Discovering your problems and opportunities

During the Discovery phase, Macro works closely with each client to ensure a thorough understanding of its business and environment. Discovery promotes open thinking about how the software solution may address not only the most visible current need, but also extensively address future requirements. This process culminates in statements of Vision (ultimate goals and direction) and Scope (limiting issues affecting the vision).

We understand that to succeed it is imperative that we actively listen to our clients. For that reason, we assign consultants with appropriate industry experience to meet with your in-house experts, conduct telephone and e-mail interviews, and read any available documentation. We will also establish a quality assurance plan incorporating predetermined review processes and time frames through the life of the project.

Analyzing Your Business Flow

To ensure our solution effectively addresses your problems and exploits your opportunities, we need to determine:

• What the business function is
• What sub-functions make up the business function
• What processes make up the sub-functions
• Which inputs and outputs belong to a process
• What the sources and destinations of the inputs and outputs are
• Who or what performs the process.

This analysis is integral to the development of a Project Plan, which is completed during the Design phase.

Process analysis and design

Choosing the right solutions involves considering budgetary and time constraints, the existing environment, and other factors. It is also important that end-users be involved since the true effectiveness of the solution will depend greatly upon its acceptance and use.

During the Design phase, we develop a Project Plan containing functional specifications and a schedule for completion. In the preparation of the project plan, Macro completes a process commonly referred to as Business Process Modeling, in which we define the problem or symptom, identify the business function, isolate the sub-function(s), focus on the process, find alternatives, choose a solution, identify the scope of change, consult the affected parties, and plan and implement the solution.

The Project Plan milestone marks the point where together we agree on what the project will deliver and how it will be built. It also affords an opportunity to establish priorities and set expectations.

Keys to Macro's Design Success

The success of our design process rests upon the following keys:

• Open Communication: Macro consultants interact closely with your staff to ensure a mutual vision of each project.
• Client-Focused Perspective: Our team philosophy fosters a fundamental understanding of your business, allowing the company to contribute a technical perspective that supports management objectives.
• End-User Involvement: We know that some of the best ideas for improving your business can come from the people who work there. Macro specializes in integrating these ideas into information technology.
• Comprehensive Approach: Our full-cycle approach to developing your systems, working to ensures the smooth integration from business analysis through installation, testing, documentation, training, and support.
• Appropriate Technologies: Macro applies a variety of technologies to custom systems. These include:
  • Business Process Analysis
  • Object-Oriented Analysis, Design, and Programming
  • Rapid Application Development
  • Relational Database Technology
  • Expert Systems
  • Distributed Computing

Development done right

A leading professional services firm, Macro Enterprises has the talent and resources to produce comprehensive applications embodying client/server techniques across a range of technologies to support your business objectives. Macro is uniquely positioned to cover the entire solution development cycle, from creating a simple custom application to providing project management services for large-scale development efforts.

Because we believe that the quality of our products is directly correlated to the way the development project is managed, we have built a project management team that is exceptionally skilled at optimizing productivity.

Macro has experience in the design, development, and implementation of database-oriented applications ranging from standalone single-CPU packages to networked client/server designs crossing multiple domains and operating system platforms. Macro programmers use the latest tools and techniques in database applications design and are fluent in all current development environments, such as Microsoft .Net, Delphi, and Java.

Before we deliver the final product to you, we perform extensive system tests on your new software. We believe that our products are our ultimate representatives and as such, we place great emphasis upon finding and fixing all "system bugs" ourselves, rather than waiting for your users to find them once the product goes live.

Delivering value

At the conclusion of this phase, the complete package is delivered to you exactly as outlined in the Design phase. Your product will be warranted to function as presented in the Project Plan.

One of the most important factors to consider when choosing a development company is its reputation for completing projects. Incomplete projects are rampant in this industry. Macro is very proud of its history of finishing jobs to the complete satisfaction of its customers.

Macro will work with your in-house experts to implement installation procedures. Since every new system requires some getting used to, we always work with you after the system implementation to answer questions and solve any problems that may arise.