Darren Jarvis has joined us as our Key Account Manager. With over 15 years experience in the IT industry, working for companies such as Gateway, Sitel, and Shared Access, amongst others, Darren brings a huge amount of technical infrastructure know-how and customer management expertise to Nexus451. Darren has extensive experience across a number of IT roles, from Project Management Support to Business Systems Analysis and Project Planning.

Darren’s role within Nexus451, as Key Account Manager, will enable him to work with clients to gather and define their Web IT requirements. He can also advise our clients on Business Processes, web and mobile technologies, IT systems and applications, and how to utilise their data to extract valuable, relevant, and insightful business intelligence.

We have also brought David O’Dwyer into the Nexus451 team. David studied Computing & Information Technology at the Blanchardstown Institute of Technology, and we’re delighted to be able to find another high calibre developer from the locality. We look forward to having David work with us as he embarks on his career in IT, and hopefully he won’t be the new guy for too long.

However, recently work started on an integration with a SOAP based API which involved about 20 different requests. Each request was a block of XML contained within a SOAP envolop and defined by it’s own schema; and many of the schemas had upwards of 1000 lines defining the structure of the XML payloads.

To communicate with the API we needed to build up an object with properties matching the XML nodes, send that to the SOAP client, and it would handle the mapping to XML.

---------------------------------------
$client = new Zend_Soap_Client();
$params->node1->node2_1 = 'foo';
$params->node1->node2_2 = 'bar';
$client->methodName($params);
---------------------------------------

Would result in XML similar the following being sent

---------------------------------------
<params>
    <node1>
        <node2_1>foo</node2_1>
        <node2_2>bar</node2_2>
    </node1>
</params>
---------------------------------------

This was fine as a proof of concept for communicating with the API. Not the prettiest by any means, but we were communicating

A second iteration of the code we started looking at doing it along the lines of

---------------------------------------
$node1 = new stdClass();
$node1 ->node2_1 = 'foo'
$params = new stdclass();
$params->node1 = $node1;
---------------------------------------

I liked this in that it felt cleaner, everything was being defined, and there were no E_STRICT messages appearing (If you aren’t using E_STRICT with your PHP you should be). I still wasn’t happy though. Ideally $node1 should be of a properly defined type, not just stdClass. So I was looking at creating a class for each non-leaf node in the XML tree. For the first API call we were looking at that would have amounted to about 80 different classes I would have to create, by hand.

While I certainly could have jumped in and written all those classes, I knew there had to be an easier way. Why couldn’t I just parse the XML schema and generate all the different classes? A few hours later I had a basic script which was generating code along the lines of the following

---------------------------------------
class node1type
{
    var $node2_1;
    var $node2_2;
    public __construct(
        $node2_1 = null,
        $node2_2 = null
    )
    {
        $this->node2_1 = $node2_1;
        $this->node2_2 = $node2_2;
    }
}
---------------------------------------

This was a good start; and it allowed me to now do something along the lines of the following, and my code was becoming a lot more developer friendly to read.

---------------------------------------
$params->node1 =
    new node1type('val1', 'val2');
---------------------------------------

Following on from this I added the following features to the script

• Validation of parameters based on minOccurs and maxOccurs attributes in the schema
• Handling of arrays of objects where maxOccurs > 1
• Type checking against objects passed in
• Validation of integers, decimals and strings
• Doc comments on the constructor for when your IDE supports that kind of thing
• Generated code should not generate any errors (there will be line length warnings) when checking against the PEAR coding standard with PHP Codesniffer.

The end result is a tool which in seconds generates a list of classes which I know work; and when are on my include path, my IDE will give me type hints when I am creating instances of them. There is not full support for the XML schema spec, and some things could be handled a little differently, but it works for all schemas I need it to work on, and the generated code has already, and will in the future save us a lot of development time. I hope it can be of use to others too.

