Our Approach to System Development

Despite being a small company we like to stick to standards, it’s how we like to work and we find our customers like the way we work too. From a well written project brief, a descriptive functional specification, early visibility (alpha and beta builds) of the final product, through to implementation and support. We’ve outlined our process here so you can see how we work and what you can expect at each phase.

Analysis

Our initial discussions will cover the goals of the development, design boundaries such as corporate branding, what devices will be supported and how the system could work at a high level. Functionality and business rules are discussed as well as marketing strategies and making the most of the available features.
We formalise these ideas into the project brief and submit this to you so all parties know what the project goals and endpoints are.

Design

We develop user interaction storyboards for the system to identify how it will be used and the type of people using it.
These drive the design on usability, the flow of control in the system and how the system screens work together. We also sit down with you to define the sorts of data that will need to be captured and moved around the system. We use a variety of tools to help us do this from humble pen a paper to complex database modelling tools.
We always aim to customer early visibility of how the system will look and work. These mock-ups are then used to drive the development of the actual system and form a key component of the functional specification document that we produce for this phase.

Build

Based on the functional specification document we then begin development.
This is done in an iterative fashion adding small features or complete paths though the system, testing them locally and then adding the next area of functionality. Once the system reaches a certain level of completeness we allow you to test and interact with it so we can get feedback from you.

Test

All systems are regularly tested, but more advanced systems or those with critical data security needs get a higher level of testing with formalised test plans that are signed off by independent testers. User Acceptance Tests are normal for larger systems with a sign-off for go-live implementation.

Implement

Once the system is compete it is installed on the target hardware and implementation testing is performed to ensure smooth running.

Maintain

Systems are regularly monitored and backed up with metrics taken for any errors or non-performant problems. Pro-active maintenance takes place regularly with customers and development staff kept abreast of any issues that need addressing.