AppIt follows a specific process to reduce common risks associated with any custom software development project. Our team pulls from Agile and waterfall best practices to ensure that your final product is built to your exact specifications and meets your ultimate business need.
The purpose of the Discover phase is to determine if AppIt is a good fit for your business needs. During these initial meetings, you'll connect with a member of our sales organization to review your business goals, technical requirements, project timeline drivers, and any necessary budgetary restrictions.
We understand that we are not a fit for every project or every person with speak with. We guarantee that we will honestly answer all of your questions and point you in the right direction if we aren't the right team for your job. If we are a fit, we guarantee that we will clearly outline the project and explain each step, so you'll always know what's happening.
Assuming AppIt is a fit for your project requirements, the typical deliverable from the discovery process is a project proposal. The proposal will outline the suggested next steps for working together.
This document covers every feature and functionality that will be included in your application, and includes line item pricing for each of those requirements. We'll also propose a project timeline to successfully design, develop, and deploy your application. Usually the timeline estimates we provide in the sales cycle are a high-level estimate.
The purpose of the Design phase is to expand upon information gathered during the Discover phase to set the creative direction of the project and map out exactly what we'll be building during the Develop phase. Our team works alongside you to capture your ideal application user interface, user experience, and tone in the form of clickable, high-fidelity designs and written requirements that bring your vision to life.
Throughout the Design phase, AppIt will complete all research, including hardware and application programming interfaces (APIs), to ensure our development team has a complete understanding of how to fully integrate the new software with any existing software and hardware. This research will highlight any potential risks, development roadblocks, or areas for scope creep and will be discussed before development begins.
AppIt’s UX/UI Design Team will create a fully clickable design prototype of the application(s). The prototype includes every screen within the application(s) so that it can be clicked through to demonstrate the intended user experience and flow. We'll begin by focusing on the key screens of the application(s) that include the most important features. We encourage Client feedback and iterations during this project phase.
AppIt will write complete software requirements in the form of epics and user stories. Epics are high-level features, and user stories are the granular, detailed functionalities that make up features. The purpose of these written requirements is to describe exactly how the application(s) is to function. AppIt will develop the software exactly according to the written requirements to reduce ambiguity and minimize the risk for scope creep, which protects the budget and timeline.
Following Client approval on the clickable designs and written requirements, AppIt will create a detailed schedule for the development project, called a sprint plan. The sprint plan groups epics (features) into roughly two-week increments called sprints and states the delivery dates for each. It also highlights any dependencies on the Client that would potentially impact the development timeline. This represents our commitment to the Client to deliver exactly what we said we would in the timeframe we've promised.
Our team will develop your application to the exact specifications laid out in the clickable designs and written requirements we've agreed upon together. By this stage, the project scope, timeline and risks have been identified and reviewed. During this part of the process, our team will work according to the development schedule set in the previous stage and will provide regular updates on progress.
AppIt is responsible for the delivery of the software features and functionality exactly as represented in the written requirements and clickable designs, according to the schedule set forth in the sprint plan. This enables us to adhere to the agreed-upon project scope, timeline and budget. AppIt operates in roughly two-week development sprints, which is an Agile methodology. We will share incremental software builds (“sprint builds”) with the Client to test at the end of each sprint. Sprint testing provides an opportunity to see development progress and identify any issues or small change requests early in the process where they can be remedied with little to no impact on the project timeline.
Our Quality Assurance team aims to provide clean interim builds at the end of each sprint by following three steps. First, our Quality Assurance Engineer writes a comprehensive test plan that covers each feature in the sprint. Next, at the end of each sprint, our Quality Assurance team rigorously tests the sprint build against the test plan and performs a regression test. Finally, the Project Manager tests the build before sharing it with the Client for testing. When the last sprint is completed and we have reached code complete, our QA team applies the same rigor, testing the software end-to-end before sharing the release candidate build with the Client.
If the Client is planning to conduct internal development or third-party work in parallel with this project, it will need to be managed by the Client directly. AppIt is more than happy to collaborate with other teams. Any co-development will need to be planned in advance within our sprint plan, and adhered to throughout the project in order to avoid delays.
When we have reached the end of the Development phase, AppIt will host a release candidate demo, during which we step through the key features of the software with the Client. This is an opportunity for the Client to see a complete demo of the application(s) and ask any questions before we release the complete test version of the application(s) to the Client for product verification and approval.
With development complete, the final project phase is Deploy. This includes all launch-related tasks following code complete. AppIt will assist Client in deploying software to the live production environment, provide a 30-day warranty period and facilitate project knowledge transfer to Client team.
Throughout development, AppIt will work with the Client to determine the specifics of the launch strategy and timeline. Following the release candidate demo, and any final changes/fixes, AppIt will deploy the app(s) to the production (live) environment. For mobile apps, this means assisting with the app store review and deployment process. For web apps, this means deploying the code to the production server.
AppIt provides the Client with a Reference Guide after launch. This document includes information about the architecture of the application(s), key features, and system integration information as well as instructions for managing user feedback, troubleshooting application support issues, and managing a product roadmap and future software versions. The purpose of the document is to facilitate project knowledge transfer from AppIt to the Client and provide a framework for the Client to begin thinking about ongoing software maintenance and processes. It can be thought of as an owner’s manual for the application(s).
AppIt offers a warranty period during which we cover any bug fixes in the live environment and assist with transferring project ownership to your team. AppIt will arm you with the project knowledge and documentation you'll need to manage your application now that it is live.
Reach out to us to discuss app development services for your company. We'll get back to you within 24 business hours.
