Our Process
This section presents an overview of Zeon's software development process. At Zeon we use a disciplined approach to assign tasks and responsibilities. Our goal is to ensure the production of high-quality software that meets the needs of end-users, within a predictable schedule and budget.
Our development teams work closely with customers, partners and consultant organizations to ensure that the process is continuously updated and improved upon to reflect recent experiences and evolving and proven best practices.
We have enhanced our team productivity, by providing every team member with easy access to a knowledge base with guidelines, templates and tool mentors for all critical development activities. By having all team members accessing the same knowledge base, no matter if they are working with requirements, design, test, project management, or configuration management, we ensure that all team members share a common language, process and view of how to develop software.
Our development teams follow the following 5 best practices in order to create a successful application:
- Efficiently manage requirements
- Iterative development
- Component-based development
- Quality analysis
- Efficient change control and support
Efficiently Manage Requirements
Zeon organizes and documents the required functionality and constraints. At the same time it documents the tradeoffs and decisions and easily captures and communicates business requirements. The usage of use case and scenarios has proven to be an excellent way to capture functional requirements. The use cases drive the design, implementation and testing of software, making it more likely that the final system fulfills the end user needs. The final step of requirements gathering is usually bolstered using a set of prototypes.
Iterative Development
Zeon follows an iterative development process in order to create both simple and complex software systems. With the experience it has realized that it is never possible to define the entire problem at once. At the same time it is never possible to design the entire solution at once either. A system is developed in phases with testing being performed right from the beginning. An iterative approach is helpful as it provides a better understanding of the problem through successive refinements, and allows increment growth towards an effective solution. The highest risk items can be analyzed and addressed at every stage. A phased approach also makes it easier to accommodate changes in requirements and features.
Component Based Development
Zeon religiously follows a component based development. It supports the development of an open-ended architecture that is flexible, that can accommodate changes, and that is intuitively understandable, and promotes more effective software reuse. Components can be simple classes, modules or subsystems that provide a piece of functionality. The components developed by Zeon are a one of the biggest assets that it owns. They are assembled in a well-defined architecture in a component infrastructure such as COM, CORBA that can be easily re-used.
Quality Analysis
Zeon’s goal is to provide quality software to its clients. No application can be error free but an application can definitely be tested again and again to reduce number of errors to a negligible number. An application is only submitted to the client when the quality team has stamped it with seals of 100% reliability, 100% efficiency, & 100% functionality.
The dedicated testing team plans, designs, implements, executes, and evaluates the test plans for each application. Quality analysis is built into Zeon’s process. It is applied in all activities, involving all team members. The development teams follow a nightly build process for both small and large applications. The testing teams pick up the build perform both automated testing as well as manual testing. Usability testing is performed for each and every application in order to provide the best user experience.
Efficient Change Control And Support
Changes are inevitable during software development, so why not handle them efficiently. Zeon stresses on efficiently managing and tracking changes. It uses a process of automated integration and build management to allow peer development efficiently.
Zeon strives for providing best customer support. The development teams are very responsive and helpful. Sufficient training and information is provided to the users of an application. After the application is rolled-out, Zeon provides pro-active support in order to keep the systems running smoothly.