How  Apttus Customers  Benefit  from  AngularJS

Table  of  Contents

02 Introduction03 How  Apttus Customers  Benefit  from  AngularJS06 What  is  AngularJS07 A  Short  History  of  the  Angular  Framework08 Interview  with  Miško Hevery

Inventor  of  Angular  and  Jules  Kremer,  Head  of  Angular  Developer  Relations  at  Google

11 Conclusion11 About  Apttus

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IntroductionToday’s  customers  expect  compelling  user  experiences.  Customers  demand  a  continual  stream  of  innovative  new  features  and  upgrades  based  on  their  requests  and  feedback.  And  they  expect  it  now.    These  are  the  new  table  stakes  in  enterprise  software.

Companies  that  aspire  to  meet  their  customers’  needs  have  adapted  and  responded  by  leveraging  the  newer  development  technologies  that  have  emerged.    One  such  advancement  is  Google’s  AngularJS  framework,  an  open  source  application  development  language  that  is  accelerating  innovation  across  enterprises  today.  AngularJS  underlies  many  of  the  applications  and  websites  millions  of  businesses  and  consumers  use  daily.  From  Amazon  to  YouTube,  Banana  Republic  to  Virgin  America,  companies  in  every  industry  are  realizing  the  benefits  of  AngularJS  and  are  actively  building  complex,  advanced  cross-­‐platform  (e.g.,  smartphones,  tablets,  webstore  fronts,  multiple  browsers)  applications  using  this  framework.  

In  this  paper  we’ll  explore:

• How  Apttus customers  benefit  from  AngularJS• What  is  AngularJS?  A  short  history  of  AngularJS• A  recent  interview  with  Miško Hevery,  inventor  of  

AngularJS  and  Jules  Kremer,  Head  of  AngularJS  Developer  Relations  at  Google.

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How  Apttus Customers  Benefit  from  AngularJSAt  Apttus,  our  intent  is  to  provide  our  customers  with  a  best-­‐in-­‐class  user  experience.  Which  is  why  Apttus standardized  on  AngularJS  as  a  development  framework  enabling  the  creation  of  fast,  contextually-­‐rich  applications.  Creating  quotes  faster  and  more  completely,  reducing  sales  cycles  by  weeks  or  months,  managing  contracts  more  efficiently  and  being  able  to  tie  contract  performance  to  financial  results  are  just  a  few  of  the  many  areas  where  Angular-­‐based  development  is  making  an  impact  for  Apttus customers.  

By  building  Quote-­‐to-­‐Cash  applications  on  AngularJS,  Apttus is  providing  its  customers  with  the  flexibility,  freedom  and  reliability  they  need  to  excel  in  their  businesses.  The  AngularJS  framework  provides  our  development  teams  the  speed  to  create  apps  faster  than  ever  before  while  also  facilitating  more  intensive  testing  across  a  broader  range  of  use  cases.  

The  result: Customers  get  greater  innovations  faster.  

AngularJS  enables  Apttus to  be  more  responsive  to  its  customers’  requests  for  product  innovations  while  also  moving  faster  to  attain  short-­‐ and  long-­‐term  product  roadmap  goals.  And  the  faster  new  apps  are  created  based  on  customer  requirements,  the  faster  customers  achieve  their  goals.    AngularJS  is  an  enabler  of  speed  and  scale  for  both  Apttus and  its  customers.  

AngularJS  has  given  Apttus customers:

• UI  Enhancements – Customers  are  able  to  experience  a  modern  UI  

• UX  Enhancements – User  experience  has  been  refined  to  eliminate  clicks  and  improve  workflows.  Our  new  CPQ  admin  dashboard  is  an  example  of  how  we  are  simplifying  the  management  of  CPQ  data  through  an  improved  user  experience.

• Performance  Enhancements – Allows  the  app  to  better  interact  with  internal  and  external  data.  One  example  of  this  is  our  use  of  client  side  rules.