The code is released under the GPL and is available at https://github.com/davidgillen/XSD2PHP

———————————————————–

PHP Developer Experience (minimum):
PHP | SQL | JS | Web Services | Drupal (desirable) | Zend Qualification (desirable)

Register your interest for the position of PHP Developer

———————————————————–

Salesforce Developer Experience (minimum):
Dev 401 Cert | Dev 501 Cert | ADM 201 Cert | 2 Years Salesforce Development Experience | PHP/Salesforce Integration Experience (desirable) | APEX | Visual Force | JAVA Experience (desirable)

When times are tough, and everyone is working under pressure, getting your business strategy just right can be tortuous and riddled with the potential for error. Taking time out from fire-fighting day to day battles may seem like a luxury, but if you can keep a calm, objective head and examine your business processes thoroughly you will usually find room for improvement.

Managing your business processes simply means making sure that everything works as efficiently as possible, so that actual costs carry the least amount of wastefulness. Inefficiencies cost businesses a huge amount of time, wasted time that bring item cost and sale price closer than they need necessarily be. Lowering prices should be a last resort, and doing so without addressing existing business processes is a truly desperate measure.

T is for Tasks:
All business is based on ’Tasks‘, all those things that must be done to enable the process of selling: replying to an email; taking orders; restocking inventory; writing a business plan; tracking productivity; managing accounts; designing a widget; running a marketing campaign; managing customer relationships; paying bills; etc. Just about everything you do that happens in a place of work, that you and your employees are paid to do, is a Task.

R is for Requirements:
Every Task is built on a set of Requirements, those procedures that must happen in order to complete a Task; things don’t just need to get get done, they need to be done in a way that’s most cost-effective. In order to achieve that any Requirements must not just be wholly subscribed to, they must be carried out by those most capable of doing so with as little interference as possible.

I is for Issues:
Anything that gets in the way of a Task being completed is an Issue. Unresolved Issues are the leaks in the system, the constant drip of money disappearing from businesses. Identifying Issues is critical to achieving business process efficiencies, associated cost savings, and building a lean, smooth-running operation. Without knowing the deep-rooted source of a concern, and how it relates to other business processes, you may end up creating problems elsewhere if you act rashly.

Q is for Questions:
Once you’ve identified any business process Issues you have to ask Questions: Is it necessary to carry out the Task in this way? Are its Requirements too impractical to carry out quickly?  Are there too many dependencies and variables associated with a Task or its Requirements? Is there a better way? Are any Requirements redundant? Can processes be automated? If not, why not? Everything about how you do business must be questioned regularly, and not just when times are tough.

S is for Solutions:
Solutions to Issues can come out of the blue, and from any direction, but you have to be looking for them and receptive to all ideas; dismissing possibile Solutions simply because they don’t fit existing thinking is counter-productive; there are far too many examples in business of companies not seeing the potential in new ways of doing things and then having their market share decline. One thing is for certain: if you’re not looking for them you won’t see them, no matter where they come from.

Conclusion:
If you don’t think there are ways to improve your business processes, creating cost efficiencies even when things are going well, then it’s likely you aren’t looking hard enough. Business that don’t evolve become complacent and flounder, those that grow and become stronger are the ones always looking to improve and adapt to changing market needs.

Over the coming weeks and months we’ll be adding more information to the site, and more products and services to the listings. Initially we’ll be concentrating on those products we know very well, Google & Salesforce, and highlighting the various Apps available on those platforms. We’ll keep users informed about news and service offerings from these two Cloud giants, as well as those third parties whose applications catch our eye. We hope the knowledge, and expertise, we’ve built up over the last 5 years in these areas will help small business owners when they look to enhance their IT.

We’ll also be showcasing work we’ve done, giving insight into how to make the most from your online business; from website design and usability through to customer management and building efficient business processes. If you’ve any queries or suggestions for what you’d like to see on Office Space just drop us a line.

Is professional web design seen as an important part of growing your business, or is it something that just gets tacked on to the marketing budget?

Professional, creative web design isn’t just about pretty pictures and a few nicely shaped buttons, it’s about defining your brand and how it functions in an online environment  - for your business, and its customers, good design is about how people interact with your brand in a way that creates a positive user experience.

