Moved Visio, Xmind and other professional mapping tools to the cloud

The "SaaS Pioneer" series continues to present you as a pioneer in the domestic SaaS sector, and today's protagonist, Processon,processon, is a vertical mapping tool and community where users can not only feel a very powerful and useful professional mapping tool, can also easily find their own knowledge resources, inadvertently, may also find a lot of vertical areas of "Daniel" in the sharing of their work. In fact, ProcessOn is to do a cutting-edge, efficient mapping tools, of course, can also be simply understood as "cloud computing era, Microsoft Visio alternative", the young team to Visio, Xmind and other professional mapping tools to the "cloud", no longer need to download installation, no longer need authorization, Directly with the browser can experience online mapping services, and the effect of drawing is very beautiful and highly professional.

ProcessOn since 2013 on the line, less than 2 years of time to accumulate to 200,000 users, and all this fundamental, is relying on products, by the user's Word-of-mouth spread. So CTO Zhang very approve that sentence, "good product, oneself can talk", recently, Csdn interviewed the ProcessOn CTO Zhang, he gave us the tool product "gene" and the development story behind.

ProcessOn CTO Zhang

Solely by Self-Study, the CTO and the technical team behind the 89

ProcessOn Team CTO Zhang First impression is "Big Boy Next Door", with him for a long time, will understand that "programming" this thing is a talent, did not read the computer of any major, 89 born all of his skills are by self-study. At first, a person almost undertook all the development work, not only to be a research and development manager, but also to assume the role of Product manager, and occasionally to guest the UI design in the entire team, always belong to the "busiest" one.

CSDN: First of all, introduce themselves and ProcessOn, the current technical team's attention to the direction?

Zhang: Hello, everyone. I am Zhang, is now the ProcessOn team technical director, compared to a lot of products of the CTO, I was a grassroots origin, there is no elite cattle-Ben Education, there is no bat and other big business experience, and some just obsessed with the pursuit of technology and Internet products unlimited reverie. Whether it is my own or the whole team, we are down-to-earth, hard-working people, everyone is very low-key, are working silently. In this environment, we have bred ProcessOn this product. At present, the entire technical team's attention and development direction, mainly front-end areas, especially JS and other front-end framework.

ProcessOn is a HTML5 developed online Web page version of the Mapping tool, users need only have a browser to produce mind map, flowchart, UML diagram, interface prototype design, organization chart, mind map and so on, no longer like the traditional client, but also need to download and install. ProcessOn also has a great feature that can be done without delay collaboration, convenient for two or more people at the same time to collaborate on the same document editing and communication, it also uses a real-time save mechanism, each step after the automatic save, users do not have to worry about the loss of documents, of course, this is the era of cloud computing, A development trend of enterprise collaboration tools.

CSDN: Why did you develop this platform? What kind of consideration is behind it or what market opportunities are seen?

Zhang: In fact, the birth of ProcessOn has a "specific" gene, which is very important, because the founder of our team is keen on the field of BPM, just a few years ago, there is no "on the table" BPM (Business Process Management, Business process Management) mapping tools and communities, and our founder deep in the field of BPM for many years, and he is also BPM GB set the participants, so ProcessOn originally is running such a goal.

In fact, as early as 2011, our team developed a flash version, at that time in order to ensure the quality of users, has been the use of the invitation mechanism, until the official online after the open registration. With the continuous improvement of ProcessOn, and after N and user communication, we feel that the flash version of the designer has been unable to meet the needs of users and our attitude of excellence, especially before users must install Adobe Plug-ins, and because of its large size, The loading time before the map is also very long, there are other problems and so on, the user experience has not been done well. In 2012, the team formally contacted the HTML5 technology, it has not been so hot, so after many discussions within the team, to give up before the flash designer for more than a year, and then based on HTML5 to develop a new version of the designer. Although there was a lot of controversy about HTML5, its technology is not very mature, there are a lot of security issues, but we still firmly chose the HTML5, now prove that we chose the right, and more importantly, the user's feedback is very good, and not long ago, we also received the first money from the user's donations. Many users have been fully affirmed and recognized, our team has the confidence to processon into a unique domestic internet products.

CSDN: What is the greatest value of your platform for customers?

Zhang: First of all, the biggest value of ProcessOn is to help users very convenient and fast to achieve a number of areas of the drawing experience, whether it is a flowchart, software model diagram, UML, or thinking map, users need only a browser, you can access the online Business collaboration mapping tools, very convenient and fast, and very professional.

Secondly, as a cloud service platform based on SaaS mode, ProcessOn not only lets users get rid of the reliance on single device, but also realizes the "cloud Office" mode in real sense, and can realize the function of online collaboration, which can be modified by multiple users. Synchronization can be done directly in the cloud, helping the collaboration team to greatly improve office efficiency.

