Every time I would shutdown my Win 7 Laptop, I would see the exclamation icon on the shutdown button showing that an update was pending installation. I also went to Windows update screen and installed it directly from there. Every time it would give a success message, but would popup again shortly. So much so, that I have it reflecting close to 30 times in my update history.

Finally searching online gave some hints. Most queries were for Vista, but I assumed that the solutions may work for Win 7 as well. What worked for me finally was to go to add remove programs wizard, uninstalled MSXML 4.0 SP2 (KB954430) and then installed this update again. Since then, I have been able to rest in peace :-).

If you ask me, I feel that everyone working with computers should learn typing.

The utility I created worked perfectly fine and one of my colleague also wanted to use it. I shared the executable and certificate (.cer file) with him. He installed the certificate and provided the thumbprint of the certificate to use the utility. When executed a request, it gave error "The remote server returned an error: (403) Forbidden".

On further investigation I found that this issue is because the other system did not have the private key of the certificate. When .cer file is installed in certificate store, it doesn't install the private key along. Therefore, when user attaches the thumbprint of this installed certificate or this .cer file with the request, the response is forbidden. Even though the certificate file (.cer) sent along with request is same as the certificate file uploaded on Azure, the user is not authorized to perform this operation in absence of private key. The below diagram explains both of the scenarios; first: when user has both public key and private key and second: when user has only public key –
 
 
So the problem is - how do I share my certificate with others such that they can authenticate their request to perform an operation; specifically in the distributed development scenarios.
The solution which we implemented is, exporting the certificate along with private key. Following are the steps performed for it –
1. Create the certificate with exportable private key. –pe option with makecert utility
2. While exporting the certificate, select export the private key option and select .pfx format
3. Provide the password and generate a .pfx file.
4. This .pfx file can be shared with the team along with the password.
5. They will have to provide the same password while installing this certificate.

Now they can also use the application using the same certificate; although programmatically using the certificate will by default prompt for the password for authorization. This prompt can be suppressed by modifying the local security policy of the machine called as “System Cryptography: Force strong key protection for user keys stored on the computer”. By default value of this policy is “User must enter a password each time they use a key”. It can be changed to “User input is not required when new keys are stored and used”; however this is not recommended.

Actors: Consultant (Jerry) and Client (Tom)

The Conversation:

Tom: So now that you know my needs; can you tell me what is the percentage fitment for the product you are recommending?

Jerry: Well, this depends on how you see it; but I can assure you it’s a good fitment. Nothing will meet your needs out of the box.

Tom: Can you be more specific? What is the fitment in percentage terms – 40%, 60% or 80%

Jerry: Ok, let me get back to you on this by tomorrow

Jerry lists out all requirements and puts them in an excel sheet; gives a fitment of – ‘Out of Box’, ‘Customization’, ‘Not Applicable’ to each requirement line. And yes, here is the pivot with number of requirements in each bracket. Ready for next day

Jerry: Good Morning Tom; here is the analysis. As I had mentioned yesterday you have a 70% fitment; 20% will be met with customization and 10% are not possible with the product. Net-Net a good 70% fitment is what I see here.

Tom: Hmmn. Looks ok to me. Let’s discuss the statement of work.

Jerry: Sure, Drinks anyone??

Consultants for not bringing out the perspective to the client and the client for his hurriedness in getting a budget sign-off overlooks that this ‘percentage’ seen in isolation is like asking a question to a married couple – “What is the percentage compatibility between you?”. Can you get an honest answer or do the parties have a mechanism to simply tell this? I am married for 5 years and do not have an answer to that yet.

This small question – “What is the percentage fitment?” assumed a lot of things –

1. All requirement lines are of equal importance
2. All requirement lines are of equal impact (i.e. if they are not met)
3. All requirement lines will require equal effort to achieve in the product
4. All requirements lines are independent and have no cross-dependencies (parent-child relationships)
5. All requirements lines define the universal set of business needs and there are no further changes foreseen
6. All requirements lines have an equal risk profile

Solution

My personal approach is to consider all the above parameters and then come out with a fitment which is a true indicator of the amount of effort, time, resources and cost which the client would incur to achieve the envisaged business benefits.