Putting a business website together isn’t something that should be done on a whim; it takes effort, time and resources to be effective in any competitive space and the web is no different.  Professional web design is calculated, strategic, and must have a defined set of marketing requirements if it’s to be successful. Every element of a site – from content management to business intelligence and analysis, from product/service offerings to ordering processing and fulfillment, from search engine optimisation to social media integration  - must reinforce the idea of brand excellence.

“…research also found a higher intensity of design activity among rapidly growing businesses, who were six times more likely than static ones to see design as integral to their operation.”
Design Council UK

With the rapidly growing connectedness of the internet – social media, smart mobile devices, location based services (LBS) and augmented reality (AR) – user experience design has to adapt so that businesses can engage with their customers in a way that is consistent.

Professional design is about creating desirable, functional solutions which command market share. Good web design, in conjunction with a well thought out brand strategy which has the user experience as it’s core, makes business processes accessible, intuitive and profitable. How seriously businesses take design and manage their brand strategy, if they even have one, will determine how successful they become at engaging consumers and growing brand loyalty.

Nexus451 will primarily be working on a number of Salesforce CRM related projects. We are delighted that our knowledge and expertise in the implementation of complex Salesforce CRM solutions – data integration and automated business process development – has been recognised once again by one of Ireland’s largest business brands.

Ulster Bank is a leading retail and commercial bank in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. It provides a comprehensive range of financial services through both its Retail markets division, which has a network of branches and operates in the personal and Bancassurance sectors, and its Corporate Markets division which provides services to business customers, corporates and institutional markets.

Such a system will allow Sat-7 to allocate in-house resources more effectively: speeding up response times to audience interactions and enhancing the customer experience; creating a centralised information eco-system for accurate data usage based on defined user role types; business intelligence and analysis of audience and media segmentation, marketing campaigns, general feedback, etc; automated generation of reports; appropriate event based alerts and triggers sent via an integrated SMS service where necessary.

About Sat-7: www.sat7.org
Since 1996, SAT-7 has worked in the Middle East and North Africa to give local churches a satellite TV platform to educate and encourage their communities, combat misconceptions about the Christian Faith in the region, work inter-denominationally, and foster bridges of understanding with the much larger non-Christian majority. SAT-7 broadcasts in Arabic, Farsi and Turkish and it’s channels have annual total viewership scientifically estimated to be 15 million people. Approximately 80% of the programmes shown on the multi-channel network are developed by local people, created in their own languages to ensure that the channel is culturally sensitive and relevant

Competitors
Your business competitors are pretty much there for the taking (as always with these things it’s just a matter of timing), especially if they’re offering services and/or products to customers which are perceived as unsatisfactory: too expensive, too slow, too dumb, or just plain faulty and ugly. A competitor who isn’t always playing at the top of their game risks everything by becoming complacent, taking clients for granted and assuming they have no reason to look for an alternative. Like most things there’s nearly always an alternative, it’s just a matter of when it becomes more attractive than present circumstances dictate.

A good place to start looking for business opportunities is your competitors websites. Once you understand the business terrain they’ve defined for themselves you can start to work within that environment, improving on it to suit your own requirements. By strategically positioning your own company, through business intelligence gathering, you should be well placed to pick up and look after any of your competitors customers who’ve been left a bit isolated. If you can persuade a few to give you a chance – and successfully deliver on expectations – then you create the kind of positive customer relationship that breeds awareness, and a momentum that can be showcased to attract others.

Analysis
Their are plenty of ways to get insights into how your business is doing online in terms of content, keywords and search engine positioning. It’s just as easy to get similar insights into how your competitors are doing, all it takes is time and effort. Or money. It’s easy enough to find an SEO Expert and start throwing money at things, but why not see how far you can get on your own first – you’ll save money and gain an understanding of your own online approach to business.

