Intrapreneurship Development And Emerging Technologies – A stu

ENTERPRENEURSHIP DEVELOPMENT AND EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES – A PROJECT

WITH REFERENCE TOSMART JAVA CARDS.

ByANSHUMAN MISHRA

Enrolment Number: 1797647

A Project report submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirementsfor the degree of Master of Business Administration in Madurai Kamaraj University

December 2001

TABLE OF CONTENTS

PREFACE............................................................................................................................................... 4ACKNOWLEDGEMENT....................................................................................................................................5STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM........................................................................................................................ 6REVIEW OF LITERATURE................................................................................................................................6SCOPE OF THE PROJECT................................................................................................................................. 7OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY............................................................................................................................7LIMITATIONS...............................................................................................................................................8OPERATIONAL DEFINITION OF CONCEPTS.......................................................................................................... 8

Smart Card History............................................................................................................................ 8How smart cards differ with the present magnetic stripe cards.........................................................9What Smart card Is: Identical to the size of a credit card, a smart card stores and processes information through the electronic circuits embedded in silicon in the plastic substrate of its body. There are two types of smart cards.................................................................................................. 10What Smart Card Isn’t:.................................................................................................................... 11The architecture of Smart Cards:.....................................................................................................11How do they work:............................................................................................................................11 How to prepare a Smart Card:........................................................................................................12How to use single Smart card for various applications:.................................................................. 13Possible Applications of Smart Card ...............................................................................................13Advantages of Smart Card................................................................................................................14Limitations of Smart Card................................................................................................................ 14Security Issues.................................................................................................................................. 14STANDARDS.................................................................................................................................... 15AVAILABLE TOOLS AND APIs.......................................................................................................16MARKET PROSPECTS.................................................................................................................... 17CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................. 18

FIELD WORK, DATA COLLECTION, PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT................................................................................19EMERGENCY CARD SYSTEM........................................................................................................................20

1. Information stored on the card ....................................................................................................202. Viewing Information .................................................................................................................... 203. Generating reports and printing them .........................................................................................204. Security ........................................................................................................................................ 20

DEVELOPMENT PLAN FOR INFRASTRUCTURE SET UP AND PROTOTYPE DEVELOPMENT..............................................22What is a Smart Card?..................................................................................................................... 22Where it can be used?.......................................................................................................................22Market Potential............................................................................................................................... 23How we can become lead holder in the market................................................................................23What we can do ?..............................................................................................................................24How to start? - How can I contribute?.............................................................................................24Time Frame? Money?.......................................................................................................................25Conclusion........................................................................................................................................ 27

‘FLYING RETURNS’: A PROPOSED SMART CARDS BASED LOYALTY PRODUCT.............................................28What is ‘Flying Returns’ scheme......................................................................................................28Earning the mileage points through a journey.................................................................................29Earning the Add On Mileage Points (AOMP’s)...............................................................................29How present ‘Flying Returns’ scheme works:..................................................................................30Proposed way of implementing the ‘Flying Returns’ scheme.......................................................... 30Who will write the ‘Flying Returns’ Java Applet............................................................................. 31Process of Issuing the ‘Flying Returns’ Smart Card .......................................................................31How the ‘Flying Returns’ Smart Card will be used......................................................................... 32How to use single ‘Flying Returns’ Smart Card for various applications.......................................33Possible Applications of the ‘Flying Returns’ Smart Card in near future...................................... 33

SOFTWARE PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT PLAN.................................................................................................... 34Overview:..........................................................................................................................................34Phases of Development: .................................................................................................................. 35The Functional Specification............................................................................................................35The Technical Specification..............................................................................................................37The Task List ....................................................................................................................................38Type Style Menu................................................................................................................................39Person days.......................................................................................................................................39Quality Assurance Plan.................................................................................................................... 40QA Staff Size:....................................................................................................................................42

Start................................................................................................................................................................ 42

QA Leader......................................................................................................................................................42Testing............................................................................................................................................................42Testing............................................................................................................................................................42Testing............................................................................................................................................................42

The Implementation Plan..................................................................................................................43Managing the project .......................................................................................................................47

BUSINESS PLAN TO SET UP A B2B PORTAL FOR SMART CARD BUSINESS TRANSACTIONS....................................... 51Business-to-Business Landscape...................................................................................................... 51The sweet spot of B2B.......................................................................................................................51Our Vision.........................................................................................................................................52What we offer....................................................................................................................................52QuickStart offering:..........................................................................................................................54 JumpStart offering:..........................................................................................................................54The marketplace assessment.............................................................................................................55Competitive Landscape.....................................................................................................................55Target segments/customer-sets.........................................................................................................56Our Value Proposition/ Differentiation ...........................................................................................56Our business outlook........................................................................................................................ 56The Team ......................................................................................................................................... 57

FACTORS INFLUENCING THE MOTIVATION OF ENTREPRENEURS TO SMART CARD INDUSTRY.....................................58Level of Motivation...........................................................................................................................58Factors Influencing Motivation........................................................................................................ 58Literacy Rate.....................................................................................................................................58Marital Status................................................................................................................................... 58Technical Knowledge....................................................................................................................... 59Previous Experience......................................................................................................................... 59

PROBLEMS FACED BY THE SMART CARD ENTREPRENEURS.................................................................................. 60Problems relating to Input................................................................................................................60Problems relating to Marketing....................................................................................................... 62Problems relating to Finance........................................................................................................... 64

SUMMARY OF FINDINGS AND SUGGESTIONS.....................................................................................................65FINDINGS..................................................................................................................................................65SUGGESTIONS............................................................................................................................................66SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER RESEARCH..........................................................................................................66BIBLIOGRAPHY.................................................................................................................................67APPENDIXES...................................................................................................................................... 68APPENDIX A: THE SMART ENTREPRENEUR’S DECISION CHECKLISTS................................................................ 68APPENDIX B: SMART MANAGEMENT TEAM.................................................................................................. 71

Smart card manufacturing manager............................................................................................................. 71 Personalization manager............................................................................................................................. 72 Application programmer/analyst.................................................................................................................72Overall enterprise project leader facilitating the development and implementation of smart card business initiative(s) for organization. ........................................................................................................................73

PREFACE

In last couple of years software development has generated significant amount of interest in the young entrepreneurs. The purpose of conducting this study was to understand the issues involved in an entrepreneurship effort and also to get a first hand practical assessment of using an emerging technology for entrepreneurship development.

Here is a special kind of entrepreneurship where an individual works under an organization to create new channels of revenue. In this case the risk and resources are covered by the organization. The purpose of this study was to successfully create a case for entrepreneurship in an organization on the base of an emerging technology to get a first hand experience of the entrepreneurship development process.

This project was conducted at BAeHAL Software Limited, Bangalore. BAeHAL is a joint venture software company between European giant British Aerospace (BAe) and Hindustan Aeronautics limited (HAL). The project was executed and implemented for a German health care agency, having a health care centre in Bangalore city. (Please visit www.baehal.com Products --> Smart Cards

The scope of this project was limited to the identification of technology, awareness in top management about this technology and the impact of the same on the future prosperity of the organization, development of infrastructure, customer engagement and finally delivery of the developed product to the customer.

This study was done primarily for the completion of my Master in Business Administration course under Madurai Kamraj University (MKU). This study is useful for technical managers or anyone who wants to gain an overall understanding of entrepreneurship using Java Card technology. In particular, the initial chapters are introductions to orient you within the technology from both a technical and marketing point of view.

http://www.baehal.com/

Throughout this report, I assume that readers are up to some extent familiar with the fundamentals of the software development. For those who want to learn more about the software engineering, the book by Arnold and Gosling is a good resource. For basic fundamentals of computers please refer Computer System Architecture by Morris Meno.

Acknowledgement

I would like to thank three people for their assistance. Mr. Indrajit Gupta, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of BAeHAL Software Limited, who shared my passion for Java Smart Cards and gave me an opportunity to build Java Smart Card infrastructure, participate in Customer Engagement and finally deliver the Smart Card product.

I would like to thanks Mr. S.K. Ghosh, Deputy General Manager (DGM) BAeHAL Software Limited, who taught me the mantra of estimating a quality software project and preparing precise techno-commercial proposals. Mr. Ghosh also guided me for my M.B.A. project in Java Smart Cards.

I would also like to thank that unknown French person, who showed me a Smart Card for first time in my life at an ATM in Paris city. I really thank him for attracting my attention towards this emerging technology.

And offcourse how can I forget my project guineapigs Rohit Devgun and Naveen Zutschi. Rohit and Naveen assisted me in developing the Smart Java Card software for the project.

Statement of the problemIn today's world, smart cards play an increasingly important role in everyday life. We encounter them as credit cards, loyalty cards, electronic purses, health cards, and as secure tokens for authentication or digital signature. Their small size and the compatibility of their form with the magnetic stripe card make them the ideal carriers of personal information such as secret keys, passwords, customisation profiles, and medical emergency information. In today’s world where security has become of paramount importance, Smart Cards are right direction to start an entrepreneurial effort. This report provides a case study to achieve the objective of developing Smart Card applications in an enterprise using Java and the Open Card Framework. It gives the basic information needed about smart cards and how they work.

Review of literature

This report is written in a bottom-up fashion. Each chapter was a step to the next one, so it is best to read the topics in order.

• Introduces statement of the problem, scope and objective of the study along with the limitations of this study.

• It gives the basic information needed about smart cards and how they work.

• Introduces an initial development plan to set up the smart card infrastructure and prototype development.

• It gives the overview of software product development plan to develop a smart card based product.

• It gives a business plan to set up a B2B portal. The portal will act as a front end to provide smart card based products and services to other businesses.

• Introduces the smart card manufacturing process.• Explains the factors influencing the motivation of

entrepreneurs to start smart card development. • Problems faced by the entrepreneurs.

• Findings and suggestions.

Scope of the project

The scope of this project was limited to the identification of technology, awareness in top management about this technology and the impact of the same on the future prosperity of the organization, development of infrastructure, customer engagement and finally delivery of the developed product to the customer.

Following milestones were considered to define the scope of this project :

• Generation of a white paper about smart card technology.

• After feasibility study approval from top management • Team building and infrastructure procurement.• Proof of concept using ITCOM’99 event in Bangalore

city and customer engagement.• Requirement analysis and simulated prototype

development using MS-Access.• Actual prototype development using Smart Card

development toolkit.• Product design, development, testing and

implementation.

Objectives of the study

In last couple of years software development has generated significant amount of interest in the young entrepreneurs. The purpose of conducting this study was to understand the issues involved in an entrepreneurship effort and also to get a first hand practical assessment of using an emerging technology for entrepreneurship development.

Here is a special kind of entrepreneurship where an individual works under an organization to create new channels of revenue. In this case the risk and resources are covered by the organization. The objective of this project was to successfully

create a case for entrepreneurship in an organization on the base of an emerging technology to get a first hand experience of the entrepreneurship development process.

This project was conducted at BAeHAL Software Limited, Bangalore. BAeHAL is a joint venture software company between European giant British Aerospace (BAe) and Hindustan Aeronautics limited (HAL). The project was executed and implemented for a German health care agency, having a health care centre in Bangalore city. (for more information please visit www.baehal.com Products --> Smart Cards)

Limitations

This project report does not include all detail of the work actually carried out at BAeHAL Software Limited. This report does not include any software price estimation techniques used for the project. Similarly details for the product pricing and pricing strategies used are not discussed here. Also the development and tracking details are excluded here to protect copyrights and ensure business confidentiality of BAeHAL software Limited. This report is prepared for academic purposes only.

