Alliance of Community Health Plans
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Home > Services > Software Development > Development Process

Development Process

Process Highlights:

  • CUSTOMER-DRIVEN. Unlike very formal and bureaucratic traditional software development processes, our development follows a simple, iterative "discovery" process allowing for total control over the project by the customer at any stage.
  • TRANSPARENT. The customer does not have to sift through hundreds of pages of detailed engineering specs; he or she can instead look at user-friendly "storyboards" which closely mimic the future system.
  • RESULT-ORIENTED. Our development process is iterative, and each stage of the process results in the delivery of part of a working system. The customer does not have wait until the project finishes, but can start playing with the system while the rest of the features are being developed.
  • FLEXIBLE. The customer can remove, modify or add new functionality during the development process at almost any stage in the development process.

Process Overview

Technical Approach

For all software development projects, 3210 Consulting employs a process known as "Iterative Development"-- a client-centric development process designed to gather feedback early and often. In addition, 3210 Consulting employs MCV architecture to provide for flexibility and scalability. Finally, 3210 develops the new PSLawNet application using open source scripting (PHP) and an open source web development platform (LAMP).

Process: Iterative Development

3210 Consulting employs what is known as an iterative and incremental development process in most of its software development projects. This process is centered around developing the solution in iterations or in multiple releases. An iterative approach allows for significant client feedback early and often throughout the development process (versus at the end of development or during the testing phase).

This approach also allows our development team to improve the solution, and align it more closely with client visions and expectations with each release. It favors close communication with clients in developing system requirements versus comprehensive technical documentation, and it stresses quick adaptation of the system to accommodate inevitable changes to requirements.

A brief summary of our Iterative Development process is below:

  • Client Consultation/Requirements Gathering
    The first step in the development process consists of collecting high-level requirements of the software application to be built, and identifying the basic functions that it must perform. Requirements gathering will be conducted through a series of "interviews" with the various stakeholders of the project.
  • Project Scoping
    3210 Consulting will then conduct a comprehensive analysis of the requirements gathered in the previous step. During this stage, the application is mapped out based on the fact-finding performed in the previous stage.
  • Vision Statement
    We then develop a high level description of the purpose, objectives, and key functions of the system to be developed; this description is then shared with the client.
  • User Stories
    Iterative development relies in large part on "user stories." Each major function of the application or system is broken down into "stories"-- one or two paragraph descriptions written in everyday language, describing howw each element of the system works. Once written, we mock up or storyboard this set of user stories. We then share each set of user stories with the client for review, feedback, and eventual approval.
  • Development
    Once a set of user stories is approved by the client, we develop the functionality outlined by that set of user stories. We then release that piece of functionality to the client for acceptance.
  • User Acceptance Testing
    After we release a piece of functionality to the client, the client engages in user acceptance testing to ensure that the functionality has been programmed to their satisfaction and that it is fully usable.
  • Quality Assurance Testing
    Testing is conducted throughout the life of the development stage. Before new code is added, existing code is tested to determine if it can support the new code. 3210 Consulting will conduct comprehensive system testing during and after the Development stage to verify the end-to-end functionality of the application.