One of the main reason why you would ask a software developer to build you a piece of software is because you have a problem that needs solving.

Our clients have all faced different challenges; for example, one client struggled to manage their exam marking process through Excel spreadsheets, one client needed a way to automate their new product development process because it was manually intensive, while a third client wanted to save time on their events management by linking their events website with their CRM.

Whatever business problem you’re trying to solve, PSP has a track record in building a tailored solution that is built to meet your exact requirements.

We do this by talking to you about your everyday challenges and your people, systems and processes (PSP). This results in a highly tailored solution that streamlines your processes, integrates with your current systems and helps prove the performance of your people.

Incorporating Client Feedback at Every Stage

In software development, we reverse the 80/20 Pareto principle. Rather than focusing 80% of our efforts on just 20% of the project (the development stage), we put equal effort into all five stages:

• Analysis
• Solution gathering
• Project planning
• Development
• Testing

As the client, you are involved in every stage, with your feedback and input implemented into every part of the project lifecycle.

Here’s a more detailed breakdown of each stage and how we collaborate with our clients:

1. Analysis

The analysis stage is the very start of the project where our development and project support teams sit down with you and your stakeholders to gather your requirements and find out more about your business and its systems. This is conducted through site visits and face to face meetings with your teams.

We like to take a back seat through the early stage; acting like a sponge and absorbing as much information about your people, systems and processes as possible.

This then enables our technical teams to build a detailed specification outlining everything the final solution must achieve and the amount of development support you require.

2. Solution

We take all the information gathered during the analysis stage and create an in-depth solution which takes into account multiple factors including performance, your data and architecture (e.g. does it need to be on the cloud or on-premise?), how it integrates with your existing systems and the security of the system.

We explain the solution in a language you understand and adapt our proposed solution based on your thoughts and suggestions.

3. Planning

Once you’ve signed off on the solution, our development and project management teams turn their attention to project planning.

This is where both parties agree on the frequency of the project update meetings (e.g. daily, weekly, fortnightly) and the project manager builds development plans outlining each part of the development. This also sets out project timelines, budgets and who will be working on the project.

As soon as this is signed off by you, it becomes our responsibility to make sure the project is delivered to the agreed timelines and budgets.

4. Development

Throughout the development stage, we remain in constant communication with you, the client.

We have recurring project meetings involving you, the lead developer and the project manager to update on the status of the project and ensure the timelines are being met. This gives you the opportunity to speak openly with us, ask any technical questions and contribute your ideas.

You have access to a test site throughout the project too, so you can test the look and feel and give us your thoughts and recommendations. This means any tweaks you’d like to be made can be done during the development stage, rather than after it.

5. Testing

We perform both functional and non-functional testing at the end of every development project. The test plans are designed early in the planning stage to ensure the testing corresponds with your initial spec.

Once it’s passed our quality assurance, we pass it over to you for User Acceptance Testing before the go-live. This gives you the opportunity to test it in your own environment, we’ll show you how to use the system works and you can request any changes, enhancements or snags.

Client Collaboration Leads to Tailored Solutions

For you, there are three key benefits of us doing it this way:

1. Your final product is tailored to your organisation and is guaranteed to meet all your functional and technical requirements
2. Constant communication with us means you have full transparency over the status of the project and you have full confidence it will be delivered on time
3. The actual development time of your system will be much quicker and streamlined because of the extensive planning that went into the early stages

Are you looking for a bespoke business application, or your next software development partner?

Contact our experts today and let’s talk about your unique requirements. Call 01775 722 377 or email letstalk@psp-it.co.uk