Meeting with the Client

An email was sent to the client to discuss the status of the current system.

A meeting was organized between Silicon Coast and TSC to present the newly created system. The meeting was a success; however, a few minor modifications were agreed upon.

TSC's Matt Tatam opened the meeting by saying, "Everyone please be seated I'd like to walk you through your new chat system."

The participants casually seated themselves. Everyone present were eager to view the system that would assist in the growth of their business.

TSC used both a slide presentation and the actual development system to walk the client through the application. TSC finds it useful to employ both forms of media to communicate the functionality and features of the working system. The following are the individual slides used in the meeting and the handwritten notes that assisted the presenter throughout the talk.

The first two slides present the overall new system in a general manner (Figure IV-4.1 and Figure IV-4.2). Opening with these two slides gave the audience an introduction to the system. The third slide discusses the user-account system and how it relates to the other components (Figure IV-4.3).

Figure IV-4.1. The first slide delivers the system's objective.

Figure IV-4.2. The second slide displays the new system's technology and components.

Figure IV-4.3. The third slide shows the user-account-administration user interface.

The next four slides (Figures IV-4.4 through IV-4.7) describe the log-in process, chat center, and issuing of and responding to chat invitations.

Figure IV-4.4. The login screen.

Figure IV-4.5. The fifth slide shows the chat-center user interface.

Figure IV-4.6. Making a request to chat.

Figure IV-4.7. Responding to a request.

The actual individual chat interface is illustrated in the eighth slide (Figure IV-4.8). This slide was the focal point of the presentation. This is the UI that is the core of the application's goal: to communicate in real-time text. The ninth slide discusses the ability to go offline or to log out of the system (Figure IV-4.9).

Figure IV-4.8. The individual chat user interface.

Figure IV-4.9. Going offline or terminating a session.

The whole system had now been presented. The speaker opened discussion of the system's positives and negatives. Once these were discussed, the final slide was shown (Figure IV-4.10). It was used to convey the system's scalability, as well as additional features such as video and audio, that TSC could continue to develop. This slide was designed to seed the customer's thoughts on the next possible phase of the system. It also gave the impression that TSC would be more than happy to continue the relationship with WalkAbout by developing additional functionality.

Figure IV-4.10. System's positives and negatives.

The client required a user-acceptance session to determine whether it would accept the system as presented or advise on changes that were desirable.

Silicon Coast approached its usability testing very seriously. The initial testing was done by two people whose jobs were to identify the chat system's main usability issues. Shortly thereafter, all end users were exposed to the new system.

The following are the Usability Testing Notes:

Chat Center

• Log-in OK; may need better presentation of the user interface.

• Request Having all invitations listed in the list box is too cumbersome.

• Response Having all invitations listed in the list box is too cumbersome.

• Logout OK.

Chat

• User interface could be more creative.

User-Account Admin

• Log-in OK.

• Add OK.

• Edit OK.

• Delete OK.

• Log-out OK.

All functionality appears to be covered. The group's completed test plan can be seen in Table IV-4.1.

Table IV-4.1. Completed Test Plan

Function	Criteria	Pass	Fail	Conditional Pass	Comments	Acceptable/Unacceptable
User account administration	Create user Edit user Delete user Unauthorized log-in attempt Display users online	Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes			The user interface could be more creative.	Acceptable
Login	Return of session ID	Yes				Acceptable
Chat request	Responder is notified			Yes	The user interface could be more creative.	Acceptable
Responding to a request	Requestor is notified of response			Yes	As above.	Acceptable
Chat process	View dialog Send message Receive message End chat	Yes Yes Yes Yes			The user interface could be more creative.	Acceptable
Logging out	Terminate session	Yes				Acceptable

Laurence's senior developer presented the test plan to him. The main points highlighted addressed the user interface. The system's functionality and overall performance were not in any way found unacceptable. The following email confirmed his company's conditional acceptance of the system.

Matt Tatam immediately forwarded the email to the developers. The email let them know that no major issues had arisen. Matt phoned Laurence to discuss the user interface changes. These were more cosmetic than functional. A scope change of request form was requested to be filled out and sent to Matt for approval. The changes of scope can be seen in Figure IV-4.11.

Figure IV-4.11. Scope change request form.

It was agreed that if these changes were made, the test plan would be signed off on and approved.

While the user-interface modifications were taking place, the final details on deployment were being defined.