Software solutions made to order

Ready-made general-purpose solutions are unsuitable for many companies as they are developed for some average consumer and do not take needs and specifics of a definite company into consideration. Moreover, adaptation of such systems even if it is possible requires much expenditure.

Advantageous software catering for all your needs and tasks has become a reality. The only thing you have to do is to order its development.

Two types of software created by IntraVision make it possible to optimize inner as well as outer work processes of a company.

Internal ERP systems
Specialized ERP systems for work process automation within a company.
B2B and B2C systems
They allow to computerize a company’s work process with its partners and clients.

Now it is for you to choose between a famous and expensive brand with standard capabilities and a flexible system developed especially for you to meet your demands.

	READY SYSTEMS vs. DEVELOPED SYSTEMS

	Ready-made systems	Specially developed systems
Cost	Normally they cost a pretty penny. License agreements as well as setting up and implementation of the system are very finance-consuming. In many ways the company pays for the brand and not for the advantages of the system.	They cost as much as you wish, their price depends on your requirements. You evidently save your money. When buying a specifically developed solution you have no limitations in number of work places and choice of servers to be used by the system. You order your software only once and use it to your liking.
Flexibility	When implementing a ready-made system you restrict yourself to its functionality. There is no opportunity to pass the limit of the chosen software. Programming language of any ready-made system is always of a larger scale than an ordered system. For that reason a lot of ready-made solutions lack flexibility — sometimes most simple tasks require complicated settings.	Normally capabilities of a ready-made system meet the case. However in the event of any fluctuations from standard requirements they are not enough. When a specialized developed system is created to fulfill your demands. A developed system is inherently tuned to your tasks, while the whole power of modern development means are employed to create it.
Application field	As a rule, solutions automate only one field — either the company's internal activity or its transactions with partners and clients.	There are no such limits for a developed solution. You may automate both the internal and the external activities of your company and to build a system with an integrated work flow.
Efficiency	Efficiency of a system depends on the extent to which your business process may be formalized and described by rules. The more algorithm-bound work that requires high-scale reliability and zero error performance you have the more benefit you get from software system implementation.

EXAMPLES

Examples of some developed systems will help you to better understand what they are and how they work. On learning their capabilities and specific characteristics it will be easier for you to decide which software your company needs.

Corporate Intranet

Corporate intranet systems are indispensable for the majority of middle- and large-scale companies. While creating a unified information field they contribute to the efficient work of their employees and effectful cooperation with dealers and partners. Intranet systems provide users with on-line access to very important materials, such as database of employees, news and announcements, regulatory documents. Moreover, the internal net system unites the company facilitating mutual understanding and solidarity within its team.

When choosing between a ready-made and a developed system ask yourself a few questions that will help you make the right decision:

Does the ready-made solution meet all your requirements for intranet?
Which functional options introduced in the ready-made software are of no need to you?
How much does the ready-made software cost including the licensing of work places?
How much will increase of work places affect your expenditure?

Our experience in intranet system development has proven that it is more convenient and gainful to order a system than to buy a ready-made one.

Service Desk System

Another name for the similar systems is HelpDesk. They are used for planning and recording of services provided by the company. For example, these are the services of IT department, then all requests of users, such as «Connect to the Internet», «Replace the mouse» or «Install Microsoft Office» will be registered and conducted through ServiceDesk system.

Specific Features
Undoubtedly there exist ready-made systems that fulfill alike tasks. However they will most likely fail to meet many of your needs, as one and the same business process of different companies has a number of distinctive features. Moreover, making choice in favour of a ready-made product you adjust your activities to its capabilities, whether you like it or not. There is an advantage of such a system: business processes of your company become standardized. However it still has some serious drawbacks as it lacks flexibility and, which is very important, does not take into account the specifics of the Russian market. Sometimes business processes just cannot be changed.

Examples of tasks you may need for your Service Desk
We give only few options of a developed system that are not covered by standard software systems. In fact the list might be continued to infinity.

1. Production cost recording of services
If a company by processing of applications wants to keep record of service production cost, a developed software may form reports on service production cost for the required period, with an option to offer detailed information on each application.

2. Semi-automated choice of free executive
Imagine there is an appointed ServiceDesk operator who by processing of applications direct them to executives. In this case the ServiceDesk operator should be prompted by the system to direct the application to the right executive. For example, on the principle of «idleness» at the moment.

3. Distribution of different applications
In case the company clearly divides applications into different types (for example, Software, Hardware, etc.), a developed system may have an integrated option to distribute different types of applications to executives. An application will be directed to the required executive who is the least occupied at the moment.

4. Message forwarding
Message forwarding (Email) is carried out in case a rejection number of applications have been stocked by an executive. With a copy sent to ServiceDesk Senior Officer (optional).

