FAQs
General Section
What is Techcello?Techcello is a cloud ready multi-tenant application development/integration framework for SaaS and Enterprises. It Offers several pre-built modules that heavy lifts most of the complex, non-functional requirement and operational needs of an application. ISVs and Enterprises can easily integrate these modules of techcello with their applications in a ready to use form (API, WCF services and inheritable classes). This will allow you to focus on building just the business functionalities. Applications built/integrated using techcello can be hosted anywhere from public cloud (such as amazon, azure) or private cloud to on premise servers.
How can I do it at half the cost and time?Techcello has 30+ modules (Security, Configurability, Multi-Tenancy, business rules, workflow, etc.), which are pretty much common across applications. These common NFRs typically constitute 30-50% of your requirements. Therefore, you can straight away save upto 50% in cost and time by using TechCello.
Do I need to rewrite my entire product?No. Techcello is completely built with Service Oriented Architecture in mind, which allows the developers/architects to consume only the services that are required for their solution. This plug & play model allows very easy integration of TechCello to both existing as well as new solutions.
Do you provide hosting services as well?No. We can help you in deploying your solution in the cloud environment of your choice. One of the primary advantage that TechCello provide is the flexibility to host your solution in any cloud of your choice. Solutions built or integrated using TechCello can be hosted in Amazon, Azure, Rackspace (any public cloud), private cloud or on-premise environments. Techcello’s adapters ensure that your solution can leverage the services offered by the target deployment environment.
How long does it take for my developers to learn your framework?It takes less than 3 days for developers to get comfortable using the framework. Our training program structure consists of Class Room/Online Sessions and hands-on assignments, which can enable the developers to get a good hold of the framework. We also provide surplus materials in the form of Developers guide, API Documents, Videos and Step by Step How-To s with sample code. Request the access for TechCello Knowledge Base.
Am I locked with your framework?Never. We are an alternate to solutions that have "vendor lock-in". When you purchase TechCello, we provide you with the binaries/DLLs along with a Multi Tenant Base solution that can be deployed in any environment. We also have an option for you to procure the source code with edit rights. Contact our Sales team for more information.
How do I get started with TechCello?TechCello provides a simple visual studio plugin which installs SaaS Template in the developer machine; Developers can start developing Multi-Tenant SaaS/Enterprise application by creating a project using SaaS Template just like creating an MVC/Web Forms Project. When you create a new project using the Techcello. SaaS package, the initial MVC layers of your product are created on top of the TechCello stack. Basic features such as logging, caching, membership management and user authentication mechanisms are already implemented and ready to use. You can start adding your business modules. It is quite simple to add new modules, classes and pages to module.
Technical Functionality of TechCello
How is security implemented in TechCello ?TechCello Security Architecture provides 360° degree Security for the SaaS Solution, Security is provided at menu level, page level, data level and BL method level. This is controlled by the login user, permission and the role set for the user. TechCello provides field level security as well.
Is my user interface limited in any way or do I have to follow any particular user Interface guidelines?Developers are free to use user interface of their choice like ASP.NET WebForms, ASP.NET MVC, Razor(CSHTML), NHaml, Spark etc but not just limited to this, they can also harness rich content frameworks like Flash or Silverlight by consuming the Techcello APIs and Services.
TechCello Usage Scenarios
Is TechCello a virtualization technology? Is TechCello a PaaS ?No, TechCello is not a virtualization technology. Its strength lies in its robust multi-tenant architecture and 30 + out of the box non-functional requirements. TechCello is a Development Framework with all the necessary plumbing, infrastructure and operational features required for a robust engineering layer. TechCello is not a PaaS either. It does not create any proprietary run time environment nor does it support 4GL type drag and drop development tools. It instead provides all the engineering blocks required for custom development in a ready to use and easy to upgrade productized form.
Does TechCello host SaaS applications?No. Products and applications built on TechCello’s engineering stack can be hosted anywhere. From your own dedicated hardware, to shared data centres. They can also be hosted on private or public clouds.
Where can I purchase TechCello products and services?TechCello products and services can be purchased by dropping an email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or ask us to contact you by filling our contact form.
Who are the actual users of TechCello?TechCello is intended to be used by developers and technical architects. Developers need not spend time on designing and building infrastructure / plumbing layer, but focus directly on business requirements from Day 1. TechCello's SOA based approach and Robust APIs makes "0" learning curve for the developers so developers can pick up in a very short time. All that the developers need to do is use TechCello as a development template / framework and start building/integrate their product on top of it.
Return on Investment
I want to port an application to the SaaS model via TechCello, how long will it take me?It depends on various factors like size of the product, numbers of tables, pages involved, existing coding etc. We have developed this framework keeping the engineering challenges in mind for SaaS providers. Close to about 30-40% of engineering functionalities are common across different SaaS solutions. Yet everyone begins the development from basics.
The amount of time it takes to port is highly dependent on the size and complexity of your application. Given that you would have to port your application to SaaS anyway, TechCello provides the fastest path to SaaS since the port requirements are fairly minimal.
Why should I use TechCello to build my organization's applications?The most important reason is your ROI (Return On Investment). TechCello enables you to save upto 30% of development time, 50 % of saving on Development cost (includes architectural and design services) and upto 70% on Total Cost of Ownership (includes maintenance and future enhancements).
TechCello employs a single code base! Here is a partial list of other reasons for developing SaaS :
Techcello easily connects to any SQL database
Can connect to multiple SQL databases at the same time
Techcello built applications are completely cross-platform
Use our ROI calculator to understand more about savings you can achive.
How do you say that there is no vendor lock-in?Once you buy Techcello, you are free to develop/integrate the business functionalities on top of it, either in-house or by outsourcing (near shore / offshore / tier-1 / tier 3). You can host your application on your own dedicated hardware or in a shared hosting environment (Data centre) or with any cloud providers such as Amazon and Azure. You can maintain and upgrade your application yourself or using any vendor as Techcello is built on .Net. Techcello additionally provide AMC support (optional) for SaaS (the productized engineering layer), including free upgrades and updates. You can also opt for source code licensing at any time in the future for a pre-agreed price. And most importantly Techcello does not create any proprietary run time environment. It retains the programming models and RTE of the underlying .Net technology stack.
What are the terms for source code licensing?We provide free support for the first one year and subsequently we provide continued support and free upgrades for an annual fee. If you want to be free of all dependencies, you can opt for source code license at a later date for a pre-agreed price. However, once you take control of the source code, you may not be able to benefit from subsequent upgrades and new features released by Techcello. For the price of source code license, please contact us,
Blogs
Webinar Videos
Optimizing Microservices implementation for resilient operation
The principles of Microservice Architectures are a great fit for dealing with a monolithic system, splitting it up into tiny manageable blocks and utilizing the advantages of Microservices.
- Key Takeaways:
- Execution Pitfalls in Microservices that may lead to loss of high productivity
- Best architecture and potential solution patterns involved in implementing Microservices
- Migrating to Microservices- the Do’s and Don’ts
Successful Migration to Microservices - Why When and How?
- Key Takeaways:
- Successful deployment of Microservices-based applications for continuous optimization
- Ensure ongoing resilient operation for Microservices applications
- Adopt Process Changes for administrative and operational best practices
Why Microservices adoption is crucial for SaaS companies?
- Key Takeaways:
- Challenges in monolithic architecture
- Key factors driving Micro Services adoption
- SOA vs. Micro Services
- Benefits of Micro Services
- Templatized way of creating Micro Services using Techcello
Power your Microservices with Techcello
- Key Takeaways:
- Build a greenfield SaaS application
- Modernizing an application to Microservices architecture
- SaaS enablement of an existing on-premise application
- Optimizing the SaaS Monetization capabilities
- The benefits of Techcello
- The industry challenges organizations face with Monolithic application
- Brief about Microservices Modules
- The advantages of Microservices-based application design over a monolithic-design strategy
- How we develop, deploy and operate our Microservices
Does Migrating to Microservices benefit your SaaS Business?
