Frequently Asked Question
Software Development States
Last Updated 8 years ago
During the development phase your project will be classified at five different milestones and these are detailed below:
SPECIFICATION
This is the time when we collectively establish a specification for the project, this would normally include a functional design specification which defines the actual operation along with database design and aesthetic design specifications. The specification should always be established at the start of the project as changes to it during or after the project is complete can be expensive in both time and cost.
DEVELOPMENT
During this phase the Systems Development Group works hard to bring the specification to life to your specification. There are several areas of development involved which include programming, database design and functions, graphics design and web design but these developers work together to produce the final solution.
ALPHA
During the alpha phase, which is always carried out in house, we test the development project with a full range of input, output, and functions to ensure that everything works. The testing is very analytical and based on the actual programming, for example, if an input box is designed to accept numbers from 1 to 9 then the testing will include numbers smaller and larger, letters, symbols, and even control characters to ensure validation works correctly and bad input is rejected. When everything is tested and working then we move on to the next phase of testing.
BETA
During the beta phase, we deploy the project to either a test system, or the live/production system depending on the customers requirements and the project complexity. During the beta phase its over to the customer to test the project and ensure it both meets their specification but also their expectations. There is often a small amount of changes brought during beta testing but its usually limited to changing tab order, or renaming a field or changing a graphic etc. Any issues discovered during BETA are then resolved and when there are no more issues and no more changes then the project moves on to its final phase.
PRODUCTION
During the production phase the development project is considered complete to specification and the customer is happy. The project is deployed to live/production hardware if not already done so during BETA and initial database state is established. Often there's data to migrate from a previous system or other source and that's also done at this point. Once the project reaches production phase the project is considered complete and the development ticket(s) are handed over to finance for final billing and so on.
If any issues arise after the project is complete then you will need to raise a new ticket for Systems Engineering and please include the development ticket in the request so we can quickly locate all the documents relating to the project.
SPECIFICATION
This is the time when we collectively establish a specification for the project, this would normally include a functional design specification which defines the actual operation along with database design and aesthetic design specifications. The specification should always be established at the start of the project as changes to it during or after the project is complete can be expensive in both time and cost.
DEVELOPMENT
During this phase the Systems Development Group works hard to bring the specification to life to your specification. There are several areas of development involved which include programming, database design and functions, graphics design and web design but these developers work together to produce the final solution.
ALPHA
During the alpha phase, which is always carried out in house, we test the development project with a full range of input, output, and functions to ensure that everything works. The testing is very analytical and based on the actual programming, for example, if an input box is designed to accept numbers from 1 to 9 then the testing will include numbers smaller and larger, letters, symbols, and even control characters to ensure validation works correctly and bad input is rejected. When everything is tested and working then we move on to the next phase of testing.
BETA
During the beta phase, we deploy the project to either a test system, or the live/production system depending on the customers requirements and the project complexity. During the beta phase its over to the customer to test the project and ensure it both meets their specification but also their expectations. There is often a small amount of changes brought during beta testing but its usually limited to changing tab order, or renaming a field or changing a graphic etc. Any issues discovered during BETA are then resolved and when there are no more issues and no more changes then the project moves on to its final phase.
PRODUCTION
During the production phase the development project is considered complete to specification and the customer is happy. The project is deployed to live/production hardware if not already done so during BETA and initial database state is established. Often there's data to migrate from a previous system or other source and that's also done at this point. Once the project reaches production phase the project is considered complete and the development ticket(s) are handed over to finance for final billing and so on.
If any issues arise after the project is complete then you will need to raise a new ticket for Systems Engineering and please include the development ticket in the request so we can quickly locate all the documents relating to the project.