OutSystems is a low-code platform that helps businesses build custom software applications at scale, faster and with less risk. The platform is designed to simplify the software development process by providing pre-built templates, drag-and-drop interfaces, and reusable components that enable developers to build applications quickly and easily.

Why Do Businesses Need OutSystems?

The traditional software development process can be time-consuming and expensive. Businesses often need to allocate significant resources to the development of custom software applications, including hiring specialized developers and purchasing expensive software development tools. This can be a significant financial burden, especially for small enterprises. However, with OutSystems, businesses can develop custom software applications with minimal investment, making it an attractive option for businesses of all sizes.

In addition to cost savings, OutSystems also enables businesses to develop software applications quickly and efficiently. This means that businesses can respond quickly to market changes, customer needs, and other business requirements. With OutSystems, businesses can also build scalable and secure applications that meet their specific needs.

Also read:  The Power of Low-Code Business Solutions: Why You Shouldn’t Ignore Them

OutSystems offers numerous benefits for businesses, including:

a) Rapid application development: With OutSystems, businesses can develop applications faster than traditional development methods, reducing time-to-market and saving costs. For example, Vopak, a global tank storage company, used OutSystems to develop and launch a new business-critical application in just four months, reducing the time-to-market by 70%.

b) Scalability: OutSystems applications are highly scalable, allowing businesses to grow and expand their applications as needed. For instance, Randstad, a multinational human resource consulting firm, used OutSystems to build a scalable recruitment platform, which resulted in a 60% increase in recruiter productivity and a 50% increase in candidate satisfaction.

c) Low-code: OutSystems’ visual drag-and-drop interface makes application development accessible to even non-technical users, reducing the dependency on IT teams. For example, Logoplaste, a global rigid plastic packaging manufacturer, used OutSystems to build a new application for their production teams, allowing them to manage and track their production activities without any IT support.

d) Integration capabilities: OutSystems offers robust integration capabilities, allowing businesses to integrate their applications with other systems seamlessly. For instance, Deloitte Digital used OutSystems to build a mobile app for a large healthcare provider, which integrated with the provider’s electronic medical records system, improving the accuracy and efficiency of patient care.

Comparison of OutSystems with Other Low-Code Platforms:

OutSystems is one of the leading low-code development platforms in the market, but it is not the only one. There are several other low-code platforms available, such as Mendix, Appian, PowerApps, and Salesforce Lightning Platform. 

According to a report by Forrester, OutSystems is a leader in the low-code development platform space, with its “ability to deliver Enterprise-grade applications quickly and at scale.” Similarly, Gartner has named OutSystems a leader in its Magic Quadrant for Enterprise Low-Code Application Platforms.

While all these platforms offer similar benefits, OutSystems stands out in terms of its ease of use, speed, and scalability. OutSystems offers a visual drag-and-drop interface, making it easy for even non-technical users to build complex applications. Moreover, OutSystems allows for rapid application development and deployment, enabling businesses to launch applications much faster than traditional development approaches.

Compared to other low-code platforms, OutSystems also provides a wide range of pre-built templates and modules, allowing developers to accelerate application development even further. Additionally, OutSystems offers robust integration capabilities, enabling businesses to integrate with other systems seamlessly.

Wrapping Up

OutSystems is a low-code platform that allows businesses to develop and deploy software applications faster and with less coding. With OutSystems, organizations can accelerate their digital transformation efforts and deliver innovative solutions to their customers more quickly than traditional software development approaches. OutSystems provides a visual development environment that allows developers to create applications quickly and easily, while also providing advanced features for security, scalability, and integration. As a result, businesses can reduce their time-to-market, improve their agility, and respond more quickly to changing market demands. Overall, OutSystems is an excellent choice for businesses that are looking to streamline their software development processes and gain a competitive edge in today’s digital landscape.

The post OutSystems: The Low-Code Platform Empowering Business Growth appeared first on Indium Software.

Azure DevOps is a modern-day tool used for version control and trouble-free team management. An individual can manage his entire team with a minimum of a browser as a requirement. The team can easily be part of different countries and manage their activities without any delay. The development team can be in one country, and the testing team can be working in another country. Even If the management has trust issues, the Azure Audit does an audit of each activity that the team is doing, and the management must only worry about cross-country chatting and financial management.

The following types of testing are mission-critical for ensuring the success and reliability of your software:

1. Unit Testing with Azure DevOps
2. Integration Testing with Azure DevOps
3. System Testing with Azure DevOps
4. Functional Testing with Azure DevOps
5. Acceptance Testing with Azure DevOps
6. Smoke Testing with Azure DevOps
7. Regression Testing with Azure DevOps
8. Performance Testing with Azure DevOps
9. Security Testing with Azure DevOps
10. User Acceptance Testing with Azure DevOps

1. Unit Testing with Azure DevOps

Unit testing is breaking the code into its parts and testing each separate code one by one. This testing technique should never be confused with any other testing technique. This is because unit testing is like laying a brick. Brick by brick, the developer will lay code and test each code unit; this is what unit testing is all about. Azure DevOps creates version-controlled parts of the project; they can be assigned, and the automation tests can be tested using a version-controlled build. It also provides the user with the ability to have a view based on recent pipeline activities and control access to various stakeholders.

2. Integration Testing with Azure DevOps

Integration testing establishes testing techniques for when the individual bricks of code are laid together to test the data movement and failure points when separate developers merge their code together. Since each developer is separate, they can make fatal flaws in how the code blends together. Terraform is a recommended tool from the Azure team for such chaotic activity. The tool allows the user to create their own customised configuration files and allows the developer or tester to test the ability of their code to work with these config files, along with an additional static code analysis feature. For more information regarding Terraform, visit their website, Terraform by HashiCorp. Another cool thing about Terraform is that it is Datadog-ready.

3. System Testing with Azure DevOps

System testing tests all the modules together and is closely related to integration testing in the sense that all modules are integrated together to do a full system QA. Azure DevOps allows integration with various service providers. The workings of this are already mentioned in integration testing. Another nuance of system testing is that the testers may not have the necessary understanding of how the code works. It is divided into functional and non-functional testing.

Also Read: Testing Assistive Technologies in a Product

4. Functional Testing with Azure DevOps

Testers like to fondly call functional testing feature testing because it’s exactly that. The tester tests all the features of the individual module and sees that the features that you intended to have in the software are there in the product. A few years of experience will tell you that Azure DevOps is a lifesaver in terms of linking manual test cases with bugs, PBIs, and feature requests. The Azure DevOps and its rich UI provide a very good mapping of individual features of the product, which allows newbies to join the team to understand the pros and cons of the product within a 60-day period for the development or testing team. Some of these details can be used again by automation to conduct regression testing.

5. Acceptance Testing with Azure DevOps

Code must be accepted in the context of business, user requirements, regulation, the vision of the developers, and feedback from the testers. Just like the Azure DevOps functional test. Azure DevOps is good at keeping track of users’ use cases, scenarios, and even edge cases. Every idea from every individual on the team can be tracked and used at any phase of the project to get a customer-centric product. Standardised tests in the context of regulations that will be applied to the product can also be added to plans in Azure DevOps when they need to be conducted.

