iterations, and usability studies. Design criticism for food and software interfaces clearly share many similarities. Both areas value expert opinions and user feedback. Both areas understand the importance of great design needing to work well in its context. Last but not least, both food and interaction design criticism value "craveability" and how having users excited about experiencing and enjoying the designs is an important goal. Now if we can just improve the taste of software user interfaces, people may choose to dine on their enterprise applications over a fresh organic salad.

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  • Getting your bearings and defining the project objective

    - by johndoucette
    I wrote this two years ago and thought it was worth posting… Some may think this is a daunting task and some may even say “what a waste of time” and want to open MS Project and start typing out tasks because someone asked for an estimate and a task list. Hell, maybe you even use Excel and pump out a spreadsheet with some real scientific formula for guessing how long it will take to code a bunch of classes. However, this short exercise will provide the basis for the entire project, whether small or large and be a great friend when communicating to anyone on your team or even your client. I call this the Project Brief. If you find yourself going beyond a single page, then you must decompose the sections and summarize your findings so there is a complete and clear picture of the project you are working on in a relatively short statement. Here is a great quote from the PMBOK (Project Management Body of Knowledge) relative to what a project is;   A project is a temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product, service or result. With this in mind, the project brief should encompass the entirety (objective) of the endeavor in its explanation and what it will take (goals) to create the product, service or result (deliverables). Normally the process of identifying the project objective is done during the first stage of a project called the Project Kickoff, but you can perform this very important step anytime to help you get a bearing. There are many more parts to helping a project stay on course, but this is usually the foundation where it can be grounded on. Through a series of 3 exercises, you should be able to come up with the objective, goals and deliverables on your project. Follow these steps, and in no time (about &frac12; hour), you will have the foundation of your project plan. (See examples below) Exercise 1 – Objectives Begin with the end in mind. Think about your project in business terms with a couple things to help you understand the objective; Reference the business benefit in terms of cost, speed and / or quality, Provide a higher level of what the outcome will look like (future sense) It should be non-measurable, that’s what the goals are all about The output should be a single paragraph with three sentences and take 10 minutes to write. *Typically, agreement must be reached on the objectives of the project before you would proceed to the next steps of the project. Exercise 2 – Goals A project goal is a statement that answers questions about who, what, why, where and when. A good project goal statement; Answers the five “W” questions for the project Is measurable in each of its parts Is published and agreed on by all the owners This helps the Project Manager receive confirmation on defining the project target. Using the established project objective done in the first exercise, think about the things it will take to get the job done. Think about tangible activities which are the top level tasks in a typical Work Breakdown Structure (WBS). The overall goal statement plus all the deliverables (next exercise) can be seen as the project team’s contract with the project owners. Write 3 - 5 goals in about 10 minutes. You should not write the words “Who, what, why, where and when, but merely be able to answer the questions when you read a goal. Exercise 3 – Deliverables Every project creates some type of output and these outputs are called deliverables. There are two classes of deliverables; Internal – produced for project team members to meet their goals External – produced for project owners to meet their expectations The list you enter here provides a checklist for the team’s delivery and/or is a statement of all the expectations of the project owners. Here are some typical project deliverables; Product and product documentation End product/system Requirements/feature documents Installation guides Demo/prototype System design documents User guides/help files Plans Project plan Training plan Conversion/installation/delivery plan Test plans Documentation plan Communication plan Reports and general documentation Progress reports System acceptance tests Outstanding bug list Procedures Risk and issue logs Project history Deliverables should go with each of the goals. Have 3-5 deliverables for each goal. When you are done, you will have established a great foundation for the clarity of your project. This exercise can take some time, but with practice, you should be able to whip this one out in 10 minutes as well, especially if you are intimate with an ongoing project. Samples  Objective [Client] is implementing a series of MOSS sites to support external public (Internet), internal employee (Intranet) and an external secure (password protected Internet) applications. This project will focus on the public-facing web site and will provide [Client] with architectural recommendations based on the current design being done by their design partner [Partner] and the internal Content Team. In addition, it will provide [Client] with a development plan and confidence they need to deploy a world class public Internet website. Goals 1.  [Consultant] will provide technical guidance and set project team expectations for the implementation of the MOSS Internet site based on provided features/functions within three weeks. 2.  [Consultant] will understand phase 2 secure password-protected Internet site design and provide recommendations.   Deliverables 1.1  Public Internet (unsecure) Architectural Recommendation Plan 1.2  Physical Site construction Work Breakdown Structure and plan (Time, cost and resources needed) 2.1  Two Factor authentication recommendation document   Objective [Client] is currently using an application developed by [Consultant] many years ago called "XXX". This application, although functional, does not meet their new updated business requirements and contains a few defects which [Client] has developed work-around processes. [Client] would like to have a "new and improved" system to support their membership management needs by expanding membership and subscription capabilities, provide accounting integration with internal (GL) and external (VeriSign) systems, and implement hooks to the current CRM solution. This effort will take place through a series of phases, beginning with envisioning. Goals 1. Through discussions with users, [Consultant] will discover current issues/bugs which need to be resolved which must meet the current functionality requirements within three weeks. 2. [Consultant] will gather requirements from the users about what is "needed" vs. "what they have" for enhancements and provide a high level document supporting their needs. 3. [Consultant] will meet with the team members through a series of meetings and help define the overall project plan to deliver a new and improved solution. Deliverables 1.1 Prioritized list of Current application issues/bugs that need to be resolved 1.2 Provide a resolution plan on the issues/bugs identified in the current application 1.3 Risk Assessment Document 2.1 Deliver a Requirements Document showing high-level [Client] needs for the new XXX application. · New feature functionality not in the application today · Existing functionality that will remain in the new functionality 2.2 Reporting Requirements Document 3.1 A Project Plan showing the deliverables and cost for the next (second) phase of this project. 3.2 A Statement of Work for the next (second) phase of this project. 3.3 An Estimate of any work that would need to follow the second phase.

