Application Development
The global software development scoreboard is dismal. Consider these facts from Software Engineering Australia (SEA);
• Prices/Costs for comparable applications can vary by a factor of 15:1.
• 32% of projects are cancelled before they deliver anything.
• Approximately two thirds of every software project undertaken goes over budget in terms of time and cost.
• The average project cost blowout is 87%.
• Each hour spent on quality-assurance activities such as design reviews saves from 3 to 10 hours in downstream costs.
• A requirements defect that is left undetected until construction or maintenance will cost 50 to 200 times as much to fix as it would have cost to fix at requirements time.
• More generally, a defect that isn’t detected upstream (during requirements or design) will cost from 10 to 100 times as much to fix downstream (during testing) as it would have cost to fix at its origin. The further from its origin that a defect is detected, the more it will cost to fix.
These facts occur because software development is a creative process that happens between the user (i.e. the client), the analyst and the developer – and unless the delivery process is managed in a structured way it is all too easy for this creative development to spiral out of control and not deliver on expectations.
It is for these reasons that CSA adopts a structured software development delivery methodology based on the Capability Maturity Model - Software (CMM/SW), elements of Rapid Development teachings and the Zachman Framework for Enterprise Architecture.
Our team of business / systems analysts, certified software engineers and project managers have been developing, delivering and supporting software applications since the company’s inception back in 1986. We utilise various technologies such as .Net, VB.NET, ASP.NET, XML, SQL, Exchange, SharePoint, Linux, Open Source and others. We generally stick to a linear, waterfall-like approach which we have found provides the most rapid development schedule. For the majority of developments we initially conduct a scoping session, the outcome of which is;
• a scope document that defines the terms of reference for the project
• a fixed price for requirements gathering, and
• an estimate for the total solution.
A fixed price for the solution is made once the requirements analysis has been completed.
Application Support
Many of today’s medium and large businesses spend considerable financial and developer resources to maintain existing, custom-developed and departmental level software systems—often to the detriment of strategic, new development, developer morale, and the efficiency of the existing systems.
At CSA, we believe that, in many cases, outsourcing the maintenance of existing, custom applications may be the answer to these challenges. Speak to CSA regarding how we can help you with the support of these applications.