6. Smoke Testing with Azure DevOps

This is simply to check or test whether the build is stable enough or worthy enough to do a sanity or regression test. The plan will mostly come from years of experience from previous releases or simply from a list of critical functionalities that should be working, based on the consensus made by the management on what should be working.

7. Regression Testing

Smoke tests and sanity lead to regression with regular intervals to submit a bug. The entire code is under scrutiny. Azure DevOps can help in creating manual tests in a flash based on queries from in-sprint QA and years of experience in testing the product. Azure DevOps helps in creating the test plan and managing it at the time of execution with the help of filters and neat charts that provide feedback to management and the tester about their progress. What shift managers fail to manage in factories, Azure DevOps does in a flash: employee engagement when the work is in progress.

8. Performance Testing

Performance testing is a test to know whether software performs at scale, on a good foundation for speed, and to remove bottlenecks whenever developers and testers identify bottlenecks. The example provided below is based on a tool of preference based on popularity. Ex: JMeter and test engines connected to the virtual machine and various other tools and app services to conduct performance testing using a dashboard from Azure DevOps Performance testing is simple with Azure DevOps.

9. Security Testing

Test the HTML and JavaScript code; for other cases, it’s different, for vulnerability to threats, security loopholes, risks, and emulating an actual hack or attack. Pen testing is one example of security testing. Security testing involves adding common CVE-identifying tools to a Kali Linux machine, adding them to Azure DevOps using Azure agents, running security tests, and providing feedback using Azure charts using data available to Azure DevOps.

10. User Acceptance Testing

Code must be accepted in the context of business and user requirements, as well as based on regulations, by the end users. Support engineers love it because it integrates well with the sales force. Continuous cooperation among support engineers, in-sprint engineers, and regression of manual and automation can constantly happen. They can quickly interact with urgent changes and ensure that the code is stable after testing.

Conclusion

Based on the above description, Azure DevOps is a tool that allows a wide range of integration with tools of maximum importance in the development and testing of a new product. Along with it, it has control over the process of development and testing with neat features like version control based on Git and Team Foundation. Everything is audited. The dev team, management, and product owners can all be in sync with the latest features and details. Since Microsoft owns almost everything related to IDEs, Git, and cloud infrastructure, it is going to be the future of everything in development, at least for the foreseeable future.

The post Empowering Testing Excellence: Exploring the Synergy between Azure DevOps and Diverse Testing Techniques appeared first on Indium Software.

The 1-Click Deployment Framework for Mendix applications on public cloud(s) simplifies and accelerates the deployment process. With just a single click, you can seamlessly deploy your Mendix applications onto public cloud platforms, unlocking the benefits of scalability, reliability, and cost-efficiency. This framework eliminates the complexities of traditional deployment methods and empowers organizations to launch their Mendix applications quickly and efficiently on the public cloud, enabling faster time-to-market and enhanced agility. Experience the ease and convenience of deploying your Mendix applications with a single click on the public cloud.

Let’s look at a use case and the remedy:

• Mendix MPC customers are unable to employ a flexible custom build process. The Mendix native build pipeline does not let clients implement their own build process because Mendix MPC maintains total control over CI/CD.
• The customer won’t have any control over the application, infrastructure, or security in Mendix MPC. They are forced to pick and choose which security features to use.

Solution:

• Deploying a Mendix application in any public cloud provides one-click deployment, total control over the infrastructure, high availability, and built-in security features. The one-click deployment framework for Indium is reliable and has been tested across multiple clouds with minimal to no adjustments.
• With the most flexible and secure cloud computing environment currently available, such as AWS/Azure/GCP, this architecture gives you the control and assurance you need to safely manage your organization.
• You can become more adept at upholding fundamental security and compliance standards, such as those relating to data localization, protection, and confidentiality, with the help of public clouds.

The rigidity of this structure was examined in this blog post using AWS, the current market leader in public cloud adoption. We can see how the customer has the freedom to choose the infrastructure and the application to be deployed thanks to the powerful integration of the trio Jenkins, Mendix, and AWS.

How to use our own framework to deploy the Mendix application.

1. Set up a VPC with two availability zones and private and public subnets.

2. To secure the nodes and application while preventing external connections, private subnets were created for Kubernetes nodes.

3. We can utilize CloudWatch and Grafana for log monitoring.

4. Configuring Jenkins to automate the CI/CD pipeline.

5. Integrating Jenkins with the Mendix team server.

6. Create a Docker image using the Mendix Docker file and our application code.

7. Upload the Docker image to artefacts like the Docker Hub, ECR, or ACR.

8. Create YAML Scripts to deploy the application. These scripts pass parameters like the database host name and password and the Mendix admin password as secrets using a secrets manager.

9. Using YAML, deploy the docker image in EKS and get the saved images from the artefacts.

10. For high availability and dependability, use EKS’s load balancer, replica sets, and autoscaling.

Also read: How to Secure an AWS Environment with Multiple Accounts

Architectural Overview:

Jenkins begins downloading code from Team servers after a developer clicks a single button, using Mendix docker files and source code to create a docker image that is then used to deploy in Elastic Kubernetes Service in AWS. 

Benefits of Mendix Application Deployment on Public Cloud

 1. Giving the client the ability to take charge of the CI/CD process.

2. The isolated Kubernetes environment allows users to create and administer their own cloud Virtual Private Cloud (VPC), with the potential to increase security.

3. The application auto-scales loads based on traffic and is highly accessible.

4. Logs are simple to monitor, and setting warnings for high CPU usage is simple. 

Conclusion

In conclusion, the 1-Click Deployment Framework for Mendix applications on public cloud(s) revolutionizes the way organizations deploy their applications. By simplifying the deployment process and providing a seamless experience, this framework empowers businesses to leverage the scalability and reliability of the public cloud. With just a single click, organizations can effortlessly launch their Mendix applications, accelerating time-to-market and driving business agility. Embrace the power of 1-Click Deployment and unlock the full potential of your Mendix applications on the public cloud.

The post 1 Click Deployment Framework for Mendix Application on Public Cloud(s) appeared first on Indium Software.

Strong data management systems are essential in the digital world because data is essential to enterprises. Due to its scalability, flexibility, and usability, Snowflake, a cloud-based data warehouse system, has grown in popularity. However, just like any other system, mistakes can happen and negatively impact corporate operations.

Having a system in place to identify and alert stakeholders is crucial for reducing the effects of errors. Sending error messages to Slack users or channels is one approach to accomplishing this. Slack is a well-liked network for team communication that promotes easy cooperation, making it a great choice for error notification dissemination.

Setting up a Snowflake task to record the issue and a Slack bot to convey the message to the intended recipients is required for sending error notifications from Snowflake to Slack users or channels. Snowflake’s tasks, which allow users to plan and automate data processing workflows, can be used to automate this operation.

Setting up Slack Bot for error notification from Snowflake

The steps for configuring a Slack bot to send out error notifications are as follows:

Step 1: In Slack, create a new bot user.

In Slack, the first step is to establish a new bot user. Visit the Slack API website and log in using your Slack credentials to complete this. After logging in, select “Create a Slack app” from the menu and then follow the on-screen directions to build a new app. Following the creation of the app, you may add a new bot user by selecting “Bot users” from the “Features” part of the app setup page.

Step 2: Create an API token for the bot’s user.

