Intergen has built upon a developed methodology that establishes the business requirements first, and then translates these requirements into a comprehensive design specification and project plan. This is based upon our own solutions management framework that has evolved over a period of time. 

This in turn is based on best practices such as the Microsoft Solution Framework (MSF) and Intergen's staff's many years experience in Internet and E-commerce technology projects. 

Our methodology addresses:

• Team structure, roles and responsibilities.
• Work structure and processes, the phases, sub-phases, milestones and deliverables of the development.
• Networking between interacting users, business and data services.
• The management of the development, user education and logistics processes themselves, including risk management and quality assurance.

The MSF arranges development into five phases, five major milestones, and a variety of deliverables. The phases are Envisioning, Planning, Developing, Stabilising and Deploying.

Envisioning

The Envisioning Phase culminates in the approval of the Vision/Scope. The key deliverables from this phase are a project vision, design goals, solution concept, technical options, training requirements, delivery criteria, deployment and support options, as well as an initial, clear definition of the scope.

A vision statement articulates the ultimate goals for the product or service and provides clear direction for the development team and focus. Scope in one sense can be viewed as the opposite of vision. It defines the functional and technical limits for the solution envisaged, recognising that further development might come in future versions.

Planning

The Planning Phase culminates in the approval of the Project Plan. The key deliverables from this phase are:

• The functional specification and user needs, which provides the project team with enough detail to identify resource requirements and make commitments.
• Conceptual and detailed physical design of applications and databases.
• Final plans development, testing, user education, logistics, program management, solution management and rollout.

Out of this phase, users and user groups and the development team agree on what is to be delivered, and how it will be built. This is an important opportunity to reassess risk, establish priorities, and finalise estimates for schedule and resources.

Development

The Development Phase culminates in the milestone referred to as "Scope Complete / First Use". The key deliverables from this phase are:

• Refined Specifications
• Iterative releases and progressively tested components of the solution.
• User / deployment team training, documentation, and any necessary definition of operational and administrative procedures, the "First Use" completed application for acceptance and testing.

An approved functional specification and associated project plan from the previous phase provides the baseline for focused development in this phase. The development team produces a number of interim delivery modules or component milestones, each of which involves a full test/debug/fix cycle

At the Scope Complete/First Use Milestone, customers and team assess the product's functionality and verify that rollout and support plans are in place. At this milestone new development is complete, and deferred functionality is documented for the next release.

Stabilisation

The Stabilisation Phase culminates in Release. The key deliverable from this phase is a fully tested production system. Testing activities are performed concurrently with code development. During the stabilising phase these activities take more centre stage, as bug finding and fixing become an important focus. The stabilising phase culminates in the release readiness milestones. Once reviewed and approved, the solution is ready for full deployment to the live production environment.

Deploying

During this phase, the team deploys the core technology and site components, stabilises the deployment, transitions the project to operations and support, and obtains final customer approval of the project. After the deployment, the team will conduct a project review.