November 2009 Archives

Today we released a new version of the OutSystems Agile Platform - 5.0! In this version we're taking agile a step further; not only are we supporting the entire application lifecycle management for web applications, we also added support for IT teams to rapidly develop business processes using agile methodologies.

Traditionally, business process development was done at a different pace using different tools than IT used for application development. However, one of the biggest challenges facing the business process world is the integration of business processes with applications; which meant one of them was always waiting for the other.  And, in the case of our customers who already use the Agile Platform, web application development was happening faster than business processes development.

With version 5.0 of the Agile Platform, we have closed that gap! Using the new Business Process Technology capabilities of the platform, IT teams can develop business processes totally integrated with web applications in an agile manner. All artifacts that the Agile Platform provides for Web Application development - like TrueChange technology, 1 Click-Publishing, Real Time Monitoring, and so on - are also available for business process development.

To develop this new capability, the OutSystems R&D team partnered with one of our customers, Van Ameyde, to design and implement this capability. Van Ameyde uses business processes intensively for insurance claims processing and has very heavy change demands for those processes. Customer participation has been key to the development of the new 5.0 functionality, and we believe that it led to a pragmatic implementation of Business Process Technology that will allow IT teams to fulfill the needs of the business from a process perspective, as fast as they have been doing for web applications with the Agile Platform.

Along with Business Process Technology, version 5.0 includes many other improvements that will make developers a lot more productive. If you're already using the Agile Platform, check the videos of some of the improvements we made to the platform. If you want to give it a try for yourself, the best thing to do is download the (free) Community Edition and try out the new capabilities of the platform.

Of course, we could only release such a great version of the Platform with a great team! We had a lot of help from a lot of people, in particular from our Beta customers who provided such excellent early feedback, and a special thanks goes to the 5.0 team that delivered such a great product! Version 5.0 of the Agile Platform will definitely raise the bar for agile.  Give it a try, the 5.0 development team promises you that it ROCKS!

We were all very excited to hear one of our customers, Max Rayner, speak at the recent ALM Expo on how he and his team built and delivered the www.fly.com system using an agile approach. If you're not familiar with it, this is an internet application that's openly available and was built using Agile methodologies, SCRUM techniques and an Agile ALM toolset.
 
Max is the CTO of Travelzoo - a travel publisher with 18 million subscribers and fly.com is an online app that helps you find the exact match to your air travel needs. During the webcast Max discussed the problem space, their agile approach, the innovative metasearch engine, how they managed a distributed team, challenges, key learnings and reasons for their success.With all that said, I can't really do the webcast justice in this blog as there was SO much great information shared - but you can:

1) download the webcast presentation slides.pdf and listen to the podcast

2) view the full recording of the webcast here (unfortunately, you will need to register but its free and painless.)

3) or, you can download the podcast of the presentation here and listen in your own time.

BTW, the recordings include a great Q&A session that I would highly recommend listening to!  Here are some stats Max shared on the fly.com agile project: