Services

Our solutions are customized for our clients. And while we take pride in our ability to code, we know there are many high quality commericial and open-source tools available. We strive to achieve integrated solutions with a low cost of ownership for today and in the future.

When we develop a custom solution, we don’t just deliver the software. We also deliver the vital supporting artifacts that not only support the design process, but also make the system understandable to the users as well as IT personnel.

Development Process

Requirements Gathering

We listen to your ideas and cull the true business requirements. We document these requirements pictorially and in words, briefly, as an agreement of the system to be developed. Artifacts include a Vision document, a concise explanation of the system to be developed and how it will interact with other systems.

All of our business analysts are systems analysts. Anyone gathering requirements knows how to interact with business people and understands business processes. But they are also systems analysts and understand how software systems work. Thus they ask the right questions in order satisfy the business needs with software.

Analysis / High Level Design

We sketch out the design of the system before we develop it. While attuned to the needs and benefits of a rapid, iterative development process, that doesn’t mean we skip design. Each iteration has a design process. Artifacts include a logical data model, use cases (functional case specifications) and system interface specifications. We can deliver artifacts according to client standards, and are competent in many tools and syntaxes.

Detail Design

Detail Design will result in the physical data model and programming specifications of the methods/components to be built. Each use case will have a use case realization document/model specifying how the components will implement the use case.

Implementation

Third Floor Software recommends joint development with client personnel. In this way, client personnel who will subsequently maintain and further develop the system are trained on system details from the start.

Quality Assurance and Testing

Because our business analysts are systems analysts, they remain on a project under development, writing the test cases and performing the quality assurance testing. They sign off on the system developed before handing it over to the business users.

Deployment

Third Floor Software has extensive experience in deployment. Conversion from old systems to new systems is sometimes a miniproject in and of itself. Our strong emphasis on analysis and design makes it a perfect fit for systems integration design. Third Floor Software can help clients migrate painlessly from old to new environments.

Training & Mentoring

Besides developing systems for our clients, we train client personnel in the process. Client personnel assigned to a software development project architected by Third Floor Software will learn best practices throughout the development process, and will have examples of the artifacts included in a good design.