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Discovery Phase

Detailed assessment of a business initiative and preparation for a confident project launch

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You have an idea for a software project that will have a great impact on your business, but it's not yet clear what resources and money are required to implement it in reality? Before jumping into design and development, it is important to identify the business goal, align it with the business requirements, determine key stakeholders and several other factors. This is where a Discovery Phase increases the probability of success of both the project and the client's business.
VALUE OF A DISCOVERY PHASE
A Discovery Phase is important both for technical and business teams since it leads to a thorough understanding of the basic requirements, parameters, and artifacts necessary to present the project in front of the management board in order to demonstrate rationale for that particular project or make choice in favor of the certain technology. Plus, it gives the project a confident start with the least risk of failure.

USE CASE

In any large company, hundreds of initiatives are launched every year, each of them has a different priority and number of customers. How does an initiative launch look like? Usually, management gives a glimpse of a strategic vision and sets very high-level goals to their IT teams. Afterwards, someone from the middle-management is involved, who spends several months on prioritization, searching for internal resources. But time flies quickly and the first reporting milestones are getting closer. Realizing this, additional resources are attracted, who very often don’t have any experience in the relevant subject area. As a result, business requirements may not have any in-depth analysis, the unreal promises could be made. What will the results be in this case? How will it affect the project and how much funding will be wasted?
If the project is complex and big, the discovery phase is a must to ensure successful and smooth delivery. System architecture, well-defined scope of requirements for MVP, planned activities with other systems and departments - it is only a tip of the iceberg within the future project. When it is handled independently, the result will be longer, unclear, negatively affect the next steps of the project and lead to additional attempts to attract funding. Moreover, the client can have several influential stakeholders, and each of them has their own vision for the project. Different understandings on different levels lead to a typical mistake of losing important business requirements, the client may not know how to unite all of these in a formed vision.
Very often the discovery phase of the project is associated with unnecessary costs and underrated by the company’s executives. However, the discovery phase is all about money-wise initiatives launch and their further alignment with the organization’s internal customers.
HOW WE DO DISCOVERY
First, we determine what problem the business is aimed at solving, understand how internal connections among numerous business processes work, and what the criteria of success are. We ask questions, understand how the business process works now and advise on how it should work, share our 10+ years’ experience and in this mutual work with the client we achieve desired results. It is our job to unite various ideas, wishes to a common point of view.

USE CASE

The client set high-level goals for the technical teams, but they are not sure how to proceed. Whose task is it to decompose the high-level goals to actionable items? The project is moving forward, and the context is constantly changing. What was important yesterday becomes secondary today. Unfortunately, the requirements change as well after approval. What is the solution?
The project is a like a step-by-step path, each step and any changes need to be managed, otherwise the team will do the wrong thing for the client, or in the wrong order. We at Atomazing have developed a detailed methodology, that is tested in practice on more than 50+ enterprise-level projects, with lots of internal processes inside. This methodology includes all the necessary steps for a successful project launch, at the end of each step the client will have vital deliverables with an actionable plan. The most important thing is that the business requirements are aligned perfectly with its technical implementation.

MAIN STEPS OF A DISCOVERY PHASE

1
Business Needs and Goals
During this step we describe an existing problem. Once it is done, we form an image of the result and determine the metrics to evaluate the success of the project implementation.
2
Business processes
Our managers are always ready to answer your questions. You can call us during the weekends and at night. You can also visit our office for a personal consultation.
3
Business requirements
Based on the description of business requirements, the scope of a project is defined and the key features of the solution that bring value to the business are documented.
4
Functional and non-functional requirements
The aim of this step is to form functional and non-functional requirements so that users can complete their tasks within the framework of business requirements. Artifacts: functional requirements that define the functionality of the software; non-functional requirements that describe the characteristics of the system and its environment; a list of restrictions imposed on the system’s actions and functions.
5
Architecture of the solution
We describe the position of the developed system in the IT landscape + define all interactions with external systems, considering the protocols used and make sure that the architecture design in futureproof. This step is always coordinated with the Architectural Team of the client in relation to the implementation of accepted practices and standards. Artifacts: Information on the developed system’s components, links with the environment, integrations with external systems, used technologies and interaction protocols.
6
Detailed project evaluation
During this step, the project tasks are structured in accordance with the methodology. Also, our team of Pega professionals evaluate particular blocks of requirements, selecting the price/functionality ratio.
7
Roadmap
Our team helps to visualize the implementation strategy of the project and its main milestones. We evaluate the workload and involvement of all project participants as well as assess the risks of extending deadlines. Artifacts: visualization of the roadmap, timings for key milestones, a list of project participants.
8
Economic benefit calculation
The goal here is to forecast costs and calculate ROI. Finally, we compile a report for management, which has the following calculations:
  • the impact on business performance and economic benefits (e.g.: increasing profits through increased employees’ productivity, reducing time-to-market, etc.);
  • the total cost of the system’s ownership for 3-5 years (initial costs, annual costs, etc.);
  • the total benefit, ROI. Payback period.
As a result, the client gets detailed project assessment, project payback calculation, project ROADMAP, well-developed functional and technical architecture. A well-performed discovery phase leads to a significant reduction of personal and corporate risks. Moreover, it gives an opportunity to form the correct expectations of the management and obtain the necessary funding.
WHY US?
Our IT professionals have more than 10 years of experience in intelligent automation and transformation of corporate business processes. We have worked on big complex enterprise-level projects for the market leaders in Europe and
the Middle East.
We are strong in the BPM methodology understanding and well-versed with implementing a process approach for our projects. In 3 months, we guarantee an MVP/production launch for our clients (if done independently the result is achieved in 7-8 moths). We know how to focus and move fast, which questions to ask, how to achieve a business requirement’s benchmark and form a clear evaluation and plan.
OUR DISCOVERY PHASE PORTFOLIO INCLUDES
Top 20 Bank
in Eastern Europe


Factoring
Processing System
The discovery phase with the goal to collect and systematize the projects requirements, prepare project architecture that ensures stable operation, ease of scaling, support, and development of the solution, and form a detailed work plan with the project evaluation and a commercial offer.
At the end of the discovery phase the client got:
  • "Business requirements" detailed document;
  • Production-ready architecture. The architecture document was agreed with the client’s committees;
  • Project roadmap and schedule prepared;
  • Proposal with a detailed plan and cost;
  • List of project deliverables.
Top 20 Bank
in Eastern Europe


Loan pipeline
Defining business requirements, working on the project architecture, estimating costs and creating a project plan to minimize any project risks.
The client received:
  • Well-formulated business requirements;
  • Functional and non-functional requirements;
  • An actionable project plan;
  • MVP launch;
  • Plan of further activities beyond MVP stage.
Largest electric-power
operation and distribution company in Eastern Europe

Integration Analysis
At the end of the discovery phase the client received:
  • Business goals and requirements;
  • Functional and non-functional requirements;
  • A detailed project roadmap;
  • Plan of further activities beyond MVP stage.
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