- Key Takeaways:
- Decision Framework for Microservices Migration
- Expanded ROI of Microservices
- Examples - Experiences and Expressions
Accelerate your Digital Transformation with the right Digital Application Management Platform
- Key Takeaways:
- Key Components of a Digital Management Platform
- Balancing technical control vs. rapid development in Low Code Platforms
- Importance of multi-tenancy support in platforms
- Marketability of applications through platform
- Demo of Applaud Platform
Ingredients for a Successful SaaS Business
- Key Takeaways:
- Technical vs. Business perspective in SaaS
- Role of SaaS Operational Modules
- Ideas to maximize your profitability
- SaaS blueprint to reach market at double the speed and half the cost
- Demo of SaaS Management features
Webinar Series Part 3 -Recipe for a Successful SaaS Company -
How to Achieve True Scalability in SaaS Applications
- Scalability considerations in a layered architecture
- Scalability design patterns
- Techniques for database scalability
- Balancing cost vs. scalability in AWS cloud
- Key services in AWS for SaaS applications to leverage scalability
Webinar Series Part 2 -Recipe for a Successful SaaS Company - Migrating Single Tenant SaaS Apps To Multi-Tenant Model
- Pros and cons of single tenant and multi-tenant approach
- Pain points of a single tenant solution, the challenges in moving to a multi-tenant model
- Solution and best practices for moving to a multi-tenant model
- Dynamic scaling of infrastructure resources in AWS
Recipe for a Successful SaaS Company
- Overview on SaaS Building Blocks
- Non-Functional Requirements of SaaS
- Operational features that can save time and cost for ISVs
- Insight on Cloud AWS Cloud Services and how it can help in expediting SaaS product development
- Considerations for choosing the right cloud environment
Security Architecture Best Practices for SaaS Applications
- Security considerations in each of the architecture layers
- Data isolation risks and mitigation plans
- Overview of CWE/SANS and OWASP Security threats
- Data retention and termination policies
- Infrastructure and network related security risks and solutions
Building a Scalable and Profitable SaaS Business Model
- Components of a SaaS Life Cycle Management Solution
- Lead/Trial conversion techniques
- SaaS - Non Functional Requirements
- Automating your subscription management Self-servicing capabilities
Techcello Architect Workshop: Architectural guidance, Design Patterns and Development Practices - Session 01
- Non functional requirements of an enterprise class application / product
- Building for Scalability - Scale out and Scale up
- Building for Performance
- Multi-tenancy in the enterprise context: Tenant Hierarchy, Virtual tenants and Tenant Awareness
Techcello Architect Workshop: Architectural guidance, Design Patterns and Development Practices - Session 02
- Building for security - Privilege driven applications with dynamic data scope
- Building for high configurability
- Meta data based approach to customizing views & reports
- Meta data based approach to customizing business rules and workflows
- Building for high Maintainability
- Building for high modularity and developer productivity
Techcello Architect Workshop: Architectural guidance, Design Patterns and Development Practices - Session 03
- Adopting a framework driven approach
- Re-usable components vs Engineering Framework
- Monolithic stack for each app. vs Common NFR Stack for multiple applications
- Cross Connections between NFR components and services
- Weaving Multi-tenancy, Security and Configurability in to a cohesive framework
- Case studies
- BPO / HRO / KPO
- Consumer Products
- Health Care
Business Rules and Workflows in Multi-tenant .Net Applications
Is it really possible to provide “End user customizable” business rules and workflows in a multi-tenant .NET application with a single code base? How can we do this without compromising on development time flexibility, run time performance, cloud ready architecture and scalability.