• Platform  Enhancements –The  new  UI  framework  created  the  ability  to  directly  access  various  components  of  the  ApttusIntelligent  cloud  even  while  the  solution  runs  native  on  the  Salesforce  platform  for  Salesforce  users. This  introduces  performance  improvements,  machine  learning,  advanced  search,  etc.  

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Some  more  examples  of  benefits  to  Apttus customers:• More  Dynamic  User  Experiences  That  Match  Perfectly  With  

How  Customers  Work  Today  – It  doesn’t  matter  what  platform  is  being  used,  

Salesforce,  Microsoft  Dynamics  365,  or  a  homegrown  CRM,  Apttus can  integrate  and  intelligently  report  across  the  entire  Quote-­‐to-­‐Cash  process.  Because  Apttus’  applications  are  based  on  AngularJS,  they  can  be  quickly  tailored  to  business’  specific  needs.  

– The  following  screenshot of  the  Apttus Contract  Lifecycle  Management  (CLM)  application  illustrates  how  Angular  provides  users  with  a  multidimensional  view  of  contract  lifecycles,  from  initial  agreements  and  contracts  to  meetings,  tasks  and  approvals.  The  summary  bar  across  the  top  of  the  screen  provides  a  real-­‐time  summary  of  contracts  in  request  phase,  authoring,  in  signature  cycles,  filing  and  approval.  Having  a  quick  view  of  contracts  in  renewal,  amendment,  and  expiration  shows  just  how  thorough  yet  responsive  Apttus CLM  apps  are  developed  using  AngularJS.

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• Work  Efficiently  and  Quickly  On  Any  Device,  Anytime– Apttus customers,  for  example,  will  get  quotes  out  faster  

due  to  a  more  responsive  framework.  Compared  to  a  standard  web-­‐based  app  page,  the  Apttus Configure  Price  Quote  (CPQ)  application  can  automatically  change  costs  depending  on  the  discount  being  offered  without  having  to  refresh  the  page  thanks  to  Angular  being  the  foundation  of  Apttus apps.    

– As  an  example,  the  following  Apttus Configure  Price  Quote  screenshot  from  a  quoting  workflow  doesn’t  require  a  refresh  to  show  revised  totals  and  what  the  end-­‐customer  will  be  buying.

• Allows  A  Single  View  That  Is  Updated  By  App  State,  Not  Screen  Refresh  – Whether  creating  a  quote  in  Apttus CPQ  or  revising  a  

contract  in  Apttus Contract  Management,  with  AngularJS,  Apttus gives  the  end-­‐user  the  flexibility  of  staying  on  one  page  and  working  more  efficiently  with  all  options  and  capabilities  in  a  single  view.

• Supports  Intelligent  Processes  That  Can  Revolutionize  Your  QTC  Strategy– The  AngularJS  framework  enabled  Apttus to  build  

Quote-­‐to-­‐Cash  applications  with  machine  learning  to  maximize  the  entire  revenue  operation  by  dynamically  recommending  relevant,  intelligent  actions,  across  every  facet  of  the  revenue  cycle.    

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What  is  AngularJS?The  biggest  challenge  application  development  teams  face  today  is  delivering  new  apps  based  on  customers’  rapidly  changing  requirements,  while  at  the  same  time  maintaining  the  stability  of  legacy  systems.  

AngularJS  is  a  structural  framework  for  creating  advanced  enterprise  applications  that  provides  the  flexibility  of  integrating  with  cross-­‐platform  applications.  The  ability  to  scale  across  platforms  (e.g.,  smartphones,  tablets,  web  store  fronts,  multiple  browsers)  is  an  invaluable  trait  of  the  framework.  Enterprises  by  definition  have  legacy  systems  that  contain  valuable  data  and  need  to  be  integrated  into  the  latest  web-­‐based  and  mobile-­‐based  apps.

