Oxford Computer Consultants

Welcome to the fifth edition of the OCC eNewsletter with its insight into how emerging Information Technology will impact on your business.

Our aim is to inform business managers and technical directors in clear language about topical aspects of IT. Every quarter we'll explain how businesses are using IT to gain a competitive advantage and improve their business processes. Each article will be supported by case studies outlining how organizations have successfully deployed the technology, and how OCC has been able to help them seize the opportunities the articles outline.

In this issue, Greg Holdridge writes about the relative benefits of web-based applications over the traditional desktop approach.

Web applications

Consider a few problems with desktop applications: It is costly to install and configure them on each and every work station. After this, each installation must be maintained separately; the more installations there are, the more often one will break. It is time-consuming to apply patches and updates and consequently patches are made infrequently. They are, true to their name, accessible only where the desktop is accessible. They encourage local data storage leading to data loss, and out-of-date central data stores.

Web applications suffer none of these faults. Installation happens only in one central place, and any patches need only be applied to that single installation. Users can access web applications from anywhere they could access any other website giving much greater working flexibility. There is a single, central data store that reflects immediately all the users’ actions and can be safely and frequently backed up. By eliminating the desktop installation, the costs of deployment and maintenance are hugely reduced while, at the same time, workers can be more flexible and better connected.

Given these advantages, why haven’t web applications replaced desktop applications altogether? For some tasks, web applications are unsuitable. If high processing power is needed, as for complex calculation, web applications are rarely up to the job. The web server is too busy handling requests to perform the computation and any processing done on the user’s browser using JavaScript must be interpreted by the browser, and hence executes too slowly. Tasks requiring very advanced user interfaces, 3D design or graphing for example, are beyond the capability of web applications simply because they cannot control their appearance with enough precision. Also, tasks involving very large quantities of data, such as video editing, are not feasible because the speed of data transfer, even for modern high-speed broadband, is too slow. Even for tasks which web applications are suited to perform, there remains a major disadvantage compared to the desktop: the user interface of web applications is not live, in the sense that the web page which shows the user interface is delivered to the browser by the web server and then the connection ends. There is no further communication between the user interface and the web server until the user clicks a button or a link and the page reloads. This can make the interface of a web application cumbersome and inelegant.

Ajax, he held forth his hand

However, in the last couple of years, a new trend in web application development has come to the fore, which uses JavaScript to regain some of the live feeling of a desktop application. Popularly known as Ajax (Asynchronous JavaScript And XML), this methodology uses JavaScript to exchange information with the web server and update the user interface without that familiar page-reload flicker. The communication with the server is asynchronous, meaning that the user interface continues to function while it takes place. So long as care is taken not to rely on the JavaScript, (not all users will be able to use it) this does a lot to close the gap between web and desktop user interfaces. For example, take Google’s recent Google Spreadsheets (http://docs.google.com). This is one of the cornerstone desktop applications, convincingly recreated for use in the web browser. Seeing this, it is easy to imagine a large number of other possible applications that could be presented over the web.

Google Spreadsheets in Firefox

If a slicker interface makes a web application more viable, there are many other benefits to using one. A good example, and important concern for service providers and employers, is accessibility. Here, web applications benefit from the in-built accessibility features of browsers and HTML. For example, blind or visually impaired users may use a screen reader to read out the text on their screen. With HTML it is possible to embed large amounts of additional information in a page that, although not visible in a web browser, allows the screen reader to convey the intended meaning of the page, which may otherwise be lost or obscured without the visual cues from layout and images. All these features are standardized by the W3C and supported by a large body of guidelines describing best practice (Web Accessibility Initiative - http://www.w3.org/wai). Furthermore, these guidelines define an accessibility standard by which a web application can be certified. Web applications also have innate separation of style, interface, and function, making them extremely flexible visually. This can be seen in action at www.csszengarden.com, where the content of a single page is presented in hundreds of different styles without changing the HTML at all.

An example, SP-Provider

With the introduction of the Supporting People programme (http://www.spkweb.org.uk/NR/rdonlyres/06E6FD41-4804-4B78-BDD9-343EC58117A2/4165/WhatisSuppPeopleLP.pdf) in 2003, OCC produced SPOCC, an SP management application for local authorities. It proved very popular with local authorities and, in 2005, we decided that we should use our understanding of the SP process to extend our coverage out to the providers of SP services. This led to the development of a new product, SP-Provider (http://www.oxfordcclg.co.uk/psocc.html).

