Green Beacon has developed a project delivery methodology - a body of proven, repeatable business processes and procedures - that ensures delivery excellence and consistency. Each project shares a similar delivery structure.
Business Strategy
The purpose of Business Strategy is to transform ideas and concepts into a clear and common vision that is actionable. The core process is a series of sessions that serve to iterate through key traits of our client's initiative resulting in the creation of business requirements for the solution. Green Beacon and clients jointly develop project business specifications, identify and prioritize high level functional requirements, confirm a short list of potential solutions to address any specific requirements, and develop a roadmap for implementation during Business Strategy.
Vendor Selection
Using defined requirements, Green Beacon works with clients to identify vendors and products to be evaluated during the Vendor Selection phase of the project. There are three stages.
- Green Beacon helps the client to plan the RFP process, and develops a document outlining the process, which is sent to vendors along with the Business Requirements document developed during Business Strategy.
- The joint team then identifies a short list of vendors who will be invited to respond to the RFP, and develops tools for scoring the features, functionality, complexity, costs, and overall fit of each vendor's product.
- Green Beacon works with the client to schedule detailed demonstrations of the relevant products, and assists the client with the selection of a product.
Solution Design
Solution design consists of functional and technical design. Functional Design is the mapping of our client's business requirements with our partner's product. Technical design includes the project planning and architecture that will be required to implement the solution.
Implementation
Green Beacon is committed to the successful delivery of the project. Green Beacon and the client will manage the installation, configuration, customization of the application. On a weekly basis, the team will meet to review project status and budget, address any outstanding issues or risks, and plan for future project stages. The Green Beacon team works aggressively with clients to ensure that the project is delivered both on time and within budget.
Testing
Prior to deployment, the Green Beacon team rigorously unit tests the application against both the technical and functional / business requirements gathered in the Solution Design sessions. This ensures that the solution functions from both a technical and a user perspective. Additionally, we work with our client to conduct user testing of the application to address users' concerns prior to delivery and to start familiarizing users with the new application functionality.
Training
Before the application is deployed, we train the users on the new functionality. Green Beacon has developed and delivered training presentations that range from complete application overviews to focused user sessions.
Deployment
During deployment, the Green Beacon team works with our client's Information Technology team to backup the existing environment, deploy the new functionality, and test the new application prior to releasing the application to users. This process is tested numerous times (as needed, based on the complexity of the environment) with backups of the production environment. The major reason for the numerous tests is to minimize the risks typically associated with deployment.
Post Project Support
Green Beacon resources continue to provide support for clients after the production deployment. During this time, the Green Beacon team assists with any configuration changes or post-production bug fixes that are required.
Sunset Reviews
Once a project has been delivered, the Green Beacon team meets with the client to review the project successes and identify opportunities for improvement. The results of this discussion are incorporated into the 'best practices' methodology Green Beacon uses to successfully deliver all of its projects.