Mockup Builder is another product delivered by the FreezePro Software team and is currently still under development in terms of continuous enhancements and improvements made to the software. This SaaS (Software as a Service) came as a challenge to us, because we had to cover many aspects of web-based services catering to a worldwide audience.
The first goal was to setup a robust, continuous integration process and we chose Cruise Control.NET, a system that contained all of the necessary functionality our team required to work on Mockup Builder. We were able to setup many configurations for the production and test server, database backups, and email marketing automation, building installers, intricate source code and much more. Generally speaking, there are simpler approaches that can work in many cases such as Team City, but Cruise Control has several advantages in terms of writing configurations.
The second goal was to develop the right tools for the administration process. We were eager to see dynamic data of how our product enfolds from day to day, so we set up a dashboard for key metrics such as users count, project’s count in last 24 hours, started trials, active subscriptions and more.
Another key factor was to set up the right marketing tools that are needed to manage subscriptions and keep our email campaign statistics up to date. We used Mandrill, a service from Mail Chimp that also provides a developer API to manage newsletters and other email sending processes. Mandrill is very easy to set up and use and we are happy that we got a friend’s recommendation for this tool. In addition, we use Mail Chimp for regular newsletters and promotional campaigns because of the greater flexibility of having pre-existing templates already designed in Mail Chimp.
Finally, with a focus on customer-driven development and an agile developmental environment, FreezePro Software has accumulated a lot of experience in developing our own products. At this point, we are engaging a first-class consulting company that can serve third party companies with a similar experience, case studies and so on. If you have a startup or think about another SaaS solution, contact FreezePro Software about how we can assist in making your ideas a reality.