How to evaluate a software application

Operating system compatibility. Ability to integrate with other apps. Consistency with Interface. Application software compatibility. Collaborate with team. Clarity of documentation. Accessibility of product support. Quality of product support. Value for money. Overall reliability. Overall performance. Why conduct a software evaluation survey? Edit the question examples for constantly improving the software and make efforts towards building a better product.

In case of a new software launch, you can know what the market potential truly is and also monitor the scope of success of the product. Get insights about whether the users would recommend your software to their network so that you can analyze the growth of your business.

Competitor analysis of your software so that your target audience can be kept satisfied by providing them features or software products as per their requirement. Related templates and questionnaires Hardware Product Evaluation Survey Template 19 questions view template. Pre-Installation Survey Template 20 questions view template.

Developers and testers get a non-prejudiced assessment of their work. Moreover, the processes used for the product assessment train the team to follow best practices during the product development. This increases team proficiency and consequently the quality of the product.

In line with that, the approach provides the product owners and investors with proper business information. The fair analysis of the product tells companies whether the product is ready for the market launch. In case the product already works as the company offering, owners can estimate its efficiency and value on the market.

Simple bug fixing, or removal of code duplications will never do that. If you still think that technical debt is only about code, our approach makes you think twice. Running such an in-depth analysis has shown that technical debts are about the overall product quality. Checking the software product code is not enough for understanding product efficiency, you have to move further. As soon as you start doing it, the benefit is literally priceless.

First and foremost, you get the opportunity to pay the product debts before they turn into pains. You put them under control. You evaluate the progress of the product development and improve implementation.

Does it break down easily? You can find information about this from real users on discussion boards. This refers to how the software is used, what it can produce, how much it can expand with increased use and access, and how it might expand to offer more services in the future.

For instance, utilizing Google Apps may offer incredible options in the future as its services and access points expand. Evaluation and monitoring tools. Does the technology come with tools for you to monitor how you and your students are using it? If these tools are built-in to the application, it can be a huge bonus for both teachers and students.

Security and privacy. How does this technology protect information and privacy of its users? Who has access to what is shared and how is it shared? User interface. The more I use different tools, the more this has become a deal-breaker for me. When user interfaces are cluttered, illogically laid out, or overly complicated, they immediately turn me off.

Information and commands should be laid out with the most-used ones easily accessible. There should be no more than 3 mouse clicks to access any option or command, and vocabulary should be readily accessible to new users. Again, UDL principles dictate that software and apps should offer visual, audio, text, and other forms of support, not just one.

Sharing and communication. We know that collaboration online and sharing with an authentic audience is important to both student learning and teacher collaboration. Therefore, the software should enable sharing either in a secure way to authorized users, or in a public way to all users online. The tool should make it easy to view, share, comment, communicate, evaluate, contribute, and socialize synchronously and asynchronously.

Integration with existing tools. Does this tool support or integrate well with the existing tools that you are currently paying for or using? How can all of the tools that you use collaborate with each other and enable you to do more than you could with them independently?

This is the most important thing to remember! There was a time when we all thought that Microsoft Word was the be-all and end-all of word processing tools. But now there are multiple ways to produce, share, collaborate, and contribute to written texts.

Always be on the look-out for recommendations and discussions about the next thing. That way, you will be able to find the best tool for whatever job you are engaged in. You can sign up for online newsletters, blogs, and other services to help stay up to date. Rate this:. Like this: Like Loading Three Approaches to Web 2. TechPudding says: October 15, at pm.