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The North American Mission Board (NAMB) is a domestic agency of the Southern Baptist Convention. At the end of 2004 they were looking to build a tool which would be a part of an effort to encourage their pastor's to plan annual Evangelism strategies, to schedule them and to assist them to successfully pull off each event that was planned. A project management software is what they needed. Since their needs were so specific, it was sure that they would not find an off the shelf tool to help them so they contracted to have the tool built but unfortunately for NAMB, their vision did not come to fruition through the software that they had written. Low on budget, late on delivery and their enthusiasm for this amazing tool wearing thin, they decided to try again with a new version, with a new software vendor. DMS bid for the job and won the contract.
DesignMySoftware presented a proposal for 2 different approaches for the same project. One, a web based software with all it’s advantages (world wide coverage over internet, cheaper support, greater design flexibility and maintenance, etc.), and a desktop based software. Because they felt that a fair amount of their ministers might not yet be connected to the internet and could possibly have very old (donated) computers, NAMB opted originally for a desktop version of the software, with the express requirements to work on all Windows operation systems starting with Windows 95 and ending with Windows XP. Once into the project, NAMB realized that the types of functionality and what they needed could not be done on the desk top version so we discussed the web based version and moved the project to the new platform with a few months to go before the new release date.
Once NAMB agreed to the (first) proposed project, a project manager and an analyst was assigned to them and after 1 month we had the detailed technical specifications based on NAMB’s requirements. Then, we began work on the architectural design and data base (DB) design. DMS’s specialists decided to develop this project using Microsoft .NET C#, and to use a Access database. The software which was to be a planning tool, needed to work on all kind of computers, from the very old ones to the very new ones. Another goal of the software due to no budget for a help desk (only a website with FAQ and the ability to email questions, comments and issues) was to be very easy to use, very user friendly and self intuitive so that anyone could use it without being computer savvy or needing instructions.
Once the architecture was developed, our designer started to work on the user interface; first by developing a couple layouts which were presented to NAMB and the layout was authorized, DMS began developing the entire user interface for the whole software. After about two weeks, the entire Interface was ready and presented to NAMB for approval. By clicking through the user interface one can go through the entire work flow of the software, and this gives the customer a perfect idea of how the software will look and feel and work. Once agreed on the interface, a development team was assigned, and started to work on both the functionality development and database development and later on database integration.
6 weeks later we had for NAMB the very first alpha version of the software. During technical writing, interface design and development we have the project manager in constant communication with the client. NAMB was always aware of the current development status, progress and they were making sure we are keeping our schedule. NAMB itself was tide up with a very short dead line due to the unsuccessful attempts to develop the software thus far. The software was to be printed on 70,000 CD's and copies being distributed all over the USA. Presentation sessions had already begun, the order for writing the CD's was already made and everything had to be exactly on schedule.
Once the alpha version was presented to NAMB and we agreed on the things to change, modify or add, another 2 weeks and we delivered the beta version to NAMB. At this point, the entire functionality has been added to the software and we only need to do bug fixing and fine tuning as the software is being tested. The testing team from DMS started it’s work and NAMB also add a couple beta testers. Both teams used the Issue tracking system from DMS, so very detailed reports were able to be kept.
January 2005 the software it’s ready to be written to 70,000 copies of CD's and delivered all over USA. Post development there is a maintenance contract between NAMB and DMS. During the first year in service the feedback from users was absolutely amazing and only one small bug was reported back to DMS. One very important add into the software is a auto update tool, so that we can always make available on the web a new version of the software and the user only by being connected to the internet to be able to get the latest version at any time. So far we have not had to use this functionality for any bug fixing, which is a very good thing! Because we changed platforms more than midway through the project, DMS was able to deliver a software in about 3.5 months that should have taken at least six months from start to finish. We feel very proud of this accomplishment.
In February 2006 NAMB get back with DMS and they asked for a proposal to move exactly the same software on the web and open it up for as many users as possible, and offer the advantage of being public. The development for the new version Event Planner v2.0 will probably start in the fall 2006.
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