AngularJS  also  stands  out  from  other  front-­‐end  frameworks  for  its:• Ability  to  reuse  components,  which  means  writing  less  code  • Support  for  cross-­‐platform  applications• API  support

This  reduces  app  development  and  delivery  times  by  helping  the  developer  simplify  the  web  page  framework  and  improving  the  users’  experience  at  the  same  time.  Another  advantage  is  throughout  development,  fully  supported  code  testing  is  a  core  element  in  the  architecture.  This  increases  the  quality  of  code  produced  and  leads  to  faster-­‐performing  apps.    Taken  together,  these  factors  make  AngularJS  an  ideal  and  improved  framework  for  enterprise  development.  

Angular’s ascension  continues  to  be  rapid  as  Google  continues  to  fine-­‐tune  the  framework.  Development  teams  working  in  enterprises  globally  continue  to  explore,  develop  and  launch  new  apps  using  the  framework.  

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Early  to  mid-­‐1990sIt  took  5  minutes  to  dial  into  the  internet  and  websites  were  very  basic.  Every  user  action  required  a  request  being  sent  to  the server.  The  server  would  load  a  single  complete  page.  Extent  of  a  web  developer’s  capabilities  included:  query,  parameters,  cookies  and  request  headers.  

1999Microsoft  created  the  ability  to  send  a  request  to  the  server  and  receive  the  response  entirely  using  JavaScript  and  completely  in  the  background— this  was  called  AJAX  (Asynchronous  JavaScript  and  XML).  Now,  when  one  part  of  a  web  page  was  clicked,  the  entire  page  did  not  go  blank  as  it  connected  to  the  server.

Gone  were  the  days  of  one-­‐page-­‐load  per  request,  with  Web  2.0,  a  website  could  be  interactive.  However,  the  back-­‐end  was  still  a  mess with  unstructured  JavaScript.  

2002MVC  (Model-­‐View-­‐Controller)  had  been  the  core  component  of  the  server,  serving  as  an  ideal  foundation  for  future  website  and  web app  development.  Incorporating  MVC  with  JavaScript  gave  developers  additional  organization  and  structure.    This  gave  way  to  creation  of  extremely  dynamic,  creative,  and fluid  experiences  with  Single-­‐Page  Applications.  

2009Misko Hevery and  Adam  Abrons started  GetAngular,  a  tool  that  allowed  web  designers  to  interact  with  both  the  front-­‐ and  back-­‐ends  of  their  web  pages.  Around  the  same  time  Hevery started  working  on  Google  Feedback,  which  required  him  to  write  17,000  lines  of  code  over  6  months.  As  the  code  size  increased, so  did  Hevery’s frustration.  He  utilized  GetAngular to  rewrite  the  application  in  3  weeks,  and  cut  the  code  length  down  to  1,500  lines.  With  that  success  they  started  the  development  of  AngularJS  within  the  Google  walls.

2010AngularJS  officially  released

A  Short  History  of  the  Angular  Framework

September  2014AngularJS  2.0  was  announced  at  the  ng-­‐Europe  Conference

April  2015Angular  2  moved  from  Alpha  to  Developer  Preview

December  2015Angular  2  moved  to  Beta.

May  2016Angular  2  first  release  candidate  was  published.

September  2016Final  version  was  released.

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Interview  with  Miško Hevery,  Inventor  of  Angular  and  Jules  Kremer,  Head  of  Angular  Developer  Relations  at  Google

Jules  and  Miško provided  insights  into  how  the  framework  is  evolving,  what  the  long-­‐term  vision  is  for  Angular,  and  how  the  decision  to  work  with  Microsoft  and  TypeScript benefited  both  projects,  while  also  establishing  a  familiar  path  for  developers  in  legacy  Microsoft  environments.  Angular  development  started  at  Google  in  2009  by  Miško and  was  released  as  open  source  because  the  team  wanted  to  make  it  easier  for  all  developers,  not  just  Google  developers,  to  build  great  web  applications.    Both  believed  that  making  the  framework  open  source  would  lead  to  it  becoming  a  better  platform  with  the  contributions  from  Google  and  the  web  community.  Both  Jules  and  Miško provided  insights  into  how  Angular  is  revolutionizing  app  development  across  mobile  and  large-­‐scale  app  development.

