Engagement
Our first one or more meetings are all part of the engagement process. While no rings are exchanged, information and knowledge are. This is the process in which we both decide if we can create a final solution to meet your goals. We will discuss your ideas of a final outcome, while we will input our ideas and experiences to help with the formation of a high level plan.

Yasgar Technology Group is involved with companies in many different industries. There are often times when solutions for one industry lead to unique ideas on how to resolve issues in another. We will also discuss any involvement with companies or projects if we feel there may be a conflict of interests.

Discovery
After we have sketched a high level plan and have agreed on an outcome, the real work begins. We will develop a totally custom proposal for the solution by gathering information and literature about your company from within. This process is extremely important, since it forms the blocks on which the solution will be built.

Yasgar Technology Group will concentrate on developing as sharp a view of the processes and people that will be involved and affected by the project. These people are the best source of information about what currently works, as well as what doesn’t. A wish list is often created in order for us to analyze what items we can resolve with a solution. How the project is perceived by employees and clients is often more important then it’s actual value in productivity or cost savings.

Design / Copy
Once the Discovery process is mainly completed, the Design/Copy stage begins. This is where Yasgar Technology Group consultants will organize all the information and make decisions on what to do with all the pieces of the puzzle. The considerations are items such as Integration with and effect upon current systems, workflow issues, use by disabled persons, scalability, etc.

For web based solutions, there is the time consuming issue of copywriting. The information presented must be extremely consise and useful, which often isn’t the case with literature that a company may currently have. Most printed literature is designed for appearance more than information. Internet users do not have the advantage of a salesperson standing in front of them to ask questions, so they want quality information, not fluff.

Development
Once all the homework and information is gathered, workflow and overall goals agreed upon and platforms considered, development can begin. Jumping the gun on the beginning of the development cycle is a fatal mistake. If you want to have a perfect recipe for cost over-runs or failed projects, starting development after the first engagement meeting is key.

Yasgar Technology Group will begin development at our headquarters unless resources at the client site, such as mainframe access are required. If remote access is not available, arrangements will be made to have one or more consultants on site during periods which such access is required.

Testing
Once large blocks of the developed product are functional, a testing plan will be executed by our staff, as well as volunteers or those assigned at your site. Testing scripts will always include expected results along with the freedom to have users experiment with using the application in ways not described in the test plan. Test plan scripts will include run throughs of all major functionality of the application.

Yasgar Technology Group realizes that testing and proofreading cannot be sufficiently completed by our developers and copywriters. The old adage of "If I knew it was wrong, I wouldn't have done it to begin with," still holds true today. The best method of testing is to have users with no idea how the application is "supposed" to work. This will also help to uncover many general usability issues.

Production
Once completed with the standard testing phase, a complete installation in the production environment will occur. At this point, more testing is required, but is often limited because of the use of "live" data. We can run through test plans as best as possible without compromising production data.

Yasgar Technology Group will often recommend a pilot situation, depending on the possible impact to overall corporate productivity. If the impact could be substantial, a pilot phase will usually be implemented. This will include a period of time where the majority of employees run the newly developed system while the older method is still in use. This phase always turns up a few more issues that can be resolved before rollout to the entire user base.

Marketing
Marketing, both internal and external, is essential to the successful rollout of new software and hardware solutions.

Internal marketing can be as simple as a few meetings during the beginning phases of the project, which help foster the feeling of being involved. This effort pays off greatly during the deployment phase, since employees are already familiar with the project and it's goals.

External marketing, as to the overall effect the new project will have on your clients and suppliers can be very effective advertising. It also helps to prove your company has a leg up on the competition.

Deployment
Deployment is the phase of actual distribution of the new solution to the intended audience. If there is a physical distribution and installation process for the application, it would have been part of the testing phase of the development. If there are infrastructure changes in the home office or field offices, this stage can become a project unto itself, requiring the complete analysis, beginning with engagement.

Yasgar Technology Group can provide deployment services for application which require distribution by CD or physically visiting locations to make changes to network hardware, desktop and server configurations, etc.

Support
Support for a new application or rollout is just as important as the development. Users that don't have an easy path for support will quickly become disenchanted with deployment, even with the best written software.

Yasgar Technology Group will help train your on-site staff or provide support during the deployment phase for applications deployed within your company. Yasgar Technology Group does not currently have the facilities to support applications released to the general public.