Sharp Coders

How We Do It

First Meeting: This is where we discuss the brief, any project constrains and determine if Sharp Coders is the right company to complete the brief.

The Brief - The initial brief outlines what the aim of the project is and what constraints exist on the project such as time scale or technologies that must be used.

Constraints - Determine the budget and time scales. This allows our company to evaluate the project with these constraints and determine if we are the right company for the project.

Right People For the Right Job - If we are not confident that the project proposal can be achieved by Sharp Coders's then we will happily recommend other companies.

Requirements Capture: Requirements capture is a complete description of the behaviour of the system to be developed. It includes a set of use cases that describe all the interactions the users will have with the software.

Requirements capture - Expanding on the project brief the next step is to produce the requirements for the project. This is a statement that identifies the necessary attributes, capabilities, characteristics and quality of the project to be undertaken.

Quality - Software quality measures how well software is designed/implemented (quality of design) and how well the software conforms to the design (quality of conformance). At Sharp Coders's we take software quality very seriously as we understand you require a quality product and therefore we employ tried and trusted method to help achieve this.

Constraints - Constraints are additional requirements put on the project that don't directly relate to the design of the project. Sharp Coders's will work with the project sponsor at this early stage to establish the project constraints. Examples of these can be a deadline that is being driven by another project that CANNOT be broken or certain quality metric goals that must be achieved.

Requirements Document - Once the requirements have either been captured or generated it is time to create a requirements document that spells out the requirements for the project. This will include requirements on what the project should do, quality requirements and project constraint requirements.

Quotation: Taking into consideration the risk and the requirements a written quotation will then be created. The quotation will specify the cost, scope and time scales for the project.

Assess - Using the project requirements, quality criteria and project constraints Sharp Coders's will assess this information to help come up with a quote. Risk analysis is a technique to identify and assess factors that may jeopardize the success of a project. This technique also helps to define preventive measures to reduce the probability of these factors from occurring. By identifying possible risk in the project it allows both parties to have a good understanding of not only the risk but also the impact on the project.

Quote - Taking into consideration the risk and the requirements a written quotation will then be created. The quotation will specify the cost, scope and time scales for the project.

Specification: A successful project can be achieved by having a clear concise specification.

Product Definition - At this stage Sharp Coders's starts work on the 'Product Definition' document that refines the list of requirements and describes clearly and accurately the requested behaviour of the system.

Schedule - Once the product definition has been completed and reviewed then work can begin on the project schedule. The project plan shows the various milestones and deliverables of the project and allows a constant flow of information back to the project sponsor.

Development: Once the project specification/project plan has been agreed then the development stage begins. Quality and performance is maintained throughout this stage.

Implementation - Implementation is performed by Sharp Coders experienced development team based in Edinburgh using the latest design tools. At Sharp Coders's the Implementation process will be run in parallel with the Software Testing and Documentation Tasks.

Software Testing - Software Testing is the process of validating and verifying that the software being developed meets the business and technical requirements. At Sharp Coders's we use independent test engineers based in Edinburgh for the task.

Documentation - Software documentation consists of the source code documentation as well as the documentation required to operate the delivered software package.

Communicate - At Sharp Coders's we believe that communication is key to a successful project. Therefore we not only provide feedback on the whole development phase but we make a key member of the development team available to discuss any part of the development phase at any time.

Project Completion: Once the development is complete and the product completes the Quality Assurance phase it will be installed and signed off.

Quality Assurance - Once the development stage is complete full system testing is performed using the product definition generated during the specification stage. This ensures that when the project is handed over it has no known defects and the system performs as specified.

Deliver - After the testing phase is completed the product will be delivered and installed. Once the client is happy with the product; the project will be officially signed-off.

Support - Once the product has been signed-off Sharp Coders believes that the job is still not done. Therefore Sharp Coders's provide a 60 day support contract included in the original cost of the project. Sometimes depending on the type of project support needs to be extended. Sharp Coders's can be flexible in the type and length of support. Sharp Coders's can provide training on the new technology or training material.