Creating an effective Internet presence and developing custom software can be a complex undertaking. ION strongly believes that client education and participation is critical to the success of any software and/or web development project.

The following information is presented to provide a “brief” explanation of the various layers of complexity and opposing forces involved in the four step development process.

1. Design: ION can use existing design specifications to build the applications, or conduct a complete Joint Application Design (JAD) process. JAD is an organized, rational process for, in the shortest possible time, gathering requirements such as company objectives, current workflow processes, input and output screens and reports, database design, and application requirements. A successful JAD session demands commitment and participation by the firm, and offers the benefits of higher end-user satisfaction, reduced product design time, and minimized “scope creep.” Once the design phase has been completed, ION can determine the scope of work required for the rest of the application.

2. Development: To speed up the development process, ION uses RAD (Rapid Application Development) development tools that “recycle” templates and tools. Many of the mundane database management routines for inserting, updating, deleting, and listing records can be automatically generated to help reduce the overall cost of custom development work. By also designing centralized stored procedure and processes that run server side, the reuse of common routines will increase the response time and speed of the application.

3. Testing: This phase consists of reviewing and testing to make sure that all the requirements are met. We believe that the customer must be involved in all phases of the development process so that the final product look and feel will be familiar. We strongly recommend that designated users of the system review and test all aspects of the application before it goes into production.

ION uses a multi-step testing process:
• Unit testing is used for small functional requirements used by a single page,
• Functional testing to examine page level access, and
• Application testing – ensure that all aspects of the functions and procedures work together.

4. Integration: This phase of the development process consists of three components:
• Moving the application from ION’s staging server to the client’s own server, installing, and testing the application
• The migration and population of actual data, and
• User training and support.