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PROFESSIONAL SERVICES
Nextgen Technologies currently provides specialist skills in the following disciplines of the software development life cycle. These services are provided by trained professionals with extensive experience in the financial and telecommunications industries.
System Evaluation and Selection
Most companies at some point in their evolution will procure or purchase Commercial Off The Shelf systems / applications (COTS). Usually there are a number of similar systems / applications which could support the business requirements requirements . NextGen provides a specialist service where a structured approach is used to evaluate, recommend and select a particular application.
NexGen uses a defined methodology and framework to perform the system evaluation and selection process. These following aspects are covered within the framework:
- Definition of a problem statement and vision.
- Definition and solicitation of business requirements and functional requirements.
- Definition and solicitation of system architecture requirements and constraints.
- Definition of a proposed Business Architecture and System Architecture.
- Research of the various available applications and track record.
- Preparation and management of RFI (Request for Information) Process.
- Preparation and management of the RFP (Request for Proposal) Process.
- Evaluation of the various vendor applications against the business and systems requirements sets as well as risk analysis, support and commerciality of the application.
- Preparation of a Gap Analysis and system recommendation.
- Preparation of a business case and motivation to support the acquisition along with indicative ROI computations.
- Management of the contract negotiation and agreement process
This service is of critical importance in the information technology arena today where incorrect system selection would result in enormous financial drain on a companyís human and financial resources. A defined process and external party can ensure that the systems selected are selected on merit taking all aspects into account and provides a level of impartiality which is crucial in todayís corporate focus on good governance.
System Implementation
Nextgen Technologies offers the complete suite of software implementation skills within its set of services. As such the company is ideally suited to performing end to end system implementations. NextGen has its own proprietary implementation methodologies for each discipline and together with its sound, pragmatic Project Management approach based on principles from PMBOK® and Prince2® can perform system implementations to an international standard.
Typically the following disciplines are performed and managed during the system implementation.
- Requirements Solicitation and Management
- Business Analysis and Design
- Systems Analysis and Design
- Systems Integration
- Software Testing
- Unit Testing
- System Integration Testing
- User Acceptance Testing
- Change Management
- Training
- Project Management and Co-Ordination
- Risk Management
- Budget Tracking
- Operational Readiness
- Data Cleansing
- Data Migration
- Post Implementation Review
NextGen typically operates a number of different financial models when conducting a system implementation. All services can be rendered on a System Integrator basis with all parties including the vendor of the application being a sub-contractor and NextGen being the prime. The services can also be rendered on a sub-contractor or Time and Materials basis dependant on the customers needs and complexity of the project. Typically for larger projects, NexGen uses an alliance with a major international System Integrator on a partnership basis to deliver the system implementation service.
Data Migration and Data Cleansing
Technologies offers a specific service in the Data Migration and Data Cleansing disciplines. This is an area which is always encountered where a project involves the replacement of a legacy or existing system application. It is also an area which historically has been neglected and has been the root cause of many software implementation failures.
Nextgen has developed a Data Migration and Data Cleansing methodology which it uses to provide this service to projects requiring a data migration component. It has developed tools which can be used to categorise, group and remediate data cleansing issues which are encountered. This coupled with strong distributed workflow functionality allows for cleansing to be done electronically or manually using distributed call centres or other users where electronic solutions are not possible. A reporting engine allows for close monitoring of progress and management of prioritizing of cleansing categories.
Consultants have successfully designed and architected a Data Migration Engine which is being used to migrate a Customer Base of 25,000,000 and a Product instance base of 600,000,000 in the South African market.
Specialist Skills Provision
Technologies provides delivery based solutions to companies in any of the following disciplines. This may be performed using the customer or system integrators methodologies or can be delivered using own proprietary methodologies.
- Project Management
- Business Analysis
- Systems Analysis
- System Architecture
- Software Development
- Software Testing
- Change Management
- Risk Management
- Data Migration
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