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  • “It’s only test code…”

    - by Chris George
    “Let me hack this in, it’s only test code”, “Don’t worry about getting it reviewed, it’s only test code”, “It doesn’t have to be elegant or efficient, it’s only test code”… do these phrases sound familiar? Chances are if you’ve working with test automation, at one point or other you will have heard these phrases, you have probably even used them yourself! What is certain is that code written under this “it’s only test code” mantra will come back and bite you in the arse! I’ve recently encountered a case where a test was giving a false positive, therefore hiding a real product bug because that test code was very badly written. Firstly it was very difficult to understand what the test was actually trying to achieve let alone how it was doing it, and this complexity masked a simple logic error. These issues are real and they do happen. Let’s take a step back from this and look at what we are trying to do. We are writing test code that tests product code, and we do this to create a suite of tests that will help protect our software against regressions. This test code is making sure that the product behaves as it should by employing some sort of expected result verification. The simple cases of these are generally not a problem. However, automation allows us to explore more complex scenarios in many more permutations. As this complexity increases then so does the complexity of the test code. It is at this point that code which has not been architected properly will cause problems.   Keep your friends close… So, how do we make sure we are doing it right? The development teams I have worked on have always had Test Engineers working very closely with their Software Engineers. This is something that I have always tried to take full advantage of. They are coding experts! So run your ideas past them, ask for advice on how to structure your code, help you design your data structures. This may require a shift in your teams viewpoint, as contrary to this section title and folklore, Software Engineers are not actually the mortal enemy of Test Engineers. As time progresses, and test automation becomes more and more ingrained in what we do, the two roles are converging more than ever. Over the 16 years I have spent as a Test Engineer, I have seen the grey area between the two roles grow significantly larger. This serves to strengthen the relationship and common bond between the two roles which helps to make test code activities so much easier!   Pair for the win Possibly the best thing you could do to write good test code is to pair program on the task. This will serve a few purposes. you will get the benefit of the Software Engineers knowledge and experience the Software Engineer will gain knowledge on the testing process. Sharing the love is a wonderful thing! two pairs of eyes are always better than one… And so are two brains. Between the two of you, I will guarantee you will derive more useful test cases than if it was just one of you.   Code reviews Another policy which certainly pays dividends is the practice of code reviews. By having one of your peers review your code before you commit it serves two purposes. Firstly, it forces you to explain your code. Just the act of doing this will often pick up errors in your code. Secondly, it gets yet another pair of eyes on your code! I cannot stress enough how important code reviews are. The benefits they offer apply as much to product code as test code. In short, Software and Test Engineers should all be doing them! It can be extended even further by getting test code reviewed by a Software Engineer and a Test Engineer, and likewise product code. This serves to keep both functions in the loop with changes going on within your code base.   Learn from your devs I briefly touched on this earlier but I’d like to go into more detail here. Pairing with your Software Engineers when writing your test code is such an amazing opportunity to improve your coding skills. As I sit here writing this article waiting to be called into court for jury service, it reminds me that it takes a lot of patience to be a Test Engineer, almost as much as it takes to be a juror! However tempting it is to go rushing in and start writing your automated tests, resist that urge. Discuss what you want to achieve then talk through the approach you’re going to take. Then code it up together. I find it really enlightening to ask questions like ‘is there a better way to do this?’ Or ‘is this how you would code it?’ The latter question, especially, is where I learn the most. I’ve found that most Software Engineers will be reluctant to show you the ‘right way’ to code something when writing tests because they perceive the ‘right way’ to be too complicated for the Test Engineer (e.g. not mentioning LINQ and instead doing something verbose). So by asking how THEY would code it, it unleashes their true dev-ness and advanced code usually ensues! I would like to point out, however, that you don’t have to accept their method as the final answer. On numerous occasions I have opted for the more simple/verbose solution because I found the code written by the Software Engineer too advanced and therefore I would find it unreadable when I return to the code in a months’ time! Always keep the target audience in mind when writing clever code, and in my case that is mostly Test Engineers.  