There could be 90% of the lines available out of box but remaining 10% may need an effort which is 10 times the effort required for meeting 90% needs and the risk may be much higher as lot of ground-up customizations can lead to higher chances of failure as well.

On the other hand; another product may be meeting only 60% of the requirement lines, but the remaining 40% may be met with simpler customizations. This can be due to ‘framework’ nature of the product i.e. the product could have been developed in such a way that it provides the basic framework with all business functionalities leaving it to the service providers to customize it to the need of the client. It need not be over-engineered and boast of best-of-breed features which are never used.

I call this paradigm as “Total Benefits & Solution Fitment Framework”. This may take more time; but this gives a better insight into the ‘compatiblity aspect’ which is necessary for this marriage to last. Please feel free to express your views on this.

And before i take your leave-

Tom, Hope you have got the point. I am very much on your side!

Jerry, No offense, was just trying to help!

2. Dedicated: This is a separate infrastructure of the customer

Some of the biggest challenges that existed in MOSS 2007 for multitenancy include:

1. Where do we host a tenant.. Should we create a separate Web Application or creating a separate site collection will suffice... Of course both have their own pros and cons

2. Services were part of SSP and the alacarte model did not exists and one cannot keep creating a separate Web Application and SSP for each and every tenant 

3. Other major challenge was around customizations as the 12 hive folder is a shared one

4. Ensuring the performance of customizations of one tenant does not affect others

So what is that SharePoint 2010 offers to overcome the above challenges

SharePoint 2010 has introduced a new concept called Site Subscriptions to group site collections based on the tenants even if all the site collections are part of the same Web Application. Site Subscriptions not only does externally separate out the Site collections but also the underlying data in the content database. This goes to the extent of one tenants data will not be seen as search result of other tenants data. The same subscription id also helps in grouping of features and services to the tenants.

The next of the problem is around customizations. SharePoint 2010 has introduced a new concept called Sandboxed solutions. What this means is that the tenant administrators (Site Collection admins) can now deploy features local to their site collections without affecting other site collections of other tenants in the same Web Application. This solves 2 purposes. Part of the administration is getting delegated to the tenants. However the central admin still has control and can ensure to big the feature down if it seen to show any performance degradation.

Yet another year is about to come to an end. Many would like to forget this year as one of the nightmare - job cuts, stagnation, closing businesses, struggling bottom lines, insecurity and unexpected falls. While several things may have gone wrong; there were some very thought through and meticulous business moves that will change the business paradigm in near future.

The margins have dipped but the ‘continuity’ and ‘relationships’ have improved for those who kept away from ‘transactional’ mindset. This is a long term investment and will surely reap benefits! The talks about ‘green-shoots’ and ‘recovery’ were being heard over the later part of the year and that sure lays ground for a ‘brighter’ future ahead.

Several participants in this space have commented on the future challenges and opportunities for service providers in IT space. While I like some, I hate some. This is my personal list around these, though not necessarily in any order–

1.       One-stop-shops are needed – A service provider who can provide infrastructure, BPO services, liaising, approvals, research and consulting all together so that the enterprise do not have to go out in search of multiple partners. Platform solutions are another area which need lot of focus and pricing innovation.

2.       Business Transformation deals are a reality – There are businesses that have been running over years and have become a mish-mash of applications all making the organization ‘disconnected’. There is a need for service providers to enter into these ‘transformation’ deals and relate this back to real value for clients

3.       ‘Architecting the enterprise’ – are you game? – There are very few ‘Greenfield Implementations’ today. Thus, there is a need to identify opportunities to rationalize and streamline and in the process ensure that the entire organizational processes are tied together in a way that the business can perform what it is meant to do seamlessly.

4.       Going the cloud way – With so many providers taking the ‘cloud’ route; it makes sense to look at opportunities of moving out some of the non-critical applications on the cloud and leverage of advantages of OPEX over CAPEX.

