FAQs
- What should the customer know about your pricing (e.g., discounts, fees)?
Business Requirements gathering activities/meetings are free of charge Once I have your project information clearly defined, I will create a statement of work. If I need to engage development team, I will work with you, and coordinate with the development team. Project hours are estimated (by task) and provided in a Statement of Work. We charge $60.00 an hour, and this is the total cost for an entire team. We work in rapid cycles, with you involved with testing at regular intervals (we call these 'sprints'). Sprints, generally include one or more 'User Stories' (business requirements), which we are building to deliver)
- What is your typical process for working with a new customer?
Most people (not all) haven't had a lot of experience with web site application development. But that's ok, you are in GOOD hands, because THAT has been MY job, for almost twenty years now. I come from a background of large system development, and Fortune 100+ companies. I KNOW that your web applications are the lifeblood of your business, no matter what size. I also happen to be a frugal, and cost conscience person. I understand that developing a website, or web application is NOT your end game, (unless your product IS software, of course). You need these tools to help with your primary concern, which is your BUSINESS. It is truly impossible to provide a good estimate without knowing some details of your objectives. To make the most of our time, it helps to have readily available, a list of the primary business requirements that you are seeking to incorporate into your application, be it traditional web app, mobile app, or native client app. Having this list as complete as possible before we have a meeting, will save you time and money, and will allow me to estimate your project much better. (You can always add to or take from your list later). Let's get going! The best approach is to turn your objectives into 'User Stories', that clearly state the action desired to be accomplished. (this term actually comes from a formal methodology called 'AGILE'. I won't bore you with what the acronym stands for). Here's an example: > As a Business owner of Candi's Craft store that sells handmade custom designed products online, I need a web site that can allow my customers to sign up, browse by product category, select an item, customize it, order it, and pay for it online. > As a Candi's business Customer, I need to be able to find a product that has specific features, select a custom color, order it, purchase it. > As a Candi's business customer, I want to be able to sign onto the Candi's Craft store at a later time, and be able to see the details of what I purchased last time, and order it again. > As a Candi's Craft store inventory clerk, I need for the new system to manage my inventory automatically, and provide a way to report my inventory quantities at the end of each month, and produce a restock report, so that I can reorder what I need > As a Candi's Craft Store Inventory clerk, I need to keep track of how many of each product I sold, by week, by month, by quarter, and by year, and provide an easy way to create these reports. > As the owner and marketing agent of C.C.S., I want to be able to sync all of my social media, run advertisement campaigns, and send out a mass email to all of my customers to advertise my special sale days, on demand These are units of work, that we can provide an estimate of cost for by calculating the the number of hours needed to complete each 1 Critical to have 2 Important to have 3 Nice to have 4 Add as part of future project Once you have your list, (which is always at your discretion to add to, or take away from), you should sort it by order of priority. Then we will add our estimates in, and you essentially have your total project cost. We do not charge for the initial
- What education and/or training do you have that relates to your work?
EDUCATION: University of Phoenix - Business Systems Information Technology Louisiana State University (Baton Rouge) Louisiana State University (Shreveport) University of New Orleans – (Honors English classes) General Studies VOCATIONAL: Tableau Fundamentals (2015) Personal Effectiveness 2 (PE2) (2014) Managerial Effectiveness 1 (ME1) (2014) CBAP (Certified Business Analyst Professional) 6 week boot camp by local IIBA Portland chptr (2014) Overview of Analytics & R (2014) Understanding Big Data (2014) Introduction to Mobility (2014) Agile – Lean Methodologies (2014) Leadership Effectiveness Acceleration Program (LEAP-I) workshop (2014) Catia V Fundamentals Smarteam Implementation Certification Hands-On IT Project Management (ASPE Technology) Developing & Confirming Effective Business Requirements C.R.C.B.F.A. Certification - Solving Import Problems – Port of Portland Certified eMatrix Collaboration Business Analyst Internal Auditor Training for FDA Regulated Industries (ISO 13485:2003 & ISO 9001:2000) Quality Management System Overview & Documentation Development Training ISO 9000 Training (Fort Worth, TX) Matrix One (Boston, MA.) Advanced MQL/TCL training Matrix PLM Business Administration University of Milwaukee College of Engineering & Applied Science Engineering Documentation Control SOFTWARE SKILLS & EXPERIENCE: Software Lifecycle Development: RUP, Agile, Extreme Programming MRP Systems: 4th-Shift, GULL, MK, Oracle Manufacturing, BPCS, JDE Webpage: HTML, CSS, Python DB & ETL: SQL Server, SSIS, DB2, Informatica, AQT, DB2-Connect, Terradata PLM Systems: Matrix-One, Windchill, SmarTeam CAD Tools:(AutoCAD, Catia V) DataMart: Dimensional Modeling, Star-Schema design Software platforms: JAVA, .NET, Android, Websphere, ENOVIA, AppSheet, Google Cloud Platform Reporting Platforms: Cognos, Crystal Reports, Custom developed .NET & Excel VSTO & VBA, Tableau Microsoft Office Proficiencies: Word, Excel, Outlook, Access, Visio, Project, PowerPoint, MS Sharepoint, MS VSS Recent training and additional study: • Speak Like a Leader • The Agile Samuria (How Agile Masters Deliver Great Software (Pragmatic Programmers)