We know technology projects can be daunting. They are often plagued by missed deadlines, ballooning costs and subpar communication. At Provisio, we chart a course for success by ensuring your project is tailored to meet your specific technology needs, goals, schedule and budget. We are your partners throughout the project process, working with you to ensure success during all phases.
Command Center
See Everything in One Place
Remember the classic bridge layout from Star Trek, where the captain can access any information simply by swiveling his chair or touching his comlink? In the same way, we want to make sure that all of the resources for your project are ready at hand. We value your collaboration and ongoing input.
You'll be provided with access to our web-based project management tool, which allows us to keep everything in one place and makes sure that you can easily find project updates, task progress, and milestones. Most importantly, it avoids the difficulties of managing via email! Communications are simplified so that they are always available and can be easily referenced.
Charting Your Course
Determine Where and Why We're Going
Before we set off, we need to know where we're going. We also need to know why we're going. This time of discovery is when we work primarily on understanding your goals. What problem does the software solve? Who will be using it? What does it need to do? Our deliverable is a Scope Summary explaining the intent of the software, why it exists, and what it should be able to do when completed.
For example, let's say that you want to book passage to the planet Alderaan. While it's important to know the destination, we also need to know the purpose (and we need more detail than knowing that it's important to avoid any Imperial entanglements!). We need to know why we're going (to deliver plans), how we'll get there (a Corellian cruiser rumored to be the fastest in the galaxy), and what we may encounter along the way (see aforementioned Imperial entanglements). Charting the course is crucial!
No Technobabble Allowed
Now that we know where and why we're going, we need to determine how we'll get there. Functional Specifications provide the detail. Now before you stifle a yawn, we're not talking about dreary documents full of technobabble. Our specifications are presented as user stories, which are short, simple descriptions of a feature told from the perspective of the person who will be using it. These make it easy for you to understand what we'll be building. This allows us to include details about user types, permissions, content types, workflow logic, integration points, etc., that are easy to read and comprehend.
Design a Great Experience
The user experience (UX) is the way that a user interacts with the software. This part of the process is kind of like drawing the map - it's the visual representation of the solutions we're going to create. We have to start with a good story, but if we can provide good illustrations (like storyboards before filming begins), then you can visualize the steps we'll take to reach the destination. This can include digital illustrations and interactive models (wireframes) to help you "see" the product before we start to build it.
Full Speed Ahead
How We Get You Further, Faster
Now the fun begins! The development team will start building the application. Milestones will be established to mark progress, and these will serve as evaluation points when each milestone is achieved.
Provisio follows agile development methodology. That means that we deliver working software at the conclusion of each development sprint, allowing us to work collaboratively with you. We evaluate what we've built so far and then plan priorities for the next development sprint. This enables you to make good decisions about your software budget and helps ensure that your project is successful.
Development Sprints
A sprint is a dedicated development effort to complete a specific set of user stories. Each sprint includes 1-2 weeks of development. At the start of the sprint, we determine together with you which stories should be included in the sprint. Although some basic projects may need only a couple of sprints, many projects will require more, and after the first few sprints we get pretty good at estimating our velocity.
Take It For a Spin
Agile methodology enables us to perform QA as a part of each sprint. However, once the core functionality and theming have been completed, our QA team will identify any remaining issues, missing functionality, confusion with the UX, etc. Then we invite you to use the software in a beta test period, and we encourage you to include people who are not familiar with the software so that we get the most accurate feedback possible. We'll address issues and prep for the final step.
Mission Accomplished
Where Do We Go From Here?
Once all testing is complete and any subsequent issues are addressed, the site is ready for release! Thanks to the process, the deployment should be simple and quick.
In order to flourish at your new destination, you need a stable and welcoming environment. Provisio's hosting solutions are fast and scalable. We ensure that your site can handle the traffic and activity for which it's been designed. Uptime monitoring and alerts help us respond to any changes and keep things optimized for best performance.
As a part of our hosting agreement, we also provide a development environment so that we can quickly deploy new functionality.
Prep for the Ongoing Journey
You may have arrived at your destination, but we know you're thinking about the future. Most of our projects have multiple phases, which means that we launch a set of functionality and then begin working on the next. This enables you to deliver value to your organization and your customers while continuing to explore new ways to improve and expand your offerings. We are ready to start planning for the next leg of your journey!