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  • Delight and Excite

    - by Applications User Experience
    Mick McGee, CEO & President, EchoUser Editor’s Note: EchoUser is a User Experience design firm in San Francisco and a member of the Oracle Usability Advisory Board. Mick and his staff regularly consult on Oracle Applications UX projects. Being part of a user experience design firm, we have the luxury of working with a lot of great people across many great companies. We get to help people solve their problems.  At least we used to. The basic design challenge is still the same; however, the goal is not necessarily to solve “problems” anymore; it is, “I want our products to delight and excite!” The question for us as UX professionals is how to design to those goals, and then how to assess them from a usability perspective. I’m not sure where I first heard “delight and excite” (A book? blog post? Facebook  status? Steve Jobs quote?), but now I hear these listed as user experience goals all the time. In particular, somewhat paradoxically, I routinely hear them in enterprise software conversations. And when asking these same enterprise companies what will make the project successful, we very often hear, “Make it like Apple.” In past days, it was “make it like Yahoo (or Amazon or Google“) but now Apple is the common benchmark. Steve Jobs and Apple were not secrets, but with Jobs’ passing and Apple becoming the world’s most valuable company in the last year, the impact of great design and experience is suddenly very widespread. In particular, users’ expectations have gone way up. Being an enterprise company is no shield to the general expectations that users now have, for all products. Designing a “Minimum Viable Product” The user experience challenge has historically been, to echo the words of Eric Ries (author of Lean Startup) , to create a “minimum viable product”: the proverbial, “make it good enough”. But, in our profession, the “minimum viable” part of that phrase has oftentimes, unfortunately, referred to the design and user experience. Technology typically dominated the focus of the biggest, most successful companies. Few have had the laser focus of Apple to also create and sell design and user experience alongside great technology. But now that Apple is the most valuable company in the world, copying their success is a common undertaking. Great design is now a premium offering that everyone wants, from the one-person startup to the largest companies, consumer and enterprise. This emerging business paradigm will have significant impact across the user experience design process and profession. One area that particularly interests me is, how are we going to evaluate these new emerging “delight and excite” experiences, which are further customized to each particular domain? How to Measure “Delight and Excite” Traditional usability measures of task completion rate, assists, time, and errors are still extremely useful in many situations; however, they are too blunt to offer much insight into emerging experiences “Satisfaction” is usually assessed in user testing, in roughly equivalent importance to the above objective metrics. Various surveys and scales have provided ways to measure satisfying UX, with whatever questions they include. However, to meet the demands of new business goals and keep users at the center of design and development processes, we have to explore new methods to better capture custom-experience goals and emotion-driven user responses. We have had success assessing custom experiences, including “delight and excite”, by employing a variety of user testing methods that tend to combine formative and summative techniques (formative being focused more on identifying usability issues and ways to improve design, and summative focused more on metrics). Our most successful tool has been one we’ve been using for a long time, Magnitude Estimation Technique (MET). But it’s not necessarily about MET as a measure, rather how it is created. Caption: For one client, EchoUser did two rounds of testing.  Each test was a mix of performing representative tasks and gathering qualitative impressions. Each user participated in an in-person moderated 1-on-1 session for 1 hour, using a testing set-up where they held the phone. The primary goal was to identify usability issues and recommend design improvements. MET is based on a definition of the desired experience, which users will then use to rate items of interest (usually tasks in a usability test). In other words, a custom experience definition needs to be created. This can then be used to measure satisfaction in accomplishing tasks; “delight and excite”; or anything else from strategic goals, user demands, or elsewhere. For reference, our standard MET definition in usability testing is: “User experience is your perception of how easy to use, well designed and productive an interface is to complete tasks.” Articulating the User Experience We’ve helped construct experience definitions for several clients to better match their business goals. One example is a modification of the above that was needed for a company that makes medical-related products: “User experience is your perception of how easy to use, well-designed, productive and safe an interface is for conducting tasks. ‘Safe’ is how free an environment (including devices, software, facilities, people, etc.) is from danger, risk, and injury.” Another example is from a company that is pushing hard to incorporate “delight” into their enterprise business line: “User experience is your perception of a product’s ease of use and learning, satisfaction and delight in design, and ability to accomplish objectives.” I find the last one particularly compelling in that there is little that identifies the experience as being for a highly technical enterprise application. That definition could easily be applied to any number of consumer products. We have gone further than the above, including “sexy” and “cool” where decision-makers insisted they were part of the desired experience. We also applied it to completely different experiences where the “interface” was, for example, riding public transit, the “tasks” were train rides, and we followed the participants through the train-riding journey and rated various aspects accordingly: “A good public transportation experience is a cost-effective way of reliably, conveniently, and safely getting me to my intended destination on time.” To construct these definitions, we’ve employed both bottom-up and top-down approaches, depending on circumstances. For bottom-up, user inputs help dictate the terms that best fit the desired experience (usually by way of cluster and factor analysis). Top-down depends on strategic, visionary goals expressed by upper management that we then attempt to integrate into product development (e.g., “delight and excite”). We like a combination of both approaches to push the innovation envelope, but still be mindful of current user concerns. Hopefully the idea of crafting your own custom experience, and a way to measure it, can provide you with some ideas how you can adapt your user experience needs to whatever company you are in. Whether product-development or service-oriented, nearly every company is ultimately providing a user experience. The Bottom Line Creating great experiences may have been popularized by Steve Jobs and Apple, but I’ll be honest, it’s a good feeling to be moving from “good enough” to “delight and excite,” despite the challenge that entails. In fact, it’s because of that challenge that we will expand what we do as UX professionals to help deliver and assess those experiences. I’m excited to see how we, Oracle, and the rest of the industry will live up to that challenge.

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  • Preparing yourself for Code challenges

    - by Daniel Fath
    Just a few days ago I discovered Codility, and I tried their challenges. And I must say. I got my behind handed to me on a platter. I'm not sure what the problem was, but I'll lick my wounds and wait for the solution to come out and compare it with my own. In the meantime, I want to get ready for the next challenge so I'm reading their previous blog posts and seeing how to solve their previous problems. There are a lot of new things I haven't heard about like (Cartesian trees, various sort algorithms, etc.) So, how does one prepare for such challenges (especially the O(x) time and space complexity). What should I read to prepare for such a task?