In order to authenticate the bot with the Slack API, we must create an API token for the bot user. To accomplish this, select “Install App” and adhere to the on-screen directions to grant the app access to our Slack workspace. Once the app has been given permission, we can create an API token by selecting “OAuth & Permissions” from the list of options under “Features” on the app settings page. The API token should be copied and saved for further usage. Enable receiving the workspace URL via incoming webhooks as well.

Step 3: Add the bot user to Slack channels.

We can next add the bot user to the Slack channels that will receive error messages from Snowflake after creating the API token. Go to the Slack workplace and find the relevant channels there to achieve this. next look for the bot user we created earlier by selecting the “Add apps” option. Once the bot user has been located, click “Add” to add it to the channel.

Step 4: Configure Snowflake to send error notifications to Slack.

The last step is to set up Snowflake to use the bot user and API token to send error warnings to Slack. Setting up a Snowflake job that records the problem and instructs the Slack bot to send the notification will do this. Depending on the requirements for error notification, the Snowflake job can be configured to execute at a specific frequency, such as every hour or every day.

We must develop a stored procedure that searches the error log table and extracts the error details in order to configure the Snowflake task. The error message can then be sent from the stored procedure to the Slack bot, which will subsequently relay it to the chosen channels, using the Snowflake API. The bot user will be authenticated with the Slack API using the API token previously generated.

Snowflake procedures are multi-language functional, which makes it easier for developers. The procedure is implemented in JavaScript, but it can also be written in Python and Java.

The output shown below illustrates how the JavaScript code was used to access the error log data.

To get error information for queries that were executed within the previous 24 hours, this stored procedure runs a query against the TASK_HISTORY table in the INFORMATION_SCHEMA. A JSON object including the query ID, error code, error message, scheduled time, next schedule time, finished time, and duration for each error is returned as the results. Through the connectors, we can ensure that the results are transferred to our desired place as a table, a sheet, or an Excel file.

This saved process can be modified to meet our unique needs for error notification, such as filtering errors based on particular error codes.

Also Read: Unlocking the Power of Data Democratization: Empowering Your Entire Organization with Access to Data

Create a Snowflake task to capture and send notifications to Slack.

Now, using our method and the Slack token we established, we will integrate this error log with Slack to alert the users. This is done by setting up a snowflake task to run every five minutes (this may be altered depending on the requirement and available credits), which will notify Slack of any issues.

To bring the API endpoint and bot token to configure our tasks in the Slack channel and integrate the notification flow, we should construct two important key components in our script. To ensure a stronger grasp on the logs, we also have a number of security measures and constraints that may be applied from both Snowflake’s and Slack’s ends. The task scheduler built into Snowflake, which manages schedule time management and smooth integration, carries out the timetable.

// set up the Slack API endpoint

var slackUrl = ‘<Our Slack bot API endpoint here>’;

// set up the Slack bot token

var slackToken = ‘<Our Slack bot token here>’;

This task, which is scheduled to run every five minutes, invokes a saved function. The stored method searches the QUERY_HISTORY_ERRORS table of the SNOWFLAKE. Use the ACCOUNT_USAGE schema to look for issues that occurred during the last five minutes. If there are problems, it creates a Slack message payload and uses the bot token and endpoint of the Slack API to deliver it to the selected Slack bot. To keep track of the number of errors that have occurred at a particular time or for a specific length of time, the messages include a counter for each error that is encountered. We may check the status of our task by calling it and using,

Show tasks like ‘task_name’ in task_location

This task and stored procedure can be modified to meet our unique error notification needs, such as by altering the error time window or the Slack message content.

Best practises for setting up error notification thresholds and escalation procedures.

Setting up error notification thresholds and escalation processes is crucial for making sure that urgent problems are dealt with and fixed right away. When establishing these procedures, keep the following recommended practises in mind:

1. Establish notification levels: Based on the severity and significance of the issue, establish clear and simple thresholds for error alerts. For instance, we might prefer to be notified of all significant errors, but only if minor errors happen more frequently than a predetermined threshold.
2. Escalation protocols: Establish escalation protocols to guarantee that urgent concerns are handled right away. If problems are not handled within a predetermined amount of time, this may entail notifying management or higher-level support teams.
3. Frequently test our notification processes to make sure that alerts are being sent accurately and that escalation processes are working as intended.
4. Establish a procedure for prioritising and triaging issues in accordance with their seriousness and impact. By doing this, it may be possible to guarantee that urgent problems get attention first and that resources are allocated effectively.
5. Record error alerts: Watch and record error alerts to spot patterns and trends. This can assist in identifying persistent problems and guide future system upgrades.
6. Continually examine and enhance our notification protocols: We must always assess and enhance our notification protocols to make sure they are reliable and effective. This could entail streamlining notification workflows and processes, integrating new technology, or taking customer and support team comments into account.

By adhering to these recommendations, you can make sure that your error notification levels and escalation processes are trustworthy, efficient, and capable of handling urgent situations quickly.

Benefits of using Slack for error notification over email

Slack is a real-time communication platform that enables teams to cooperate and communicate effectively, therefore, it has several advantages over email in terms of alerting users. As a result, notifications are sent immediately and are readily accessible to all team members who have access to the appropriate Slack channel. Email notifications, on the other hand, run the risk of being overlooked, delayed, or lost in a busy inbox, which could have a greater negative impact on business.

Additionally, Slack offers more personalization options for notifications. Users can set up notifications to be sent in several formats, such as text, graphics, and links, which can be customised to fit certain use cases. Teams can better comprehend the failed job with the help of this flexibility, which can be important for troubleshooting and debugging.

Slack can streamline the entire incident management process because it interfaces with a broad variety of third-party applications and services, like Jira and GitHub. For instance, a Slack bot can automatically generate an incident in Jira, assign it to the proper team member, and link it to the relevant chat message when a failed job is identified. The time and effort needed to manage incidents can be greatly reduced because of this connectivity between Slack and other applications, which leads to quicker resolution times and lower operational expenses.

Slack also offers improved process visibility for incident response. Team members can quickly see who is reacting to an incident, what steps are being taken, and when the situation is addressed when notifications are given using Slack channels. This openness encourages responsibility and can assist teams in determining where their incident management procedures need to be strengthened.

The screenshots below show the inability to distinguish a few clear benefits of Slack over email. The first screenshot displays the failure-related email notification, which simply includes the bare minimum of an ID and a description. The user is additionally shown in the second screenshot being triggered and monitoring the member for a longer period of time.

Common error scenarios in Snowflake and how to handle them with Slack notification.