Operational definition of concepts

Smart Card HistorySmart cards can be traced back to 1968 when using plastic cards, as the carrier of microchips was first developed by the German inventors Jürgen Dethloff and Helmut Grötrupp. Two years later, in 1970, Kunitaka Arimura developed a similar application. The first formal reality of a smart card came with Roland Moreno¢ s smart card patents in France in 1974. With his patents, the semiconductor industries were able to manufacture and supply the required integrated circuits at a reasonable price. The first field trial was successfully carried out by the French PTT (Postal and Telecommunications Services) with telephone cards in 1984. Germany conducted telephone card trials three years later. Using smart cards in the financial industry as bank cards progressed much slower due to the complexity and the existing infrastructure of the banking

http://www.baehal.com/

systems.. As we move into the 21st century, the smart card will have a more pervasive role in electronic business.

How smart cards differ with the present magnetic stripe cards.

The cards present in the market are known as magnetic stripe cards. They contain a magnetic stripe that contains the information about the issuer as well as about the user also. The magnetic stripe contains the security PIN number for the individual user. When a user inserts the card into the appropriate device (ATM) to create a physical contact and establishes identification via Personal Identification Number (PIN) then the software running on the ATM device compares the identification stored in the magnetic stripe of the card with the identification entered by the user. If they matches then the software running on the ATM shows a set of operations (thru Man Machine Interface) user can perform. When user selects an option and does some minimal data entry, then the software running on the ATM access the remote database to fetch the required information or to update the database as the end result of the users request.

Smart cards, unlike magnetic stripe cards, can carry all necessary functions ( i.e. software which resides on the ATM in the case of magnetic cards) and information (database) on the card itself. Since they contain the software as well as the data on the card therefore not always they require access to remote databases at the time of transaction. So the smart card

can add, delete and otherwise manipulate the information stored previously on the smart card.

What Smart card Is: Identical to the size of a credit card, a smart card stores and processes information through the electronic circuits embedded in silicon in the plastic substrate of its body. There are two types of smart cardsAn Intelligent Smart Card That contains a microprocessor with some amount of memory and offers read, write and calculating capability.A Memory Card that does not have a microprocessor and meant only for information storage.

All smart cards contain three types of memory ROM, EEPROM, and RAM. The minimum system requirement is 16 kilobytes of read-only memory (ROM), 8 kilobytes of EEPROM and 256 bytes of random access memory (RAM).

What Smart Card Isn’t:They are not personal computers. They have limited memory resources and computing power.

The architecture of Smart Cards:

A smart card contains three primary sections on its body Namely Magnetic stripe, Embossing area and Contacts. Magnetic stripe works exactly as it works for a magnetic stripe

card. Embossing area contains the name of the user, duration, card serial number etc.

Normally a smart card does not contain a power supply, a display, or a keyboard. It interacts with the outside world using the serial communication interface via its eight contact points. Power Supply, Ground, Reset, Check, Input /Output are the main contacts other then 3 optional contact points.

How do they work:

The small Java programs which are known as Applets are burned into the ROM of the smart cards. When a smart card is

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inserted into a Card Acceptance Device (CAD), the CAD supplies the power to the smart card using its ‘Power supply’ and ‘Ground’ contact points. The power supply start running the Java Applet burned into the ROM.When two computers communicate with each other, they exchange data packages, which are constructed following a set of protocols. Similarly ,smart cards speak to the outside world

using their own data packages - called APDU (Application Protocol Data Units).

APDU contains either a command or a response message. In the smart cards, the Master Slave model is used whereby a smart card always plays the passive role. In other words, a smart card always waits for a command APDU from a CAD. It then executes the action specified in the command APDU and replies to the CAD with a response APDU. Command APDUs and the response APDUs are exchanged alternatively between a card and a CAD. This communication takes place using the ‘Input /Output’ contact point of the smart card.

So when a user inserts the smart card into the Card Acceptance Device (CAD) then the CAD initiates the power supply into the smart card using the ‘Power Supply’ and ‘Ground’ contact points of the card that leads to the invoking of Java Applet on the smart card. Meanwhile the CAD shows some set of operations to the user and ask him/her to select an option. When user selects the option then the CAD forms a Command APDU and sends it to the Java Applet running on the card using the ‘Input /Output’ contact point of the smart card. Java Applet interprets this command APDU and either updates the data stored on the card or send the message APDU to the CAD based on the Command APDU.

How to prepare a Smart Card:

Masking: To run the Java Applet on the smart card, a native operating system, virtual machine and the Application Programming Interface class libraries are the must. These are known as Permanent Components. The process of writing the Permanent Components along with Java Applets into the ROM is known as Masking.Initialisation: Initialisation refers to loading the general data into EEPROM. This general data can be the issuer or manufacture’s name. Personalization: Personalization involves assigning a card to a person. It can occur thru Physical or Electronic Personalization. Physical Personalization refers to embossing or laser engraving your name and card number on the plastic surface of a card. Electronic Personalization refers to loading personal data into the cards EEPROM, for example personal key, name and pin number.

At this point, the Java card is ready to use.

How to use single Smart card for various applications:

Once a card is issued with an application specific Java Applet, it is quite possible to download another Applets specific to other applications on the same card. But it all depends on the Memory capacity of the issued Smart card. These applets are known as Post-issuance applets. Post-issuance applets are those applets that are installed on a Java Card after the card is issued to a cardholder.

Possible Applications of Smart Card

• Telephone Cards• Ticket less Travel• Telecommunications• In Home Entertainment• Military Identification• Access Control• Criminal or general Records• Transportation• Medical Data• Information services• Toll Booth Access

• Single Merchant Incentives• Electronic Wallet/ Electronic Money• Maintenance History• Automated Manufacturing• Identification• Database Access

Advantages of Smart Card

• Declining costs to issuers and users• Standard Technical specification• Security of Information• One card - access multiple services• Paperless environment• Off and On-line transactions• Manage and control expenditures more effectively• Convenience and security (do not have to carry cash or

multiple cards)• Organized information• Emergency Information• Fraud reduction• High memory capabilities• On Site approval• End User only accessibility

Limitations of Smart Card

• Vulnerable to Ultraviolet light• Liability issues if lost or stolen• Cost and Fees associated with the use of the card• Availability of technology to the users• Insurance of Privacy• Insurance of security• Computers hackers• Vulnerable to temperature• Potential for too much data on one card if lost or stolen• Vulnerable to static electricity

Security Issues

Although no system is 100% secure even then Smart Cards are very secure financial information or transaction storage device. Security is accomplished through• Encryption• Security key (PIN)• Secondary security keys (cryptographic algorithm that a

user and issuer use to encode and decode information)• Redundant Security System• Ultimately temper proof technology due to an embedded

chip• Biometrics locks• Electronic digital signature

STANDARDS

Six sets of standards are available for the Smart Cards development. Each set of standards belongs to the application specific development. These standards are:

• ISO 7816: ISO7816 specify the physical and dimensional features of the plastic supports for the Smart Card. This also includes the meaning and location of contacts, the protocol and contents of the high and low level message exchanged with microprocessor smart card and also the inter-industry command.

• CEN: In the financial sector, the standard CEN is targeted on the intersector electronic purse applications. It describes the card data and instructions, and the transactions and applications involving rechargeable intersector electronic purses.

• EMV: Concerning the debit/credit cards, the major international financial institutions Visa, Master card and Europe gave the EMV standards for the banking solutions in 1996.

• ETSI: In the digital cellular telecommunications sector, a European standardization committee the ETSI was set up in anticipation of the new European “GSM” system.

• SET: A payment standard has been set up in the electronic commerce sector, known as Secure Electronic Transaction. Vias, Master Card and American Express define this standard.

• C-SET: In parallel with the SET, another standard has been set up in France: C-SET is Chip Secure Electronic Transaction. GIE Cartes Bancaires defined this system.

All of the standards mentioned above are available on the Internet. A free copy can be downloaded as and when required. These standards even provide the model specification for developing the applications according to these standards. It is always preferable to have at least initial understanding of these standards before approaching any potential customer, because the standards suggest the model way of implementing the application.

AVAILABLE TOOLS AND APIs

Coding applications for a smart card requires a very rare set of skills. The programmer must know not only the programming language and the platform where the code is developed, but also the smart card operating system, the smart card reader, the communication protocol between the smart card and the reader, the smart card file structure, etc. This situation has been recognised by the industry and most of the smart card vendors provide development tools for their customers. For developing the Smart Card application only a few tools and API’s are available. Some of them are

Java Card API 2.1 by Sun Micro systemJava Card API 2.0 is a reference implementation as well as full functional development medium for the Smart Card development, which is available on the Internet free of cost. So the initial investigation can be done with Java Card API 2.0, Entire package occupies 4.0 MB space. This reference implementation can be used to Develop and debug a Java Card Applet.Validate the Java card applet for the Java card language subset conformance using the Java Card Checker.Run and exercise Java Card Applets on a workstation.Java Card API 2.0 is ISO 7816 compliant.

IBM Smart Card ToolkitThe IBM Smart Card Toolkit supports application development for Windows 95, Windows NT and OS/2 environment. Agents are available for all of these platforms plus Windows 3.x and DOS. The IBM Smart Card Toolkit

requires 3.5 MB of disk space. This toolkit is also ISO 7816 compliant. IBM Toolkit is available free of cost from an IBM intranet site.

GemXpresso RAD: A Java - based development platform for Smart Cards. Gemplus is a leading smart card vendor.

Schlumberger Cyber flex: A Java - based development platform for Smart Cards. Schlumberger is another leading smart card vendor.

Active Card : A Java - based development platform for Smart Cards.

MARKET PROSPECTS

At a glance it can be said that the primary prospects for the Smart Card is to replace the existing magnetic stripe cards. By looking at the cost effectiveness and the benefits of the smart card all existing organizations that are somehow related to the cards are converting their simple magnetic stripe cards into Smart Cards. According to the data available on the Internet and according to the survey of leading IT companies, presently the size of Magnetic card market is as follows

United States 600 billion dollarsEurope 800 billion dollars Asia / Pacific 550 billion dollarsTotal Market Size 1,950 billion dollarsSource: www.cardshow.com

The size of Smart card market is expected to reach 4000 billion dollars by year 2002.

At the end of 1997, the number of Smart Cards in circulation worldwide was 1.2 billion, which went up to 2.75 billion in the year 2000 and expected to reach 3.85 billions in 2002. Of this, almost 34% will be in the Asia-pacific region, making it the second largest market. The Smart Card industry is projected to grow by 40 to 50 per cent over the next 10 years.

According to industry projections, India will be the second largest Smart Card user in the world after China by the year

2015, with more than one billion cards. The card market in India went up to 3.3 million at the end of 1998, from 2.8 million on December 31, 1997.(Source of information: Smart Cards Expo’99. Sponsored by DOE, Government of India)

CONCLUSION

Smart card is a relatively new phenomenon. Still the news about smart card is not quite well known in India. But the process is moving fast in US and European markets. Many IT giants like Gameplus, Citicorp, Schlumberger etc. has emerged as Smart Card solution provider. It is expected that the six months later the surplus job related to Smart Cards will boom the Indian Software Industry. As the smart cards are a sub section of the e- commerce, it is better to set us a team that can prepare itself to handle any state of art smart card application.

Field work, data collection, product development

The BAeHAL top management reviewed An Idea given by Anshuman Mishra. Since they found that it is quite possible and feasible to convert this idea into a product, they asked for a white paper on the Smart Card technology. The first white paper on Smart Card technology ‘An Introduction to Smart Cards’ was prepared by Anshuman Mishra and was submitted.

Subsequently, on the behalf of an initiative taken by the General manager, some business inquiries came and Smart Card team was asked to prepare technical proposals for taking care of various areas. The proposals were submitted to the General manager and Deputy General manager as a concept development measure. In continuation of concept development a process of preparing a Business plan started which is going on.

