So i've been asked to demo a windows service to customers, but i'm clueless on how to go about doing so. I've demo'd a web/windows based ap before by just bringing up the application and going through each screen, but with a windows service it isn't the same. Can anyone point me in the right direction? All the service does is downloads a file from an ftp site and imports the file data into a db every half an hour.
Thanks
Do you have some way to trigger it? eg Does the service download on startup? Can you change the clock to trigger the download? Is the download interval configurable?
What about some way to view the results? Can you see the results over time, or is it only the latest version that's kept up to date?
Your demo could very well be:
You can demo both that you have have a windows service (Start / Stop commands can be demoed here), and that it performs the required function updates db every X minutes).
According to my view first you need to explain why you use a windows service. If your audience is non technical people you may need to tell them what is a windows service as well; plus why don't we have nice GUIs :)
And then you can have a sample FTP site with access to it. Then reduce your time period into something feasible like 1 or 2 mins. Then make some changes to FTP site and show the changes using a database access tool like DB visualizer. It would be nice if you can create a sample web page that loads some "nice" data from database so the viewers will see the changes in more 'interactive' manner... :) I don't think creation of such a page is a waste of time because it will be a more easier way to show them the change over time. Otherwise you will need to tell them about technical stuff related with the database that would be a waste of time...
With Web page : Hey!! See.. This is the change... Its indicated on web page huh..
Without the web page : Now you can see a new row added to this database's this table.. bla bla... ;)
Good luck..
You should spend time explaining what is going on. Detail the things you had to do to get it to work the way you wanted. Talk about things other people can do that are wrong. Tell them what you did that's better. Explain to them that the end result might be the same but security this or overhead that.
Looks like you need to sell your product a little.
I would also suggest some sort of flowchart if you don't have one already. They love those diagrams.
Talk about other possible solutions and why this is better. They want you to tell them things they can vaguely remember and parrot to other people. They don't know what you're talking about. They don't care how it really works.
A little bit of this, done right, goes a long way. People can and have bullshitted their way into millions of dollars like this, but it catches up with them and their reputation is ruined. Don't blatantly make stuff up. There's a difference between telling them you kept security in mind when developing this service, and telling them that it's bulletproof and this will be sitting next to the cockroaches after a Nuclear War.
First of all ask yourself:
Regarding "who", are they technical people? Business people? Smart people? Clueless people? Those are important things to understand before deciding how to demo the product (and shame on some of you readers for assuming the technical people are also smart and the business people are also clueless ;-)
If your audience knows what a windows service is, how they work in general, and roughly what yours is supposed to accomplish, you can jump in and explain the finer points of your solution. If that's not the case, you will want to start out by explaining that you have a solution to show them that is running all of the time waiting for new work to arrive, then automatically starts processing when that new work arrives... or whatever your windows service actually does. If this is what you're facing, try explaining it to your mom (assuming your mom isn't a programming wizard).
Regarding "what they want" from the demo, ask yourself if they want to know technically how the service is written and functions (what events trigger new work items? Does it have a DB back end? How is the service monitored for 24/7 availability?).
Do they care more about the business function? "OK so it can process time cards for employees as they are submitted. Can it also process time cards for contractors?"... that sort of thing.
Once you have figured out WHO and WHAT, look over the advice from the other posters and see what is a good match.