Although Snowflake is a strong data warehousing technology that enables effective data storage and analysis, it can have faults that have an influence on data processing and analysis, just like any complicated system. Following are some typical Snowflake fault scenarios and solutions that utilise Slack notification:

1. Query timeouts: If the query takes too long to run or if there are resource limitations, Snowflake may experience query timeouts. Slack notifications can be used to handle this mistake by notifying users or administrators that the query has timed out and informing them of the solution. We could also set up alerts to let people know when a lengthy query is active.
2. Query failures: Queries might fail for a number of reasons, including incorrect syntax or data issues. Users or administrators can be informed through Slack notice when a query has failed and given instructions on how to fix the problem. To further assist in identifying and resolving the problem, we could also want to provide thorough error messages and logs.
3. Resource limitations: If not enough resources are available to conduct a query, Snowflake may experience resource limitations. Users or administrators can be informed of resource constraints using Slack notifications, and they can be given instructions on how to allocate more resources or improve the query.
4. Data load failures: Snowflake may experience data loading difficulties if the data is incorrectly formatted or has other errors. Users or administrators can be informed through Slack notice that a data load has failed and given instructions on how to fix the problem. To further assist in identifying and resolving the problem, we could also want to provide thorough error messages and logs.
5. Data processing errors: If the data is incorrectly prepared or contains errors, Snowflake may experience data processing difficulties. Users and administrators can be informed of data processing errors and given instructions on how to fix them via Slack notifications. To help with the problem’s diagnosis and resolution, we could additionally want to provide thorough error messages and logs.

Conclusion

It’s crucial to set up error reporting processes if we’re to keep our Snowflake data warehouse reliable and accessible. We can make sure that issues are resolved quickly and that severe errors are escalated to the relevant employees by collecting error information and delivering notifications to Slack channels.

We talked about how to automate the process using Snowflake’s stored procedures and tasks, as well as how to build up a Slack bot to collect error notifications from Snowflake. Defining notification thresholds, utilising various notification channels, and routinely testing notification procedures were some of the best practises we discussed for setting up error notification thresholds and escalation procedures.

By adhering to these best practises, we can build a strong error notification system that minimises downtime while assisting you in swiftly identifying and resolving issues. Setting up issue notifications using Slack may give any data analyst, data engineer, developer, or database administrator access to a potent tool for tracking and maintaining the dependability of your Snowflake data warehouse.

The post Streamline Snowflake Error Logs with Real-time Notifications to Slack Channel appeared first on Indium Software.

Overview

The client approached us with a request to develop an app for Olfaction Detection that could run on both Android and iOS platforms. Following a thorough analysis of the project requirements, we suggested the use of Flutter after conducting a feasibility check to ensure its suitability. Once we were confident that Flutter would meet all the necessary criteria and cover all use cases, we recommended this framework to the client.

It is important to note that the project’s requirement elicitation phase ran for two months. The two-month requirement elicitation phase yielded a thorough and deep understanding of the client’s demands, which was essential to the successful creation of a high-quality solution using the Rapid Application Development methodology made possible by Flutter.

The objective was to address the issues, determine whether we have any sub-issues, gain an understanding of the current solutions, and to recommend the most appropriate technology. The creation of the app entailed many tasks, some vital and some not so important. A brief categorization follows:

1. Displaying a continuous smell data.
2. A real-time camera.
3. Other minor tasks like choosing the appropriate models for classification.

It was crucial to establish communication with the edge device without delay, as real-time applications have a very low tolerance for delays.

Also read:  App & Infrastructure Development In Technology & Cybersecurity

Specifications

To achieve the goals, a solution was developed that would allow our application to efficiently communicate with the edge device and perform tasks in real-time. Initially, there were two possible solutions for connecting the edge device to the mobile application: using the mobile device as a hotspot and connecting the edge device to it, or using the edge device’s hotspot and connecting the mobile device to it. However, finding the IP address of the device was tricky. Android (API >29) does not allow fetching the IP of the device that is connected to its own hotspot. While I could have found it out by rooting our device, I decided not to go that route.

Before going on to the following phase, we will look at a few issues we have run across and how we have resolved them. Moving on to the second option, everything was running smoothly until I noticed that there were a few lost connections that we were attempting to make or that we were hitting the server with a dummy app. Since a device might have numerous IP addresses for each network it is connected to, we spent almost an hour trying to reach an IPv4 address that belonged to a different network. As a result, I was able to easily determine the server’s IP from the perspective of the app, enabling me to proceed to the next step.

Milestones For UI 

Flutter has gained a significant following in recent years due to its powerful and flexible widget system. A widget is a basic building block of a Flutter app that can be combined with other widgets to create a visually appealing and interactive user interface.

One of the major advantages of Flutter is the extensive collection of built-in widgets that it offers. These widgets cover a wide range of functionalities and are designed to comply with the latest design guidelines, such as Material Design by Google and Cupertino by Apple. This means that developers can create apps that look and feel consistent across different platforms and devices without having to worry about the nitty-gritty details of designing the UI from scratch.

Furthermore, the widget system in Flutter offers a high level of precision and control, allowing developers to customize each widget to their liking. Flutter’s widget system offers developers a comprehensive set of tools to create visually stunning and highly functional user interfaces. With a vast collection of built-in widgets and the ability to customize them to the smallest detail, developers can create UI designs that stand out and enhance the user experience.

Some images that can visually represent the UI elements mentioned earlier.

Functionality

After completing the UI design, there are two crucial components to work with: a data stream from the Olfactometer to display as a sniff signal at a frequency of 2 seconds, and a live video feed from a scientific-grade camera called Basler. The data stream from the Olfactometer was handled by the open-source software Open Ephys, which provided multidimensional data with channels ranging from 0 to ~5K, each having a capacity of 1 kHz. To handle the data stream, I chose to use Web Sockets (RFC 6455), as it made more sense than traditional HTTP (V2) (RFC 7540).

Regarding the video broadcast, the Basler camera comes with advanced features and settings not available in standard cameras, such as high-speed data transfer, precise colour reproduction, low-light sensitivity, and advanced image processing capabilities. It also has the ability to capture images and videos at very high resolutions, making it ideal for scientific research and industrial applications where accuracy and precision are critical. Although the camera did not support chunk data transmission necessary for transmission over RTSP (RFC 2336) or any other similar protocols, Web Sockets (RFC 6455) were used to transmit images over the network at a speed of around 90 frames per second.

When it comes to rendering real-time data and video streams in a Flutter application, there are two ways to achieve it: using the setState method or the StreamBuilder widget. While both approaches have their pros and cons, the choice depends on the specific use case and requirements of the application. The setState method is simpler and easier to use for small-scale updates, while the StreamBuilder widget is better for real-time updates and large-scale data rendering. Since the latter approach is more efficient, I chose to use StreamBuilder to handle the frequent changes to the UI. The graph part and video streaming were rendered separately from the entire screen, which improved performance and reduced the strain on system resources.

Below is the image for reference.

Conclusion (in comparison to low-code (Mendix) and native iOS/android)

Low-code platforms are known for their ease of use, allowing developers to create apps quickly without the need for extensive coding. These platforms often come with pre-built components and integrations, making it easy to assemble an app quickly. In contrast, frameworks like Flutter offer a higher degree of customization and control over the app development process. Developers can leverage the framework’s widgets and libraries to build robust and scalable apps that meet specific requirements.

Native app development provides the most comprehensive level of customization and control over the app development process. Developers can write code specifically tailored for the platform, allowing them to take full advantage of the device’s features and capabilities. However, this approach can be time-consuming and costly compared to the other two options.

To summarize, Flutter can be considered a hybrid approach, offering a balance between the benefits of native and low-code app development. With Flutter, developers can achieve both fast app development and a good degree of customization, making it an attractive option for many businesses. By leveraging the framework’s widgets and libraries, developers can create robust and scalable mobile apps that meet specific requirements while still maintaining a reasonable level of development speed. In addition, for Swift enterprise solution development, Flutter’s flexibility and customizability make it a viable option. 

