Development
Process and Steps in Outsourcing to India
We are aware of some of the many development processes.
New ideas are coming out on a regular basis. Yesterday I learned about
Agile Scrum. There are many others RUP, Agile RUP Waterfall, XP or Extreme
Programming, Iterative, lite XP and any number of combinations.
The trend is to move toward development processes that helps
the customer achieve his/her business objectives. This may involve prioritizing
features with the customer's budget in mind. And it may involve the evolution
of an application as the business model is discovered.
We are flexible yet process-centric, willing to adapt our
process to serve our customers. The process below is a simple example
to help some understand a simple process. And this process will help you
understand in advance what would be involved in outsourcing a project
to us in India.
PHASE I - Define In this phase, the objective is to understand clearly the voice of
the prospective customer. When doing business on the Internet, we realize
the importance of being clearly understood, to provide the best solutions
to our customers.
First Contact. IWD gets an email inquiry or Quick Reply from a prospective client.
The request is examined. To understand the requirements
better, some questions are emailed back to the prospective client.
The clarifications are given.
The request is now reexamined for any further details required
at this stage. If not, then a rough estimate of the time and costs
involved in the project is made. In the case of large web applications
or database driven website, a proposal for doing a detailed analysis
can be done for a flat fee. The deliverables might be as follows.
Requirements Document
Level 1 Work Breakdown Structure and Project Schedule
Payment schedule
Draft of the contract of Agreement.
The client seeks any clarifications (if any) on the
terms and conditions and approves the documents and the contract of
agreement. The client gives a go-ahead for the project.
The amount to be advanced and the mode
of payment is specified.
Confirmation on the payment is intimated to IWD.
Initial payment is confirmed by Indiawebdevelopers.
PHASE II - Design and Develop
Methodology - The evolving iterative approach. We often use the
evolving iterative approach to web development. In this methodology, once
the preliminary requirements are clarified, the next step is to quickly
build the prototype of the website/web application. From then on, it is
the continuing evolution of this prototype until it becomes the final
product, exact to specifications.
Visibility - The key Advantage. This is a revolutionary,
new approach to software development and extremely suited to offshore
development and outsource services. When you outsource your requirement
of web solutions to us, we are sensitive to the fact that you require
high visibility of the WIP (work in progress). This is the reason why
we have adapted this methodology to our web development process. At each
stage along the development, the website/web application evolves before
your own eyes. Here are the broad milestones in this process:
1. Prototype: The first and crucial phase. The prototype
shows you the shape of things to come. This is much more than just a visual
representation. It represents all the screen elements in the final solution.
This is the mould into which we start to breathe the breath of life! Feedback
from the client is taken and required modifications are incorporated.
2. Functional Specifications Document: Before starting
to actually develop the functionalities, we document all the functional
specifications. The client reviews it and gives feedback again and with
this, the requirements specifications are fully captured.
3. The Proof of concept. The prototype evolves to
its more complex level of existence. Many parts of the prototype spring
to life. We have this intermediate delivery before the final delivery
to establish the proof of concept. The client can now almost feel the
solution that he/she had entrusted us to develop. What remains now is
just formality. Our production engine hauls the project to completion.
4. Final Delivery: The final product is delivered
after testing. There are no surprises, and no tense expectations on the
date of delivery. For, you had seen it evolve!
PHASE III - Deploy
Performance of the site is monitored for a period of
one month if there is no site maintenance agreement.
Any problems found during this period will be solved,
without any additional cost to the customer.
Site Promotion
The Site Promotion Process is implemented.
Reengineering and redesigning depending on promotion needs, to make
the site a success.
