The CGC Development Methodology includes the following activities which, when linked together, provide a collective understanding of the basic information and functionality requirements.

Our philosophy is centered in the belief that information technology is an essential enabler to user defined processes.  Accordingly, the development methodology that we employ will result in a system that will satisfy the needs of the user community within the limitations of existing technological tools.

We believe that solutions must be both integrated and balanced.  Integrated in the sense that the system makes the best use of existing IT and avoids the pitfalls of building the “new mouse trap” that traditionally result in substantial delays in delivery and related cost overruns.  Balanced in the sense that the delivered solution combines the power of IT with the experience and knowledge of the decision-makers.  In effect, the ultimate solution is one that harnesses both IT and intellectual knowledge.  In order to achieve the desired integration and balance, the designers must have knowledge of the business as well as IT.

In general, our primary focus is on reversing the significant under utilization of the information resources that are readily available within a corporation.  We have found that enormous amounts of “corporate knowledge” are contained in an organization’s basic operational data but are not effectively considered or used in the strategic decisions that are made on a regular basis.

Graphical Business Model
The availability of both information and analysis tools is not necessarily sufficient to assure success.  The ability of the analysts to “ask the right questions” and appropriately interpret the answers is critical.  Thus, a critical component of our approach involves the creation of a graphical representation of an organization’s specific business.  Our experience is that this representation of the business is usually the first time that a common, understandable business vision is available to the organization.

The graphical business model is composed of business drivers, their relationship to the company’s critical success factors, the basic business processes that are executed and the results of these processes that are measured.

A business driver is a component of the business that must be addressed for the business to be successful.  For example, business drivers, such as service quality and price competition, influence critical success factors like the need to minimize the number of customers that leave a company for the competition.  Business processes are the activities and operations that form the foundation of the business and the results of which can be measured or inferred by such metrics as revenue and cost of customer acquisition.  The metrics, in turn, are used to determine the degree to which business goals have been achieved.

In addition, successful companies are able to continually monitor and measure the results of processes in order to refine their plans.  Monitoring and measuring results of actions requires the “right information timely.”

We do not believe that there is one generic business model.  Every company has its unique organization, culture, etc. that gives it its competitive edge.  Accordingly, we begin with the basics, namely, profit flows from revenues less costs which flow from or are affected by many other factors.  Ultimately, customer behavior and changes in the external environment including regulatory and economic conditions determine the company’s economics.  Understanding how these items affect the business stream and each other along the way is critical.

The business model leads to a common understanding of specific critical success factors that are necessary to make the company successful and serves to highlight the areas where apparent improvements are possible and can make the greatest impact.  The model serves as the map against which alternatives can be compared and analyzed in order to insure business alignment thereby maximizing return on investment while delivering an integrated and balanced solution.

Design & Development Methodology
We believe in the old adage “pay me now or pay me later.”  However, our experience tends to show that time spent properly planning the project is critical to controlling the ultimate cost of implementing business solutions.  The following are key elements of our methodology and approach:

User Involvement – In our opinion, this is undoubtedly the most critical requirement of any project.  Users must take ownership in the project.  To facilitate this requirement, our approach applies the following techniques:

·        We identify a core team of company business and IT people.  Using the business model and other materials we devote time at the beginning of the project to increase the knowledge and awareness of the team members as to the business drivers and issues and key IT concepts.  In effect, we work to minimize the technical differences between team members by building an appreciation of each other’s environment.

·        We utilize rapid application development techniques in order to create a common vehicle for communicating and verifying required functionality.  Our initial emphasis is on building a “demonstration” prototype that supports rapid iterations in order to minimize the risk of losing the interests and enthusiasm of the business users.

·        In conjunction with validating functionality, we also validate data needs by applying “model office” techniques.  To the extent possible, we collect data from production systems and use representative samples of this data in order to present as “real” a demonstration as possible.  This approach also allows us to begin developing metadata and evaluating data quality.

·        The demonstration prototype with familiar data can be used in the training of the users.  Our basic philosophy is that business solutions are most effective when users are presented with the “right” information.  To facilitate an agreement as to the “right” information, we continually ask the question, “given this information, what actions are expected.”  This approach results in validated data requirements and insight into work management needs.

·        During the process, we require the involvement of ISD who will ultimately take custody of the solution.  We work to transfer knowledge at the earliest points possible in order for ISD to benefit from our technical expertise and the partnership with the users.  We believe that all stakeholders in the process should share in the limelight of success.

Infrastructure Leverage – Most companies have a considerable investment in their IT infrastructure.  In most cases, it is not reasonable to approach projects with a “replacement” attitude.  Our approach is to attempt to harness the power that exists in the present infrastructure.  Thus we prefer to design solutions that satisfy business needs while having the least impact on the infrastructure.  Today’s middleware tool suites that offer considerable power and ease at economical costs, support this approach.  We acknowledge that limitations exist due to the design of most production legacy systems, however we have found that the compromise solution still offers significant benefits to the user.

Our methodology is focused on capitalizing on the assets existing within our clients while minimizing additional capital requirements.  This methodology requires the ability to facilitate a partnership between business and ISD, the innovative use of IT combined with the power of existing legacy systems, a balance between IT and the application of intellectual capital, and, above all, an understanding of the business that drives or requires a solution.