Forbes  contributor  Louis  Columbus  recently  had  the  opportunity  to  speak  with  Miško  Hevery,  Inventor  of  Angular  and  Senior  Computer  Scientist  at  Google  and  Jules  Kremer,  Head  of  Angular  Developer  Relations  at  Google.  Here  is  a  recent  keynote  both  presented  to  the  Angular  community.    You  can  find  Louis’  blog  post  on  Forbes.comhere,  Miško  Hevery,  Inventor  of  Angular  And  How  Open  Source  Languages  Are  Redefining  Enterprise  Software.   Miško is  a  Technical  Lead  Manager  at  Google,  where  he  guides  development  teams  on  how  they  can  increase  the  speed  and  quality  of  their  code.  He  is  best  known  as  the  inventor  of  Angular,  one  of  the  most  popular  open-­‐source  frameworks  being  used  today  for  creating  enterprise  applications.  Jules  works  closely  with  Google’s  enterprise  accounts  and  coaches  them  on  how  to  get  the  most  value  from  Angular  and  related  technologies.

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• Building  for  A  Mobile-­‐First  World. During  Angular  Connect  2016,  a  member  of  the  Google  development  team  mentioned  that  up  to  70%  of  a  given  development  partner’s  apps  are  on  mobile  devices.  A  broad  spectrum  of  Google  customers  are  developing  mobile  apps  using  Angular  such  as  LucidChart and  large  non-­‐profit  organizations  such  as  National  Public  Radio  (NPR).  Angular  is  used  for  mainstream  Google  apps  including  Ad  Words,  AdSense,  API  Explorer  and  others.  According  to  Miško,  Angular  has  made  significant  contributions  into  these  and  other  apps  running  faster.  Angular  is  designed  specifically  with  mobile  app  development  in  mind.    Angular-­‐based  apps  developed  for  mobile  can  run  in  offline  mode  for  example,  entirely  accessing  apps  locally  and  sending  single  page  apps  down  to  client  devices  to  alleviate  latency  and  speed  problems.    Angular  apps  extend  the  user  experience  into  offline  use  cases  as  a  result.

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Key  Terms  &  Contract  Process  Flows

Key  lessons  learned  from  the  interview  include  the  following:

• TypeScript has  proved  beneficial  in  gaining  enterprise  adoption  and  improving  security. Many  enterprises  Jules  and  Miško work  with  are  heavily  dependent  on  legacy  code  and  have  adopted  Angular  to  accelerate  new  app  development.    Jules  commented  that  “the  Typescript  team  is  operating  on  a  new  frontier  for  Microsoft  and,  in  many  ways,  bringing  Microsoft  forward  to  the  JavaScript  world.    TypeScriptaddresses  enterprise  needs  in  a  few  ways  including  integration  with  Microsoft's  development  stack  (Visual  Studio,  VS  Code,  Office  development),  but  also  as  a  language  itself  as  TypeScripthelps  bridge  the  knowledge  gap  for  server  side  developers  moving  from  .NET  to  JavaScript.”    Angular  was  built  with  TypeScript which  provided  benefits  to  the  Google  engineering  team  that  all  enterprise  development  teams  can  also  enjoy:  such  as  finding  bugs  faster  in  their  code,  refactoring  and  readability  which  can  accelerate  development.  Angular  also  delivers  the  compiler  separately  which  alleviates  potential  security  weaknesses  in  delivered  apps.  The  latest  version  also  has  better  tooling  and  language  support  that  further  strengthens  the  security  of  the  framework  and  delivered  apps.  To  see  how  enterprises  are  using  Angular  for  development,  please  see  LucidChart’s  presentation  on  how  they  standardized  on  Angular  for  next-­‐generation  application  development.  

