Rapid prototyping for a B2B portal

A US-based, global provider of service solutions, marketing expertise and value added services to market and sell surplus assets and wholesale goods, signed up Imaginea's services to design and build a Seller's Portal for its B2B auction site. But before this could be developed, they wanted to see some quick prototypes, which could reassure them that their users would have no problems using the portal

The client's stakeholders, who had to endorse the portal design, were geographically dispersed, so Imaginea decided to use Axure™ for designing prototypes. Axure was the perfect tool for rapidly creating wireframes, prototypes and specifications for applications and web sites. Axure helped capture the essence of interaction, had features for micro-level detailing and to model atypical situations through Edge Case Use Scenarios.

Axure advantage

1. The client's stakeholders could experience all facets of the design, while the Imaginea team could test ideas early on and take only the promising ideas forward.
2. The stakeholders could provide valuable feedback since they could see and 'feel' the application, even before it was developed.
3. The two teams interacted smoothly while iterating designs over multiple, well-documented, Axure click-through prototypes.
4. Axure helped consolidate requirement and development documentation, automating specifications setup.
5. Axure brought all the geographically dispersed stakeholders on a common platform, and they collaborated with the Imaginea team to sign-off the design in time.

The client's project steering committee could visualize the product through the prototype and did a feature sign-off soon after Imaginea was engaged. This helped the Imaginea team start work on the Seller's Portal and hand over the complete application quickly.