How we work
Most of our work is long-term. We build a system with your staff, then keep it working for years. This page explains how a project runs and how we look after a system once it is live.
1. Scope
Work starts with your rules and your data. Clients give us manuals and sample files and explain how approvals really work, and we turn that into a data model and screens. Kanwar Nasir leads these conversations.
We agree in writing on what the first piece of work will deliver. A proposal comes once we understand the problem.
2. Build
We design the data model with the people who know the records, then build in stages and test with real data. Your staff see the system as it takes shape, so problems surface early.
We develop and test against development data, not the live system. Features that show private records are tested for sign-in and visibility rules before release.
3. Launch
Before a switch-over we map every field, reconcile which records are published and which are not, check the new system against the old one and keep a way back.
We train the people who will use the system. Our catalog migration checklist sets out the steps in more detail.
4. Support
Most of our work happens after launch. We fix problems, add the features staff ask for and plan upgrades so the system stays on supported software.
Each year we agree on the next year's development plan with the client and carry it out alongside maintenance. Two client systems we began building in 2012 are still in service, and we still support both.
How we approach the details
- The same team, before and after launch
- Kanwar leads each engagement. The engineers who build your system are the people who support it afterwards.
- Working alongside others
- We work with your finance staff, your design agency or another contractor. On one archive's public websites, a design partner created the designs and we built the sites.
- Accounts and access
- We recommend one account per person, with permissions set by role, so you can see who changed what.
- AI
- When AI is involved, it drafts and suggests. A person reviews and approves each change before it enters the record.