We have almost finished a new SARE module that enables short text messaging (SMS). As soon as it is completed, we will describe it in more detail; however, we will use the opportunity to describe the process of enriching the system with new functionalities.

Part of our clients who work with us on a daily basis have signalled that it is an interesting issue, and understanding the process would facilitate our cooperation. Below, we share with you some of our tricks of the trade. The first developmental phase is the needs analysis. Here, we analyse the following four basic information sources:

1. Electronic surveys of client satisfaction, which contains questions about most popular and most rarely used SARE functions; the survey also enquires which new solutions would be most useful for our clients.

2. Face-to-face meetings and conversations with our clients.

3. Our knowledge, intuition and experience.

4. Observation of development of foreign markets. We analyse mainly the most technologically developed markets, such as the United Kingdom, the United States and Australia, and, to a lesser extent, Germany.

All the ideas we gather are subject to discussion, to which Developers and Client Service team contribute. The aim of the discussion is to eliminate misleading concepts and work out plans of implementation of accepted proposals. The need for a given functionality and its complexity are taken into account. As a result, the timing of work for next 6 or 12 months is established.
Next, suitable employees are chosen for each project, and they are assigned appropriate tasks. The development of each functionality begin with a work on a technical specification that describes the functionality in a very detailed way. The analysis of the specification performed by the IT department results in amendments to the document, and the programming work is about to begin.

The solutions emerge gradually; then, the solutions are tested against the situations that the programmers have not foreseen. When the whole module is ready, it is re-tested, especially if it influences any other parts of SARE. Then, the whole solution is implemented – that is, it is moved to the system from the test environment. The whole process lasts from a couple to several days; it frequently brings pain, sweat and tears. Luckily, it usually ends up with a well-deserved celebration.

Tagi: At Work