Initial Specification

All projects start with some business requirements. These requirements need to be translated into technical specifications so that progress can be monitored and the deliverables match with the original requirements. If you don't have detailed specification for the solution you want, we can work closely with you to create one. This may involve:

• Defining / redefining the business requirements, features, benefits and the overall goals of the project, in order to align business goals and IT priorities.
• Create flow charts
• Discussing cooperation.
• Looking at the pros and cons of your existing systems and other systems you may have been considering. We will help you evaluate your options.
• Providing a draft specification and cost estimate for your feedback.
• Project planning and prototypes.

Once we have outlined the specifications for the project, we will plan the development cycle and identify resources. This is when the quality process starts. We produce a draft design and develop prototypes to ensure that we that the project progresses smoothly from start to finish.

Integration & Development

All throughout the course of the project, we have ongoing communications with clients to ensure that they are satisfied with the progress and we will make any changes if necessary. We seek feedback on a regular basis and integrate it into the development process along with risk and quality management. We can integrate your new solution with your existing systems.

Project Leadership Approach

Normally, Eskalate will assign two leaders to a project: Project Manager and Technical Lead. The Technical Lead is the technical leader for the project. Apart from the technical success, he also makes sure everything gets delivered on time and with high quality. The Project Manager is responsible for all communications and documentation of the project including reporting, updates to requirements, status tracking, change requests and so on. All Eskalate project managers are fluent in English. The Project Manager acts as an advocate of the clients' team to the development team and vice versa. Our concept of a dedicated project manager in Eskalate has been met with success. The Eskalate senior management has regular meetings to review the statuses of all projects and any related issues will be rectified promptly.

Process

The Eskalate project development process is highly influenced by the Rational Unified Process (RUP). At present, the process is slated towards the requirements set forth by the customers. However, in general, we follow the procedures of the above-mentioned methodologies. Projects are executed iteratively. Most of the iterations are in the following phases:

Requirement gathering during the requirement phase, the team and the customer define and /or refine the business requirements and the overall goals of the project. Alignment of business and IT priorities in this phase is crucial, and the team will spend time to understand which architecture and development platform will benefits the customers most. During this phase, the team also begins identifying and mitigating risks. This phase culminates in the vision-approved milestones, which indicates that the customer and our team agreed on the project direction.

Planning & Designing during the planning phase, the team plans the development and makes requirements more specific. The completion of the phase is marked by the approval of the project plan by the customers.

Software developing during the developing phase, the team moves from project planning into the projects themselves.

Integration and testing during the stabilizing phase, the team collects and integrates feedback on the released version, resolves project-related issues, enhances the architecture, and prepares for the next version. We have standards in place for Configuration Management, Code Styles (all code produced follows coding styles) and Project Documentation.

Document Sharing & Management

All project documentation is maintained in a centralized repository-gforge, which is accessible to client over the web. Picture attached

Communication

The development process is completely transparent. Customers are capable of reviewing the process, leaving feedback, and reporting bugs of the project via our server - Gforge. Additionally, we use instant communication services such as Skype and MSN for convenience and so that any issues can be discussed in real time. Eskalate has a strict policy on record filing so that customers can be absolutely sure that the server system shows most current information. All contacts (project managers and technical leads) speak fluent English. All of our engineers have good English reading, writing and speaking skills. In order to facilitate the communication, we can adjust our team working schedule to match up with your communication needs.

Time Different Management

Eskalate's operating hours are adjusted to provide the most efficient coverage with European or North American customer business days.

• Technical Leads have at least 4 hours of overlap with North American and European business hours.
• Project Managers have at least 5 hours of overlap and is available most of the time over mobile phone.

The Development and QA teams can work around the clock, in order to take advantage of the time difference.

Requirement Management

For remotely implemented projects, it is essential that requirements are assessed, analyzed, and updated accurately and effectively. Eskalate has an established requirements-assessment procedure in place. As part of the standard process, the Project Coordinator and Project Manager go from top to bottom, from understanding the client's business processes to creating workflow models of the software to be built and down to creating technical requirements for software. Every step is documented and approved by client along the way.

Eskalate recognizes the need to accommodate requests to make functional or operational changes to the system. All requests for changes will be submitted through the project supervisor on the client side of Gforge. Eskalate will estimate the cost of the change, schedule and system impact of the change and feedback to the Supervisor.

Technology Expertise  

• Servers: Apache, JBoss, Mongrel, Microsoft Office SharePoint Server, J2EE: Java WebStart, BEA WebLogic, IBM WebSphere, Microsoft IIS.
• Programming Languages: NET (С#, VB.NET), Java, C/C++, Ruby, Delphi, PHP, Perl, SQL, HTML/XML, JavaScript.
• Databases: Oracle, Microsoft SQL Server, InterBase, MySQL, DB/2, PostgreSQL.
• Mobile:Android,Iphone,Windows Mobile, Black Berry, Symbian, J2ME.