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QUESTIONSto ask before embarking on your next
business application project11
The enterprise checklist for app development
eBook by
Will your requirements change?2
How are your users considered?3
How to include your eco-system?4
Do you rely on others?5
When will you need your next app?6
Enterprise Apps or Website?7
How do I deploy the app quickly?8
Mobile – what about the back-end?9
How to ensure great user experience?10
Build or Buy?1
How does IT know what’s going on?11
Are there solutions available that are industry standard and work for you and your competitors equally well?
Determine what processes and assets make your company di�erent.
Build OR Buy?
1
Self - Assessment
� What makes you di�erent?
� How you support your customers?
� How you manage your supply chain?
� What information you have available?
� How you price your products or services?
� How you sell your products or services?
� How you deliver your products or services?
� How you communicate with your customers and partners?
11 Questions to ask before building enterprise apps // 3
Build AND Buy
1
Buy packaged applications to automate processes that are the same across your industry.
Build the applications for things that differentiate your company from your competitors.
Self - Assessment
� What makes you di�erent?
� How you support your customers?
� How you manage your supply chain?
� What information you have available?
� How you price your products or services?
� How you sell your products or services?
� How you deliver your products or services?
� How you communicate with your customers and partners?
11 Questions to ask before building enterprise apps // 4
2
Business, competition, politics, people, markets – even the weather impacts companies in unforeseeable ways.
What does this mean for enterprise applications? How do you prepare for change?
Will your requirements change?
Self - Assessment
� Do you expect your business or market conditions to change?
� Do you have all your user requirements solidly defined?
� Can you implement all requirements in one single phase?
� Will your users ever change their minds?
� Do you have requirements from di�erent user types, locations and business units covered?
� Have you built this type of application before?
11 Questions to ask before building enterprise apps // 5
2
Change is the normVisualize requirements in a way that is easy for
the user to understand.
Deploy and review changes often.
Expect and embrace change. Implement a platform that
allows for making changes easily and quickly.
Combine requirements documentation and
development.
11 Questions to ask before building enterprise apps // 6
3
One of the most cited reasons for failed projects in enterprise software is the lack of user involvement and the inability to respond to changing needs.
How are your users considered?
Self - Assessment
� Are users part of the entire process?
� Can users see results early and often?
� Can users provide feedback easily?
� Can you turn around feedback quickly?
� Can users change their mind?
11 Questions to ask before building enterprise apps // 7
3
Involve users every step of the way
11 Questions to ask before building enterprise apps // 8
Don’t expect perfect and complete requirements –
anticipate change.
Show step-by-step results early and often.
Identify key users and stakeholders at the
beginning of a project.
4
Companies rely on a multitude of systems to manage their business and automate many processes.
Many systems have been around for years and are running established back-end processes.
However they often do not support the changing needs of the business and users.
How to include your eco-system?
Self - Assessment
� Do you rely on data from other systems?
� Will other systems rely on input from the new app?
� Are multiple systems part of a combined workflow?
� How do you integrate?
� Are there any other technologies needed to enable integration?
11 Questions to ask before building enterprise apps // 9
4
You are not alone
11 Questions to ask before building enterprise apps // 10
Anticipate integration with other systems that are part of the user workflow.
Opt for flexible integration options that expose data without moving it between databases.
5
Some systems rely solely on services provided and orchestrated by other systems.
While it is efficient to re-use and integrate with existing data and functionality, most enterprise systems are needed to create and manage significant data and processes.
Do you rely on others?
Self - Assessment
� What type of data will your app need from other systems?
� Will external data be combined with data created in your new app?
� Will users of the new app need to create or manipulate data?
� Are the external systems ready to provide the web services you need?
11 Questions to ask before building enterprise apps // 11
5
Stand on yourown feet
11 Questions to ask before building enterprise apps // 12
Make sure you have an environment where you can build and manage
your own data.
If you solely rely on other systems and services it is typically impossible to respond to user requirements quickly and efficiently as a simple request will lead to a new project by another team.
6
Businesses require new apps all the time, as the business moves forward and responds to market needs, competition and technical advances.
When will you need your next app?
Self - Assessment
� Am I the only one that needs an app?
� After a quick and successful implementation will my users ask for more?
� Will we need similar type of apps in other departments or business units?
11 Questions to ask before building enterprise apps // 13
6
Get ready for an App World
11 Questions to ask before building enterprise apps // 14
Establish a platform on which building apps is
purely a business decision and not a technical
exploration.
Businesses will require more apps on an ongoing basis to innovate, support growth, increase efficiency and take advantage of market opportunity.