- Need for end user level customization
- Sample case studies
- Technical challenges
- Eligibility rules in Benefit Administration
- Configurable workflow automation in a KPO process
- Sample code walkthrough. (.NET Application on Visual Studio)
Building and Deploying SaaS Applications
- Product engineering considerations of SaaS applications
- Migrating existing Applications to SaaS and Multi-tenancy
- Deploying SaaS applications in the cloud
- Solving technical challenges involved with multi-tenancy
- Benefitting from multi-tenant frameworks
Technical Stack of a Multi-tenant SaaS product
- Multi-tenancy Technical Challenges
- Multi-tenant Plumbing Stack
- Multi-tenant Data Connection Abstraction
- Multi-tenant Security : Authentication, Encryption, Audit Trail
- Multi-tenant Security : Access Control, Role and Privileges Management
- Multi-tenant Customization : Views, Data models, Custom Fields
- Multi-tenant Customization : Business rules and Workflows
- Multi-tenant Customization : Adhoc builders for Reports, Charts, Widgets
- Multi-tenant Notification and Schedulers
- Multi-tenant Feature / Package / Subscription Management
- Metering, Billing and Price Book Management
- Tenant and User Management
- Bulk Import, Export and Data Management utilities
- Multi-tenant SaaS Framework: Build vs Buy
Multi-tenancy Basics
- What is Multi-tenancy?
- Different Levels of Multi-tenancy
- Gartner’s Reference Architecture for Multi-tenancy
- Advantages of Multi-tenancy
- Deployment Options – Relative merits & demerits
SaaS Basics
- Introduction to SaaS
- Benefits and Limitation of SaaS
- Enterprise SaaS Vs Consumer SaaS
- External SaaS for ISVs Vs Internal SaaS for Enterprices
- SaaS without Multi-tenancy and Multi-tenancy without SaaS
Event Videos
SIIA - 2013 Techcello - AATC 2013 - The Next Generation Panel Discussion
Techcello thinks customers are no longer afraid of cloud
Techcello interview in CNBC TV18
White Papers
Planning for ISV growth with Microservices
ISVs across every industry are either approaching or deploying Microservice architectures helping to deal with the pains of growing codebase and larger teams. Microservices provide greater flexibility in overall application development and management.
This White Paper presents the angle of planning for ISV growth with Microservices. We’ll discuss how to move from a monolithic application architecture to a Microservices-based architecture with its vision and goals considering the technical aspects.
The SaaS Survival Game – Difficulty Level: Hard
The SaaS industry has been around for more than a decade now! It has sprung and mushroomed across the global market landscape. Now since many company leaders discovered the advantages of what hosted infrastructures offer, it has been a promising industry to venture into and also a popular one.
IOT - Enablement through Techcello
M2M space is going through significant transformation. Device manufacturers are investing a lot on making the devices such as HMI, PLCs, and Robots smarter. With the proliferation of mobiles and cloud, customers are demanding to visualize the data from their machines on their mobile and desktop. Significant effort is going on using the data coming out of these devices and getting intelligence out of the data. Read this whitepaper to understand Techcello’s role in IOT Enablement.
Cello - Unified SaaS Life Cycle Management Solution
SaaS Life Cycle Management encompasses of all the typical phases/activities that are performed on a day to day SaaS business model. This white paper talks about the importance of having a unified SaaS Life Cycle Management Solution that can be made available as part of your product, enhancing it with all the features required to design, develop and manage you SaaS solution.
Building a Scalable and Profitable SaaS Business Model
With the increasing trend in on-demand consumption, SaaS business model has started becoming the de-facto standard for delivering software products. While this is a great boon for ISVs to tap the SMB segment, SaaS business model also brings inherent challenges to the table. On a broader scale, all these challenges can be summed in two words – "Scalability" and "Profitability". ISVs that have understood and acted on these two challenges are the ones that are able to survive on the long run. In this white paper we will be discussing the challenges and solutions involved in building a "Scalable" and "Profitable" SaaS Business model.
