Client Case Studies Orange - Do Some Good
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Project Type: Customer Self Serve Application Customer: Orange Platform: BlackBerry Project Overview: Do Some Good (DSG) is an app designed to encourage people to get involved in charitable activities. Specifically, it allows mobile users to carry out charitable tasks whenever they have a few minutes to spare, including simple surveys and location mapping, or taking and uploading relevant photographs and videos. The DSG project was instigated by Orange and was funded by BlackBerry. “The spec we gave to Penrillian was by definition light. We provided wire frames and the user journey but asked them to use their BlackBerry knowledge and experience to identify the best way forward. They asked for our feedback on their recommendations. It was a team effort.” Thomas Szirtes, Project Manager, Orange FT Group The Challenge: When Orange committed itself to an extremely tight deadline to develop the app for BlackBerry, it turned to Penrillian for expert advice and support. The Orange DSG team's brief encouraged Penrillian to recommend creative solutions that made the most of BlackBerry handset characteristics and logic. It was also important to ensure compatibility over different BlackBerry models. “There was a lot of innovation around the BlackBerry menu. RIM's first suggestion was that we make good use of the key menu. The iPhone touch screen version has the menu icons at the bottom of the screen. Penrillian also recommended we move the buttons icon to the top. We agreed with both suggestions. We worked together. Sebastien Fantone, Senior Product Manager, Everything Everywhere Objectives:
What we did: In the absence of a specific user interface (UI) brief, Penrillian drew on its in-depth knowledge of BlackBerry devices to translate the iPhone’s large touch-screen experience to smaller screens without sacrificing either functionality or clarity. A complete, fully-costed schedule of needs and content was identified within week-one. The demanding deadline called for a strict hierarchy of priorities in which a number of low-priority features were postponed for a second phase of development. Instead, swift, practical alternatives were added that still met Orange's high quality and user experience criteria. Penrillian's successful 'attack' approach, designed to pinpoint and solve problems cost-effectively within a limited time-frame, saw skilled programmers working in creative pairs to provide a robust solution. “What I really liked about their way of working was to have a test version every week. Penrillian was very adaptable, flexible and professional. They produced a good quality app in a very short time. I was optimistic but thought there was a large risk that it would not be finished for the launch. My expectations here were exceeded.” Thomas Szirtes, Project Manager, Orange FT Group Results: As a result, fully-tested and approved software, customised to the unique BlackBerry screen and menu-button navigation system, was released in just five weeks. Importantly, Orange was able to honour its commitment to provide BlackBerry customers with an app that met their expectations. At the same time, the software was developed with the potential to incorporate additional future functionality. This directly supports Orange's long-term policy of promoting active charitable working among its growing mobile community. “On the marketing side, we had a good relationship with the marketing guys who were continually reassured that we could meet their deadlines. They may have been surprised that we did, but they realised they had a product team they could rely upon.” Sebastien Fantone, Senior Product Manager, Everything Everywhere Click here to download this case study in pdf format
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