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  • Post data to MVC3 controller without pagerefresh

    - by Smooth
    I have this script that basically has 4 select boxes, what I want is that for the 2 top select boxes, he submits the optionvalue that is selected to an action (which can be found at "ProductKoppeling/ProductKoppelingPartial"), I want to let him submit this data when I click on an option but without page refresh. I tried JSON and I tried Ajax, but I didn't get it working.. How should i do this? <script language="javascript" type="text/javascript"> function delete_1() { var answer = confirm("U staat op het punt dit product te verwijderen, wilt u doorgaan?") if (answer) { document.getElementById('Actie_1').value = '5'; document.getElementById('hpg_submit').submit(); } } function delete_2() { var answer = confirm("U staat op het punt dit product te verwijderen, wilt u doorgaan?") if (answer) { document.getElementById('Actie_2').value = '6'; document.getElementById('pg_submit').submit(); } } function delete_3() { var answer = confirm("U staat op het punt dit product te verwijderen, wilt u doorgaan?") if (answer) { document.getElementById('Actie_3').value = '6'; document.getElementById('p_submit').submit(); } } </script> <div style="width: 500px; float: left;"> @using (Html.BeginForm("ProductKoppelingPartial", "ProductKoppeling", FormMethod.Post, new { id = "onload_submit" })) { @Html.DropDownList("Klant.Id", (ViewBag.Klant as SelectList), new { onchange = "document.getElementById('onload_submit').submit()" }) } <div style="clear: both"></div> <div style="float: left;"> <b>Hoofdgroepen</b><br /> @using (Html.BeginForm("ProductKoppelingPartial", "ProductKoppeling", FormMethod.Post, new { id = "hpg_submit" })) { if (ViewBag.SelectedKlant != null) { <input type="hidden" name="Klant.Id" value="@ViewBag.SelectedKlant.Id" /> } <select style="width: 200px;" size="6" id="HoofdProductGroep" name="HoofdProductGroep.Id" onchange="document.getElementById('hpg_submit').submit();"> @foreach (var hpg in ViewBag.HoofdProductGroep) { if (ViewBag.SelectedHPG != null) { if (hpg.Id == ViewBag.SelectedHPG.Id) { <option value="@hpg.Id" selected="selected">@hpg.Naam</option> } else { <option value="@hpg.Id">@hpg.Naam</option> } } else { <option value="@hpg.Id">@hpg.Naam</option> } } </select> <input type="hidden" name="Actie" id="Actie_1" value="0" /> <br /> <img src="../../Content/toevoegen.png" style="cursor: pointer; width: 30px;" onclick="document.getElementById('Actie_1').value='1';document.getElementById('hpg_submit').submit();" /> <img src="../../Content/bewerken.png" style="cursor: pointer; float: none; width: 30px;" onclick="document.getElementById('Actie_1').value='2';document.getElementById('hpg_submit').submit();" /> <img src="../../Content/verwijderen.png" style="cursor: pointer; float: none; width: 30px;" onclick="delete_1()" /> } </div> <div style="float: right;"> <b>Groepen</b><br /> @using (Html.BeginForm("ProductKoppelingPartial", "ProductKoppeling", FormMethod.Post, new { id = "pg_submit" })) { if (ViewBag.SelectedHPG != null) { <input type="hidden" name="HoofdProductGroep.Id" value="@ViewBag.SelectedHPG.Id" /> } if (ViewBag.SelectedKlant != null) { <input type="hidden" name="Klant.Id" value="@ViewBag.SelectedKlant.Id" /> } <select size="6" style="width: 200px;" id="ProductGroep_Id" name="ProductGroep.Id" onchange="document.getElementById('pg_submit').submit();"> @foreach (var pg in ViewBag.ProductGroep) { if (ViewBag.SelectedPG != null) { if (pg.Id == ViewBag.SelectedPG.Id) { <option value="@pg.Id" selected="selected">@pg.Naam</option> } else { <option value="@pg.Id">@pg.Naam</option> } } else { <option value="@pg.Id">@pg.Naam</option> } } </select> <input type="hidden" name="Actie" id="Actie_2" value="0" /> <br /> <img src="../../Content/toevoegen.png" style="cursor: pointer; width: 30px;" onclick="document.getElementById('Actie_2').value='3';document.getElementById('pg_submit').submit();" /> <img src="../../Content/bewerken.png" style="cursor: pointer; float: none; width: 30px;" onclick="document.getElementById('Actie_2').value='4';document.getElementById('pg_submit').submit();" /> <img src="../../Content/verwijderen.png" style="cursor: pointer; float: none; width: 30px;" onclick="delete_2()" /> } </div> <div style="clear: both; height: 25px;"></div> @using (Html.BeginForm("Save", "ProductKoppeling", FormMethod.Post, new { id = "p_submit" })) { <div style="float: left"> <b>Producten</b><br /> <select size="18" style="width: 200px;" name="Product.Id"> @foreach (var p in ViewBag.Product) { <option value="@p.Id">@p.Naam</option> } </select> @if (ViewBag.SelectedPG != null) { if (ViewBag.SelectedPG.Id != null) { <input type="hidden" name="ProductGroep.Id" value="@ViewBag.SelectedPG.Id" /> } } <input type="hidden" name="Actie" id="Actie_3" value="0" /> <br /> <img src="../../Content/toevoegen.png" style="cursor: pointer; width: 30px;" onclick="document.getElementById('Actie_3').value='1';document.getElementById('p_submit').submit();" /> <img src="../../Content/bewerken.png" style="cursor: pointer; float: none; width: 30px;" onclick="document.getElementById('Actie_3').value='2';document.getElementById('p_submit').submit();" /> <img src="../../Content/verwijderen.png" style="cursor: pointer; float: none; width: 30px;" onclick="delete_3()" /> <br /> </div> <div style="float: left; width: 100px;"> <center> <br /><br /><br /><br /> <a style="cursor: pointer; float: none; color: blue; font-size: 30px;" onclick="document.getElementById('p_submit').submit();">»</a> <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> <a style="cursor: pointer; float: none; color: blue; font-size: 30px;" onclick="document.getElementById('pgp_submit').submit();">«</a> </center> </div> } <div style="float: right;"> <b>Producten in groepen</b><br /> @using (Html.BeginForm("Delete", "ProductKoppeling", FormMethod.Post, new { id = "pgp_submit" })) { <select size="18" style="width: 200px;" name="ProductGroepProduct.Id"> @foreach (var pgp in ViewBag.ProductGroepProduct) { if (pgp != null) { if (pgp.Product != null) { <option value="@pgp.Id">@pgp.Product.Naam</option> } } } </select> } </div>