7
Do I want to have an informational intranet or document management system, or do I actually want to collect, track, automate and analyze complex processes with significant amounts of data.
Enterprise Apps or Website?
Self - Assessment
� Do you have to collect, store process and analyze data?
� Do you have to integrate with other systems?
� Do you want to be able to customize processes and workflow?
� Do you need to respond to business changes quickly?
11 Questions to ask before building enterprise apps // 15
7
Websites are not Enterprise Apps
11 Questions to ask before building enterprise apps // 16
Why not start with Sharepoint or another
document based tool that’s already in-house?
Businesses need to collect, track, automate and analyze
complex processes with huge amounts of data.
Document based systems are a costly dead end.
Self - Assessment
� Do you have to collect, store process and analyze data?
� Do you have to integrate with other systems?
� Do you want to be able to customize processes and workflow?
� Do you need to respond to business changes quickly?
8
Deployment issues are the hidden, and underestimated cost and drag on many projects.
How do I deploy the app quickly?
Self - Assessment
� Where will this app be deployed?
� Who will be responsible for infrastructure?
� What’s the purchasing lead time?
� What if we don’t know the expected load?
� What if we need multiple test environments?
� What if usage changes quickly?
� Who will maintain and manage deployment over the long run?
11 Questions to ask before building enterprise apps // 17
8
Take deployment out of the equation
11 Questions to ask before building enterprise apps // 18
Adopt a platform so that deploying an app is like
plugging an appliance into a power outlet.
Deployment issues should not slow down any project or even be something an app development team should be concerned with.
Self - Assessment
� Where will this app be deployed?
� Who will be responsible for infrastructure?
� What’s the purchasing lead time?
� What if we don’t know the expected load?
� What if we need multiple test environments?
� What if usage changes quickly?
� Who will maintain and manage deployment over the long run?
9
Mobile apps don’t live on an island in the enterprise.
They are a growing and increasingly important part of workflows and business processes across a company.
Mobile – what about the back-end?
Self - Assessment
� How do I manage back-end data maintenance and reporting for mobile apps?
� Do my mobile apps integrate with other enterprise systems?
� How many di�erent types of devices do I need to support?
� How do I include activities from mobile apps in other workflow and processes?
� How do I manage change as my business processes change?
� Do I have to treat deployment di�erently for mobile apps?
11 Questions to ask before building enterprise apps // 19
Deployment issues should not slow down any project or even be something an app development team should be concerned with.
9
Make Mobile part of the plan
11 Questions to ask before building enterprise apps // 20
Mobile apps are part of your company’s application landscape. They need to be managed, integrate and interact with other applications - just like all other applications.
Design for a great mobile user experience but
manage as part of your integrated app landscape.
10
In a world where users are experiencing more and easier to use apps than ever in their personal lives, expectations for the user experience of enterprise apps have grown exponentially.
How to ensure great user experience?
Self - Assessment
� Will customers, prospects or partners interact with the app?
� Are you concerned how your app will reflect on your company’s brand image?
� Will your users compare this app to apps they have used on their home computer or smart phone?
� Are users complaining about lost productivity by old, outdated systems?
� Are your users interacting with others?
� Will users trigger tasks or activities for other users, customers or partners?
11 Questions to ask before building enterprise apps // 21
10
User experience is more than UI
11 Questions to ask before building enterprise apps // 22
User experience is not only a great looking UI, but also the simplicity of use, the match to requirements, integration of feedback and the ability to respond to change requests by users quickly and easily.
At the end of the day, the user experience of an application often determines the success or failure of a project.
11
IT teams serve a key role in organizations not only as technology innovators but also safeguarding mission critical intellectual property, ensuring compliance with regulation and enabling efficient and state-of-the-art operations.
How does IT know what’s going on?
Self - Assessment
� Is everything being backed-up?
� Who has access to what?
� What if the sole developer of an application leaves the company?
� What password policies do we have in place?
� What if we need more processing, storage or bandwidth capacity?
� What infrastructure software is in place – is it up-to-date?
11 Questions to ask before building enterprise apps // 23
11
IT control and business flexibility
11 Questions to ask before building enterprise apps // 24
With an applicationplatform IT can ensure the
necessary infrastructure standards, security and compliance, while enabling the business to build,
deploy and integrate what it needs quickly and efficiently.
Mendix is the app platform company for the enterprise. We enable companies to build,
integrate and deploy web and mobile applications faster and with better results,
effectively driving ROI in days not months. Learn more, join our user community and get
started for free at
now.mendix.com© Mendix Inc. 2014. All Rights Reserved www.mendix.com
11 Questions to ask before building enterprise apps // 25
