* this article is loosely related to a real case but is primarily concerned with highlighting some principles about the value of great systems and well run projects.

White Wall Web (WWW) is involved in development projects that have a far greater affect on companies, industries and the economies of the countries in which these companies find themselves than I had ever previously realized.It has become apparent that the development of software solutions is possibly far more than just automation of a paper based processes to meet a business’s requirements or drivers. I will use a business case to explain this further.

Business Case: Company X

White Wall Web (WWW) was mandated by Company X (a new client on the block) to replace their existing software solution. The industry that Company X is involved in is highly competitive yet they are still managing to operate profitably. However the strain of working so intensely under highly stressful conditions is taking its toll on those working within the company.

Insight

Employees often have to work long hours and over weekends to deal with their workload largely due to faulty and inefficient software.

Management employees are also under high pressure to provide comprehensive reporting required for running the business which is drawn from unreliable data sources. This creates pressure and uncertainty which filters down to all levels of the company.

The current legacy software solutions in place are the source of much of Company X’s frustrations. If these software solutions could be consolidated into a single solution that centralizes all data allowing scalability then Company X could overcome its current stumbling blocks and be catapulted into rapid, sustainable growth.

The side effects for Company X’s working environment are the detrimental to employee well being and organizational culture. One indicator of this can be seen by the high turn-over rate of staff during the period of our initial consulting.

There is no doubt that the main outlet of this kind of strain for working people is their supporting family unit (I speak from experience and general logic). One can imagine that a high level of strain is currently being felt by Company X’s employees’ families and support structures.

One then wonders how far reaching the affects of a stressful working environment is. Imagine that Company X currently employs 40 people. On average let’s say that each of these employees has 3 family members (40 * 3 = 120 people). Then consider that each of these 120 is involved in some capacity in society. This is a far reaching impact of a single stressful working environment.

Now you might find this deduction seemingly far fetched but there is no doubt in my mind that there is a significant waterfall effect of stress passed on from companies to employees to society. What’s your opinion?

Also consider that this company exports it’s services and has the potential to open branches in several countries around the world. The system headaches that they currently experience make this prospect a scary one instead of an exciting opportunity for them. Export revenue is much needed for South Africa at this point in this country’s history. A better system for Company X could thus have a significant impact on South Africa’s economic growth.

We understand these dynamics and this is why we are passionate about systems that really work.

Process

WWW now has the opportunity to replace the current un-scalable solution with one that will scale and enable Company X to capitalize more fully on its great potential. So what process did we follow?

One of the requirements of the mandate to replace their existing solution was that WWW provide fixed quotations for the project in its entirety. As an agile development house, this posed some real problems for us. We know that “big design upfront” simply does not work as it promises to, but had empathy with our client who has been burned with failed projects in the passed and needs to work with fixed budgets. We found a solution…
Our approach was to apply a conventional SDLC (systems development life cycle) structure to the project prior to quoting. Utilizing the SDLC structure we divided the project up into 3 phases: Analysis, Development and Design. What we committed to was to providing a fixed quotation for each next phase of the project life cycle. The fixed quotation for each phase would be provided at the completion of the previous phase and we could roughly estimate one further phase forward.

Initial business analysis and consulting was conducted by the WWW team in which the requirements for the Analysis phase of the project were gathered. A fixed quote was then provided, accepted and WWW delivered our most comprehensive User Requirement Specification (URS) to date. The URS in short comprises of detailed documentation of all the current business processes, rules and current and future system requirements.

Growth

Following from the Analysis phase we look forward to completing successfully Design and Construction phases of this project.

This is what I see when I take a step back and review our system developments process from a macro level (the forest from the trees).

Software solutions these days are integral to all businesses and operations. Building the correct solutions strategically aligns and enables growth, especially in competitive industries. In taking company X through the development process outlined above we have had the opportunity to plan and document the foundational requirements needed to achieve this goal.

What are the spin-offs of successfully delivery on these requirements going to be for Company X?

1. Consolidation of business processes across company into one single software solution. This will help the company to align itself by allowing them to focus on delivery of core business requirements as there is no longer confusion over application of business rules.
2. The restoration of sustainable working environment stands out for me as the most valuable outcome of a successful solution. Employees will be empowered to work efficiently and manage their work requirements so that other areas of their lives are not neglected. In effect this is not only restoration of a sustainable working environment but potentially a level of restoration of employee’s private lives, family relations and in turn other knock on effects in society.

Of course IT solutions are only the tools in themselves but successful development and change managed implementation will produce these spin offs outlined above in some measure.

For a bit more on how to manage a positive change in an organization, get buy in etc. read about the discipline of Change Management.

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