Custom Application Development

 

Studies tell troubling stories about application development projects - most are regularly delivered late or over budget, if they're delivered at all. Delivering a new system on time and on budget may be rare in the industry at large, but not at Carisbrook Technology Services. For us it's the only acceptable outcome. How do we accomplish it? 

A disciplined approach in the hands of skilled staff is the straightforward answer. Utilizing best practices we bring to bear our capabilities, our engagement model and our methodology. As a plus we emphasize a hands-on "learning by doing" approach to skills transfer during the project. And no effort is complete until our client is "operational" - we assist our clients in deploying and running the solution.

 

Our Approach: Capabilities

Carisbrook's consultants bring a wide range of skills to the table in the following areas:     

  • Domain knowledge - Our experienced consultants have delivered technology solutions in your industry. Since they know the language of your business they will converse readily with your team and will bring fresh insight to the engagement.
  • Determining business return - Systems that get funded and widely adopted offer a clear return on investment. We can help define core requirements, assess costs, and review alternative technical approaches as you build a value proposition for your project.
  • Business analysis and process modeling - Early clarity about requirements is key to tight scope management.Our people-intensive process and facilitation skills get people talking so the core business requirements are out on the table right up front. Our approach requires old-fashioned, hands-on analysis - of process flows, business rules, and stakeholder expectations - documented with UML use cases and a functionality matrix. Architects work side by side with our business analysts to ensure that a sound technical foundation is laid down early in the game.

J2EE - The J2EE platform is fast becoming the dominant standard for enterprise class solutions. The Carisbrook staff has years of experience building J2EE based applications with a particular emphasis on layered, application server based architectures to deliver scalable, reliable, and flexible results.

The Enterprise Architecture - Good application architecture ensures the performance, scalability, and extensibility needed by today's systems. Carisbrook's developers have the experience with distributed component technologies such as J2EE, Corba, and Microsoft's .Net to craft designs that balance the often-competing needs of increased performance and reliability.

Project Mangement - A big part of our excellent track record for on time and on budget delivery can be attributed to our dedication to the myriad details of project management -- resource management, issue resolution, communication, risk mitigation, scope management - and our relentless pursuit of perfection. There are no surprises in a Carisbrook led project.

Creative - Carisbrook understands that the user interface is critical to successful solution adoption. To deliver a compelling user experience Carisbrook assembles a team with extensive experience and skills in human factors engineering, information architecture and creative design.

Deployment - In addition to software development competencies, Carisbrook's technical skills encompass leading edge thinking around performance management and service level management. In short, we focus on helping clients address the many issues associated with moving from a reactive to a proactive approach to deploying and managing critical business applications.

 

Our Approach: Methodology 

Carisbrook Technology Services uses a pragmatic, disciplined, iterative approach to system development. Our methodology provides a framework for our software engineers and project managers to focus on the timely execution and successful completion of all tasks in the lifecycle of the project. We've based our approach on the process framework defined by Booch, Jacobson, and Rumbaugh called the Unified Process (UP) and adapted it to address the needs of our customers. We subscribe to the following six best practices upon which UP is built: Iterative development; Requirements management; Component-based development; Visual modeling; Software quality verification; and Requirements and software change control. 

We've discovered that our clients are faced with constrained budgets, aggressive time lines, and competing business initiatives. An iterative approach to project delivery helps insure we stay on time and on budget while still meeting expectations.

We follow a four-phase approach to help manage risk and produce results. The following links explain more about each phase, the roles and skills involved, and what to expect:

  • Blueprint - Capture requirements and produce a preliminary design for solutions development and deployment.
  • Prototype - Build a scaled-down but functional version of the desired system in order to prove the preliminary design.
  • Construct - Translate the design and build upon the foundation developed during the Prototype Phase to produce a scalable, reliable solution that is delivered on time, on budget, and meets expectations.
  • Deploy - Transition, in a collaborative manner, a completed application from the development environment to a production environment for end users.

 

Our Approach: Engagement Model 

Building a Long-term Relationship - When we begin a dialogue with a client we have a clear goal in mind, a long-term relationship. Our business model begins and ends with a commitment to client success. One successful implementation leads to another, as we become a trusted partner of our clients.

Executive Sponsorship - Our regional focus and scale afford our executive team the opportunity to invest their time and energy in each and every engagement. Sustaining an open dialogue with the client's executive leadership, they ensure that the big-picture goals and objectives remain in focus and that issues are resolved before they impact results.

Flexible approach to delivery - Carisbrook offers a proven collaborative development model that engages client personnel throughout the project life cycle, transferring invaluable real-world skills and ensuring self-sufficiency. Of course, Carisbrook can also fully staff a project and provide a turnkey deliverable.

Fixed price or time-and-materials - Experienced staff and a proven approach to building complex systems enable us to provide a fixed price when there is adequate discovery around requirements and constraints. Even when our recommended approach is time and materials we will aggressively manage scope and cost to meet the constraints of the business.