Seven-Step Process

J Street has developed a seven-step process to keep projects moving forward, on-time, and on-budget. Throughout all the phases of the project, J Street will monitor statuses, manage resources, re-estimate tasks, prepare status reports, discuss new proposed features, and coordinate cross-program decisions with practical methods. Each individual project will be addressed in phases, consisting of:

1.  Consultation

• We meet with you to discuss your overall objectives and to see if we can provide you with a solution that meets your timeline and budget.

2.  Analysis

• We hold meetings with key staff to learn about the current systems, and to determine the requirements from all the people who will be using the system.

• We review existing systems and procedures to understand and document the “as is” environment. We identify features that must be retained, those that fall short of the desired goals, and those that are no longer desired or necessary.

• We maintain a detailed Question and Answer (Q&A) document to communicate effectively between J Street and your company.

• From this activity we build a Features List. This is the list of activities the application will perform or support, and defines the overall scope of the project. The Features List is monitored throughout the project to ensure that the scope remains understood and controlled.

• We build a system architecture description that defines the server and application technology that will be used for the project, and a description of the computing environment available at your company.

3.  Estimate

• Deliver a high-level Project Plan, which includes top-down cost and schedule estimates for all components and activities for the new systems. Top-down estimates do not identify individual screens, web pages, reports, etc. Instead, they are high-level estimates using our past experience with similar projects, the perceived complexity level of the new systems, etc.

4.  Design

• Based on the interview process and the Features List, we design the architecture that will support the requirements.  We review the architecture  with selected customer personnel to check it for suitability. We keep using the Q&A document to track decisions.

• We describe and sketch the screens, web pages, reports, imports and exports that will comprise the application.

• We work on defining business rules: the validity checks, error messages and automatic actions that give the system its “intelligence” to meet the requirements.

• We define security requirements by identifying the specific permissions that groups of users will have.

• During this process, we review everything with key staff to make sure that we are meeting their requirements. We use the Q&A document to keep track of design decisions made.

Re-Estimate (If Necessary)

After the application design is complete, it is sometimes necessary to re-estimate the project from the bottom up. The estimates created during High-Level Requirements Definition are top-down, meaning that they do not identify individual screens, web pages, reports, etc. Instead, they are high-level estimates using our past experience with similar projects, the perceived complexity level of the new systems, etc. The new bottom-up estimate includes all the individually identified and designed components and activities, and adds them up for a more accurate and detailed cost and schedule. From this point forward, these feature and task level estimates are used to track the project status.

5.  Construction

• When the design is finalized and the bottom-up estimate has been approved, we begin construction. This is the process of building the actual screens, web pages, reports, and server logic that comprise the working application.

• The construction phase requires less interaction with staff, but there will be meetings to resolve design issues that arise during construction and to review progress.

6.  Delivery & Documentation

• J Street personnel will work with your company to schedule appropriate times for installing the applications. We will work onsite at to the extent necessary to ensure a smooth installation.

• J Street personnel will build all desired technical documentation for the system, including complete database design documents (Entity Relationship Diagrams and Data Dictionaries), Business Logic and Pseudocode (when appropriate), System Architecture Overview, and Business Data Flow Diagrams

7.  Training & Support

• We work with your staff to “train the trainers” which reduce costs and enhances full ownership and responsibility for the new applications.

• As the system gains acceptance and more employees start to use it, issues, questions and enhancement requests will come up. J Street will be available to answer questions, resolve issues or make minor system modifications.

• Major system enhancements and new features will be handled as separate projects using this same structure.