This blog post only scratches the surface of the topic. For a more comprehensive understanding of the development process, please refer to the white paper that is coming soon.

The post Enhancing Sensory Perception: Developing an Olfactory Detection App with Flutter appeared first on Indium Software.

In this article, let us take Google applications as an example and see how deeply they have access to your personal life and the role of digital assurance/security testing.

Not so long ago, we did not need a mail ID to start our new Android phone, but these days we need a mail ID to configure a new Android device. What happens when we enter our email address? Google immediately comes to know the model of phone we have bought, and it definitely knows all the previous phones we owned because we might have entered the same email address in those devices as well.

Contacts

The next thing we do is add all our contacts from our previous phone or whatever. This task was very tedious in the past, but these days we can sync our contacts to our email ID and get those contacts to our new device with just a few taps. Any normal user will find this feature helpful as it saves a lot of time, but let’s understand how much data we are providing. We may have saved our father’s and mother’s names as Dad or Mom, by which they can identify our parents; they can know our siblings; as a matter of fact, they can even draw out our entire family tree; they can know our car’s or bike’s brand as we may have the brand’s service person’s number. Just by syncing our contacts, we are revealing a lot of things about ourselves.

Maps 

When we use Google Maps, we search for a location, get directions, and travel to that particular location. If we continue to leave ‘Location’ switched on in our phone, Google will now know every mall, shop, restaurant, and other spots we visit. Based on this data, Google can analyse it and get some ideas about our lifestyle and spending habits.

Payments

Google Pay, often known as GPay, is the company’s own payment app. We get rewarded for our transactions, it’s free to use, and it’s really simple to set up and use. Who would refuse to use such a program? Let’s take a moment to consider the issues involved. We provide Google access to information about our bank accounts, financial situation, spending patterns, and much more. As a result of tracking our financial transactions, Google can now analyse regional cash flows and make predictions about the financial health of countries and regions. It can forecast what month individuals prefer to shop for a particular type of product. For retailers and other businesses, this kind of information is a gold mine.

Also read:  The Ultimate Guide to Understanding IoT Sensing: Everything You Need to Know.

YouTube search

YouTube has become a part of our lives. Whether it be education or entertainment, we rely on YouTube for our needs. People also use it to earn some extra income or even as a full-time income source.

While we surf YouTube, we help YouTube learn about our taste in various fields; for example, one may frequently search for Italian dishes or Western outfit designs. These tastes of ours are recorded on their server, and these data are then used to give us recommendations specifically tailored for us.

Apart from this, let us see various other things YouTube knows about us:

1. YouTube knows about our health issues; we may have searched “remedies for back pain”, “remedies for neck pain”, “remedies for knee pain”, “solutions for insomnia” or “ways to tackle some sort of addiction,” which clearly conveys our problems to YouTube.
2. YouTube can guess the dish we are going to cook today, as we may have searched for that recipe.
3. YouTube might know our plans and destination for the tour, as we may have tried to research our destination on YouTube.
4. YouTube might know that someone in our friend or family circle is getting married; our YouTube search may be evidence of that.
5. YouTube knows about your favourite movie or TV series and the genre you are into.
6. YouTube knows about the skills we have been trying to learn.

Because we turn to YouTube for solutions, it is aware of the majority of our issues. There is a benefit to this as well. The YouTube algorithm assesses all the data it has gathered from us and provides us with the finest recommendations. The advice could be for a similar entertainment video, a product that might be beneficial for our health, or training programmes that can help us improve our skills. This makes us feel like we are being catered to.

Gallery

Let’s check to see if the same is true for the gallery.

Our phones’ Gallery app is more intelligent than ever. It may tag each photo with the location where it was taken, automatically make a collage for us, and highlight old memorable moments by unexpectedly displaying a group of pictures that read “One year ago today.” That’s not all; in the modern era, these apps are able to identify people in photos by their faces. The fact that our phone has learned to identify a person by glancing at their face gives me the creeps, even though this feature may be interesting and important to know about.

While the digital age has brought numerous benefits, it has also exposed us to certain security threats. Here are some common security threats associated with our digital footprints:

1. Identity Theft: Cybercriminals can exploit the information found in our digital footprints, such as personal details, social media posts, and online transactions, to impersonate us and commit identity theft. This can result in financial loss and reputational damage.

2. Phishing Attacks: Digital footprints can provide valuable information to cyber attackers, enabling them to craft sophisticated phishing emails or messages that appear genuine. By tricking individuals into revealing sensitive information, such as login credentials or financial details, attackers can gain unauthorized access to accounts or conduct fraudulent activities.

3. Data Breach: As we saw above, organizations collect and store vast amounts of data from our digital footprints. If these organizations fail to implement robust security measures, cybercriminals can exploit vulnerabilities to gain unauthorized access and steal sensitive data, leading to data breaches. This can result in financial loss, legal consequences, and reputational damage for both organizations and individuals.

4. Location Tracking and Privacy Invasion: Like Google Maps, many other digital platforms and services also track our locations through GPS, Wi-Fi, or IP addresses. If this information falls into the wrong hands, it can be used for stalking, physical threats, or unauthorized surveillance, compromising our privacy and personal safety.

5. Online Harassment and Cyberbullying: Our digital footprints, including social media posts and online interactions, can make us vulnerable to online harassment and cyberbullying. Personal information shared online can be used to harass, intimidate, or defame individuals, causing emotional distress and potential harm.

To mitigate these security threats, it is crucial that we be cautious about the information we share online. We must regularly review privacy settings, use strong and unique passwords, enable two-factor authentication wherever available, and stay updated on the latest cybersecurity practises. Additionally, organisations must also focus on prioritising data security, implementing encryption, conducting regular security audits, and educating employees about potential risks and best practises for protecting sensitive information.

Conclusion

The so-called digital footprint is a topic that has only just begun to be explored in this article. Beyond what has been covered here, the origins of our digital footprint go far further back. Should we have any concerns? Do we have to take any action at all? There is no right or incorrect solution to this subject; all I can do is share my viewpoint. Since most of our lives now revolve around the internet, there isn’t much we can do to stop it. We might suddenly be cautious about our internet footprint and the traces we leave behind after reading this post when before reading it, we might not have given it any thought and felt at ease.

Let’s make a straightforward contrast. Before the invention of computers, if we were to live a typical day of going to work, eating supper after work, and returning home, investigators could really follow our footprints. Simply put, it means that no matter the age, we always leave a trace of ourselves behind. We are only able to exercise caution and prevent the internet disclosure of any sensitive information that might endanger us.

The post Unveiling the Shadows: Understanding the Reach and Possible Security Threats of Your Digital Footprint appeared first on Indium Software.

Introduction:

AMQP stands for Advanced Message Queuing Protocol, and it is an open standard application layer protocol. AMQP Message Protocol also deals with publishers and subscribers for the consumer.

One of the key features of AMQP is the message broker, which acts as an intermediary between sender and receiver. The broker receives messages from senders, stores them, and delivers them to their intended recipients based on predefined routing rules. The broker provides a range of features such as message persistence, message acknowledgment, and message prioritisation to ensure reliable and efficient message delivery. 

