The application development process

Once you have come up with an idea of what you want, we work with you develop the requirement into a working solution.

Know what you want but find it hard to describe?

Sometimes even describing what you want is difficult. Don’t worry, we understand business challenges.

In that instance we have a quick tool that can help you to work through your ideas and point us in the direction of what it is you are after. Download our Application Development outline design tool here

This tool asks a number of the questions we would do early on and will assist you (and us) from the start.

We take a modern AGILE approach to application development

We have a modern approach to software based on the AGILE development techniques. In a nutshell it’s all about understanding the requirement, quick turnaround on projects and keeping you (the customer) involved throughout.

We add a number of enhancements around defining the requirements to enable us to offer a fixed price on the whole project.

Brainstorming the application development requirements

The best way to kick off the project is to have a discussion of the project or a face to face meeting.

Where there is a large scope or the business rules are complex a day in a conference room for a brainstorming and white boarding session. They always work to
tease out the detail.

Once we have an idea of the project outline, we will put together a ball park cost for you, this will be presented as a “shopping list” so you can pick and choose elements.

Additionally we can suggest project phases. These phases are designed to get the application developed and into your use quickly

Agreeing a project scope, know what you will get – for a fixed price

Once we have agreed what your project will do and how you would like it to function, we will put together a more detailed project scope and confirm the fixed price.

You then know what you are getting, how we are going to work together on the project, a project plan and how much your investment will be.

Early on in the development phase we will also identify areas of parallel activity.

  • Populating data is often something that is required, we will provide spreadsheets that you can complete and we will import to ensure you have a populated system from the start.
  • Identifying any training requirements for users or staff and preparing documentation early on
  • Working with other 3rd parties to integrate our systems with others
  • Single sign-on mechanisms so that users dont have another password to remember


Creating a clickable prototype, for you to try out and play with

Application development prototyping is a great way for you to see how the application will look and work and for everyone to be sure the project is going in the right direction.

We create clickable prototypes and can sit with you to go through the project and also modify elements together.

This part of the application development process has many advantages

  • You can see “early on” what the project will look like
  • You can input into the design before coding begins to ensure the workflow is as you expect
  • The prototype can be referred to in your meetings
  • Something to refer too while the development work is happening
  • Once the prototype has been agreed we can go ahead with code development


Developing your application in short steps, so you get to see and review progress regularly

The agile approach is formed around the concept of short development iterations called “sprints”.

A sprint is made up of a defined list of tasks (agreed with you) and delivered in a fixed block of time. In our case we schedule 2 or 3 week sprints, depending on complexity of the work in that element.

That essentially means that every 2-3 weeks we are delivering demonstrable elements of your project. At the end of each sprint we may release the work for you to review and feed back for the next sprint.

Delivery and assisted testing – so you can understand the system and how it works

We will provide access to your system via one of our development web servers. Here you will be able to review and ensure the new application works as you expect.

You will receive a release note, detailing what has been completed, what is not in this delivery and also any known issues that we are working on.

We will also be on-hand to talk you through the system either face to face or over a shared desktop. We can explain the functions and how they work in practical terms.

Going LIVE with your application

Once all of the development and testing has completed, now it needs to be released into the wild (business). We release projects every week.

  • We always release in a time that is convenient to you and your users,
  • We can migrate existing data from databases / spreadsheets etc
  • We can import data to “prime” the application from the start.


In-life support – Looking after you and the system after the development has completed

Once the project has completed, and you have delivered it to your users, we are on-hand.

All of our work has a 12 month “no Quibble fix” guarantee. We will resolve any bugs or issues in the code that you find for no cost.

You will receive an account on our helpdesk, where we can log tickets and track progress.

As your business evolves (as they do) we are also on-hand to continue to develop and enhance your application to ensure it remains relevant and useful.

Next steps…

If you like the idea of your project delivered in quick agile iterations for a fixed price and a 12 month guarantee of fixes, then that’s what we offer. If you have any questions then please get in touch

Next steps would be to tell us a bit about your project in the form on the right. If you have not yet formed your ideas, out project outline document would help you.

When you do get in touch we will get back within the next working day.

Cirrus Software – the Application development company

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