May larger challenges arise, in terms of development of the new modules or new stand-alone web applications, our team will adjust its resources and deliver a solid digital product in timely fashion.
When deciding on the approach to a certain development project, we at Fermicoding are considering factors that go beyond just listed requirements.
Discovery: The Discovery phase stands as the foundational stage in our website development process, where we delve deep into understanding the Client's vision, objectives, and user needs. Our team will engage in comprehensive research, stakeholder interviews, and in-depth analysis of existing systems and content. This phase aims to unearth critical insights into user behaviors, market trends, and technological requirements, aligning our strategies closely with the Client's goals. By collaboratively exploring and defining project scopes, user personas, and functional specifications, we ensure a holistic understanding of project nuances. This thorough Discovery phase lays the groundwork for a strategic and tailored website development process, fostering a clear roadmap for successful project execution.
KPIs: Internally we track the progress of the project using a Burndown chart. This way we can detect if the project is off course early, and act accordingly to bring it back on track. We also track spent time on each task using Clockify.
Quality assurance: We are committed to delivering exceptional IT solutions and services that consistently meet and exceed our Clients' expectations. Quality is the cornerstone of our operations, and we believe that it is integral to the success of our business.
In development we always use industry best practices. Our team lead performs daily code inspection and advises the team on best approaches or possible improvements. We plan to assign one tester working part time for two months to perform:
- manual testing
- automated testing - creating automated functional tests
Any bugs found would be logged in Trello as a task assigned to the team lead, who would organize debugging sessions until all bugs have been resolved.
Project communication: We use Slack for internal communication and collaboration, and also Google Meet for daily standups and other meetings.
For communication with the Client and/or stakeholders we use the tools that are most convenient for them ( e.g. Zoom, MS Teams and email ). If necessary, we record video conferences, for the purpose of retaining all detail needed for task clarity.
Our team will be available Monday through Friday, 9:00 AM through 5:00 PM, Belgrade local time, both per email and over the phone and, whenever deemed necessary, in person.
In terms of frequency of communication this is our proposed timeline:
Intensive communication and frequent meetings in the beginning, when we are defining the architecture
A relaxed communication period giving us space to focus on the development phase. Setting up weekly meetings only if it is necessary
After the development phase is finished and implementation phase begins, setting up a meeting once a week to keep the Client up to date and get feedback and clarifications; same goes for testing phase.
Project scope: We meticulously analyze the documentation provided by the Client and take into account that the changes/additions are the integral part of every project.
Change management: If a change request should arise during the course of the project, or a modification or a new feature, we will document it in a change request documentation. Once a certain number of change requests is gathered we will estimate the needed work and provide a cost. The Client can then cancel or agree, modify by removing some items from the list, thus reducing the total price. The final list – order named Workpackage would have to be signed by the Client before we can execute it. We would be able to start working on it only after the end of the development phase.
Budget and cost control: Ensuring efficient budget management and stringent cost control measures are integral to our project ethos. Our approach involves meticulous budget planning, clearly defining expenses, and regularly monitoring expenditure against milestones and deliverables. We employ transparent financial reporting tools and project management systems that provide real-time insights into budget allocation and utilization. Additionally, proactive risk assessment allows us to identify potential cost variations and implement proactive measures to mitigate any budgetary discrepancies. Our commitment to cost-effectiveness extends to leveraging scalable resources, optimizing workflows, and exploring innovative solutions without compromising on quality. This diligent budget oversight throughout the project life-cycle ensures that we deliver on our commitments within the allocated budget, providing our Clients with a financially sound and successful outcome.
Risk: It is a good practice to be prepared for things going south, so we have identified a few possible, however unlikely risks, and mitigation actions:
Employees leaving the company during the project:
Fermicoding has additional resources with equal seniority and knowhow to put in place, but minimal on-boarding lag is expected in such a case.
We also have a business relationship with several IT sourcing companies. These are companies with hundreds of developers waiting to be rented out for a project
Flu season and possible COVID-like spread could render some team members inactive:
We have good relations with several other Drupal agencies which have developers on bench, and can easily borrow them as short term replacements
Unexpected geopolitical or natural circumstances which could delay, but not stop the development/work:
We host our projects on remote servers abroad with multiple backups in place and have other ways of securing the data
Project tools and technologies: The tools below will be used during the project implementation:
Trello: Bug and issue tracker
Testlink: Web tool designed for management, execution and structure of test plans within a project or service.
GlT: Source code version control repository.
Slack: Tool for internal communication and collaboration
Google Meet: Tool for video conferencing
Google sheets: Burndown chart
Jira: Tool for task planning, tracking and traceability – kanban board.
Project Closure: Project is closed once:
All the features have been developed
All reported bugs have been resolved
The website/module is live on the production environment, documentation has been handed over and staff training has been completed
At which time the warranty starts.
Continuous Improvement: We like to continuously improve our service delivery over time. For this reason, after the project is done, we like to setup a feedback session where we want to hear what was good and what could be improved. We have extensive experience with long-term maintenance combined with occasional development work. Our 10-year Client has seen his original website turns into a comprehensive Information system with built-in AI features all of which have developed over time and helped him scale up his business.