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  • Silent install of Office 2010 w/Visio and Project

    - by Dan
    Is there a way to silent install Office 2010 Pro Plus with Visio 2010 Premium and Project 2010 Pro all at the same time? I've configured the msp's for each individual product and when I have the install directories all in the same folder, running setup.exe brings up a dialog asking me to choose which product to install. I want it to automatically install all three products as soon as setup.exe is launched. Any ideas?

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  • 301 Redirect and query strings

    - by icelizard
    I am looking to create a 301 redirect based purely on a query string see b OLD URL: olddomain.com/?pc=/product/9999 New URL: newurl.php?var=yup My normal way of doing this would be redirect 301 pc=/product/9999 newurl.php?var=yup But this time I am trying to match a URL that that only contains the domain and a query string... What is the best way of doing this? Thanks

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  • I want to buy Acer AspireRevo to use as an HTPC

    - by Adnan
    Is this a good config to use? http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002O3W44Q/ref=s9_simz_gw_s0_p147_t1?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-2&pf_rd_r=1FN9CDZKMJF31SBT8QVX&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=470938631&pf_rd_i=507846 I plan to install Boxee beta on it and use it for Netflix, movies, photos and music, as well as some light internet browsing. For those who are familiar with this product, does HD work well on it?

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  • Does ArchLinux running on PogoPlug boxes support Tenda W311MI Wireless N Pico Adapter?

    - by MauricioOtta
    I've did my homework and since cabling is an issue, I'm planning on going wireless. Can anyone confirm these http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833555011 work on Linux? I've found this page http://www.wikidevi.com/wiki/Tenda_W311MI and found that Ralink rt27xx/rt28xx/rt30xx (USB) support in the kernel supports RT2770, RT2870 & RT3070, RT3071 & RT3072. So I'm buying this and reporting back after I receive them

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  • Where can I buy a good rackmount workstation?

