Configuration and Development
As the owners and authors of the Pro-7 Suite of application software, we are fully willing and able to implement changes and enhancements to the system.
We believe that research and product development is the essential element that keeps ProTech competitive and in our opinion, functionally ahead of all others in the sector.
We have just launched the latest version of the product suite Pro-8. The first release came in 1998 and was then called Pro2000. We continue to review and identify new features that will enhance the products usability. In most cases, these ideas are driven by the existing client base. We often undertake client review consultancy sessions where we demonstrate new features at a beta stage and ask for input prior to completion.
We have a dedicated team who control the research and development road-map and management. Development work is then distributed across all developers and scheduled in with support and other development activities. It is our view that all the team should be involved in evolving the product and working with new and emerging technologies. In this way the team gain an enhanced work load that encompasses new developments and they continue to expand their own technical knowledge.
All development undertaken within the system becomes part of the whole for all users of the suite. This ensures that clients who require specific alterations to the standard system do not find themselves operating a bespoke system later down track when an upgrade is required.
Quality Assurance
ProTech take quality assurance extremely seriously. Methods employed for this include peer review, unit, system and acceptance testing, assessment against requirements and design standards and, where appropriate, health-checks by someone external to the project team. To provide a framework for all quality assurance activities, ProTech use a Gateway-based method. In order to proceed, each stage has to pass a Gateway during the End-Stage process. These provide a Go/No-go decision point which can be internal or joint with the client. The number, format and criteria for each Gateway are determined during initiation; a typical set of Gateways is as follows:
- Analysis Gateway - a joint Gateway occurring after business requirements definition.
- Design Gateway - internal, after technical specification. Focused on fit to requirements, overall design constraints of Pro and the continued review of Microsoft standards and conventions. (There may also be a client review after this Gateway)
- Development Gateway - internal, for any product enhancements. The developer will perform unit testing during development, then integration testing once the changes are complete. The software is then peer tested to ensure that obvious issues have been resolved prior to formal quality assurance. In most cases this QA activity is undertaken by the project consultant who initiated the original requirements specification.
- Testing Gateways:
- System Testing Gateway - internal, to ensure that the system is ready for the client to test. The development is first tested against a generic test system at ProTech. It is then tested against a copy of the client's live data to ensure all the configuration parameters operate as expected and there are no client-specific issues with the development.
- UAT Sign-off Gateway - client, to ensure that the solution meets all agreed requirements and is ready for go-live.
However, the Gateways only form part of the quality assurance activities. A clients own internal team will be involved throughout the project and will have regular opportunities to review progress and ensure that any subsequent questions/issues can be resolved during the build / configuration phase. These reviews can be conducted remotely using 'GoToMeeting' (webconferencing).
Please note that as a policy ProTech take regular copies of our clients' live data to aid in the development, QA and general support processes. It is important to note that we have strict security policies with regard to client data which include a 'scrambling' process for all data before it is loaded at ProTech. In simple terms, all live data is randomly scrambled so that addresses and names cannot be correlated, all email, phone, fax and mobiles are replaced with ProTech company details and any financial information is made useless save for actual values.