Software Development

DCSSA offers an Iterative software development process that is designed to evolve and develop around particular customer needs. The approach is well documented with a series of milestones and sign offs allowing the customer to participate in, and in many ways manage, the development of the software being produced for them. Proven methodology along with highly trained, loyal, and professional software engineers insure the highest levels of customer satisfaction. Constant updates to clients, documented addendums to requirements documents, and adherence to requirements keep projects on track and on time.

Our SDLC (Software Development Life Cycle) Consists of four iterative phases: Inception, Elaboration, Construction, and Transition.

The Inception Phase

The Inception Phase consists of a Project Scope Stage where a high level overview of the project is presented along with management goals and objectives. Requirements Definitions are also defined at this stage comprising of high level Business Process Flow, drilling down to specific Use Cases. The Inception Phase should produce a clear view, or vision of the overall product to be built, and what it is expected to do.

The Elaboration Phase

The Elaboration Phase consists of an Analysis Stage, where the Use Cases are fully defined providing technical personnel with a clear understanding of the business domain. A Design Stage is also incorporated here where Architectural Diagrams and Technical specifications are laid out and mapped. The elaboration phase should present a clear picture, and determine the defining parameters, of how the software application should be developed and deployed within the existing customer environment.

The Construction Phase

This is where code is written, and the application takes shape. There are three stages in this phase, the first is the Construction & Unit Testing Stage. This is where class diagrams are built, and use cases are tested as subsets of the system. Reviews are carried out to insure code is matching the models. Step two is the Integration Testing Stage. Sequence diagrams are used here to define object and class relationships, as well as testing their inter-dependence and overall relationships with Use cases. Data Models are employed to insure swift and logical data flow, and code review is carried out to insure that our code matches our models. Finally comes the User Acceptance Testing phase. This is the time when Users are able to work with the application and confirm that all functionality and performance issues are addressed. These iterations insure quality, final source code review, debugging, and finally user acceptance and sign off. At this point the customer receives all source code, manuals, and documentation pertaining to the application as well as the current release.

The Transition Phase

Where parts of the Construction phase might be considered factory acceptance testing, the Transition Phase can be considered the Site Acceptance testing, or Rollout & Support Stage. This is the phase of the project concerned with deployment of the application components into the production environment. Primary goals of the Transition Phase are: achieving user self-supportability, that stakeholders agree deployment baselines agree with evaluation criteria established in the requirements phase, and that final product baselines were completed along required timelines and price parameters.

Note* It should be remembered that key to the above methodology are Iterative cycles, regular customer status reports with customer sign-off, and matching project binders that accurately follow the evolution of the project along with all addendums and sign off sheets. High, medium and low criteria should be evaluated on a regular basis to match pace with changing dynamics within the customer environment. Finally projected man hours, man hours spent, and man hours remaining, should be tallied and tracked. All of these issues allow the customer to retain as much project management as is possible so that at all times he has a strong grasp of his project status, and can make educated decisions based on project facts.