Several industries, including telecommunications, healthcare, and financial services, use AMQP. It has been widely adopted as a messaging protocol due to its reliability, interoperability, and flexibility.

Now there are four different exchange types:

• Direct Exchange
• Fan Out Exchange
• Topic Exchange and
• Header Exchange

Direct Exchange:

A direct exchange works by matching the routing key, when there is a match, the message is delivered to the queue. Each message sent to a direct exchange must have a routing key. 

If the routing key match, the message can be forwarded to the queue of the message.

For example, suppose there are three nodes named node A, node B, and node C, and a direct exchange named X. If node A is connected to X with a routing key of “key 1”, node B is connected to X with a routing key of “key 2”, and node C is connected to X with a routing key of “key 3”, then when a message is sent to X with a routing key of “key 2”, the message will be routed to node B.

Fan Out Exchange:

A fanout exchange works by sending messages to all of its bound queues. When a message is sent to a fanout exchange, the exchange simply copies it and sends it to all the currently bound queues.

For example, A real-time example of a Fanout Exchange can be a social media platform where a user posts a message that needs to be sent to all the users.

Topic Exchange:

When a message is sent to a topic exchange, the exchange will forward the message to all the queues. If queues have a binding key that matches the routing key, the message is routed to that queue, and finally each customer will receive the message from the queue.

Header Exchange:

A header exchange works by allowing the sender to attach a set of header attributes to each message. The header exchange looks at the headers and compares them to the header values specified in the bindings of each queue. If there is a match between the header of the message and the bindings of a queue, the message is delivered to that queue.       

Also read: Internet of Things in the Automotive Industry Blog.

Advantages of AMQP:

Message orientation, queuing, routing (including publish and subscribe and point-to-point), dependability, and security are the characteristics that set AMQP apart.

It employs techniques to ensure the secure transmission of critical data.

Flexibility:

AMQP includes publisher and subscriber request responses among the many message patterns it supports and point-to-point messaging, which makes it suitable for a variety of business use cases.

These services are provided using AMQP:

Healthcare services:

AMQP can be used to transmit medical data from wearable and implantable devices to healthcare providers, enabling remote monitoring and personalised treatment. It can be used to transmit patient data, test results, and other medical information securely and in real time. By using AMQP, healthcare providers can establish a reliable and secure communication channel to exchange data and messages between different services. The transfer of patient information among various healthcare providers, including hospitals, clinics, and laboratories

Financial services:

AMQP can be used to build reliable and secure messaging systems for financial institutions, including stock exchanges, banks, and trading platforms. It can be used to transmit market data, trade orders, and other financial information securely and efficiently. By using AMQP, financial services providers can improve the speed and efficiency of their communication systems and reduce the risk of delays or errors.

Internet of Things (IoT) services:

the AMQP protocol is designed for reliable, interoperable, and secure communication between different components of distributed applications, including Internet of Things (IoT) devices.

Device-to-cloud communication:

The AMQP protocol enables IoT devices to transmit messages to cloud services for further processing and analysis. For instance, a temperature sensor can utilise AMQP to transmit temperature readings to a cloud-based analytics service.

Overall, AMQP provides a flexible and scalable messaging infrastructure that can support various IoT services, from simple device-to-cloud communication to complex event processing and analytics.

Security:

AMQP provides a range of security features, such as authentication and encryption, to protect messages and prevent unauthorised access.

Conclusion

AMQP is a powerful messaging protocol that enables different applications to communicate with each other reliably, securely, and flexibly. With its client-server architecture and components such as a broker, exchange, queue, producer, and consumer, AMQP provides a robust framework for message-oriented middleware.

The post Seamless Communication: Exploring the Advanced Message Queuing Protocol (AMQP) appeared first on Indium Software.

In recent years, the banking landscape has witnessed a significant transformation with the emergence of neo banks. Neo banks are technology-driven financial institutions that operate solely online. They are also known as digital banks or challenger banks.

While they have gained considerable attention and popularity, it is essential to analyse both their failures and achievements to understand their impact on the financial sector. Furthermore, we will explore the ways in which technology can empower neo banks to overcome challenges and achieve long-term success.

Advantages:

1. Enhanced User Experience:

Neo banks have excelled in delivering a seamless and user-friendly experience through intuitive mobile apps and web interfaces. They have leveraged technology to provide instant access to financial services, streamlined onboarding processes, and real-time notifications, empowering customers to have greater control over their finances.

2. Innovative Products and Features:

Neo banks have pioneered innovative features like budgeting tools, spending analytics, and personalized recommendations. By leveraging data analytics soltutions and machine learning algorithms, they have helped users better understand their financial habits, make informed decisions, and improve their financial well-being.

3. Competitive Pricing and Cost Efficiency:

Neo banks have challenged traditional banks by offering lower fees, competitive exchange rates, and transparent pricing structures. With their lean operating models, they have been able to pass on cost savings to customers, making banking services more accessible and affordable.

Challenges:

1. Trust and Perception:

One of the primary hurdles for neo banks has been building trust among consumers. Traditional banks have a long-established presence and instill a sense of security in customers. Neo banks, on the other hand, face scepticism due to their lack of physical branches and a perceived absence of the same level of security.

2. Limited Services:

Neo banks initially focused on providing basic banking services, such as savings accounts and payments, neglecting other critical financial services like mortgages and loans. This limited range of offerings prevents them from catering to the diverse needs of customers and restricts their potential growth.

3. Regulatory Challenges:

Compliance with complex regulations has been a significant struggle for neo banks. Navigating through regulatory frameworks designed for traditional banks while operating in a digital landscape poses a challenge. It requires them to find innovative solutions that complies with regulations without compromising their agility and user experience.

While the neo banking sector has seen significant growth and success, there have been a few notable examples of neo banks that have faced challenges and ultimately failed. Let’s explore some of these failed neo banks and the reasons behind their failures:

1. Moven:

Moven was one of the early pioneers in the neo banking space, known for its emphasis on financial wellness and real-time spending insights. Despite raising substantial funding, Moven faced difficulties in monetizing its platform and achieving profitability. The company struggled to attract a significant user base and generate sustainable revenue streams. In 2019, Moven decided to pivot its business model and transition into a software provider for traditional banks, abandoning its direct-to-consumer approach.

Reason for Failure: Moven’s failure can be attributed to its inability to scale its customer base and generate sufficient revenue from its consumer-focused banking model.

2. Loot:

Loot was a UK-based neo bank targeting university students and young adults. It offered features such as spending tracking, budgeting tools, and discounts from partner brands. Despite gaining initial traction and raising funding, Loot struggled to achieve profitability. It faced fierce competition from established banks and other neo banking players, making it challenging to differentiate its offerings and sustain customer growth. In 2019, Loot went into administration and was eventually acquired by a digital banking group.

Reason for Failure: Loot’s failure can be attributed to intense competition, a crowded market, and difficulties in monetizing its services effectively to generate sustainable revenue.

3. Xinja:

Xinja was an Australian neo bank that gained significant attention and support due to its unique approach and successful crowdfunding campaigns. It offered high-interest savings accounts and a user-friendly mobile app. However, despite initial success, Xinja faced financial challenges and struggled to raise additional capital to support its growth plans. In December 2020, Xinja made the difficult decision to return its banking license and exit the banking industry, effectively shutting down its operations.