PSOCC (SP-Provider) is OCC’s product to help Supporting People providers manage the provision of services to clients, and to produce the various statutory returns required of them. When first conceived, it presented a problem for desktop application development: a very wide range of potential customers from small, one-person outfits, to large national housing associations. We needed to produce an application that was potentially low-cost but also scalable for very large businesses. It was not feasible to deploy a desktop system like SPOCC to all of these different users.

Our solution was to develop PSOCC as a web application. Customers can buy a login to the system, OCC helps to configure it for their requirements and they begin using it via their web browser. There is no installation process, only configuration and data setup, so the new system is ready to use very quickly. Users of the system also benefit from frequent improvements made by the development team, the majority of these in response to customer feedback.

The Web is continuously moving forward. With several replacements for Ajax-style web applications already mooted, we can expect exciting developments in this field in the next year or two. Though the technology to base some kinds of application on the Web may be a way off yet, there is a surprising amount that can be done right now. Whatever the situation, new projects should consider what benefits the Web could bring.

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What is OCC?

The purpose of OCC (http://www.oxfordcc.co.uk/) is to create original, robust and flexible IT solutions. Our aim to add value to customers' businesses by enabling them to grasp the opportunities of information technology and the Internet. In so doing, we aim to give our staff challenging jobs and competitive rewards. We work in the IT field because we enjoy the technology, because we’re good at it and because we can see the positive impact IT has on both business and society. We aim to achieve our purpose by:

• recruiting and retaining highly skilled staff. We believe that the intelligence and skill of our developers is one of our competitive advantages,
• working closely with our customers. It is always our aim to allow any prospective client to contact any of our previous or on-going clients for a reference,
• using our results and reputation to win repeat business and generate new business. We believe that our reputation should speak for itself and that people should use us because they have heard of our reputation; and
• undertaking leading edge R&D because this is the life blood of innovative companies. This ensures that we have expertise in emerging as well as current software technologies.

Find out more (http://www.oxfordcc.co.uk/Doc17747.html) to about OCC's objectives

The purpose of OCC (http://www.oxfordcc.co.uk/) is to create original, robust and flexible IT solutions. Our aim to add value to customers' businesses by enabling them to grasp the opportunities of information technology and the Internet. In so doing, we aim to give our staff challenging jobs and competitive rewards. We work in the IT field because we enjoy the technology, because we’re good at it and because we can see the positive impact IT has on both business and society. We aim to achieve our purpose by:

• recruiting and retaining highly skilled staff. We believe that the intelligence and skill of our developers is one of our competitive advantages,
• working closely with our customers. It is always our aim to allow any prospective client to contact any of our previous or on-going clients for a reference,
• using our results and reputation to win repeat business and generate new business. We believe that our reputation should speak for itself and that people should use us because they have heard of our reputation; and
• undertaking leading edge R&D because this is the life blood of innovative companies. This ensures that we have expertise in emerging as well as current software technologies.

Read our Company Profile (http://www.oxfordcc.co.uk/Doc21009.html) .

What Does OCC Do?

OCC promotes itself as having a strong ability to grasp a client’s business needs and to use technology to “add value” to client processes. Our strengths are reflected in the quality of our development staff, our high levels of repeat business (over 93% of clients buy again from OCC), and our knowledge and experience in specific sectors such as energy, engineering, local government and health.

OCC’s Services and Expertise

Software Services

A complete range of design, development and support services for:

• Custom software applications;
• Re-engineering of software in legacy applications; and
• Content Management System based web sites and web applications based on standard and emerging web services technology.

Business Sectors

Over 16 years of experience, reference sites and testimonials from our customers in:

• Energy and Oil; (http://www.oxfordcc.co.uk/Doc18197.html) Environment (http://www.oxfordcc.co.uk/Doc18183.html) ;
• Public Sector (http://www.oxfordcc.co.uk/Doc20351.html) (including Local Government and the NHS);
• Blue chip companies such as Canon and National Grid; and
• Innovative SMEs in all sectors.

Technologies

All mainstream and emerging technologies including:

• Database applications;
• Mathematical modeling software with graphical outputs; and
• Web applications based on Content Management technologies, web services and the semantic web.

Socially Responsible Business Practice

Oxford Computer Consultants adheres to socially responsible business practice. The company has formal environment and ethics policies that are communicated to all staff.