Database: Control Your Information
Organize and control your information using a database optimized for your business needs. Whether you are migrating between database services or upgrading to the newest version, Spot Solutions has the expertise to advise your organization.
Database Planning, Design and Migration
In any enterprise it is essential to organize and control your information to support your business operations. The best way to do this is through a relational database that is optimized for your business needs.
For smaller teams or individuals, MS Access is a useful tool. For web applications MySQL is an excellent choice. And for larger enterprise needs a more robust database engine such as MS SQL Server or Oracle are the best choices. We can assist with all of these platforms, and for database requirements from individuals and small teams to large organizations or even public websites with millions of transactions per day.
Our team of experts can assist you to connect data from diverse data sources to provide a central repository of particular business data. We can assist you with upgrading or migrating data to different data sources. We can architect and build high-availability database configuration with replication, log-shipping or other techniques to make sure your data is always available, even through infrastructure failures.
Our Process
Plan
Some businesses come to us with a clear project idea. Some customers rely on Spot to help them scope a business improvement or product development project. Whatever the case, the Define phase is where we put all the ideas on the table and agree on a “minimum viable product”. This is a project scope that achieves the greatest possible bang for your buck.
The deliverables of this stage are documented concepts and requirements for work we consider “in scope” and ideas to consider later, budget permitting. Finally, we provide you with a quotation for the work scoped.
Details
Once we have the go ahead to proceed, the Details phase is where we design the software. This includes mock-ups of all screens, identifying workflows and processes in more detail, planning project resources and timeliness and identifying any risks. We’re big on risk management, so if any of your requirements include technical or user acceptance risks, we’ll take the opportunity at this point to build a “proof of concept” before we progress to the Build phase.
The deliverables of this phase are detailed screen designs and workflows for you to sign off, any questions/risks conclusively addressed, a project team selected and a timeline established.
Build
The Build phase is where the developers create and test the software against the agreed designs. From this point you’ll see your software come together very quickly.
The deliverables of this phase are regular progress updates and published online “beta versions” of your software for you to test out and provide feedback. We have a Customer Portal where we can collaborate online or we can run regular demonstration sessions face-to-face depending on your availability and preferences.
Accept
The Accept phase is where we do final testing and then hand the software over to you for “user acceptance testing” (or “UAT”). We guide you through the whole process but it really isn’t tricky. This is just where you verify that the software has delivered on the agreed requirements, functionality, look and feel and business outcomes. If anything doesn’t meet our strict quality standards, we’ll address it with no additional costs to you.
The deliverables of this phase are software and handover documentation awaiting your acceptance.
Deploy
Once you have accepted the software, then we have agreed that you can start using it in a live environment within your business. We’ll host the application either at your business (if you have the gear and want it on premise) or we can host it in the cloud.
The deliverables of this phase are deployed software and all the assistance you need to configure users, get everyone up to speed on using it and turn off/archive any legacy systems we are replacing.
Support
Once the system is live, we provide all the support you could need to get the maximum possible benefit from your new software investment. We have a range of support packages to suit your needs. Many businesses opt for custom software because it is infinitely changeable to suit your changing business needs. We are always happy to make changes and enhancements to your software either as part of a premium support package or as small quoted enhancement projects as required.
The deliverables of this phase are great business outcomes and happy and well supported users!