Reason for Failure: Xinja’s failure can be attributed to difficulties in securing sufficient funding to support its expansion plans and meet regulatory capital requirements.

These examples highlight the challenges faced by neo banks, including intense competition, monetization difficulties, scalability issues, and regulatory compliance. Building a sustainable business model and establishing a significant customer base while navigating the complexities of the banking industry is crucial for the success of neo banks. However, it is important to note that failures can also provide valuable lessons, helping the industry as a whole to learn, adapt, and innovate.

The Role of Technology and how can Indium help

1. Scalability and Flexibility:

Cloud computing and scalable infrastructure empower neo banks to handle growing customer demands efficiently. They can quickly adapt to changing market trends, introduce new services, and expand their customer base without significant infrastructure investments.

Indium provides a range of cloud services that includes migration, modernization, optimization, and support across all types of cloud like private, public and hybrid. Regardless of where you are in your cloud journey, Indium’s expertise can help you set-up a stable and scalable cloud infrastructure.

2. Automation and Artificial Intelligence (AI):

By leveraging automation and AI, neo banks can streamline their operations, reduce manual errors, and provide personalized experiences to customers. AI-powered chatbots can handle routine customer queries, while machine learning algorithms can analyse spending patterns to offer tailored financial advice.

Indium’s end-to-end data and analytics services offer customized solutions to customers based on the business needs. With deep expertise in commercial and open-source tools as well as niche home grown accelerators, team Indium can handle unique needs of the customers in the AI/ML and data sciences space.

3. Open Banking and Collaboration:

Technology enables neo banks to leverage open banking frameworks, facilitating seamless integration with third-party financial services and expanding their product offerings. Collaboration with a trusted partner like Indium Software will enable neo banks to enhance their capabilities and create a comprehensive financial ecosystem.

Indium provides comprehensive API integration and testing services. This allows organizations to automate business processes and enhance the sharing and embedding of data. API testing ensures APIs are thoroughly validated and functioning properly.

4. Seamless onboarding:

Client on boarding is the biggest hurdle that Neo banks face. Multiple documents, their storage, analysis and approvals eat up lot of time to onboard a client. At times, there are different user interfaces to upload certain types of documents which creates chaos and multiple touch points. Having a seamless KYC process reduces neo-banks turn around time and in turn enhances customer experience.

With Indium’s Low code services, customers can create smarter applications in no time. These user-friendly applications are easy to design, develop and deploy. Indium specializes in Mendix, Microsoft PowerApps and Outsystems and can help with all your low-code/no-code needs to improve efficiency.

5. Advanced Security Measures:

Technology plays a crucial role in addressing security concerns and building trust in neo banks. Implementing robust encryption protocols, biometric authentication, and transaction monitoring systems can significantly enhance security and protect customer data.

Conclusion:

Neo banks have made substantial progress in revolutionizing the banking industry, offering customers convenient, affordable, and innovative financial services. While they have faced challenges related to trust, limited services, and regulatory compliance, technology has played a crucial role in addressing these issues.

Through enhanced security measures, automation, collaboration, and scalability, technology enables neo banks to overcome obstacles and deliver exceptional experiences to their customers. As the digital banking landscape continues to evolve, neo banks have the potential to reshape the financial industry and drive innovation further.

To understand more about how we can help in your digital transformation journey, please write to info@indiumsoftware.com

The post Neo Banking: Exploring Achievements, Failures, and the Role of Technology appeared first on Indium Software.

Screen Readers

Screen readers are a type of assistive technology that enables people with visual impairments or blindness to access and interact with digital content on a computer or mobile device. A screen reader is a software application that converts digital text into synthesized speech. To test screen readers, the product should be checked to ensure that it supports screen readers such as JAWS (Job Access With Speech), NVDA (Nonvisual Desktop Access), and Voiceover. The product should also be checked to ensure that all content is accessible to users with visual impairments, including images, videos, and other multimedia content.

When testing screen readers, it’s important to check that the software works well with the screen reader, and that all content is accessible to users with visual impairments. This includes checking that all images, videos, and other multimedia content have appropriate alternative text descriptions. Additionally, it’s important to check that the screen reader can accurately read all text on the page, including text that is styled in different ways, such as headings, bold text, and italicized text.

It’s also important to test the screen reader’s ability to navigate the product. This includes testing that the screen reader can accurately identify and navigate to links, buttons, and other interactive elements on the page. Additionally, it’s important to test that the screen reader can properly identify the current page and provide users with feedback on their location within the product.

Finally, it’s important to test the screen reader’s ability to handle dynamic content, such as pop-up windows or content that is displayed after a user takes an action. This includes testing that the screen reader can accurately identify and interact with these elements and that users are provided with appropriate feedback on the changes to the page.

Magnification Tools

Magnification tools help users with visual impairments increase the size of the content on their screen, making it easier to read and interact with digital content. To test magnification tools, the product should be checked to ensure that it supports zooming features such as pinch-to-zoom and double-tap-to-zoom. The product should also be checked to ensure that all content is legible and visible at different zoom levels.

When testing magnification tools, it’s important to ensure that all content is legible and visible at different zoom levels. This includes testing that the zoom feature doesn’t cause any distortion or loss of quality in the content, such as blurriness or pixelation. Additionally, it’s important to test that the product’s layout and design remain intact at different zoom levels, and that users are still able to navigate and interact with the product effectively. It’s also important to test that the magnification tool doesn’t cause any unintended scrolling or zooming, which could be disorienting or frustrating for users. Finally, it’s important to test that the magnification tool is consistent across different devices and platforms, ensuring that all users can access and use the feature regardless of their device or operating system.

Keyboard Navigation Tools

Keyboard navigation is an essential navigation feature of any software or web application, especially for people who cannot use a mouse or have limited mobility. In addition to the basic requirements mentioned earlier, there are several best practices that should be followed to ensure that keyboard navigation is effective and user-friendly.

One such best practice is to provide keyboard shortcuts for commonly used functions. These shortcuts can be assigned to specific keys or key combinations and can significantly improve the efficiency of using the application.

Another important aspect of keyboard navigation is ensuring that the keyboard focus is always visible and easily identifiable. The keyboard focus is the element that is currently active and can receive keyboard input. It should be highlighted in some way, such as with a colored border or a different background color, to make it clear which element is currently active.

Furthermore, it is essential to ensure that the tab order of the application is logical and intuitive. The tab order is the order in which the keyboard focus moves from one element to another when the user presses the Tab key. It should follow a logical sequence that matches the visual layout of the application and not skip any important elements.

It is also worth noting that users may have different preferences when it comes to keyboard navigation. Some may prefer to use the arrow keys to navigate between elements, while others may prefer to use the Tab key. Therefore, it is important to provide options for customizing keyboard navigation settings to accommodate different user preferences.

Speech Recognition / Voice Command Tools

Instead of using a keyboard or mouse to interact with a computer or mobile device, users can use voice command tools, which are software applications. A tester can run a number of tests to mimic real-world usage scenarios in order to test the voice command feature.

Firstly, the tester can try using common voice commands that the product claims to support. These commands can include basic tasks such as opening and closing the application, navigating through menus, and selecting options. The tester can also try using more complex commands to ensure that the system can handle more intricate tasks.