5.       Boundary-less Organizations - new focus area – Today the business process originates internally goes out to customer / vendor where the processing is  on a separate platform and this then comes back into the parent organization. All these need to be ‘knitted’ together ‘loose’ enough to allow for flexibility and ‘tight’ enough to allow seamless integration of the processes.

6.       ‘Hybrids’ on the cards – With platforms like ‘Azure’ from Microsoft and the strategy of ERP products like Microsoft Dynamics to allow for a ‘terrestrial + cloud’ offering; the service providers need to look at options where the core ERP/CRM may be installed terrestrially (on-premise) while the peripheral systems can be on the cloud.

7.       ‘Nimble’ is in – today the need of the business is to adapt to changes and be flexible enough to actually model the business processes in such a way that these changes can be done seamlessly. The products need to be modeled and implemented in such a way that these flexibilities can be attained at an overall level using the system of connected product and service offerings.

8.       Micro-verticals focus needs more than mere lip-say – While this has been an oft repeated word; the investments in these areas are typically coming in from niche players working in one micro-vertical. There is need to invest in these areas to reap benefit in the long run. The service companies may have to think from the ‘product’ company perspective to achieve any gain in this area.

9.       Size does matter – With increasing experience of bigger Sis/ISVs and cost arbitrage margins becoming lower, it is the elements of ‘reusables’ and ‘accelators’ which can lead to effective reduction in cost. With huge size, there comes an advantage of attracting best talent and utilize them appropriately.

10.   What next after process optimization – Business Intelligence & Analytics? – The products have helped in optimizing the business and ensure that right data is available at right place at right time with right people; what is lacking is how to use this data for business benefit. Value Analytics would be the game changing paradigm and needed for service providers to move up the value chain

11.   Skilled minds are the real assets – Focus on ‘People’ would have to come back. Recession may have considered them as ‘overheads’; but these are the real drivers in the knowledge driven enterprise. Program Management, Enterprise Architecture and User Handling skills would be of utmost importance besides the traditional technical, domain and functional skill sets.

12.   Doing “more for less” would be the mantra – How to optimize on cost would be the constant question. The clients will become more demanding as they would need value out of each dollar invested in the initiatives. The service providers need to show the real value-add to the clients to win deals

13.   Going ‘non-linear’ beyond the established models – Several of now established models around ‘solution selling’, ‘Platforms’. ‘SaaS’ need to be evolved and new models generated to actually delink the revenue growth from headcount which has been more or less proportional ever since the birth of this industry

14.   ‘Developing’ markets hold the key for future growth – Traditional markets have matured and the investments from clients are around maintenance, upgrade and enhancements. While this sure provides some assured stream of revenue; it is the new and emerging markets in pockets around South East Asia, Middle East, South America, South Africa and Eastern Europe which hold a lot of potential for Greenfield implementations

15.   ‘White spaces’ are available for SI/ISV to capture in new verticals & customer segments – Traditional verticals like BFSI, Retail are cluttered; there is a need to look at Communication, Entertainment, Education, Sports, Non-Profit Organization, etc. where there is a need for a lot of investment

16.   Social Media is here to stay – You may stay clear of Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, MySpace and likes; but the role of these media cannot be undermined in terms of understanding the client behaviors, marketing the products, receiving feedback, etc. and all this is going to become even more omnipresent as we see more players jumping on this bandwagon.

17.   Service Levels are needed; but, IP would be the differentiator – Creation of IP and Knowledge assets to provide a different value proposition to the clients would be in vogue and very much needed to lead the race. This will also include bringing about improvements in existing solutions/delivery methods.

18.   From off-shore to near-shore – With low cost locations available to bigger markets, visa issues, increasing travel costs, green initiatives, cultural differences, anti-outsourcing lobbies etc. there is a need to move some work to near-shore locations. This is a strategic move and needs to be implemented with more vigor.

19.   Mergers on the way – The service providers can actually go this route to increase presence in a region, enter into new verticals/domain or to complement the skill sets that might be missing in the parent organization to take up greater and global challenges.

20.   Innovations needed in pricing models – Fixed Price and Time & Material are passé. There is a need to go for Risk-Reward, Risk-Sharing, Transaction based and Usage based pricing. These are mentioned in ‘deck-wares’ and implemented in pockets and sometime retro-fitted to the implementations; but there is a real need to define these models and implement them to bring real value to clients.

