We’d like you to understand the steps involved in the development of your project.

Project development proceeds in phases much like the construction of a new home. Some projects are simpler, and are like adding a new kitchen. Other projects are more complex and are comparable to an extensive remodel or building a new home from the ground up.

The more accurately and completely you communicate your requirements, the better we can assess and bid your project. A Request for Bid (RFB) is used by clients to communicate their requirements to us. If you do not already have a written document, we have several RFB online forms you can use to create your RFB.

Once we have received your RFB, we will create a proposal and bid for you. When we e-mail the completed proposal to you, please read the entire proposal and ask questions about everything you do not understand or cannot find. Anything not listed in the proposal will not be in the final product!

Complex projects will include CPrompt creating a Requirements and Design Document (RDD) as the first task. An RDD can be very detailed and contain engineering diagrams, screen layouts, and flow charts. Architectural engineering design work is often performed as part of the development of the RDD. If an RDD will be developed as part of your project, the cost for developing the RDD will be included in the proposal.

Simpler projects rarely have an RDD. Medium-sized projects will often have a specific section of the project defined by an abbreviated RDD, while the remainder of the project is not covered by one. In both of these cases, a section of the bid called the “Simplified Requirements Document” will serve in place of an RDD.

If your project includes the development of an RDD, we will ask thorough questions and request business documents describing your flow of information through your business. We will analyze what we learn and use it to design a software system to meet your needs. This process is called structural analysis – you can think of it as business automation therapy! Structural analysis gives us insight into your business needs, so we can provide you with the best solution. Again, the more accurate and complete the information you provide us, the better we can serve you.

Revisions add costs to projects. You can reduce the number and size of revisions by having a clear idea of your needs and by planning the project in detail with an RDD before construction begins. Ideally, all the revisions would occur during this planning stage rather than after construction. In the RDD phase, the systems architect will charge for all changes made to the design, just as a building architect would charge for “work change orders” when designing a house.

On Complex projects, it is much more cost effective to make changes on paper before construction.

For simpler projects, it is more cost effective to skip the RDD planning phase and go right to construction, knowing that some changes will be needed at the end. If a small number of changes are needed at the end, the small project customer will have saved a substantial amount of money by not doing an RDD; if a large number of changes are needed at the end, the cost will likely come out the same as if the cost for a detailed plan had been included with all its early stage "paper" revisions.

We develop all our systems to mission-critical standards. To accomplish this goal we implement a detailed mission-critical QA plan for testing and debugging.

The process of testing and debugging is a normal part of all software development projects. For complex projects, the testing and debug cycle often continues at some level after the deployment of a project and should be factored in as a possible maintenance cost during the first 6 to 12 months (of a complex project).