Understanding where your competitors are positioning themselves, and what approach they’re taking in building up their online brand awareness, is key to understanding where your business needs to be better. All it comes down to is asking the questions that provide the best SEO business intelligence for analysis. What does their website say about them? What keywords are they targeting? How are they utilised on their site? Does their site look professional and structurally well thought out? Is it comprehensive in terms of its content? Is the content engaging and original, or unimaginative and dull? Is it updated regularly with fresh content? Do all the pages get updated, or just the blog, news, products sections? Has the site been recently redesigned? Is there a mobile version? Do they engage with social media? Do they have a newsletter? Is there a unified approach to how the brand works across its various implementations? Do they link to various partners, clients, customers? Do partners and clients talk about them online? Who are their customers? How often do your competitors appear in news item searches? What for? Do they take part in online discussions? If so, then about what? And a thousand other questions that you need to ask to understand how the optimisation game is to be played, the strategies that should be considered and the results that need to be measured against.

Or you could just take a punt on setting up various online efforts because everyone else seems to be at them. Whatever.

Business Intelligence SEO
SEO is purely a targeting device – optimising your content so that it’s positioned to make the maximum impression within search engines. Once you’ve defined the online search results environment your competitor likes to inhabit you can use Business Intelligence SEO techniques to pinpoint where your business is going to engage with them. If you’ve done the necessary information gathering on competing businesses, as well as your own, you can readily create the sort of content, and context, that maximises exposure in the keyword searches you want to target. How much effort you bring to bear on your SEO venture depends on your own resources and strategies – do you want to challenge head on, or is it better to try a different angle of approach, or even have multiple fronts going simultaneously?

Intelligent, strategic search engine optimisation is an ongoing discipline that needs to be carried out reasonably regularly. You need to analyse not just how your own site is doing, weekly, monthly, but how your business competitors are adapting to any threat you may pose.

What information can you gather for ongoing analysis, and how should you manage your time and resources to maintain the momentum you need to thrive? Doing SEO work every two years when you update your tired old site is of little benefit to anyone, but it’s better than none. Expecting to get to the top of the search engines for little or no effort is just deluded, others are far more committed to their cause and have been doing it for far longer. But, it can be done, over time, and for relatively little expense if you’re prepared to do the work yourself.

Because creative web design isn’t just about pretty graphics and a few nicely shaped buttons, it’s about defining not just how things look but how they work. Design isn’t something that’s done on a whim; it’s calculated, strategic and must serve a purpose in a way that each element functions as part of the whole. Good design always has an objective, a well thought out reason that fulfills a functional requirement.

Professional web development no longer just means building websites that work on stand-alone monitors and their browsers, it means recognising that there’s multiple platforms, environments, networks, devices, operating systems, and ways of distributing information that must be considered. Now, more than ever, having a coherent design strategy that is integral to the running of a business is a necessity.

“…research also found a higher intensity of design activity among rapidly growing businesses, who were six times more likely than static ones to see design as integral to their operation.” Design Council UK

With more and more devices, of all shapes and sizes, connecting to online businesses it’s become increasingly apparent that how they present themselves to consumers is hugely important. How seriously businesses take their design strategy, if they even have one, will determine how successful they become at engaging consumers and retaining their loyalty.

Businesses that delegate design matters to juniors, and empower them to make decisions that affect their company, will no doubt suffer – especially if there’s no accountability, analysis or record of the impact of those decisions.

These days, with the huge variety of ways to interact within the same space as customers, it’s simply too easy to get distracted by possibilities and look busy while standing still. Instead of doing one thing well, before moving on to the next challenge, too many companies seem to be fragmenting their efforts and diluting their brand across too many platforms with no methodology to what they’re doing.

Design is not about implementing the latest sugar-rushed clip-art impulse, any pixel-monkey can do that. Creating brand awareness is not about tweeting drivel and business intelligence is certainly not about counting the number of followers you have on Facebook.

While it can be argued about how much value there is in social networks for companies, there is no argument that the core of any online business is its own website. Creative web design and professional web development is about making things work better, it’s about having a plan and building on it. It’s about bringing customers into your own environment and making them believe in it.