Analysis and Design

 » Our Process » Analysis and Design

Our process - DIAMOND

"To ensure a successful IT implementation, you must be detail-oriented and comprehensive. Our DIAMOND process gives our consultants the tools to do the job right, from scope and business case to training, support, and beyond." -- Michael Gaardboe, founder of Columbus IT and original architect of DIAMOND.
 

During the Analysis and Design phase, your Columbus IT implementation team works closely with you to do:

  • Project Scoping - we define, describe, and set up a framework for the implementation.
  • Project Analysis - we specify your business process needs, and compare them to the standard application we plan to use as a base for implementation.
  • Project Design - we describe your solution, services and activities for the implementation, testing, and implementation plan for the complete project.

The purpose of the Analysis and Design phase is to set down in writing the exact specifications of your  project, deliverables, and implementation.

Project Scoping

We start working with you to determine the scope of your implementation project as early as the sales phase. The project team (made up of skilled implementation staff at Columbus IT and your own employees) is assembled, and meet to gather consensus as to what the implementation project will cover, and how the project will be governed.

Although we have an entire segment dedicated to analysis (see below), Project Scoping enables us to do a preliminary analysis of your business situation so that we can plan and outline the project together. The joint project team will set out:

  • The time frame for the project,
  • The milestones,
  • The business processes to be automated or streamlined,
  • A product description,
  • Your expectations of how the project will improve your business,
  • Critical success factors to ensure we know the project is a success,
  • Roles and responsibilities, and
  • Other definitions and descriptions as needed.

The final result of this segment is the Project Scope document, which we use while developing the requirements and your custom solution.

Project Analysis

During the Analysis segment, our project team meets with key people throughout your organization. We ask employees, management, and other stakeholders about the exact requirements you need for the implementation. This in-depth meeting and interview process is the most thorough way for us to understand requirements across the organization, in preparation for designing your complete solution as defined in the Project Scope document.

We summarize the information we gather during the interviews and workshops in a Requirements Analysis Deliverable document.

Project Design

Once we know exactly what's required, our joint project team meets in internal and customer workshops to map your critical business processes to the technologies available (for example, Microsoft Dynamics AX, Microsoft Dynamics NAV, or another solution). Not every business process you need implemented will have a ready-made solution in the technology - that's where we record a 'gap' using Gap Analysis. That's where our skill in custom integrations and modifications will later come into play.

This is an ongoing process. The end result is your Solution Design Document, that will be a combination of standard technology, customizations, third-party solutions, and possibly changes to your own business processes. This document ensures that your needs will be met - and that we'll both avoid 'scope creep,' where added features can rapidly get out of hand.

Once you review and sign off on the Solution Design Document, we move on to the Build Phase.

Next Step

Customer Story


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