Methodology

We have moved to an improved model:

In keeping with our ambitious growth plans (more domains, different platforms), we have shifted from the evolutionary development model to the more robust unified process

The features of the unified process:

The SDLC is incremental and iterative (as before)

Functional requirements are captured using use cases and scenarios

Each iteration (increment) takes up a selected set of use cases and scenarios

The application architecture is the mainstay of the development throughout

Software Development Life Cycle:

The life cycle is divided into four phases viz., Inception, Elaboration, Construction and Transition. The numbers of increments typically are 2 to 3 in Inception and Elaboration, 3 to 5 in Construction and 2 to 3 in Transition phases.

The Inception phase is devoted to defining objectives, creating preliminary plan and outlining one or more candidate architectures.

Elaboration phase takes up architecturally most significant core requirements. The work in this phase stabilizes the architecture. Based on the experience in this phase, we are able to create credible schedule for the construction phase.

In the Construction phase, rest of the application is built in a number of iterations (increments).

Finally the application is deployed for the client in the Transition phase. User training is a part of this phase.

Testing:

Our testing activities are largely standards driven.

Tool based testing: We use Testing tools such as NUnit and Selenium for ensuring code quality.
Regression tests are carried out as per the testing strategy to ensure compliance with Build and Release management policy.

QA:

Our QA(Quality Assurance) activities are largely standards driven.
Project Management Institute (PMI) has created excellent guidelines on Project Management processes in their PMBOK (Body of Knowledge) document. Our structure for QA processes draws some of its content from the knowledge areas of Initiating, Planning, Executing, Monitoring & controlling and Closing processes. In implementing QA, we pay more attention to the Integrated Change Control and Estimation processes.

Benefits:

The emphasis on Architecture driven development as per unified process ensures that the applications are maintainable while at the same time the development times are competitive. The focus on testing processes results in user delight. This is because the applications are operational sooner after transition. The adoption of PMBOK concepts makes the processes more mature. This should accelerate our growth.