The initial phase in any project is the planning and discovery phase. It is during this phase that our team invests the time in getting to know the client, their business and the key objectives, parameters and considerations for a project. Prior to any commercial agreements we hold initial meetings to assess the viability of any potential project and our suitability as a partner to the project. This involves: Suitability Study Budgetary Planning Design Methodology Planning From commencement until a projects completion, we create and evolve a clear project plan incorporating the achievement of the key project milestones and the priorities that you outline to us, in order that a project proceeds in a managed and effective way. Our change control processes ensure that any adjustments to requirements which may occur are fully incorporated within the adjusted project plan in order that resources and timescales can be planned effectively and efficiently. SUITABILITY STUDY A bespoke software project does not suit every client. If there is a likely software application available that already fulfils your requirement, then we won't waste your time or money, we will simply direct you towards it. If however your business does something a little out of the ordinary, then “off the shelf” isn’t always the most ideal solution. In these circumstances we can provide you with a professional and reliable bespoke service and application. Each project requires a key decision-making client contact to be available for us to work with. However we appreciate that a bespoke software project is a major undertaking for any client in terms of the investment of time and effort required in initially quantifying their requirements succinctly and ensuring that these are communicated clearly to us. T-Commerce Ltd understand that most owners or managers will only commission bespoke software a few times in their professional career and we therefore try to guide our clients into making the right decisions and evaluating the right considerations to ensure the suitability of any proposed project. At the onset we will discuss openly with you the relevant issues and ensure our mutual suitability to enable a long, successful and mutually viable working relationship. A key benefit of any bespoke software application is to incorporate unique business processes into your core business systems and to resultantly optimise the efficiency and performance of your staff in the handling of their duties. Prior to evaluating any technical solution, it is imperative that a client considers the business processes that they wish to automate. However wonderfully it is designed and programmed, software is about automating a process and if that initial process requirement is flawed then the software will never perform to its full potential. A high quality bespoke technical solution that fails to optimise the performance of a business is in our opinion a waste of time, effort and money. We understand that the success of any corporate operations software project is ultimately measured by its ability to cut costs, save time, avoid duplication of effort and reduce the risk of data input errors – crucial elements to improving return on investment. T-Commerce Ltd is very clear as to our objectives for a project. We want to make a difference and add value to the success of your business. BUDGETARY PLANNING It is widely reported within the media that 80% of software projects fail in some way, many are due to budget overruns. We believe that many of these problems which blight our industry are avoidable and unnecessary and are often a result of unrealistic and ill informed expectations or intent. T-Commerce Ltd invests a considerable amount of time prior to any project in order to ensure that both parties are clear as to the scale and complexity of any work required. The professional bespoke design and construction of any commodity from any supplier comes at a price and must be approached cautiously in order to optimise the value of the work undertaken. Our pricing structure is extremely competitive and our entire approach optimises the cost effectiveness of the services we provide. Throughout a project, we are very transparent as to the likely total costings of a project. Where the requirements are defined and the solution calculable, we always provide fixed price quotations for software development, and aim to deliver on time, every time. Unlike many software companies, we are also accurate in our estimates of how long a piece of software will take to develop, and we manage to avoid the protracted development timescales that many software projects fall victim to. At the onset, based on the brief provided, we make early design assumptions and calculate the likely cost in development time based on the information supplied or conveyed. We document these design assumptions and describe the nature of the solution that we have anticipated to meet the objectives outlined to us within a specification overview. We then provide a written Budgetary Estimate in order to enable business decision makers to evaluate our proposals in an open market and to assess the affordability of a solution. This removes guesswork from the equation when costing a project. We leave that to the domain of opportunists, fools and gamblers and instead our focus is on the transparency of our approach and the quality and value of the work we perform. As requirements and the project plan evolve, we continually revise all estimates to incorporate all known considerations. From commencement and throughout a projects cycle, we look at and communicate a projects cost in its totality not just the cost of programming. DESIGN METHODOLOGY PLANNING For the construction of any major software product there are normally two key design methodologies that are used. The Waterfall Development Method Agile Development For both methods a core principle behind all our programming work is for test driven development (TDD). Each design methodology has its own strengths and benefits and an initial vital part of the pre planning process is to discuss the parameters and key objectives and considerations for a project, in order that we can recommend the most suitable methodology to meet those objectives for a particular project. In order to understand the best approach to the software production of a specific project, it is important to understand the key differences of these two approaches. Waterfall Development The waterfall method is a software development model in which development is seen as flowing progressively and steadily downwards (just like a waterfall) through the natural phases of requirements analysis, design, development, testing (validation), installation and maintenance. When the requirements of a project can be fully defined in advance and the working processes which are to be automated are already fully optimised then it is entirely appropriate to follow the Waterfall Method approach. Waterfall development is a more simplistic and disciplined approach but it does place emphasis on getting the design right first. Agile Development For especially large and fragmented projects, first generation applications, mission critical software and projects whereby the requirements are still quite fluid or the working processes are still evolving, then the Waterfall method becomes risky. Agile Development reduces those risks by providing the completed application in a series of progressively developed mini projects, comprising of time boxes or iterations (components built in bite size pieces). This kind of development is less reliant on the documented specification and the emphasis is placed on fluid software reviews and revisions. The key advantage of Agile Development is that with each individual version there is still the non programming functions such as consultancy, redesign, testing and QA (Quality Assurance). This results in a very refined and tailored final iteration.