"Xythos On Demand", recently-released, is a Software as a Service (SaaS) content management service for smaller businesses and departments of larger organizations. Xythos recognized that rolling out a successful SaaS would involve more than simply repackaging their existing Enterprise Document Management Suite to the Web. To quickly define and validate the SaaS application design, as well as identify AJAX behaviors that would have high impact and solve real world business problems, they enlisted Catalyst Resources.

    Hosted email, e-commerce and sales force automation are commonplace solutions for small to medium sized business (SMBs) that don't have the resources to manage their own installations. Secure document management and collaboration, was identified by Xythos as another hi-value service for SMBs. Their There is a proven track record for use by Fortune 500 and government organizations from their Enterprise Document Management Suite.  To migrate a version to on-demand that would bridge sophisticated document management technology with the simplicity and rich user experience needed to target small and medium customer markets, was their goal now.

    Xythos turned to Catalyst Resources to help them define the Xythos On Demand application user interface and validate it with representative SMB users and internal teams.

    Catalyst, using a multi-disciplinary team and agile rapid application design methodology, provided a Fast Track UI assessment and strategy service for the Xythos On Demand application:

   * Identify high value scenarios and key user interaction view types for redesign
    * Define key conceptual models to help users understand where they are in the software and how the view relates to what they can do
    * Simplify and streamline navigation and workflow steps to reduce error and minimize support costs
    * Work with the internal development team to identify where AJAX UI will have high impact and provide desktop like performance
    * Create a Web 2.0-style visual design with a common lexicon of icons
    * Validate designs with users and internal stakeholders
    * Implementation support

    The Xythos internal development team, at the completion of the Fast Track program, applied the new core design across the entire application. The new interface is a tree-structured menu of files and folders that a user uploads to the company's server. Open a file by simply double-clicking it. Management options, accessible from menu icons or AJAX right-click pop-up menu, include file/folder locking, commenting, RSS subscription, and collaboration.