IDI’s Adaptive Request (AR) software development process enables our customers to submit requests for enhancements to the CostGuard® solution and other IDI solutions. To efficiently manage the varying degrees of complexity and urgency of ARs, IDI releases updates to its software on a monthly basis. The releases are referred to as CostGuard Monthly Updates.
The AR process is intended to allow IDI to confirm business alignment and timelines between the customer and 3rd party partners (when necessary) including testing dates, roll out of service and customer resource commitments.
Target Releases
A target Release is the monthly update the AR is targeted for delivery after LOE approval. This release assignment is not yet confirmed and should be considered tentative.
Activities that must occur before a target release date is assigned include:
Submission of an AR
Completion of a Provisioning Request Submittal Form for all provisioning ARs
A budgetary estimate (LOE) is provided by IDI
Approval of the budgetary estimate (LOE) by the customer to move forward
Factors may exist that prevent an AR from assignment to a requested monthly update. These include:
The development effort is too large to fit within the required timeline
The release is fully scheduled, and no additional development items can be added
Scope or requirements changes introduced during the development cycle
Key dates for deliverables or prerequisites are not met by the customer or a 3rd party partner
Adaptive Request Phases
There are three phases of the development process:
Submission and Budgetary Estimate
ARs are submitted via the E-Support website or by an IDI Project or Account Manager on the customer’s behalf.
All provisioning ARs must also include a completed Provisioning Request Submittal Form which is available on E-Support.
If the form is sufficiently complete, a budgetary estimate will be provided.
If the form is not complete or missing critical information, the AR will not be reviewed during the Weekly Adaptive Request Review meeting. The Account or Project Manager will inform the customer if this condition occurs.
Adaptive Requests are assigned one of the following statuses during this phase:
Open: The request is in the hands of the facilitator for presentation at the weekly review and follow-up.
Review-Weekly AR Meeting: The request has been submitted to the Weekly Adaptive Request Review meeting for level of effort.
Review-Cust Approval Req: A budgetary estimate has been provided and requires customer approval to proceed. Budgetary estimates are valid for 90 days.
Review-More Info Req: The request requires additional information to be provided by customer or 3rd party vendor. This information may be collected via email or a conference call may be necessary.
If more discovery is required by IDI to determine a budgetary estimate for an AR, an IDI account manager will contact the customer to request approval of a minimum eight (8) hours for discovery that will be billed to the AR.
Customers may withdraw a request during this phase without incurring charges except for any discovery hours accrued. Once work begins on the request, the AR moves to the Analysis and Development phase where billable hours will accrue and appear on the customer’s monthly invoice.
Analysis and Development
Once approved and development is scheduled, ARs are reviewed by Release Management, Engineering, and Product Management and the request is scheduled for a Monthly Update.
Analysis and development occurs in an agile manner, with requirements, development, documentation and testing occurring in an iterative fashion through collaboration with the customer, Product, Engineering, Quality Assurance, and other subject matter experts as applicable.
Requests are assigned one of the following statuses during this phase:
Review-Approved: Customer approval has been given for the request; however, an actual release and/or resources have yet to be assigned.
Engineering Scheduled: A release and resources are assigned to the request. Analysis and development activities occur based upon overall scheduled activities.
Engineering Complete: The request has completed development and has passed all applicable Quality Assurance verifications. The monthly update is still in development and not yet available for deployment.
Meetings may be required between IDI personnel and the customer and/or 3rd parties during development. Meetings should be scheduled through Account or Project Management with a minimum notice of one business day.
Deployment and Customer Acceptance
To mitigate risk, once a monthly update is complete and made available, it’s scheduled for deployment into the customer’s Stage environment first and then into Production. Every effort should be made by the customer to test in a Stage environment unless previously agreed upon and signed-off by IDI and the customer.
Questions and incidents are opened by the customer in the form of Cases, which undergo triage and resolution. As appropriate, cases will be converted into Problem Reports or Adaptive Requests identifying a desired change to the software. Issues found will be assessed and scheduled based on severity and business impact. In certain instances, changes may be deemed out of scope for the current development effort and a new AR may be required depending on the size and complexity of the change.
Testing of the new software must be completed within 30 days of delivery. Any requests to investigate or troubleshoot after 30 days will be scheduled at IDI discretion.
Requests are assigned one of the following statuses during this phase:
Deployment Pending: The request is included in a monthly update that is now available for deployment.
Pending Customer Acceptance: The request has been deployed into a Stage or Production system and is awaiting customer approval. During this period, it is expected the customer is testing and verifying the software meets the defined business needs.
Closed: The AR is now considered complete and has been closed.
Timelines and Mutual Expectations
Due to the iterative nature of AR development, especially efforts involving 3rd party integrations and/or stringent deadlines, meeting deliverables and commitments is imperative for both IDI and the customer.
Deliverables and deadlines missed by the customer that require IDI to reschedule, go above and beyond to meet deadlines, or significantly reshuffle resources may result in additional charges. Please review IDI’s Deployment Management Services overview for additional information.