In between a mega event IT.COM’98 took place at ITPL Bangalore from Nov Ist 1998 to Nov 5th 1998 that was utilised as a measure of concept testing for a Smart card based product. A seminar ‘One Card Fits All – Smart Card’ was given by Anshuman Mishra, generated greater interest and became a source for numerous smart card related inquiries. This was the first break through as far as concept testing was concerned.

An exhibition counter established by BAeHAL Software Ltd. demonstrated the company capabilities in the Smart Card area, also resulted in positive propaganda and increased customer’s attention. So the process of concept testing was successfully completed using the opportunity given by IT.COM’98. Another event INFOCOM’98 gave a positive confirmation for the Smart Card technology. Other activities like team building, training etc took place in between.

The development for an emergency health care system started for a German heath care agency having health care centre in Bangalore city. Requirements were collected and a quick simulated prototyping in MS-Access was used to win the customer confidence. A smart card prototype was developed afterwards.

Subsequently, actual product development was completed whose details are as follows:

Emergency Card System

The Emergency Card System is a health care product, based on smart cards, which helps in storing and retrieval of the entire information required in case of emergencies.

Features:

1. Information stored on the card

a. Personal Information: - This category stores information about the patient such as address, family doctor, blood group, common allergies, Date of birth etc., b. In-patient Details: - This category stores all the information about the patient when he is admitted in the hospital regarding any operation, procedure, investigation, diagnosis made, etc., c. Out-patient details: - This category stores all the information about the patient when he consults a doctor.

2. Viewing Information

Information about the patient can be viewed. Information such as In-Patient details, Outpatient details, personal details, consolidated report view, investigations, etc., are available.

3. Generating reports and printing them

a. In-patient Report b. Out-Patient Report c. Consolidated In-Patient Report d. Consolidated Outpatient Report e. Personal Information Report

4. Security

Authenticated users can update data on the emergency card.

Advantages of Smart Cards Technology in Health care:

a. Protect privacy of patient records. b. Enables the normal processing of patient information even when communications are out. c. Provides vital information on emergencies. d. Assures the identity of patients. e. Verifies insurance coverage. f. Secures payment for health services. g. Speeds up the admissions process on hospital and clinics. h. Makes it convenient to carry medical latest records. i. Helps physicians, pharmacists, and patient track medications. j. Supplies flexibility for adding additional programs and functions. k. Offers the convenience and security of not having to carry cash. l. Saves on telecommunications costs by requiring fewer phone lines and less long distance switching

Development plan for Infrastructure set up and prototype development

"Today, we're seeing the mass creation of new access devices - PDA s and Web TV s , Smart Cards and screen phones. This will give hundreds of millions of people new, convenient ways to access computing and the Net. It will be this critical mass that shifts the Internet from fascinating phenomenon to fundamental driver of the global economy and society", reflect the smart way, by which we will turn this company into the India's most successful e-business company.

My idea is to enable this organisation as a world class solution provider for Smart Java Card applications in the Indian domestic market.

What is a Smart Card?

A Smart Card is a device very similar to your debit/credit card. Only difference is that it contains a silicon chip, which remains burled on the plastic surface of the card body. The chip contains three memories (RAM, ROM & EEPROM) and a microprocessor. Thus Smart Card acts like a small computer in your wallet. Application programs and the data, both resides inside the smart card chip.

Once the smart card is inserted into a reader device, a 5V electric supply activates the application program, which runs on the card microprocessor. Application program can read and write the data back and forth the card memory.

Where it can be used?

There is a wide range of applications that can be developed and stored in a Smart Card. Some of them are as follows :

· Transportation · Ticket less travel· Telecommunication· Prepaid Cards, SIM cards· Identification· Medical Health care· Access Control(logical & physical)

· Record keeping· Tool booth access· Electronic wallet/money· Payment systems · In Home Entertainment· Single Merchant Incentives These cards are called SMART because other then storage and computational strength, a single card can accommodate multiple versatile applications.

Market Potential

At the end of 1997, the number of Smart Cards in circulation worldwide was 1.2 billion, which is expected to go up to 2.75 billion in the year 2000 and 3.85 billion in 2002. Of this, almost 34% will be in the Asia-pacific region, making it the second largest market. The Smart Card industry is projected to grow by 40 to 50 per cent over the next 10 years.

According to industry projections, India will be the second largest Smart Card user in the world after China by the year 2015, with more than one billion cards. The card market in India went up to 3.3 million at the end of 1998, from 2.8 million on December 31, 1997.(Source of information : SmartCards Expo'99. Sponsored by DOE, Government of India)

How we can become lead holder in the market

We have been working with industry partners and in our research and development labs around the world to build the infrastructure and key technologies to help drive global adoption of Smart Card solutions. Our strength as an end-to-end solution provider and key leader in Java computing uniquely position us to help customers integrate smart card solutions into their product and service solutions. In support of the Java Card technology, industry has developed technology, which proves that Java Card technology implementations can achieve speed and size in the range of native standard card operating systems. … We, at India can gain a quick momentum using this legacy heritage

What we can do ?

Taking the advantage of our expertise in Smart Cards and availability of Smart Card skills at India, We can acquire necessary information and can quickly build a strong team, which will provide turn key solutions to the Indian domestic customers. Initially for a small duration of time, the team will work as a cost centre and later, will be converted to a profit centre.

How to start? - How can I contribute? After reading the Smart Card concepts, I strongly feel that through some of my present skills, which are rare in India, I too can contribute towards our e-business goals. My idea is to build a Smart Card Solution Provider Team, and then to become a part of it. I would like to volunteer myself for a presentation on "Smart Card Technology" and “Positioning of Smart Cards based solutions in the market”.

My plan of bringing Smart Card expertise in our organisation, revolve around the spirit of “Team, Execute and Win”. To start with, a TEAM of three members would be required. All three members will undergo a training for Smart Card concepts and Smart Card Programming. I would be the happiest person to provide the same and build a basic TEAM. After the training these three members will select at least one area of functional expertise out of “Cryptography”, “Open Card Framework” and “Smart Card Standards(SET, EMV etc)”. I will provide required navigation to make this happen. With the cohesive knowledge of these three areas of expertise, the TEAM will be ready to go ahead for the next phase.

During “EXECUTE” phase, the team will develope the PROTOTYPES for at least those three application areas, where we can anticipate lucrative future business. Prototype development will be divided into two sections.w Simulated Prototype : Rapid prototype development on a

package like MS-Access. This will be a simulation of overall smart card application.

ω Smart Card Prototype : Some selected functionalities of simulated prototype will be implemented on the Smart Card Prototype. This will be a functional piece of software running on a Smart Card.

The prototype approach will be extremely useful in the future customer interaction. Customer would be able get the feeling of overall apllication via simulated prototype. While the smart card prototype will not only be used for technology capability demonstration but also for winning the customer confidence. At this stage our Smart Card team will be ready to undertake the smart card solution activities.

To accomplish the “WIN” phase, smart card solution team will need further teaming with Sales & Marketing team. At this moment an individual Business Plan will be chalked out for each proposed solution. A proper Pricing Policy and Marketing Strategy will further strengthen the business plan and will ensure success. Some of the oppurtunities which can be materialised are as follows :� A Rs. 26 billion (about US$ 620 million) citizen identity

card project, based on Smart Card technology is currently under consideration of the Government of India. The project, when implemented, will open up vast business oppurtunities for smart card technology.

(Source of information : SmartCards Expo’99 DOE, Government of India)� A Rs. 40 crore, Smart Cards based Driving Licence Project

is under progress at the Government of Gujrat. Many other states may follow the trend, which will generate ample oppurtunities for business.

(New Delhi based Smart Chip has undertaken this project) � A Smart Card based fequent flyer programme for Jet

Airways/ Sahara Airlines/ Air India is a bright idea, which can be successfuly achieved. IBM US has taken up a similar pilot project for American Airlines.

(IBM USA Contact: Jerry Smith)

Time Frame? Money?

The Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) for the TEAM Phase will be as followsWBS No. Task Name Output Working Days1 Procurement of hardware &

software. Work place set up ready.

20**

2 Training on Smart Card Concepts

Understanding of the matter

5 (Parrallel to task 1)

3 Training on Smart Card tools and Programming

Ability to write Smart Card programs.

15 (Parrallel to task 1)

4 Functional Expertise (cryptography, Standards, Open Card Framework)

Functional expertise & Ability to add functional knowledge to Smart Cards.

20

Total Days required

40

** Minimum time required to procure the smart card tools and hardware.

The Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) for the EXECUTE Phase will be as followsWBS No. Task Name Output Working Days1 Requirment Analsys for a smart

card based solution.Requirment Specification

5

2 Design for any one simulated prototype

Design document

7

3 Developemnt & Testing of one simulated prototype

Working Simulated Prototype

10

4 One Smart Card prototype with selected functionalities

Working Smart card prototype

10

Total Days required

32

The infrastructure required to initiate the work is as follows :Item Quantity Unit Price (Rs.) Total (Rs.)Man Power 3 - -PC 300GL (Pentium P II 366 MHZ with 64 MB RAM, 4.1 GB HDD)

2 59,000 1,18,000

Think Pad (Pentium 366 MHZ with 64 MB RAM, 4.1 GB HDD, CD ROM Drive)

1 125,000 125,000

Java IDE (Visual Age or Visual Café)

3 9,500/- 28,500.00/-

IBM Smart Card Toolkit

3 Available free of cost at IBM intranet

00.00/-

GemXpresso RAD 1 50,000/- 50,000.00/-Java Card API 2.1 3 Available as a

freeware at Sun site.00.00/-

Gemplus GCR410 PC/SC Reader

1 10,000/- 10,000.00/-

Smart Java Cards (16Kb ROM, 32 Kb EEPROM, 516 bytes RAM)

10 800/- 8000.00/-

Total Investment 96,500.00 Rs. only

Per unit prices shown above are estimated once.

ConclusionSmart card is a relatively new phenomenon. Still the news about smart card is not quite well known in India. But the process is moving fast in US and European markets. Many IT giants like Gameplus, Citicorp, Schlumberger etc. has emerged as Smart Card solution provider. As the smart cards are a sub section of the e- commerce , it is better to set us a team which can prepare itself to handle any state of art smart card application

‘FLYING RETURNS’: A proposed Smart Cards based loyalty product

What is ‘Flying Returns’ scheme

Flying Returns A customer accrues the mileage points each time he flies through Air India, Indian Airlines or Air France. These mileage points can be redeemed by him for free tickets to any destination of his choice, on the combined network of Air India or Indian Airlines or Air France or all together. Customer should earn a minimum 30,000 mileage points to claim the free tickets.

Mileage PointsMileage Points are not miles, but units of accrual based on sector distance / rates.

Obtaining the Membership Initially a customer applies for membership of ‘Flying Return Scheme’, which is operated jointly by Air India, Indian Airlines and the Air France. A customer can apply for this membership using any one of three available ways:

(a) Phone ‘n’ Enroll facility: By using this method a customer can immediately register him/herself by just calling certain telephone numbers. This scheme is useful for customers who are about to take a flight and want to start accumulating mileage points immediately. Customer will also earn mileage points for all subsequent flights from that date.(b) Fax today - Pay later: An application form available at the Air India, Indian Airlines and Air France outlets can be filled and can be faxed to a certain fax number. This facility is for the customers who are about to take a flight in a day or two. The customer can start earning mileage points from the day the fax was received. After this, the customer has to send the original form with a demand draft/cheque for Rs. 1000/- by post. The original form should reach the airlines within 30 days from the day the airlines received the Fax.(c) Just uses the mail: The application form with the demand draft can be mailed to Air India by post. The customer will earn mileage from the date when the post is received by the airline.

Shortly after applying through any one of the procedures mentioned above, the customer receives an acknowledgment and a Membership number. It takes 4-6 weeks for a customer to receive his/her membership card and kit. Air India gives an initial 1000 mileage points free on taking the membership.

