Our Methodology

SDG Group utilises an agile, collaborative development framework to manage our projects. This industry standard methodology is well suited to the interactive nature of analytics projects.

Typical project steps

1. Initial kick-off / planning workshop

We meet with you to establish your business requirements, technical architecture and data feeds, at which time we define documentation requirements and define the expected scale / velocity of the project.

Methodology

2. Early Prototype Delivery

  • We define clear options for both look and feel / UX (front-end) and data model / data flow (back-end).
  • We also recommend and demonstrate the capability of the appropriate tool to provide an efficient method of achieving all use cases.
  • We determine further input required for the advanced design to be completed and provide an early product backlog.

3. Completion of Requirements / Estimates

  • We produce and cutting-edge document detailing solution design & technical architecture.
  • We give you further details on the requirements for the project in the product backlog.
  • Set up a data dictionary to specify source-to-destination mapping and definition of business rules & calculations.
  • Define the number of work streams i.e. “sprints” (typically 2-4 weeks in duration) to split the project into.

4. Sprint Planning

  • Define what goes into each sprint from the product backlog.
  • Define the team: Understand the roles required from the Business / IT / HAL.
  • Define the communication methods / frequency e.g. daily/weekly “stand-ups”.
  • Raise any fundamental blockers to the work stream that could impinge delivery.
  • Create an internal test plan for QA / Unit testing.

5. Sprint Development

For each sprint, we:

  • Develop the areas of work defined by the sprint (from the backlog).
  • Follow the defined communication method; meet with the team to describe work achieved, work to be done and any concerns / blockers.
  • Follow internal QA / Unit Testing:
  • Unit test each area of work relevant to this sprint
  • Break-fix immediately where possible
  • Internally sign-off sprint, ready for User Acceptance Testing.
  • Deploy sprint work into test environment for Business to perform UAT.

6. End to end testing / Documentation

  • Ensure UAT scripts are provisioned to do complete E2E testing
  • Perform stress testing if appropriate
  • Complete all technical & user documentation where requested

7. Final Deployment

HAL are usually responsible for deployment into a development environment but are happy to assist in those cases where the client would prefer to do it themselves.

Our partner deployments vary in complexity depending on the scale of the project and the number of customizations. HAL assist with this process by providing a bespoke deployment document tailored to the client, allowing them to deploy the solution into any environment.

8. Application Support

Our Application support is always available to offer technical support on your tools on an ongoing basis or as at when needed.

Get in touch for advice on any of our services

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