1: Initial Discussion...
You may have previously contacted us by telephone or email. In that context, we will have touched on some of
the key points and drivers for your project or idea and if all has gone well, we will have arranged with you
to sit down in an initial meeting to discuss the situation in greater detail. Meeting face-to-face will
enable us to communicate fully and effectively at this early stage.
2: Outline Proposal...
Based on our understanding of the information supplied at this meeting and very much dependent on the complexity
or otherwise of the requirement, we may be in an immediate position to supply you with a proposal
giving a fixed cost for your project.
3: Further detail...
Again, depending on the level of complexity of the requirement, we will need to gather fully detailed
information about your business processes as they apply to the proposed solution in order to ultimately
arrive at a fixed and final cost. This may require various methods of communication including email
and telephone but the preferred method is via face-to-face meetings.
4: Finalise specification...
It is always possible that between the outline proposal and the final specification, requirements
may have changed or functionality added. At this point we would advise you of the impact on costs
and project delivery timelines. We may also be in a position to make suggestions as to how best to
balance functionality against any increase in costs.
Finally, contract terms are agreed. Usually
we request payment in stages based on the phase of development currently attained. Or we can arrange
payment spread equally over the period of development, giving a fixed monthly cost for your budget.
5: Systems Development...
During this time, we will update and involve the customer frequently on progress. Even at this
stage it is not unusual for further requirements and/or functionality to be discussed. If this is the case we will
establish exactly how any such requirement may impact delivery times and costs.
For minor alterations/cosmetic detail, there will be no futher charge. In any event, the customer would be fully informed of
such impact before going ahead with those changes.
6: Systems Deployment...
Testing during the development stage will have been done mainly by the developer(s) against the
finalised specification. The first stage of deployment is usually to install a 'non-live' instance
of the solution for customer/user testing to confirm that requirements have been met and to
report any issues that may arise.
Once the customer is satisfied that this is completed, the
installation will move to full live deployment. This may involve us liasing with customer staff
depending on the complexity of the deployment.
If the solution is web-based then we can liase with, or provide, your
web hosting space and offer management of this as part of the overall support packege.
7: Systems and Personnel Support...
A Support package will have been discussed and costed as part of the overall solution, if this
was required. It will have been tailored to your specific needs and will be reviewed in terms of
what is still required by you the client on an annual basis.
We normally ask the customer to nominate up to two personnel as support liaison. For details of the various aspects
of our support services, please go HERE