After applying for a membership, customers are asked to retain all boarding passes and copies of all the tickets to keep the record of the mileage points they earn.

Earning the mileage points through a journey

When a customer receives his membership kit, he gets some ‘Flying Return Stickers’. Air India uses the ‘Sticker System’ for recording the mileage point accruals.

When a customer buys a travel ticket from Air India, Indian Airlines or Air France (tickets must be bought and paid for in India) , he fills the Flying Return Membership Number and Name on the Sticker. Then he pastes it on the top right hand corner of the ticket coupon.

Customer presents his Flying Return Membership Card along with his ticket, with the sticker affixed, to the Airport Check In Staff. The staff detaches the ticket coupon, returns his travel ticket and completes the necessary formalities.

Air India sends a Mileage Point Statement to every customer every month, which reflects the status of Mileage Points so far earned by the customer.

Customers keep their boarding passes for each flight they take on Air India or Indian Airlines till they receive the mileage point credit. In case of any mismatch between the boarding passes and the monthly Mileage Point Statement, boarding passes can be produced to rectify the mismatch.

Earning the Add On Mileage Points (AOMP’s)Flying Return Alliances is a partnership program between Air India and some leading organizations. Every time customer uses the services or buys the product from the partners, he

earns bonus mileage points - also called Add On Mileage Points (AOMP’s). These AOMPs can be pooled with the mileage points customer earns when he fly, so he can claim the free ticket faster.

How present ‘Flying Returns’ scheme works:

Once a customer produces his ticket, affixed with the Sticker to the Airport Check In Staff, the staff detach the ticket coupon. This ticket coupon goes to the Member Service Center based at Mumbai. After comparison with the Journey record and validation process , this coupon data is used to perform following activities:• Keeping track of Flying Returns Membership status.• Maintaining the Mileage Points Account.• Mailing the Mileage Point Statement to the Customers.• Inform the Customers about Offers, privileges and the

procedure.• Process the Customer’s request for an ‘Award Ticket’ (Free

Ticket).• Provides application and enrolment assistance.• Answers the queries regarding membership details.

Proposed way of implementing the ‘Flying Returns’ scheme.

The process of applying for the ‘Flying Returns’ Membership Card will remain the same, but the architecture of the card will be changed. Instead of being a dumb card, The ‘Flying Returns’ Membership card now will be a Smart card. Hereafter the smart card will be referred as the ‘Flying Returns’ Smart Card, in this document.

What is Smart Card

Identical to the size of a credit card, a smart card stores and processes information through the electronic circuits embedded in silicon in the plastic substrate of its body. Smart cards, unlike magnetic stripe cards, can carry all necessary functions (i.e. ‘Flying Returns’ Java Applet software) and information (Mileage Point Account database) on the card itself. Since they

contain the software as well as the data along with a microprocessor on the card, they do not require access to remote databases at the time of transaction. So the smart card can add, delete and otherwise manipulate the information stored previously on itself. Smart cards contain three types of memory ROM, EEPROM, and RAM. The minimum requirement is 16 kilobytes of read-only memory (ROM), 8 kilobytes of EEPROM and 256 bytes of random access memory (RAM). There are optical cards which can contain upto 4GB of information on the card.

Who will write the ‘Flying Returns’ Java Applet

The Smart Card Solution Provider Team will develop the ‘Flying Returns’ Java Applet, which will cover all the functionalities described in the previous section. This ‘Flying Returns’ Java Applet will be burned into the ROM of the ‘Flying Returns’ Smart card.

Process of Issuing the ‘Flying Returns’ Smart Card

Masking: To run the ‘Flying Returns’ Java Applet on the smart card, a native operating system, virtual machine and the Application Programming Interface class libraries are musts. These are known as Permanent Components. The process of writing the Permanent Components along with ‘Flying Returns’ Java Applet into the ROM is known as Masking.Initialisation : Initialization refers to loading the general data into EEPROM. This general data will be about Air India or Indian Airlines as the card issuer. Personalization: Personalization involves assigning a card to a customer. It can occur through Physical or Electronic Personalization. Physical Personalization refers to embossing or laser engraving customer’s name and card number on the plastic surface of the card. Electronic Personalization refers to loading personal data into the cards EEPROM, for example, personal key, name and pin number and the Customer’s Mileage Point Account.

At this point, the ‘Flying Returns’ Smart card is ready to use.

How the ‘Flying Returns’ Smart Card will be used

• To Maintain the Mileage Point Accounts.

Customer will produce his ‘Flying Returns’ Smart Card along with his ticket, to the Airport Check In Staff. The staff will push the card into a Stationary Card Acceptance Device (Here after we will refer it as SCAD). The ‘Flying Returns’ Smart Card will be encoded by the SCAD system, using the itinerary.

When the Customer boards the aircraft, the aircraft staff will push the card into another CAD. (Hereafter, we will refer to it as Mobile Card Acceptance Device - MoCAD ).MoCAD will search for itinerary information encoded by SCAD. On a successful search the MoCAD will detect the mileage points for that itinerary and will update the Customer’s Mileage Account on the ‘Flying Returns’ Smart Card. Now MoCAD will push out the ‘Flying Returns’ Smart Card, which will be returned to the Customer.

Similarly a CAD can be used to update the Mileage Point Account for a customer, when he opts for Add On Mileage Points (AOMP’s), with the Alliance partners.

• To Keep track of Flying Returns Membership status.

The ‘Flying Returns’ membership remains valid for 36 months only. Customer has to accrue his mileage points within this period. After this period, all the earned points will expire and the ‘Flying Returns’ Smart Card will automatically become inactive.

• To inform the customers about Mileage Point Statement.

Since the information about the Mileage Account will resides on the ‘Flying Returns’ Smart Card, thus arrangements can be made, to enable a Customer to browse the Mileage Point Account information directly. The Self-Check In counters can play a major role for this purpose. While Checking In, the customer will insert his ‘Flying Returns’ Smart Card into the Self Check In slot and he would be able to know about the status of his account. The facility of taking the printed statement from the Self Checking Machine is also possible.

• To inform the Customers about Offers, privileges and the procedure.

The same Self Check In machine can be used for Information Services. If desired, Customer would be able to retrieve the information about the offers, his privileges and the procedure for obtaining the ‘Flying Returns’ Smart Card and the procedures such us earning the Mileage points through various schemes etc.

• To process the Customer’s request for an ‘Award Ticket’ (Free Ticket).

Since ‘Flying Returns’ Smart Card would be able to process the information stored in it, thus Customers requests for free tickets would be processed instantaneously. Equivalent mileage points for the free ticket will be deducted from his account. This will save the Online Validation for his account, which involves a significant amount of implementation cost.

How to use single ‘Flying Returns’ Smart Card for various applications.

Once a ‘Flying Returns’ Smart Card is issued with a ‘Flying Returns’ Java Applet, it is quite possible to download another Applet specific to other applications on the same card. But it all depends on the Memory capacity of the issued ‘Flying Returns’ Smart card. These applets are known as Post-issuance applets. Post-issuance applets are those applets that are installed on a Smart Card after the card is issued to a cardholder. Thus it would be possible to use a single Smart Card for various purposes.

Possible Applications of the ‘Flying Returns’ Smart Card in near future.

1. Use of ‘Flying Returns’ Smart card as a debit card to permit use as an electronic ticket by making on - line bookings.

2. For Information Services such as flight time table, seat configurations, Airport schedules, Air India directory, contact points, Information about In flight services, travel guide and Web page information etc etc.

3. Use of ‘Flying Returns’ Smart card as a In-flight Calling Card as well as International Prepaid Telephone Card.

4. Use of ‘Flying Returns’ Smart card for Embarkation Procedure.

5. Use Of ‘Flying Returns’ Smart card for Customer Data Procuring and maintenance.

Software product Development Plan

Overview:

Before getting into the details of professional software development practice, it is helpful to see an overview. There are five key steps that must be completed before actual coding of a product begins. The result of each step is a design document. These documents are:

• The Functional Specification• The Technical Specification• The Task List• The Quality Assurance Documentation• The Implementation Plan

Only when these documents are substantially complete can actual coding of the product begin.

The Functional Specification is a general description of the product, usually provided by the client or marketing department. The Functional Specification spells out the feature set and performance requirements for the product. The next four documents are the major planning documents defined by the development group. Sometimes these documents are

grouped together and called the Technical Design. These documents define the product and the steps needed to complete and qualify it fir release.

Phases of Development:

Software development projects are divided into a number of phases. An overview of these phases is as follows:

The first phase is the Design Phase during which the Functional Specification and Technical Design are completed. The period during which coding takes place is called the Implementation Phase and is broken into a number of Milestone Releases. A level of functionality defines each Milestone Release and Milestone Releases generally occur about once every four to six weeks. The Implementation phase when the product is “Code Complete”. This Milestone Release is commonly called the Alpha Release.

Although the Alpha Release is defined as code complete, the release is not bug free. The period of time after the Alpha Release is called Alpha Phase. During the Alpha Phase, proceeds through rounds of intense testing by QA followed by rework/bug fixes to the code base. Alpha ends with the Beta Release and occurs when all high-priority bugs are fixed.QA efforts intensify further during the Beta Phase and during this period the product is often released to a group of pre-qualified users outside the development organization. This process is called Field Testing and its purpose is to expose the product to “real world” use, additional user perspectives, and hardware test variations. The Beta Phase ends when all bugs are fixed and no additional bugs are being reported by the field testers or by QA.

At this point, the product is run through the Final Acceptance Procedure. The Final Acceptance Procedure is a complete, comprehensive test of all aspects of the software. Only when the software successfully completes the Final Acceptance Procedure it is ready for mass manufacturing.

The Functional Specification

Although no two projects are identical, a well-managed commercial software development project should begin like

this:Someone (a customer, product planning committee, the CEO) decides that there is a need for a new software product. For simplicity, let’s call the requesting organization or person the “client”. To get things started, the client must state those product’s major features and general characteristics to the development group. What machines does it run on? What are the distinctive benefits? Who is the target market? And most importantly, what is the “vision” for the product?

This overview of the product is called the Functional Specification and is by definition non-technical. It is the basis for a more detailed analysis or Technical Specification, the purpose of which is to describe in excruciating detail; all the features of the product and how the product is to be developed. The primary purpose of the Functional Specification is to communicate the product vision to the development team.

To produce the Functional specification, which is sometimes called the Marketing Requirement Document, the client must decide what features and functions should be included. Besides describing in detail every feature of the product, how the feature will behave, and how the product will interact with the user, it should be specific in stating requirements regarding:• Performance• Hardware platforms• Minimum hardware configurations• Multi user capabilities• Usability issues• Standards or guidelines that must be adhered to, and• Feature restriction or boundaries.

The Functional Specification should also include a description of the target audience, a list of competing products, and a mission statement. The mission statement should describe the client’s vision for the product. An example of the mission statement might be,“This product will combine elements of word processing and high end paint products. The primary emphasis of this product

will be to provide the user with the best tools available to combine text and graphics so that he may easily and accurately produce a high quality paper result”.

Once the Functional Specification is completed, the client must work interactively with the development team. The development team must ask clarifying questions for every aspect and feature of the product. They must understand not only the “vision” for the product, but also the details necessary to implement the product.

The Technical Specification

Although prototyping and proof-of-concept testing may increase the project budget by 10 percent or more, prototyping and usability testing is strongly recommended in today’s fiercely competitive market.

The technical design also called a Design Study consists of four interrelated documents: The Technical Specification, the Task List, the Quality Assurance Documentation, and the Implementation Plan (which includes time estimates).

The Technical Specification includes a restatement of functional specification provided by the client in the engineering terms. It includes a description of:• The overall design and architecture of the product,• All data structures and accompanying methods,• All code modules,• All serious error conditions and how they will be handled,• The development environment, including all tools and

libraries that will be employed, and• A detailed description of the user interface.