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• Jules’  and  Miško’s long-­‐term  vision  is  to  have  Angular  support  automated  refactoring.  It’s  evident  that  Jules  and  Miško spend  a  lot  of  time  with  the  Angular  community  and  want  to  provide  a  stable,  consistent  series  of  APIs.  The  Angular  team  adopted  semantic  versioning and  a  formal  deprecation  policy  for  releases  after  Angular  2.0  and  has  committed  to  ensuring  stability  and  a  smooth  transition  between  future  releases.    The  team  is  also  heavily  invested  in  providing  tools  to  empower  developers  to  upgrade  between  versions  seamlessly  in  an  automated  way.      This  is  a  great  goal  for  enterprise  developers  especially  those  who  rely  on  code  stability  to  keep  their  apps  stable.

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Key  Terms  &  Contract  Process  Flows (Cont.)

Key  lessons  learned  from  the  interview  include  the  following:

• Enabling  smaller,  faster,  more  secure  apps  is  the  goal.When  I  asked  Miško what  lessons  were  learned  from  coaching  app  development  at  Google,  he  said  that  refactorings,  or  the  continual  restructuring  of  code  and  its  internal  structure  to  improve  performance  without  changing  external  application  outcomes  or  behaviors,   in  addition  to  continually  testing  and  refining  code  using  Benchpress were  yielding  valuable  insights  into  how  individual  app  performance  could  improve.  Benchpress is  an  open  source  benchmark  runner  for  JavaScript  Web  apps  developed  by  the  Angular  team.  Miško says  that  evaluating  app  performance  using  Benchpress provides  insights  into  how  Google  apps  now  available  and  in  development  can  increase  speed  and  reduce  code  base  size.  Benchpress is  also  a  very  valuable  teaching  tool  as  it  provides  developers  with  quick  feedback  on  how  to  optimize  app  performance.

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ConclusionCustomers  want  and  expect  compelling  user  experiences  when  it  comes  to  their  applications.    That  means  that  enterprises  need  to  be  incredibly  responsive  and  innovative  to  satisfy  their  customers.    In  the  past,  the  ability  to  respond  with  speed  and  scale  while  simultaneously  maintaining  performance  was  severely  limited  and  challenging  for  enterprises.    Fortunately,  AngularJS  has  emerged  as  a  robust  development  framework  that  allows  enterprises  to  not  only  keep  pace  with  customer  demands  and  expectations,  but  also  expand  into  new  offerings  and  capabilities  for  their  customers.    We  see  this  from  the  explosion  of  revolutionary  mobile  applications  to  E-­‐Commerce  to  the  incorporation  of  machine  learning.  Apttus is  proud  and  excited  to  leverage  AngularJS  in  its  development  protocols.

About  Quote-­‐to-­‐Cash

Quote-­‐to-­‐Cash  connects  a  customer’s  intent  to  buy  with  a  company’s  realization  of  revenue,  and  encompasses  the  entire  sales,  contract,  and  customer  relationship  lifecycles.  Because  Quote-­‐to-­‐Cash  is  at  the  heart  of  every  company’s  ability  to  drive  revenue  and  manage  risk,  it  is  arguably  the  most  important  process  for  businesses  to  master.

About  Apttus

Apttus,  the  category-­‐defining  Quote-­‐to-­‐Cash  software  company,  drives  the  vital  business  process  between  the  buyer’s  interest  in  a  purchase  and  the  realization  of  revenue.  Utilizing  a  patented  combination  of  SaaS-­‐based  applications,  the  Apttus Intelligent  Cloud  maximizes  the  entire  revenue  operation  by  driving  behavior  and  providing  prescriptive  data  to  company  decision-­‐makers.  Apttusoffers  enhanced  Configure  Price  Quote  (CPQ),  E-­‐Commerce,  Contract  Management,  Renewals  and  Revenue  Management  solutions  on  the  world’s  most  trusted  cloud  platforms,  including  Salesforce  and  Microsoft  Azure.  Apttus is  based  in  San  Mateo,  California,  with  additional  offices  located  across  the  globe.  For  more  information  visit:  apttus.com.

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