Software Development
Whether you own a small business with only a handful of employees, or
a large company with hundreds or even thousands of employees, eXoloop can
help you to create the right software solutions that will increase your
business productivity and give you an advantage over your competition.
eXoloop's software development department employs an highly experienced
group of software developers with wide variety of expertise. The vast
knowledge base eXoloop's software developers possess a vast knowledge base
that allows us to offer unique software solutions to your company and resolve
any technical demands your company may face.
Although the steps for developing a software solution might change
according the size of the project, applied technology, and other factors,
all software development projects at eXoloop have a common structure which
helps us deliver high quality software products in a reasonable timeframe.
Project Structure
eXoloop's project development process has been mostly influenced by the
Israeli Military's Project Development Standards and the Microsoft Solutions
Framework (MSF) tools and development methodologies. At present, the process
is heavily tailored to the requirements and limitations set forth by the
customer; however it generally continues using the main points of the
above-mentioned methodologies.
Envisioning Phase
The envisioning phase serves as an early form of planning in which the
project goals and constraints are defined, and the customer is presented
with a clear vision of the things that the project will encompass. During
the envisioning phase, business requirements are identified and analyzed,
and preliminary risk analysis is performed. These are refined more rigorously
during the subsequent planning phase.
The vision/scope approved milestone culminates the envisioning phase. At this
point, the project team and the customer are in agreement on the overall
direction for the project, as well as which features the solution will and will
not include, and a general timetable for delivery.
Deliverables:
- Vision/scope document.
- Risk assessment document.
- Project structure document.
Planning Phase
The planning phase is when the bulk of the application's analysis and design
are done. During this phase, the eXoloop team prepares the functional specifications,
works through the design process, and arranges work plans, cost estimates, and
schedules for the various deliverables. At the culmination of the planning phase
(the project plans approved milestone), the customer and project team members have
agreed in detail on what is to be delivered and when it is to be delivered. At the
project plans approved milestone, the team reassesses risk, updates priorities, and
adjusts estimates to include resources and schedules.
After the team approves the specifications, plans, and schedules, these documents
become the project baseline. The baseline takes into account the various decisions
that are reached by consensus by applying the three project planning variables:
resources, schedules, and features. After the baseline is completed and approved,
the team transitions to the developing phase.
After the team defines a baseline, it is placed under change control. This does
not mean that all decisions reached in the planning phase are final, but it does mean
that as work progresses in the developing phase. The team should review and approve
any suggested changes to the baseline.
Deliverables:
- Functional specification
- Risk management plan
- Master project plan and master project schedule
Development Phase
During the development phase, the team builds most of the solution components
(documentation as well as code). However, some development work may continue into
the stabilization phase in response to testing. The developing phase culminates in
the scope complete milestone. At this milestone, all features are complete and the
solution is ready for external testing and stabilization. This milestone is the
opportunity for customers and users, operations and support personnel, and key project
stakeholders to evaluate the solution and identify any remaining issues that must be
addressed before the solution is released.
Deliverables:
- Source code and executables
- Installation scripts and configuration settings for deployment
- Frozen functional specification
- Performance support elements
- Test specifications and test cases
Stabilizing Phase
The stabilizing phase conducts testing on a solution whose features are complete.
Testing during this phase emphasizes usage and operation under realistic environmental
conditions. The team focuses on resolving and prioritizing bugs and preparing the
solution for release.
During the early portion of the stabilizing phase, it is common for testing to
report bugs at a rate faster than developers can fix them. There is no way to tell
how many bugs there will be or how long it will take to fix them. Fortunately, there
are a couple of statistical signposts used by eXoloop to estimate how long it will take
to fix most of the bugs and minimize them.
Once a build has been deemed stable enough to be a release candidate, the solution
is deployed to a pilot group. The stabilizing phase culminates in the release
readiness milestone. Once reviewed and approved, the solution is ready for full
deployment to the live production environment.
Deliverables:
- Golden release
- Release notes
- Source code and executables
- Project documents
Deploying Phase
During this phase, the team deploys the core technology and site components,
stabilizes the deployment, transitions the project to operations and support, and obtains
final customer approval of the project. After the deployment, the team conducts a
project review and a customer satisfaction survey. Stabilizing activities may continue
during this period as the project components are transferred from a test environment to
a production environment.
The deployment complete milestone culminates the deploying phase. By this time, the
deployed solution should be providing the expected business value to the customer. The
customer must agree that the team has met its objectives before it can declare the
solution to be in production and close out the project. This requires a stable solution,
as well as clearly stated success criteria. In order for the solution to be considered
stable, appropriate operations and support systems must be in place.
Deliverables:
- Operation and support information systems
- Procedures and processes
- Knowledge base, reports, logbooks
- Documentation repository for all versions of documents, load sets, and code developed during the project
- Project close-out report
- Final versions of all project documents
Project Management
For each project developed, eXoloop assigns two leaders and requests from the customer
to assign his own project manager. The following is the description of the roles of each
of the project leaders.
eXoloop - Project Coordinator
The Project Coordinator is responsible for all communication with the customer and
documentation of the project. He is the only person that communicates with the customer
directly in regards to all issues concerning: reporting, updates to requirements,
status tracking, etc. The Project Coordinator main function is to create a clear channel
of communication between the customer and the development team.
eXoloop - Project Manager
The Project Manager is the technical leader for the project. The Project Manager is
responsible for the success of the project from technical perspective, and is committed
to ensure that everything is delivered on time, and meets the highest quality standards.
Customer - Project Manager
The customer's Project Manager is usually a person that has the capability to handle
all project related issues within the customer's organization, and supply the required
information to the eXoloop development team. In addition, the customer's Project Manager
is responsible for acquiring the approval of the executive level of his company for
every project step, or changes that might be arise.
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