The user interface description can either be written, visually prototyped, or both. The interface specification includes a description of every screen and what will happen if any command or other event occurs while the screen is active.

A major decision that the development group must make early in the project is whether to develop a prototype in order to demonstrate the user interface. Prototypes can also be developed to test certain technical concepts. Constructing a

prototype often requires a willingness to invest in “throw away code” in order to test a concept.

Typically, a developer implement a prototype code in parallel with writing the specification documents – usually to determine whether to implement a feature a certain way, or to implement it all. Once the prototype code is written, it is tested under conditions that are as “real world” as possible.

This testing often takes place in a usability lab – an installation specifically planned and operated for testing the end user software. Large commercial developers may have usability lab in-house. Small developers contract outside for this service. Usability testing can also be performed through the development life cycle to further refine product features.

Products that have not been prototyped and tested often fail to meet end-user expectations for ease of use. When this happens the project team must re-work and / or re-design the user interface and incur substantial delays and cost overruns.

The Task List

Ideally, the individual who will be responsible for coding the area should make task breakdown and time estimates for particular areas of the program. Developers should be allowed to review their task lists and time estimates and “negotiate” changes. It is critical that the developers “buy-in” to the time estimates which they are expected to meet.

Ultimately, the Technical Design must be structured as a sequence of actionable tasks. The goal in developing a Task List is two-flod. First, that the tasks list completely all of the work to be accomplished, and second, to insure that the time estimates with the each task are accurate.

Examining the Technical Specification and translating every item in the design into a task create the Task List. For some items in the Technical Specification, this means breaking the feature down into a set of tasks required to implement the feature. For other items this might mean allocating a task to optimise specific areas of the code in order to meet performance and memory requirements. It is also likely that

the tasks will required for additional design work in certain areas.

Probably the biggest pitfall in software development is that tasks are not sufficiently defined so that realistic time-to-completion estimates can be made or so that progress against the tasks can be monitored. A task like “develop the user interface” is not actionable because you can’t tell, for example, how long it will take to code each of the menu command.

Example of a section of an Actionable Task List

Type Style Menu

Set up for list menuShow fonts in their real typefaceSet up font size list menuSet up font colour menuSet p font attribute menuAdd char style to application menuDelete car style from app menu

Person days

0.31.51.00.30.41.00.7

This is part of a Task List for handling the type style menu in a Word Processor. The number on the right side are person-days. Note that these are for creating, maintaining and displaying the each type style menu only – they do not account for the word processor’s handling of type style changes or any associated dialogs.

One of the hardest things to do in software development is to estimate the time it will take to do something. It is a fact that developers tend to underestimate the time it will take to accomplish a task.

As a general rule, if a time estimate is greater than three person-days, the task should be subdivided into smaller pieces. Experience has shown that a task with a time estimate of over three person-days must be broken down into smaller tasks in order to generate an accurate estimate.

A time estimate is also more reliable if someone experienced in the task makes it. For example, the accuracy of a time estimate for creating a word-wrap routine would only be highly credible if someone made it with experience in text processing algorithms.

Quality Assurance Plan

QA is an integral part of any software design and development effort. The QA Project Leader must be involved during development of the Technical Specification. Once the Technical Specification has been completed, the QA group can begin work on the Quality Assurance Documentation.

The Quality Assurance Documentation. Is composed of a number of interrelated documents:

• QA Test Plan• Test Suites• Test Scripts / Checklists• Final Acceptance Procedure• Test Report

The QA Test Plan is a restatement by QA of the Functional Specification and Technical Specification expanding and dissecting the features and functions of the product into “testable” pieces. Test Suites are descriptions of testing methodologies for individual modules of the product. Test Scripts are detailed, step-by-step procedures for testing specific functions of the product. The Final Acceptance Procedure describes the comprehensive methodology for determining whether the product is ready for commercial release. The Test Report verifies that the Test Plan has been followed and summarizes the testing activities and results.

The QA Test Plan provides a method of monitoring QA’s progress on the project and overviews the project’s testing and quality control issues. The QA test Plan includes:

• A description of the hardware platforms, all peripheral devices and network protocols that will be supported. It should also include a description of operating system version that will and will not be supported.

• A list of QA personnel required at all phase of the development cycle

• Test schedules for all test activities such as regression, final acceptance etc.

• An overview of al major product features and a general description of how each feature and module will be tested.

• A description of the testing environment, including automated tools and methods.

• A list of all tests to be developed during the implementation phase, including Test Suites and possibly Test scripts and temporary test code.

• Risk and contingency plans.

The QA Project Leader must also generate tasks and time estimation for inclusion in the Task List. However developing time estimates for QA is fundamentally different process than developing time estimates for the development team. QA must extrapolate time estimates based on the overall size, scope and the complexity of the product.

A QA Project Leader should be assigned for the duration of the project. The first task for the QA Project Leader is to develop the QA Test Plan. For a large project this task may require a senior QA Engineer or co-team leader. The amount of additional QA staffing will depend on the scope of the project and vary throughout length of the project. A rule-of-thumb for staffing, averaged over the course of the project, is two QA Engineers for every three to four developers.

At the beginning of the project, before a significant volume of the code has been written, the QA team will focus on writing Test Suits and Test Scripts. As “testable” code is produced, the QA team will begin to execute the Test Suits and Test Scripts. QA will focus entirely on actually testing the software during the periods immediately preceding Milestone Releases. Between Milestone Releases, QA will split its time between test suits / scripts development and testing. By the time the project reaches feature complete, all the QA documentation should be complete so that QA can again focus exclusively on testing. In general, QA staffing increases as the product moves into Alpha and Beta periods.

Code modules are tested as they are developed and this is the responsibility of the programmer – not QA. This type of testing is usually referred as unit testing. Later, an experienced QA specialist becomes responsible for testing the software as

the code modules are integrated and the software becomes demonstrable.

QA Staff Size:

Although QA staffing levels are highly dependent on the scope and the nature of a development project, a small project of six months duration divided into six Milestones (three Milestones plus Alpha, Beta and product release) with four developer might be staffed as follows :

From To Staff ActivityStart 1st Milestone QA Leader Write QA Test Plan and

start writing Test Suits.At 1st

MilestoneQA Leader + 1 QA Engineer

Testing

1st Milestone 2nd


Testing and complete writing Test Suits

At 2nd Milestone

QA Leader + 1 QA Engineer

Testing

2nd Milestone

3rd Milestone QA Leader + 1 QA Engineer

Testing and start writing Test Scripts

At 3rd


Testing

3rd Milestone

Alpha Milestone


Testing and complete writing Test Scripts

Alpha Milestone

Beta Milestone


Testing

Beta Milestone

Product Release


Testing and execution of Final Acceptance Procedure

Software must be tested on a wide variety of software and hardware configurations. These set-ups range from the minimum required configuration up to high-end systems typically used by developers. In the QA lab, each specialist should have a minimum of two machines for testing: a low end machine where performance and stress test can be performed, and a mid-to-high-end machine which will allow faster testing of a wide range of features and better throughput running standard test suites. Similarly, the product should be tested with each class of peripheral device that the product will support.

Many different test strategies need to be employed. Six commonly used classes of tests are:

Functional: These tests exercise all basic features and functions with one or more sets of valid input on a single module basis.Boundary: These tests exercise functions with minimum, minimum-1, maximum, maximum+1 conditions for all inputs.Stress: These tests exercise functions in memory-intensive (i.e. low memory, low disk space) operations.Negative: These tests employ invalid use of functions to verify that the product generates error messages and recovers elegantly from errors without data loss and /or system crashes.System Test: These tests view the product and its component as a whole. They tests are such as performance, recovery and storage. Interoperability: These tests exercise the product with different software environments and configurations.

The Implementation Plan

Once the Task List is complete, tasks can be assigned and tracked. The key issue is how to organise and distribute the required person-days (tasks) to the correct sized development team and to the individuals on that team so that you achieve the minimum number of elapsed days on the project.

The Implementation Plan is derived from information in the Technical Specification, QA Documentation and the Task List. It describes the entire development cycle in terms of Milestones, elapsed time, and critical paths, staffing levels and task assignments for both QA and development.

Choosing the Right Person for the task: All developers must be extremely detail oriented. They must pay attention to all aspects of their tasks to make sure that they meet the requirements set out in the specification and that the code is robust and bug free in operation. He kind of attention to detail required by different task varies, however. Someone who works on user interface implementation must pay careful attention to the placement of screen elements. This person should have a sense of layout and design so that they can detect if something isn’t right in the user interface implementation.

Engineer developing speed critical routines requires a different kind of attention to detail. These people must understand how compiler works in order to tune the code to get maximum performance. Small differences in the way a critical routine is written can make a huge difference in the overall performance of the application. In some cases it may even be necessary to write certain routines in assembly language for the best possible performance.

Simply adding more developers will not necessarily decrease the elapsed time. Foe one thing, only one developer can effectively be assigned to any task that cannot be broken down further into sub-tasks. This is a “natural work unit”. In addition, the overhead (time) associated with adding a developer increases disproportional with the number of developers.

Adding developers to the project: Consider the time required for meetings/communications in a small, four person development team ( 1 Project leader and 3 Developers) . Assume one one-hour team meeting and one one-hour meeting between the Project Leader and each developer is required per week. In addition, assume that each developer spends approximately one hour with each of the other developers in technical discussions and coordinating code integrations. Note that these assumptions are conservative in most development projects.

The following table shows the total time for meetings in the four-person team, and the effect of adding a fifth developer.

Size of Team 4 Person 5 PersonTeam meeting 4 hours 5 hoursP.L. / Developer 6 8Dev.1/Dev.2 2 2Dev.1/Dev.3 2 2Dev.2/Dev.3 2 2Dev.1/Dev.4 - 2Dev.2/Dev.4 - 2Dev.3/Dev.4 - 2Total per week 16 hours 25 hours Notice that adding one developer increased the meeting time by approximately 50%

It is generally not a good idea to assign two developers to the same task or natural work unit. This will add project overhead time (for programmer coordination) and result in less efficient code. There are tasks, such as handling all of the file operations that are more efficiently accomplished by a single developer who can hook into a clearly defined portion of the program. If two works on a single area, they will tend to “trip over” each other rather than save development time.

Projects tend to have natural work units, and team should take advantage of them. Any project that requires a team of more than three developers will tend to have modules to which smaller sub-groups can be assigned. It follows that in a large project, no more than three developers should be assigned to any module whose natural boundaries overlap.

Estimating elapsed time can be as difficult as estimating person-days, especially for large projects. Unlike person-day estimates, elapsed time for the major tasks is not a straight sum of the time estimates for lower level tasks. Estimating elapsed time, in fact, can be quite complex. That’s because of two issues: productivity and unexpected technical problems.

Such things as sick days, holidays, vacations, training and no-project related activities affect productivity. Sick days, holidays, vacations on an average across a team, can be predicted with reasonable accuracy. Training can be estimated based on the makeup of the team and an understanding of the team member’s areas of expertise. The most effective way to account developer downtime and management overhead is to assume (for elapsed time purpose only) that each developer will be productively coding only 32 hours of every 40-hour week.

The last item, unexpected technical problems, cannot be avoided, and even on a well-run project, is likely to cause the longest delay. Items such as: functionality which proves to be more difficult to implement than anticipated; feature which require more money than expected; and unacceptable application performance fall into this category. An experienced development team will focus intensely on the problem, develop a solution and re-double their efforts to maintain the schedule. In these cases, the experience, intelligence and dedication of the team can often mean the difference between success and failure.