In addition, ProcessOn also provides groups, recommendations, discoveries, activities, and many other community features, to help users in the completion of their work, but also to know more friends with similar interests, but also in this platform to learn new knowledge and skills. Now the ProcessOn community already has up to 500,000 maps, and more than 2000 a day to increase the speed, these high-quality resources can bring users higher value-added. We are convinced that this "tool + content + social" model can be more comprehensive and effective for users to create new value.

Platform construction process and countless "micro-innovation" to support the ultimate user experience

Platform to create the process is very difficult, from the original flash version to later completely redesign of the HTML5 version of the design, embodies the product user experience of the ultimate pursuit, and ProcessOn is currently the first in the domestic HTML5 canvas applied to the commercial production environment. In product optimization, the ProcessOn team's pursuit of detail is almost madness. For example, a simple, cross-theme line function, they spend 3 weeks, the background code is more than 1000 lines, in order to maximize the user experience.

CSDN: What are the obstacles to building this platform? How did you deal with it?

Zhang: ProcessOn platform's core is the designer, the difficulty is also in the designer, the present HTML5 canvas in the domestic real earliest application to the commercial production environment, the ProcessOn should be the first. In fact, when HTML5 just came out, we were attracted by the canvas, and the pain determined to give up the development of more than 1 flash version, complete redesign of the architecture, launched the HTML5 version of the development.

In fact, the development of the designer is very difficult, a seemingly simple small function, often require thousands of lines of code, it needs to carry out very complex JS calculation. We in the whole development of the designer, also used a lot of JS's skills, such as javascript-oriented, object-oriented programming, JS plug-in development and so on. More painfully, we do not have any reference cases, all the team members to explore their own, and then to conduct a variety of discussions, research, and also need to make mathematical projections, over and over again to find the best algorithm. In particular, space vector knowledge, in the design of the development of the most used, for this we also "fill" the High school Mathematics knowledge (This is also the bitter fruit of learning slag AH). Overall, because in the field of professional online mapping, we started very early in the country, so there is no reference to the experience, are relying on the team to "spell" out.

CSDN: Can you tell me more about the construction process of this platform architecture? What technologies are used, and what do they do separately?

Zhang: ProcessOn front-end using Nginx to do a request for distribution, as a lightweight Web server/reverse proxy server, compared to other similar products, its lightweight and low internal friction advantages, so that it has become the processon of choice, especially for the tool class of Internet products , our high concurrency characteristics also depend heavily on nginx performance.

Secondly, in the application server layer, we have adopted a more mature springmvc, I believe this is the first choice for many engineers. In particular, ProcessOn in the front-end technology, a large number of use of HTML5 technology and complex JS computing, the data level is the use of MongoDB and Redis. Especially in the database selection, because considering the performance and speed, we resolutely chose the MongoDB, although it in the transaction, memory and so on some small criticism, but in terms of ProcessOn, our experience in data Services is very good, We will also continue to focus on and optimize our data-level experience and services.

Of course, also need to specifically note that, because we want to do an international SaaS application, but also want to embrace the era of cloud computing, so ProcessOn abandoned the previously built server, instead of the entire server on the Tsing, first of all, in response to the cloud computing era of the trend of development, Second, for our future to enter the international market to lay a good foundation.

CSDN: How is the user experience of the platform guaranteed? What efforts have you made in product optimization?

Zhang: ProcessOn in a short period of time to accumulate 200,000 users, not only is the graphical function of the powerful easy-to-use, more importantly, we very much value the user experience, compared to a vertical field of mapping tools, this is not simply the traditional software moved to the line on it. To this end we have done a full market research, and set up their own QQ user groups, and constantly communicate with users, in the full understanding of the user's drawing habits, we will retain the advantages of traditional software, dross removal, such as the addition of many people real-time collaboration functions and so on. ProcessOn also abandoned the traditional software to build their own server-side complex operations, the completion of real-time preservation, cloud storage and many other additional functions.

I would like to describe a small development detail: in the development of mind mapping process, the team wants to add a cross-theme of the line function, this function is very simple, a lot of tools at home and abroad, only a simple connection function, but our technical staff, in order to make this feature a better experience, a full three weeks of time, Not only can change the thickness of the line, but also can change the color and line radian, and even made a "rubber band" dynamic effect, only this small function, the implementation of the background code needs more than 1000 lines, so our user experience can do the best. Of course, the realization of this function is only our huge ecological system, a small detail, but ProcessOn is by virtue of this small "micro-innovation", can really let users believe that our product attitude is "the pursuit of perfection."