I know this was a long one; but then this is what I feel and did not want to edit it to risk missing on my thoughts. Please feel free to add to this list. Season Greetings and have a happy new year 2010. May it bring a lot of happiness and prosperity to all!

The CRM products that are flexible and allow the re-use of the below features will qualify as the XRM product. This is where Microsoft Dynamics CRM scores over its competitors.

1.       UI --> User interface is created by default in the dynamics framework. This can be easily modified and extended using .NET and Silverlight.

2.       Event-Driven --> Microsoft dynamics provides the handle for all the events that cab triggered though batch, integration or through user interface.

3.       Entity-based --> New entities can be created and the relationship can be established between these entities.

4.       Workflow --> User can manage the work flow through a user interface or a new work flow can also be published by the developer.

5.       Security --> Object-based and role-based security model provides the high flexibility to adopt the security requirements of any new processes and/or a new organization structure.

As shown in the figure below, when a user creates a poll and invites his/her friends to participate in poll, the poll gets created and subsequently a notification may need to be send out. These notifcations are first send out as a Notification messages into a queue. The Notification message contains instructions on the mode of alerts which need to be sent out say SMS, e-mail or Twitter. A work role, the Notification processor, processes these messages asynchronoously in an offline fashion. It picks up the notification messages from the queue, process the message and extracts the channels to which the notifications have to be send. Once the notification channels are identified the processor calls the respective notifcations services along with the information required by the service. The poll creation transactions completes without waiting for completion of sending invite notifications to invitees and significantly reducing the overall time of the transaction improving the application throughput.

As of now MYOC supports three types of invite notifications to participants i.e. e-mail, SMS and tweet. Other notification services can also be easily incorporated by setting a filter for them in the notification processor and passing the message to the services.

The overall process of sending the notification comprises of three steps –
1. Putting notification messages in the queue after creation of the poll

a. Once the poll is created, create an entity for notification with the details of participants i.e. e-mail ID and cell number, twitter ID and password of poll creator to put status on, type of notification i.e. e-mail, SMS and tweet.
b. Form the message to be sent to the participants with poll URL. For SMS and tweets, considering the limitation of message size, convert the URLs into tiny URL using TinyURL API.
c. XML serialize the notification entity and encode it to form a string message.
d. Create notification message queue using StorageClient API and set queue properties.
e. Put the message in the notification message queue.
f. If any of the above steps fails then get the error/exception details and write it to Azure table storage.

2. Processing of the notification by the Worker Role

a. Worker role keeps running in the background and checks if notification message queue has been created or not.
b. Create a dead letter queue to store the message which could not be processed by the worker role and wait until any queue is created in the storage account.
c. If notification message queue exists then keep checking if there is any notification message in the queue after specified time interval.
d. If there is any message in the queue, worker role will pick it up for processing.
e. Deserialize the message in the Notification entity and get message details.
f. Check the notification message to process it ; if it contains twitter authorization key, then call twitter notification service from the webrole to put status on specified twitter account.
g. If the notification message contains an SMS message, then call SMS notification service from webrole to send SMS to specified mobile number.
h. If the notification message contains e-mail IDs, then call Live notification service from webrole to send e-mail to specified e-mail IDs.
i. If any of the above steps fails then get the error/exception details and write it to Azure table storage.

3. Sending messages through various notification services to the participants

a. Notification services are RESTful WCF services created in the webrole for various notification mechanisms in MYOC. Whenever a service is called with valid inputs, it will call the concerned method to send invite notification to the participants.
b. Follow the link to know how a tweet will be sent to a specified twitter account
c. SMS service will send SMS to specified mobile numbers
d. Follow the link to know how an e-mail will be sent to specified e-mail IDs
e. If any of the above steps fails then get the error/exception details and write it to Azure table storage.

Offloading the notification transaction to a background process has helped in improving the overall throughput of the application. Architects and developers need to keep an eye on scenarios which exhibit such characteristics in their overall process and simultaneously design to offload such activities to an offline mode