Determining which tasks must be completed before another tasks can be started involves critical path analysis. A task, or set of tasks, that must be finished before another can begin is said to be “on the critical path”. Critical path analysis requires that all tasks be ordered based on dependencies on other tasks. Once the tasks are ordered, a number of parallel paths can be identified. Developers can then be assigned to each parallel path.

Once the critical paths have been identified and the developers have been assigned to specific tasks, the project should be broken into Milestones. Milestone occurs at specified time intervals and each Milestone is defined by the level of functionality that will be in the product at the time of the Milestone. The definition of Milestones should be in terms of completed code modules and demonstrable feature and functions – Milestone definition should not be vague. Experience suggests that they should occur approximately once every four to six weeks.

Milestones serve a number of valuable purposes:Since there is a tangible and measurable definition of the Milestone, the client can evaluate the progress of the team against the Implementation Plan.The client will be able to actually use the software and can evaluate whether the product matches the Technical Specification. The development team will have specific objectives to achieve with in a specified amount of time.The client can make an assessment as to whether the product is consistent with the vision statement. The Technical Specification may need to be changed in order to meet the vision – it is not uncommon, especially in products that were not prototyped, to be told by the client, “This is exactly what I asked for, but it is not what I want.”The QA team will be able to focus testing on a complete, stable subset of the application.The development team must deal with all the details associated with the Milestone. These details fall into two areas that sometimes would otherwise slip until later in the project. The first area is the details associated with specific features in the Milestone. This may be handling a number of fringe cases in the user interface, or handling all error conditions for a particular function. The second area is code stabilisation and

bug fixing. There must be a concerted effort to identify and fix al bugs in the completed code modules.

Managing the project

By the time coding starts, all of the major design, implementation and QA documentation have been completed. A list of actionable tasks exists and these tasks have been assigned, based on natural units of work and critical paths, to teams large enough to get their job done and small enough so that their members don’t get in each other’s way. Milestones have been established, based on productivity factors, critical paths, and on going time-to-completion estimates.

The Project Leader: A competent Project leader is an absolute necessity for a successful software development project – and a highly competent and successful Project Leader is a rare commodity. A Project Leader for a software project is different than the most other technical managers because a Project Leader for software must not only be an excellent programmer, but must also be one of the programmer on the project. In most other technical endeavours it is usually sufficient for the project leader to have been an individual contributor on past projects.

The Project Leader must have a sense of the market place. He or She must understand how the product fits into the market in order to move effectively help translate the client’s vision into a successful product.

The Project leader must have several key attributes. First and foremost, the Project Leader must command the respect of the team member in terms of technical leadership and management ability.

As an extension of his or her ability in coding, the project Leader must be one of the active programmers on the project. A Project leader can only make effective decisions based on first hand knowledge, and this detailed knowledge of the project architecture and code can only be learned by active involvement. The Project Leader cannot have primary responsibility for critical path tasks because management responsibilities will intrude on the completion of these items.

Second, the project leader must have excellent communication skills. This person will be primary contact between the client and the project team. It is these communication skills that help make the client’s vision come to life.

The Project leader holds weekly team meetings. The meetings should be as brief as possible approximately on hour is ideal. Project leader should develop short agendas for each meeting and insure that every team member has a copy of agenda prior to the meeting.

During the weekly meetings, the following areas should be covered:The Project Leader must conduct a complete status check of what was accomplished previous week and review all tasks to be accomplished in the coming week.

Every team member should be made aware of what the other team members are currently working on. The key here is awareness – detailed knowledge across all team members is both unnecessary and impractical. This is important so that everyone is aware of potential critical paths. Also, one team member might have valuable insight or experience regarding other team member’s current assignment.

Everyone should be informed of upcoming Milestones and plans for achieving the Milestones. Generally there will be “code-freeze” before the Milestone date after which no additional code will be written and only bug fixing will take place.

Problems that affect large part of the team should be identified so that every one is aware of the problem. Lengthy discussions and attempts at solving the problem should be avoided because problem solving by a large group is generally not productive. Functional and Technical design changes motivated by unexpected technical problems or by the client should be reported to the team.

One important aspect of weekly meetings is to update the schedule. Team members should come to the meetings with updated time-to-completion estimates. The Project Leader should combine these estimates and make appropriate adjustments to the individual team member’s immediate tasks.

Just as important as effective communication with the team is communication with the client. During the development process, the Project Leader will spend a significant amount of time communicating with the client. This interaction will take the form of meetings, phone calls and memos.

Typically issues will be discovered which were overlooked in the Functional Specification. It is important to identify and resolve these issues, no matter how small, as quickly as possible. To avoid mis communication, it is important that all communication between development team and the client be handled through two individuals: the Project Leader and a single person designated by the client.

The single channel of communication is important because it places clear responsibility for project decisions and their communication in two people. This eliminates confusion that could occur if multiple people are giving signals to the development team.

This system, however, does not preclude communication between other team members and the client. In fact, it is often a good idea, particularly for larger projects, for the client to meet occasionally with the development team. Such meetings help keep the team fully informed of the client’s vision. Meeting between the Project Leader and other people from the client company (such as Documentation staff, product managers, QA Leaders etc.) can also be effective to make sure that everyone is fully “in synch” with the scope of the project.

The Project Leader should make sure that the client is aware of progress and all factors that could affect future progress. In particular, the Project Leader has to set the proper expectations for the client. Once it’s discovered, for example, that an advanced feature cannot be achieved on the prescribed set of hardware, the client should be told immediately – not a week later. It is also a god idea for the Project Leader to keep a “project log” of all written and verbal communication with the client so as to avoid any miscommunication.

Changes to the scope of the product or to important functionality should be documented in written Engineering Change Orders, or ECO’s. An ECO should explain the change

in terms of the impact on the number of person-hours of development, QA and elapsed time.

Business plan to set up a B2B portal for Smart Card business transactions

Business-to-Business Landscape

Growth of Internet has forced enterprises to move away from just improving internal efficiencies, to looking outside. The landscape has quickly changed from Internal, to B2C, and now to B2B space. And from the Enterprises’ viewpoint, a new perspective is emerging. Enterprises are facing three major challenges.

– Commerce is fragmented by geography which implies inefficient markets

– Higher purchase costs to buyer because of inefficient markets

– Higher cost to supplier to discover new customers– Insecure way of communication for business

The sweet spot of B2B

Interactions between businesses are complex, labour intensive, and not scalable. Supply chains are bloated with excess inventory and would like to substitute information for inventory. The Internet delivers transparency and efficiency to the B2B space, and acts as a great leveller. . Addition of Smart cards with Public Key Infrastructure brings the added security. The current state of business-to-business interaction leaves much to be desired. It is costly, insecure, person-dependent and inefficient, to say the least. The B2B Buyer is under stress and is looking for information & services now! The B2B Supplier is also under stress; he is grappling with limited resources.

There are two Blind Spots in these B2B relationships: one at the sell-side, and the other on the buy-side. These Blind Spots result in inefficient value chains, and trillions of dollars worth of excess inventories in the Demand & Supply sides.

This proposed portal address these two blind spots, and deliver a much-needed value-proposition to the engaging parties. The

inclusion of Smart Card and PKI creates a trust model between these parties, even if these parties do not know each other in advance. This is the exact Sweet Spot, which we are proposing to address with our products and services.

Our Vision

We would be a pure-play B2B solutions company with a vision: “To create unmatched value for our customers and stakeholders by delivering world class products and services worldwide with trustable security”.

What we offer

We will be a pure-play, focused technology Company, providing the full spectrum of offerings to our customers in this space with:

• Products • Components,• End-to-end Services, and,• Infrastructure

We will be launching a Product that will facilitate some basic functions….

– Buyer Discovery– Supplier Discovery– Price Discovery– Product/ Service Availability Discovery– Transaction execution– Transaction integrity– Credit risk management/ assessment– Catalog management– All this will happen using the inherent security of

Smart Cards and PKI

The Product will help the B2B market makers and participants with specific functionality, which is needed for B2B

marketplaces e.g. Capacity Brokers, Spot Buying and Proposal Publishing etc.

Moreover, with additional ‘Connectors’ and Services, we will help our customers, and their customers, in integrating their back-office applications like ERP, CRM applications etc - whether standard packages, or custom-made. The Smart Card based authentication and authorization system will ensure the trustable integration of their systems.

The Product will be based on Java-based component technology, such that the modules can be configured to work together, and also sold separately, to integrate into other B2B or B2C sites as well. The Java Smart Card and PKI security will be inbuilt in each such component.

The Product will be configurable in several ways, so as to meet the demands of a large segment of customers e.g.,

• Procurement• Distribution• Marketplaces• Meta-Exchanges

Our Product will be a full-function offering, thus differentiating from our competitors’, by delivering 4th generation functionality: Vortex-->catalogues-->Exchanges-->Hubs. Further, Collaboration, Commerce and Content are at the heart of B2B stickiness, and we will add several of such functionality over time.

Our Service Offerings will include an end-to-end suite of full-scope Services for our customers.

Our Consulting practice will help our customers get the maximum out of their investmentsSystems Integration (S.I.) practice will help put together the right Solution for our customers, and implement the project in a structured and secure mannerApplication Development Services will include Microsoft and Java skill sets

Managed Hosting Services will help outsource the complete management and on-going support of the B2B site for our customersEducation Services will help our customers, and their customers, get started with the deployed application

Our consultants will have strong technology and domain skills….

Platform skills: Java Smart Cards, Java, Java Beans, Servlets, C++, Visual Age for Java, Visual Basic/C++, Oracle 8i, PKIMiddleware: Web sphere, WebLogic, iPlanet, WirelessMethodology skills: ISO 9001 and CMM Processes, OOAD, Solution Design, and Project MgmtDomain Skills: Industrial and Distribution Industry

In addition to the above Competencies, we will have two Unique implementation ‘Service Offerings’, which we will patent and use for the benefit for our customers..

QuickStart offering:

– 3 weeks Time-to-Market from contract signing, for our customer to get started. They can begin registering their customers on-line, and begin live trading

– Organizational dependencies clearly defined: URL has to be ready, trading policy defined, hardware and network available, etc.

– Customers’ and customers’ customers’ training and hand-holding to continue as per agreed schedule

JumpStart offering:

– 10-days Time-to-Market for our customers– Complete application, h/w, and network, hosted out of

our facilities– Later, once ready, the application and data will be

migrated to the customer’s environment in a secure manner

The marketplace assessment

The B2B marketplace is exploding. By 2005 more than 50,000 enterprises will participate in e-Markets as buyers or sellers(Gartner Group). A potential WW B2B e-Commerce transaction by 2004 is expected to be about $ 7 Trillion ( $6.7 Trillion according to Forester Research, and 7.3 Trillion according to the Gartner Group). This translates to an IT spend in B2B of 14B$ by 2004, as per analysts’ reports and our assessment.

Competitive Landscape

The current B2B player’s landscape is fast going through changes. Some of the current players include :• Software Companies: Large international companies like

Ariba & CommerceOne addressing the large opportunities, and Intelisys and Viewlocity that are addressing the small and mid-market business. While Intelisys is focussed on e-Procurement, Viewlocity is addressing the B2B integration market.

• Services Companies: A number of the international Internet consulting companies have gone through a bad patch because to their over-dependence on dot com company’s and B2C businesses. The companies like Sapient that have maintained a mix of brick and mortar and dot com companies have weathered the market upheavals. Other companies like Scient are trying to move towards this model albeit slowly, while some companies like marchFirst are growing quickly through a number of strategic acquisitions. On the Indian side, we see company’s like MindTree Consulting & Netkraft actively playing in the internet services space including B2B with the latter now focussing on the B2B integration business. However, none of these companies have yet showed any intent of launching any B2B products.