CSDN: What is the current user size, active users, heavyweight users? is the profit model convenient to disclose?

Zhang: At present, ProcessOn registered users are close to 200,000, every day active users also in 3000+ above, we also have a lot of heavyweight users, a lot of bat product owner, and make good use of soft, moonlight blog, big front bo Lord Hao son, PM265 Webmaster Liang, Axure Chinese Community founder Yingung Lei, CSDN founder Shantao have used and recommended our products. However, we want to specifically note that, because the ProcessOn team has not yet received funding, so we did not invest money to do the promotion, the accumulation of these users are mostly rely on the user's Word-of-mouth legend, which is also our most proud of the place.

As for the profit model, we have not considered it at present, and have not borrowed from the foreign charging mode. We believe that only to create greater value for users, will truly be recognized by the market, believe that the future, ProcessOn will certainly find their own profit model.

User-focused response speed and stability issues

Zhang Frankly, the response speed and stability is a high level of user concern, of course, this is not just a problem facing the ProcessOn, many SaaS vendors on the market face the stability of the network, which is critical to a SaaS product user experience. At present, ProcessOn is also constantly optimizing products and contact service providers to solve these problems, including the active deployment of CDN services, I believe these problems will soon be resolved.

CSDN: For users, what are the most important issues to focus on and what are your coping strategies?

Zhang: At present, the problem that the user is most concerned with is the stability of the network. In fact, ProcessOn in the earliest time, on the line of the English version, the product has been highly recognized by foreign users, we are officially launched in the country, from the bottom of our hearts, we want to do an international SaaS products, so the response speed has become the most critical factors affecting the user experience, In particular, our platform also has more than 40,000 foreign users, so this is vital. At present, we put the underlying services directly in the domestic new IaaS platform Qingyun, so the speed and stability of the network is also our current very distressed things, especially in the Asia-Pacific region of foreign users, the reflection of this problem is more common. Recently our team is also trying to optimize the products, service providers are also helping us to solve the problem of the network, while ProcessOn is also actively deploying CDN services, I believe that soon after the processon of the speed of access will be significantly improved.

CSDN: What is the current situation in this area of the country, compared with other peers, your strengths reflected in where?

Zhang: At present, we have not found competitors in China, compared with the foreign counterparts, our biggest advantage is free, and do a lot of localization optimization processing. In fact, this is also our difficulties, because in the domestic charging mode is basically play not turn. Now, we just want to deep users, and constantly improve their products, the user experience to do a better job for the future to enter the international market to do enough preparation.

The main advantages of ProcessOn are as follows:

Save the licensing fee for genuine tools, ProcessOn use completely free mode, and absolute genuine; General tool installation is troublesome, version upgrade is also very difficult, ProcessOn no need to download installation and upgrade, directly provide online services; file modification and delivery on the client is too cumbersome, and error-prone, ProcessOn directly provide online collaboration, many people can be modified online, simple and convenient, the local storage of multiple files, difficult to find and easy to lose, ProcessOn real-time online storage, automatic save; users need to spend a lot of time looking for resources while drawing. ProcessOn provides a wealth of resources to share, as well as a user-built community that can help save a lot of learning time while also having social functions.

CSDN: We know that the enterprise's IT environment is very complex, and very different, how do you meet the personalized needs of users?

Zhang: Compared to other Internet products, ProcessOn's professionalism is very strong, especially like flow charts, software modeling language, etc. these are strict grammatical requirements, so in the process of research and development, we are in strict accordance with the professional drawing standards to carry out, and then consider the implementation of the Code. So there are very few user personalization needs, most of the situation is the user want to add some features, we will basically be included in the plan, as soon as possible to achieve. At present, ProcessOn provides 9 different mapping models for users to choose from, including flowchart, EVC, EPC, BPMN, UML, iOS interface prototype, organization chart, Venn, mind mapping, etc., which basically covers more than 90% of the user needs.

CSDN: Finally, I want you to share with us what you think of the domestic SaaS market?

Zhang: With the rapid development of the Internet, many enterprises have shifted from "informatization" to "Internet", and the charging mode has changed from "Selling software" to "selling service", so it is beyond doubt that SaaS will become the future trend of development. In 2011, SAP spent 3.4 billion of dollars to acquire the talent management Cloud service provider SuccessFactors, in 2012 Oracle and IBM are also involved in the field, has invested more than 1 billion of dollars to buy similar cloud services enterprises, the SaaS market is evident. We believe that the United States SaaS market active investment will certainly stimulate the development of China's market, the domestic SaaS market is bound to enter a high-speed growth period. So we believe that as long as we can continue to do, as long as the user can be recognized, the market will certainly give us these based on the SaaS model of the entrepreneurial team to be sure.

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