Development process?
Location based applications are very much in vogue and the Firebrand team is not on the "out".
We have been working on a couple of initial Functional Design & Development Specifications for mobile apps offering Location Based Services, one has moved to the development phase this month....very exciting all round! Scheduled for Launch in June we are in the "thick of it" right now....
Functional Design & Development Specification - What does that mean?
With any project of Custom Development (which we just adore doing!) and of a largish nature (read as perhaps over around 400 hours) the first phase is to initiate a Functional Design & Development Specification - a document that serves as a blue print for the second phase: Design & Development.
Areas included in a standard FDDS are:
- Overview (Purpose, In Scope / Out of Scope)
- Design Considerations
- Functional Requirements (User Roles and Profiles, Context Diagram - Inputs and Outputs, Process Flow Diagram/Scenarios)
- User Interface Mock-ups
- Technical Requirements (Security Requirements, Operating Environment, Performance Requirements, Mobile Client Environment, Admin Web Operating Environment, ServerCore Operating Environment)
- Data Requirements (Flow Diagram, Offline Considerations, Storage)
All these acronyms and fancy words aren't made up - what they really indicate is we don't like surprises, we know our clients don't either so to avoid surprises we investigate, review and create first to ensure we deliver to expectations - yours and your customers.
This process isn't confined to Mobile Applications - anything custom that incorporates integration with other systems, special interaction or storage requirements etc can be well served by completing a FDDS first. Cost wise the price is around the same - many of the components are reused in the Design and Development phase so really it's "winners" all round!
Keep your eyes out for our Location Based Application launch in June and a couple of other very exciting projects underway - all having benefited from an FDDS Process.