Target segments/customer-sets

Ø The market segmentation is based on the following: -q Industry Segments:

• Industrial• Distribution

q Geographies:• US, Canada, Europe, Singapore, Australia and

India.q Customer Types:

• Small and Mid-market business

This translates to a total minimum addressable market size of approximately $ xxxM by 2004 out of a total market size of xxB$. By 2004, revenues are projected to be xxM$ which works out to a x.xx% market share.

Our Value Proposition/ Differentiation

Our differentiation / value proposition will be a Very quick implementation cycle, and a very aggressive value-to-price ratio..

- Very fast implementation:Offering QuickStartOffering JumpStart

- Very aggressive value-to-price ratio:Full-function, 4th generation productLess than US$ 200 K price line, as against over $ 1 M of competitors

- Clearly defined Midmarket and Small market targeting- A patentable Consulting methodology - End-to-end, complete offering: ‘We will be there with you all the way’.. From a full-function product to full-scope Services: from consulting, to SI/AD, to Training, and Hosting.. And customisation of customers’ customers application for integrating into our product

Our business outlook

People will be divided into Corporate function, Projects and Products. Total number of employees will grow from xx in year 2001 to xxx in year 2005.

Financial indicators - Revenue will grow from US $ x.xx M in year 2001 to US $ xx.xx M in year 2005, whereas Net Profit grows to US $ x.xx M in year 2005.

The Team

We have an experienced and mature Team to deliver on this Mission: rich IT experience, including 8+ years of domestic and international IBM and Sun experience. High performance individuals with proven track record bringing in strong skills in: -

- Strategic Planning- Consulting & Project Delivery- International Marketing & Sales Offerings design and organization building

Anshuman Mishra (Role: CEO)Ø M.C.A. (REC Bhopal), M.B.A. (MKU); 8+ years in ITØ Experience Spanning

• e-business strategy and marketing• Strong system integration & application development

background• Strong organizational management capabilities: setting

of smart card division at BAeHAL Software Limited • Headed a product and project development teams

Ø Sun Microsystems Inc. USA • Currently responsible for Smart Card solutions at Sun

Ø IBM Global Services India and USA• Lead and delivered a 40,000 function points project in

IBM. • Helped create quality system function, team & processes

Ø BAeHAL Software Ltd. (a British Aerospace & HAL joint venture)

Headed the Smart Card product development.

Factors influencing the motivation of entrepreneurs to Smart Card industry

Level of Motivation

A very high level of motivation is required for an entrepreneur to run the smart card based business. One simply cannot be a figurehead but he/she has to understand the technicality of this technology in order to stay competitive. This requires lots of study about the technology as well as awareness about the recent developments in the smart card industry. This sometimes leads to a difficult situation because of paucity of time. An entrepreneur need to handle all aspects of business as well as keep on reading about the area which is the basis of the whole business.

Factors Influencing Motivation

There are several factors directly or indirectly affecting the motivation level. These factors can be categorised in to input, Marketing, Finance and personal areas. Some of these factors are discussed here.

Literacy Rate

Literacy rate has a direct impact on the motivation of an entrepreneur in smart card industry. In order to better understand the business a degree in management as well as in engineering is highly desired. It is seen that most of the people with adequate business and engineering background are easily to digest the technicality of the subject and are able to innovate business applications out of it. This boosts the motivation level of an entrepreneur.

Marital Status

Marital status and family responsibilities play an important role for an entrepreneur. An access demand from family in terms of time and resources can bring down the motivation while a positive support from family can boost the morale. In some cases a married entrepreneur gets a higher level of motivation if spouse is also educated and contributes in the business.

Technical Knowledge

Technical knowledge is a must for an entrepreneur to start a smart card based enterprise. Entrepreneur must know what he is talking about! To own, control and understand the smart card business and entrepreneur must have the required technical knowledge.

Previous Experience

• Experience makes the man perfect. To start a smart card based business it is preferable to have prior experience in pervasive computing or small handhold devices. Experience in e-business strategy and marketing, strong system integration & application development background, strong organizational management capabilities, Services Offerings structure, Services marketing is highly desirable. The experience brings the confidence and directly affects the motivation level of an entrepreneur.

Problems faced by the smart card entrepreneurs

Problems relating to Input

• Evaluation Copies

Smart Card is a recent technology and has become a highly monopoly area. There are limited numbers of vendors who manufacture smart cards, reader and associated software development toolkits, which are required to go ahead with the solution development. None of these vendors provide evaluation copies of their products so that one can compare and decide to buy the best product available. In order to achieve this an entrepreneur ends up spending a lot of money on buying these different products, most of which will not even be used.

• Limited support

The after sales support available with most of the smart card products is either poor or not available. This leads to production nightmares when an entrepreneur deals with the compatibility problems. In some cases the support is expensive enough to financially overload an entrepreneur.

• Smart Card availability

Despite of the fact that Java smart cards are five year old, they are in short supply. The manufacturing rate is not sufficient to support the demand rate. Therefore other then technical evaluation their availability drives the selection of a vendor.

• Unstable product releases

Most of the smart card products are either not stable or they are buggy. The classical problem of support makes

the situation further worse. Frequent release of newer versions also makes the development consistent and supported on other software platforms.

• Non – standard activities

Most of the smart card vendors take the standard specifications as base for their product development but also include there own features with the products which ultimately leads to the non-compliance with the standards. This creates the portability problem among different smart card products.

• Lack of trained manpower

Smart Card is a cutting edge technology and there not many people who are expert in this area. This leads to lack of manpower and makes it difficult to deliver the product.

• Higher wage rate in software industry

Wage rates are generally high in the software industry and since Smart Card is a specialised area, trained professional demand very high wages to develop these applications.

• Attrition rate in software industry

Another common problem in the software industry is the attrition rate. After spending lots of money in training the software engineers, they leave the organization upon getting a better opportunity or higher salary jobs. This leads to back to the square situation and impacts the smart card product development.

• Export Regulations imposed by USA

Smart Cards are used with some bleeding edge technologies like Public key Infrastructure (PKI) and Biometrics. The government of United States has placed the export restrictions on some parts of these technologies. In this situation it becomes difficult for an entrepreneur to develop smart card applications in India.

• Limited number of vendors for software/hardware

supply

There are a few vendors who supply the hardware and software, which is used to develop a smart card product. In some cases it becomes almost impossible to switch from one vendor to another. Also delays in input supply deeply affects the development of any such smart card product.

• Costly inventorySmart Cards range from 5 to 200 US$ per piece based on their configuration, similarly smart card readers are also expensive. Therefore it is not quite economic for an entrepreneur to maintain an inventory of smart card related hardware.

• Quality implementationIt is trend in the software industry to achieve either ISO 9001 certificate or SEI-CMM certification to assure the customers about product quality. However this brings additional expenses in terms of staff, audits etc.

Problems relating to Marketing

• Lack of knowledge in marketing people about the technology

Marketing staff is the front end of a company, which faces the customer queries. Since Smart Card is a recent technology usually the marketing staff does not know in the detail about the technology. Sometimes it leads to a situation when marketing staff promises to deliver something which is not even technically feasible.

• Lack of interest in smart card marketing

Usually Smart Card product marketing remains based on number of cards sold or the size of implementation. Since marketing staff gets a certain percentage on sales, they remains interested in selling

products with great amount of money for example simulator software. Therefore smart card marketing cannot rely on sharing the marketing resources in an organisation.

• Lack of awareness in industry about smart cards

Even in highly advanced software industry there is not much awareness about the smart card technology, therefore it takes lots of time to educate a customer about the benefits of this technology.

• Economic Environment

In today’s economic environment when world economy is going through a recession, there are few organizations willing to invest money in latest technology areas. Therefore it has become more difficult to market smart card based products.

• Cost associated with the technology

In a smart card solution, every individual carries a smart card; therefore organizations need to plan the budget for smart cards, smart card readers and the associated software. Also additional equipments like ATM or kiosks etc make the technology cost sensitive.

• Hesitation in common people to adopt new technology

People are always apprehensive about a change or using a new technology. Even in industry professionals do oppose the change therefore adopting a new technology becomes a big decision for an organisation.

• Lack of brand name

Market usually relies on a big brand name when going for a new technology, which requires lots of spending. This poses difficulties for entrepreneurs in capturing the market share.

• Competition with Multinational Corporations

Competition with multination corporations and other entrepreneurs makes it difficult for an entrepreneur to gain the market share. Often a price war takes an entrepreneur to a very difficult situation.

• Product Selection

Selection of product sector and services within the smart card industry may create marketing problems to an entrepreneur. For example local customs and traditions play a vital role in acceptance of a particular implementation of smart card technology.

• Pricing policy

Selection of an appropriate pricing policy is a vital factor for marketing smart card technology based products. It is seen that a variation of pricing policy with time and locality is suggested to remain competitive.

Problems relating to Finance

• Venture Capital

Arrangement of venture capital is still a major problem in India. Venture Capitalists are extra cautious and have strict terms and conditions. A delay in getting the capital is also a routine feature.Venture capitalists do hesitate to sponsor an entrepreneur who is relying on recent technologies.

• Inadequate cost analysis

Inadequate product-cost analysis blinds entrepreneurs to the losses incurred by adding new smart card products willy-nilly since they are small and easy to develop. Usually there are one or more products that should be dropped.

• Accounting overheads

It is required to maintain accounts and inventory since smart card products are small in nature and are sold in higher numbers. In the absence of proper account and inventory losses are incurred, while establishing of these need extra staff and resources.

• Delayed payments

Cash as a necessary evil acts as a lubricant that facilitates day-to-day operations. In Indian industry business on credit and delayed payments are normal features. In Smart Card business where resources are costly and liquid cash is required to run the business, the delayed payment causes serious cash drain.

Summary of findings and suggestions

Findings

Smart Cards will quietly revolutionize most sectors of the economy. Many cards will find a core application, with additional applications being built on the primary delivery system, such as an electronic driver’s license with government welfare programs launched on top of it. A comprehensive bank card may have applications ranging from merchant loyalty programs and electronic purses to debit, credit, and possibly consumer finance and lending. We also expect to see ticketless travel and frequent flyer/driver programs on multiple branded cards. Only our imaginations limit innovative applications of the future.

At a certain point, though, the competition and demand will dictate the applications that are developed and implemented. From the technical side, it is a question of making the appropriate trade-offs between the various technologies and being flexible enough to accommodate the future systems and technologies that will evolve on-line (or off-line).

When considering trade-offs, we must also take note of the increased risk of putting too much information onto a single card. For example, over the next few years, JavaSoft plans to incorporate additional capabilities into the Java Card API.

The risk here is not a technological one, but rather a business and logistical one. The competitive information contained on such a card from members of the airline industry or retail merchant sector will make a lost, damaged, or expired card very expensive to reissue. The presence of more then one application on a card will make it more difficult for the individual cardholder to reconstruct the information on a lost or damaged card or to update all the information on a reissued card. Furthermore, the problem of accessing the enormous numbers of cards is daunting as they proliferate to meet the requirements for products and services of individual cardholders.

Suggestions

A final suggestion is to find a process of methodology to maintain a lead on the developments and innovations in the smart card industry. Implementing an application and making the commitment to go forward with chip cards is really buying into an entirely new business process, which must evolve the entire enterprise from the beginning. Once the initial education process is completed and an application is launched, a methodology must be in place to keep abreast of the latest industry developments in products, innovations, applications, toolkits, learning dynamics, and the legal and regulatory issues as the cards are used for different purposes. Keeping on top of the applications is going to be a team requirement, and all employees, from top management to the line managers who operate the system, need to be continuously aware of the developments in the technology and in the system.

Lead times from innovations to realization continue to shrink. Increased knowledge will be the key element to sustain a competitive edge in these emerging applications.