Secondly, it is essential to test the speech recognition system’s ability to understand different accents and languages. The tester can record audio samples of users speaking different languages and accents and play them back to the system to check its accuracy in recognising the speech.

Finally, the tester should test the speech recognition system’s ability to work in different environments, including those with background noise. The tester can simulate noisy environments by playing sounds in the background and testing whether the speech recognition system can filter out unwanted noise and accurately recognize the user’s commands.

Braille Displays

A braille terminal, also known as a refreshable braille display, is an electro-mechanical device that displays braille characters using round-tipped pins raised through holes in a flat surface. It is typically used by people with visual impairments who can’t read text output on a regular computer monitor.

It is important to confirm that the product supports braille output and that all content is accessible to users who rely on braille before conducting tests on braille display outputs.

Some other areas to check for are:

Verify compatibility: Check that the software is compatible with the braille display being used. This includes checking that the software can communicate with the display and that the display can receive and display the braille output.

Test different scenarios: Test the software in various scenarios, such as navigating through menus, reading documents, filling out forms, and using other features. This will help ensure that the software’s braille output is consistent and accurate throughout the program.

Test formatting: Check that the braille output is correctly formatted, including proper spacing, indentation, and line breaks. This is important for ensuring that the braille output is easy to read and navigate.

Conclusion

In conclusion, by conducting thorough testing across different domains, product teams can identify and address potential barriers that users may face, making sure that the product is accessible to everyone and hence creating a more equitable and welcoming world for all.

The post Testing Assistive Technologies in a Product appeared first on Indium Software.

Data visualization is crucial for making educated decisions as the business sector relies more and more on data. Data’s rising volume and pace make it impossible to comprehend without abstraction or visual depiction. Furthermore, data that are non-statistical, such as organization processes or customer journeys, are difficult to interpret and repair without visualization.

Data Visualisation has therefore become crucial for businesses to make data more accessible, understandable, and usable in decision-making. Data visualization is the source of business intelligence.

Is data Visualization so important?

Data visualization is a powerful tool that uses statistical visuals, information graphics, charts, and other approaches to clearly and effectively show complex data. Facts visualization facilitates user comprehension and reasoning about facts and evidence by encoding numerical data with dots, lines, or bars. Tables are used to search specific measurements, while charts display data patterns or correlations for more Variables.

Thanks to the Internet and increasing modern technologies, transforming data into understandable images is now possible for everyone. One con is the inclination to prioritize convenience above quality. Transforming the spreadsheet cells into charts can provide merely passable or useless charts since it fails to convey the fundamental notion. As a result, before clicking and viewing data, it is critical to evaluate your aim and objectives.

Creating an Insightful and Profitable Visualization Strategy

To make effective charts, it takes more than just understanding visual grammar rules. It is crucial to understand when to use and how to handle the key and colours; relying solely on rules can result in a lack of strategy in the chart-making process, similar to planning a marketing campaign without a plan. Instead, effective chart-making demands acknowledging a sequence of tasks requiring varying degrees of plotting, resources, & expertise.

Analyzing the purpose of data or information is critical before generating a visualization. Is it conceptual? Is the visualization meant to make a statement or discovery? By answering these questions, you may identify the sources and gears required to build a successful visualization that meets your objectives. This method allows you to choose the most effective visualization style for conveying your message to your audience. As a result, good chart creation begins with careful planning and a clear knowledge of your visualization objectives.

Also Read:  Domo for Dummies: A Guide to Creating Powerful Data Visualizations with Domo

Tips and Tricks!

Here are some surprising yet effective Data Visualization techniques that experts have emphasized and accepted:

Art of Omission

The skill of omission should be treasured. You should emphasize what is vital and exclude what isn’t. This will assist in avoiding clutter and allow your audience to focus on the important issues.

Colors should be chosen with Caution.

Colors may be used to highlight the information, while incorrect use can conceal it. Choose easy colors on the eyes and provide a clear contrast between different data points.

Eliminating  Gauges

Although speedometers and gauges have been widely used in dashboards, newer visualization techniques that take up less space are now available. It’s recommended to consider using an easier visualization method instead of gauges.

Begin at zero

To prevent misinterpretation and ensure correct understanding of the scale, it is recommended to always start the horizontal axis of a bar chart at zero.

Display the distinction

You may highlight the differences if you wish to compare the two series. This will assist your readers in comprehending the significant areas of comparison and emphasize the value of the facts.

Pies

Pie charts may be colorful and visually appealing but are not always the best choice for displaying data. It is important to evaluate the relevance of a pie chart to the data being presented and use it only when appropriate.

Highlight what is relevantly essential

Maintain a neutral dashboard and highlight just what is relevant, such as the present location or a critical metric. This will allow the audience to concentrate on the essential points and comprehend the value of the material.

Graphs from a different perspective

Consider using a horizontal bar graph when dealing with labels or hierarchy in your data. It is recommended to explore various types of charts and graphs to effectively highlight your information.

Here are some tools that can be used to implement the mentioned Data Visualization techniques:

Art of Omission:

a. Tableau – Allows users to selectively show or hide elements of a visualization.

b. Power BI – Offers various filters and slicers to customize and refine visualizations.

Colors should be chosen with Caution:

a. ColorBrewer – Provides color schemes that are colorblind-safe and printer-friendly.

b. Adobe Color – Allows users to create, save, and export color schemes.

Eliminating Gauges:

a. D3.js – A JavaScript library that can create custom visualizations and eliminate gauges.

b. Plotly – Offers various visualization types that can replace gauges, such as bullet charts.

Begin at zero:

a. Microsoft Excel – Allows users to manually set axis limits and customize the display of data.

b. ggplot2 – A popular R package that includes the ability to set axis limits and control the display of data.

Display the distinction:

a. QlikView – Offers various charts and tables to highlight the difference between data points.

b. Highcharts – Provides a wide range of customizable chart types to display distinctions.

Pies:

a. Google Charts – Provides a variety of pie chart customization options.

b. Chart.js – A JavaScript library that can create customizable pie charts.

Highlight what is relevantly essential:

a. Plotly – Provides a range of charts and tables that can be customized to highlight essential data points.

b. SAP Analytics Cloud – Offers features to highlight the important aspects of a visualization, such as conditional formatting and alerts.

Graphs from a different perspective:

a. Matplotlib – A popular Python library that provides a wide range of visualization types, including 3D graphs.

b. Vega-Lite – A declarative language for creating interactive visualizations, including custom perspectives.

Excel:

Excel is a widely used spreadsheet program that also offers basic data visualization capabilities. It can be used to create charts, graphs, and other visualizations, and can be a good option for simple visualizations or data exploration.

Wrapping Up

Being able to visualise data in the data-driven world of today is essential for making successful decisions. The ability to master data visualisation is a skill that is attainable through the use of a variety of tricks and tips, and it can significantly improve one’s capacity to comprehend and analyse complex data. Anyone can become a better analyst and improve their data visualisation skills by adhering to best practices like selecting the proper visualisations, structuring data in a meaningful way, and using colour and design effectively. With these strategies in mind, people and organisations can use data visualisation to generate insight, wise choices, and significant outcomes.

The post Mastering Data Visualization: Tips and Tricks to Effectively Analyze Information appeared first on Indium Software.