    - by yan bellavance
    We have a product which consists of a GUI program and all the hardware goes in a rack. Our department bought a rackmount server for the first unit, but I dont think this is adequate for applications that use graphics (correct me if I'm wrong - we bought a Dell R710). Could you tell me of a good rackmount workstation we could buy for our product? Also, would it be risky for us to build our own rackmount?

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  • Good Wireless Range Extender

    - by Joseph Sturtevant
    Can anyone recommend a good wireless (802.11g) range extender? I would like to find something that will provide reliable wireless to areas of the building that aren't covered or get poor reception. I would also like a product that won't require big changes to my current wireless setup (multiple APs with a wireless controller are out). Latency and bandwidth aren't terribly important. Does anyone have experience with a product like this?

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  • VMware or Xen support for AIX on pSeries architecture

    - by A.Rashad
    I tried to find an explicit confirmation on VMware website if there is any chance we could virtualize AIX running on pSeriese architecture (P5, P6 and P7), but in vain. so far we have only one product available which is PowerVM (IBM Product) but we are trying to find alternative solutions to evaluate pros and cons before taking any action. Even Xen mentions the support for Power PC but for Linux not AIX. I hope someone could give an insight on this matter.

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  • What are the best browser based administration tools for Linux?

    - by Kevin Kuphal
    Looking for recommendations the best comprehensive browser based administration tool for administering a Linux machine. Ideally this would be distribution agnostic. This could also be an "appliance" type product that would administer multiple machines on network. This is marked community wiki. Give your answer preferably one product per answer and vote up packages that you recommend also.

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  • Windows keyboard macro playback software?

    - by WilliamKF
    Many years ago, I had a product called Quickeys for the Macintosh that allowed me to record keyboard and mouse events and create a macro that could be assigned to a keyboard accelerator. This was a really useful tool, but I haven't seen anything like it ever on Microsoft Windows OS platform. Does such a product exist?

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  • What anti-virus & firewall (with IDS) should I use for a windows server machine?

    - by Eran Betzalel
    I want one product to cover for Anti-virus & Firewall purposes. The product should also be lightweight and of course designed for windows server. Any suggestions? Note: I don't need an enterprise solution for the clients - only for the server. BTW, I currently using Symantec SEP, but it's too heavy (during weekly scans) for the server to handle and is not designed for server purposes.

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  • grouping two sites under domain and sub domain

    - by Dave
    I have 2 websites a main website hosted at fasthosts and an e-commerce website hosted at Vidahost. I want to combine both websites under the same domain set. Main site would be www.mydomain.com Store site would be shop.mydomain.com I want to keep the directory path showing on the shop subdomain so what was previously www.mystore.com/product/hat would become shop.mydomain.com/product/hat How can I accomplish this, have already created the subdomain on fasthosts and setup web forwarding to the store but the directory paths do not show.

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  • wireless usb hub with the hub on the computer side - does this exist?

    - by Mala
    Hi I'm looking for what is effectively a wireless usb hub, but where the "hubbing" part takes place on the computer-side. In other words, something like this: http://www.iogear.com/product/GUWH104KIT/ Except rather than all four "terminating" slots being connected, having 4 small "wireless terminals" so that the devices can be placed all over a room instead of all within reach of the wireless usb hub Does such a product exist? Thanks!

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  • Toggle-able USB hub with more than one input and output?

    - by user74757
    I recently came across this product: http://ppa-usa.com/shared-network-hub-4-port-usb.html The only problem is, this is nearly opposite of what I need. Ideally, I'm looking for a USB hub-like device that can accept at least two devices for input, and toggle those two devices between at least 2 PC's. The hub linked above appears to be only able to accept one device. Does anyone know of such a product?

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  • Are there freezing issues with the Seagate Barracuda ST31500341AS anymore?

    - by Neil
    I found this hard drive on NewEgg: Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 ST31500341AS 1.5TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive (bare drive) - OEM http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148337 And there are quite a few substantial bad reviews about the drive freezing periodically. If you search for a bit, you can find several forums with people having problems, but of course forums don't get updated when resolutions to those problems are found. I'm just wondering, does anyone know what the final verdict regarding the freezing issue with these hard drives is?

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