Quality Assurance Methodology

Project manager. Project manager is a technical leader of the project. He is responsible for the technical success of the project and makes sure everything gets delivered on time and with high quality.

Project coordinator. Project coordinator is responsible for all communication and documentation of the project. He is a single point of contact for all client communication issues – reporting, updates to requirements, status tracking and so on. Project coordinator acts as an advocate of the client's team to the development team and vice versa. Concept of a dedicated project coordinator is unique to MBS-NL and works extremely well in different projects.
MBS-NL’s project oversight committee, lead by senior management, monitors all project progress on a regular basis.

The project process is completely transparent. Time spent on project is controlled through a web-based instrument (PM), and the customer can review it at any moment. MBS-NL has a very strict policy on filling timesheet records, so the customer can be absolutely sure that the system shows most current information.

Process

MBS-NL’s standard project development process has been mostly influenced by RUP and MSF. At present the process is heavily tailored to the requirements and limitations set forth by the customer, however in general it continues using the main points of the above-mentioned methodologies. Projects are executed iteratively; with most iterations consisting of the following phases (MSF):

Envisioning

During the envisioning phase, the team and the customer define or refine the business requirements and the overall goals of the project. Alignment of business and IT priorities in this phase is crucial, and the team will spend time understanding how the architecture will be used. During this phase, the team also begins identifying and mitigating risks. The envisioning phase culminates in the vision-approved milestone, which indicates that the team and customer agree on the project direction.

Planning & Designing

During the planning phase, the team plans the development and makes requirements more specific. The end of the phase is marked by the approval of the project plan by the customer.

Developing

During the developing phase, the team moves from project planning into the projects themselves.

During the stabilizing phase, the team collects and integrates feedback on the released version, resolves project-related issues, enhances the architecture, and prepares for the next version.
We have standards in place for Configuration Management, Code Styles (all code produced follows coding styles) and Project Documentation.

Working day is usually shifted to provide most efficient coverage with US-based customers business day:

Project manager (technical leader) has a full-day overlap with US business hours.
Coordinator (person responsible for all communications with the customer) has a full-day overlap as well and is available 24 hours over mobile phone.
All the teams (Software Development, QA, Data Processing and Contact Center) work several shifts to cover the time difference within the US and between the US and Europe to make sure every client can have a full-time connection with MBS-NL's staff.

Development team and QA team work one after another to take advantage of the time difference.