Suggestions for further research

Public Key Infrastructure

Biometrics

BIBLIOGRAPHY

[1] Java Card forum, http://www.javacardforum.org/

[2] http://www.javasoft.com

[3] OpenCard consortium, http://www.opencard.org

[4] Java Card Technology Home Page, http://java.sun.com/products/javacard/

[5] Henry Dreifus and J. Thomas Monk. Smart Cards, A guide to building and managing Smart Card Applications. John Wiley & Sons, 1998

[6]Zhiqun Chen, Java Card Technology for Smart Cards. Addison Wesley 2000.

http://java.sun.com/products/javacard/

http://www.opencard.org/

http://www.javasoft.com/

http://www.javacardforum.org/

[7] GlobalPlatform, www.globalplatform.org/

[8] International Organization for Standards, http://www.iso.ch/

[9] PC/SC Workgroup, http://www.pcscworkgroup.com/

[10] Gemplus, www.gemplus.com

[11] Schlumberger Cards & Systems, www.slb.com

[12] The Smart Card resource center, http://www.smart-card.com

[13] Smart Card Forum, http://www,smartcrd.com

[14] PCMCIA, http://www.pc-card.com

APPENDIXES

Appendix A: The Smart Entrepreneur’s Decision ChecklistsApplication and System Decisions

If the Application Requires. Then Use----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------a. Low cost Disposable memory cardsb. Memory A great deal of memory EEPROM, RAM, Flash A rewrite memory EEPROM, RAM, Flash

http://www.pc-card.com/

http://www.smart-card.com/

http://www.smart-card.com/

http://www.slb.com/

http://www.gemplus.com/

http://www.pcscworkgroup.com/

http://www.iso.ch/

http://www.globalplatform.org/

A small amount of memory ROMc. Communications protocols Memory cards Synchronous Microcontroller cards Asynchronousd. Processing capability Fast authentication of security keys Coprocessor Complicated algorithm(s) Coprocessor Speed Single processor PIN checking Single processor/memory None Memorye. Silicon size Cost Vendor dependentf. Operating system 7816 compliant Buy Closed or proprietary Build and supportg. Mask

7816 compliantClosed or proprietary Build and supportMultiple versions Build and support

h. File structureQuick access HierarchicalCommon shared data RelationalUnstructured Object –oriented

i. Security AlwaysIf the Application Requires. Then Use----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

j. Processing speedISO compliant 3 to 5 MHz

k. All others Terminal dependent Power (1,3,5 volts) Reader/card interdependent Clock speed Power dependentl. Testing Mandatorym. Certification As neededn. Contact/contactless cards Application dependento. Terminals

Accept memory cards Always plan forAccept microcontroller cards Always plan for

Manufacturing Decisions

If the Application Requires. Then Use----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------a. Long life/lamination Sheet offsetb. High-volume print runs Sheet offsetc. Low-volume/low-quality print runs Injection moldingd. High-quality card Sheet offsete. Consistent cavity Injection moldingf. Disposable cards Injection molding

System Implementation Decisions

If the Application Requires. Then Use----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

a. CommunicationsHigh speed Contact cardsLow speed Contactless cardsRemote Contactless cards

b. Single or multiple applications Memory, ROM, OS dependent

c. Fraud protection Crypto coprocessor

d. High level of security Crypto coprocessor

e. Amount of memory Application(s) dependent

f. Single or multiple cards used Application(s) dependent

g. Ability to detect failures Semiconductor, OS,

applicant(s) dependent

h. Terminal types Application(s) dependenti. Compliant with standards Always

Functional Design Decisions

If the Application Requires. Then Use

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

a. Long registers Semiconductor size

dependentb. High security Coprocessorc. High-speed communications Non-ISO clock

speedsd. Storage registers Memory

dependente. Anticounterfeit Tamper

evident/resistantf. Volatile versus nonvolatile memory Application(s)

dependent

Appendix B: Smart Management Team

Assumptions: Minimum of 25 to 30 million smart cards per year.

Product mixture of microcontroller and memory Contact/contactless cards in equal proportions.

Minimum staff level: 16+ general managers (if not already in place). Organization: Hire from within (if possible) to promote technology and knowledge transfer.

1.Smart Card Manufacturing Team

Smart card manufacturing manager Production development supervisor Process and quality control supervisor

2. Personalization Team

Personalization manager Network/communication analyst Application programmer/analyst Process and quality control supervisor

3. Product Development Team

Product development manager Card systems analyst (central resource) Card integration analyst (8 to 12 projects/year) Mask/OS programmer/analyst (4 projects/year) Smart card application programmer/analyst (5 projects/year) Terminal application programmer/analyst (5 projects/year) Integration specialist (central resource)

4. Project Management/Implementation Team Integration project manager Application support manager-vertical market segment 1 Application support manager-vertical market segment 2 Application support manager-vertical market segment 3 Ongoing support manager

5. Security

Security officer (central resource) (For example the Visa/MasterCard secure card manager)

Smart Job Descriptions

Organizational tasks are roughly described in the following summary descriptions. These are only high-level guideline skill-sets and responsibilities.This should not be interpreted as the precise team or configuration for a business unit. Some of the tasks are modular (e. g. , card manufacturing or software/application development). Each organization shall seek the appropriate size and scale of expertise (E.g., R & D-heavy for complex, new applications or application-support-management-heavy for solutions organizations). The skills can and will often overlap to other team members during the staffing and enabling process for your business.

Smart Manager

Overall enterprise project leader facilitating the development and implementation of smart card business initiative(s) for organization. General management skills, with discipline understanding of (minimum):

1. Hardware (microcomputer)2. Software (system and application)3. Project and process management4. Distributed computing5. Security considerations (physical and application specific)6. Complex project management

Strong communications skills.Experience 4 to 6 years minimum in information technology business management. Ability to evaluate and manage team of minimum of 15 to 20 diverse disciplines and build cohesive team. Preferred degrees: Management (MBA and/or information technology discipline study)

1. Smart Card ManufacturingSmart Card Manufacturing Manager

Production process manager reporting to smart manager to implement production line, oversees production process and procedures, process control, and training. Responsible for managing maintenance team (may or may not be outsource depending on variety of equipment and company policies). Experience in operations and complex GNG and computerized factory automation systems. Responsibilities include:

1. Machine utilization and production scheduling2. Quality control and resource management3. Training and staff development4. Growth forecasting and manufacturing planning5. Profitability and asset control

Production Development Manager

Production development manager reporting to smart manager responsible for implementing and supporting new product development and manufacturing processes and procedures. Responsibilities include:

1. Product definition and requirements specification2. Production machine qualification and specification3. Production specifications and qualification of

QA/QC procedures4. Implement statistical testing and other quality control

procedures

Process and Quality Control Manager Reporting to smart manager and production manager, the quality Manager is responsible for implementing and continuously improving Yield productivity, and efficiency of smart card manufacturing line (s

1. Design, implement, and review statistical testing and other quality control enterprise procedures.

2. Enable ISO 9000+ qualification and continuous improvement programs.

3. Enable and oversee third-party review and external expertise.

4. Report and communicate and enable improvements and areas of concern to team and management.

1. PersonalizationPersonalization Manager

Personalization process manager reporting to smart manager to develop and implement production line, process control, and training. Responsible to manage maintenance team.

Experience in operations and complex personalization and computerized factory automation systems. Responsibilities include:

1. Machine utilization and production scheduling2. Quality control and resource management3. Training and staff development4. Growth forecasting and manufacturing planning5. Profitability and asset control

Network/Communication AnalystNetwork communication analyst reporting to

personalization manager to implement and control networks for communication

between

various databases. Responsibilities include:

1. Design and implementation of networks2. Efficient and reliable communication3. Support of data-file conversations and threading of

personalization information for all projectsExperience in working with a verity of communication

protocols and Databases required.

Application Programmer/AnalystApplication programmer/analyst reporting to the

personalization Manager responsible for developing and implementing

application Programs for the physical and electrical personalization of

smart cards. Responsibilities include:

1. Personalization process definition 2. Card test procedures and QC software development

for personalization machines3. Development and implementation of customer

application software4. Control of batch processing5. Version and process control software management

Process and Quality Control ManagerReporting to personalization manager, the quality manager

is responsible to implement and continuously improve yield

and overall effective productivity and efficiency of smart card

personalization Line(s).

1. Design and review statistical testing and other quality control procedures.

2. Implement process improvements, working closely with quality manager.

3. Monitor production-line operations.4. Schedule and oversee line training and periodic

recurrent training.

3. Product Development

Product Development ManagerProduct development manager reporting to the smart manager responsible to implement and support new product development, including smart card and terminal soft-and hardware. Responsible to manage software and hardware product developments internally. Responsibilities include:

1. Analyze new products(solutions) together with the sales and marketing people.

2. Define product technical and cost requirement specifications.

3. Define test and acceptance specifications.4. Develop, test, and implement products.5. Manage the internal development projects of

and between the various disciplines.6. Determine “make versus buy” decisions for

application software, mask operating systems, and development/implementation tools.

Card Systems AnalystCard systems analyst reporting to the product

development manager responsible to analyze and design the smart

card in relation to the chip, OS, type of card, and smart card

application structure.Responsibilities include:

1. Define application smart card requirements.2. Define smart card application structure.3. Refine/validate customer specifications and

potential data structure inconsistencies.4. Define personalization and testing procedures.

Card Integration ManagerCard integration manager reporting to the product

development manager responsible for the integration process between

the cardoperating system, card application software, and the

terminal application software. Responsibilities include:

1. Define and specify interface specifications.2. Develop component level and subsystem

testing procedures to support customer certification requirements (if any).

3. Liaison with customer to assure compatibility (hardware and software).

Mask/OS Programmer AnalystMask/OS programmer analyst reporting to the product development manager responsible for the

implementation and support of OS specifications and OS developments

together with the chip suppliers. Responsibilities include:

1. Define OS requirements for customer applications.

2. Define and specify semiconductor requirements.

3. Support selection (make versus buy) of semiconductor and OS.

4. Manage version and application migration control

Smart Card Application Programmer/AnalystSmart Card Application Programmer/Analyst reporting

to the product development manager responsible for the

development and support of software development process for the smart

card. Responsibilities include:

1. Define the smart card application software requirements.

2. Develop and test and application software.3. Manager programming team(s).

Terminal Application Programmer/AnalystTerminal Application Programmer/Analyst reporting to

the product development manager responsible for the development

and support of software developments for the terminal.

Responsibilities

include:

1. Define terminal application software development.

2. Develop and test the application software.3. Support certification and validation process(if

necessary).4. Manager programming team(s).

Integration SpecialistIntegration Specialist reporting to the product

development manager responsible for the integration between the

various software programs. Responsibilities include:

1. Define interface requirements for smart card-terminal.

2. Define interface requirements terminal-host.3. Review overall system implementation and

specifications for possible inconsistencies.4. Work across skill disciplines to pull together

complex projects.

4. Project management

Integrated Project ManagerThe Integration project manager is reporting to the smart

manager to manage the development and implementation of the

projects on the customers’ sites. Responsibilities include:

1. Defining project planning2. Controlling planning3. Customer interface4. Budgeting5. Controlling costs

Application Support manager (1 minimum per segment / industry)

The application project managers are reporting to the integrated

project manager to manage the development and implementation of

projects in vertical segments. Responsibilities include:

1. Customer interface2. Application refinement and specification

modification (as or if necessary)3. Project control planning4. Project scheduling and critical-path

management

5. Security

Security OfficerSecurity officer reporting to the smart manager to

implement secure system solutions. Responsibilities include:

1. Assume compliance with operating rules and/or procedures that may be imposed by customer or associations.

2. Review/monitor/correct procedures and human resources for possible security problems.

3. Provide periodic external reporting as requested/required by customer or associations.

4. Oversee compliance audits and spot checks to assure watertightness of security infrastructure and procedures.

5. Develop contingency plans for various security-critical scenarios.

Intrapreneurship Development And Emerging Technologies – A stu

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