SaaS Migration Strategy
SaaS & Cloud Application delivery model has become the game changer and a huge paradigm shift in the way applications are developed, deployed, delivered, marketed, sold and serviced. With SaaS delivery model, ISVs are no more just software vendors rather service providers adding value to their end customer’s business. Many existing software vendors and enterprises are unable to embrace the benefits offered by Clouds and Virtualization platforms due to the fact that the current applications are designed to work as single instance solutions. These Solution providers are continuously looking for a simple and effective mechanism to SaaS enable by consolidating their existing single tenant solutions to a multi-tenant based model.
e-Book Part 1 : Simplifying SaaS & Multi-tenant Application Development
A lot has been written about SaaS as a business model for monetizing software applications. But there is another dimension to SaaS – which is the technical and architectural dimension. If we have to host a separate server instance for each customer, if we have to maintain a separate code base for each customer, it still remains an ASP model not SaaS.
So SaaS automatically implies Multi-tenancy, Configurability, Scalability and a distributed Data Architecture. And a tenant need not mean a customer. Countries, Distributors or SBUs could be virtual tenants with a hierarchical relationship with the actual customers / user groups using the application. Whether it is for an ISV, Enterprise or Government, whether it is for hosting on-premise, private cloud or public cloud, techcello knows the real challenges of engineering a Multi-tenant SaaS application in all its depth and complexity.
Like we have productized the engineering and architectural expertise in the form of a framework, we are proud to share this expertise in the form of an e-book.
Presenting Part 1 of our e-book…
Tenant Sub Tenant Hierarchy and Tenant Aware Applications
In Multi-tenant SaaS applications, the word tenant is often assumed to mean a customer organization.But it need not be the only use case. For a BPO's internal application, used by different verticals, each tenant can be one vertical, for which the application is configured differently. For a BFSI (Banking / Finance / Securities / Investment) organization offering a market facing application, the tenant could mean one of the various channels (internal and external) that sell their products. For an ISV with a global network of distributors and resellers, providing solutions to "Retail chains" the tenant could mean any and all of the following: A National Distributor, A Reseller, A Retail chain owner (Corporate office) and a particular retail store.
Non Functional Requirements Check List
An application that addresses a diverse set of stakeholders and multiple levels of user groups is more complicated and technically challenging than an application that is focused on a niche homogenous user base. The Non functional requirements (NFRs) of such applications are hence very critical and important. Defining the NFRs independent of the functional requirements has many benefits. It leads to a focused effort on NFRs, a robust architectural framework, engineering excellence and consistency. The NFR stack when implemented as a loosely coupled framework, could also become a common stack for multiple applications / products, resulting in significant reduction in cost of development, support and maintenance (TCO).
Non Functional Requirements of Government SaaS
A Government SaaS that addresses a diverse set of stakeholders and multiple levels of user groups is much more complicated and technically challenging than a Private SaaS application that is often focused on a niche homogenous user base. The Non functional requirements (NFRs) of such a Government SaaS are hence very critical and important.
Multiple Ways to Build a Multi-tenant SaaS Application
- Paper presented at CloudConnect May2012, Bengaluru
From using PaaS platforms such as Force.com to complete ground-up development, there are many ways to build or migrate to a multi-tenant SaaS Architecture. The session explores the various decision factors involved in choosing a suitable alternative. CTOs and architects will get an overview of the various approaches, the technical as well as commercial implications of each approach and the best practices to be followed.
Choosing an Application Development Platform
High productivity platforms based on 4GL and Visual tools serve the non-technical business users for building simple, long tail applications. They also have disadvantages such as proprietary development environments and platform lock-in.
On the other hand, ground-up development the traditional way, using developers who write code, is not only time consuming but also risky as there is no unified platform, architecture and engineering structure that can be enforced across the organization. The design challenges of Cloud, SaaS and Multi-tenancy, increases this risk multi-fold.
Techcello is a third alternative that gives developers and architects the freedom, flexibility and control of custom development, without the costs and risks associated with ground-up development.