5. Automated application formation
Applications may be formed automatically from a letter delivered to a definite receiver.(For example, to your ServiceDesk department - support@yourcompany.com).

The more clearly you see your company's requirements, the narrower is the range of ready-made systems meeting them. Moreover, making choice in favour of a ready-made system you will be definitely forced to give up some of your tasks.

TimeSheet system

TimeSheet system is introduced at many large-scale companies with their administrations monitoring the discipline of the staff. The most simple and widespread is the system of electronic cards that register the time of your entering and leaving the office. However, you may surely admit, the system cannot be of any help in learning how much time an employee did really work for the company.

Inconvenience and inefficiency of a ready-made system

There are quite a number of situations that cannot be solved by a ready-made system, which causes much inconvenience to the company and impedes working hours recording. Let us give you just a couple of typical situations.

1. An employee leaves his card behind
What shall you do in case you have a ready-made system? Most likely you will fail to set strict rules and keep an employee without the required card away from work because this measure is not economically sound. You will have to turn a blind eye on such situations.

2. Business appointment outside the office.
When an employee leaves the office, a ready-made system cannot tell you whether he or she is heading for a business appointment or a football match. You will have to take at his or her own valuation.

Only two situations from many others show us clearly that a simple card system cannot help in working time recording that is essential for further evaluation of the company's efficiency.

Capabilities of a developed system is a possible solution
Considering the working time recording task seriously you should precisely define tasks and specific activities of the company. Let us introduce a system that helps to raise effectiveness of an IT company specialized in website development.

The constitutive essence of the company is a project with a structured hourly planned budget. It would be advisable to have such an arrangement of the work process that employees might register hours spent for this or that project within the system. In this case the administration will receive reports reflecting cost-effectiveness of projects (by comparison of planned and actual hourly budgets) for further optimization of production process.

The system includes separation of access power. Its functional capabilities might be seen through the description of user roles:

System Administrator — creates new projects, defines their budgets and Managers, receives all reports on any project;
Project Manager — appoints Executives, defines subtasks, plans budgets and forms reports on his or her projects;
Executives — schedule their working time according to subtasks appointed by Project Managers.

The system is provided with an automated notification system for employees who failed to schedule their working time for the previous day.

Most likely, there are no ready-made systems that allow to fully automate work process recording of your company.

Automation System for Tourist Business

Automation of many tourist business processes raises efficiency and profitability of the tourist company. Let us have a look at one example.

Imagine that your company plans to automate search and purchase of air tickets.

You have already gained access to a unified server of an air company that allows to search and purchase air tickets on-line.
You need a unified information management system that allows dealers to buy air tickets.
You wish to record and monitor air tickets purchase carried out by dealers and, more than that, to receive your commission fee.
You have thought out and written down an algorithm of bonus system for your dealers.

There are no ready-made systems to fulfill your plans. You need a specially developed system for such a project.

ADVICE

Software development field enjoys its own specific features. We are glad to share our experience to make it easier for you to sort everything out.

How to choose a developer?

Specifics
It is a hard job to find a solution provider. Large-scale developers rarely take on such tasks considering them economically unsound. They get discouraged by heavy workload, Narrow specialization and limited budget. Small companies are not enough reliable in the eyes of potential order-makers, because to create an adequate high-grade system one needs qualified expert developers aside from high manufacturability. Providing company should make researches and improve skills of its employees. Small companies cannot provide for a large R&D department and pay for education of its specialists.

To find and choose a company to develop a solution you need is a complicated task. To succeed at this stage is half the battle.

Advice
To choose the right executive for your system development is of grave importance, so spare no effort and money to find one. To solve the problem we recommend the following:

To consider several companies (to arrange at least a small tender).
To evaluate the professional level of a potential executive. It is necessary to have an eye-to-eye talk, preferably with participation of your IT experts. You may ask for technical documentation the developer considers the most representative. You should be extremely serious considering a developer — imagine you employ another staff member.
To evaluate reliability of the executive. Most likely you will need support for your software, therefore you should rely on long-term cooperation with the developer. For example, you may collect references on the developer's work — to make calls (or send e-mail) to some of their clients and ask for their opinion.
To evaluate and take into account the executive's loyalty. Events prove that during software system development there may occur some unforeseen situations that may enlarge scope of work on the project. For that reason you should be able to rely on adequate and loyal approach of the executive to such a situation.
To ask about the tool box used by the executive. Many IT companies have a set of ready-made basic software components, the so called slider boxes that are often used for similar projects. The use of them usually reduces self-cost and adds to reliability of the ordered solution in general.

How to get the desired software system?

You should know exactly what you need and why. It turns out to be more difficult than you imagine. With the help of the following algorithm you will be able to define your tasks with more precision and to control the development process.

Break the project down into several stages (according to both scheduled time and cost). If you have chosen the right approach breaking down of the project into several stages should not affect scheduled time and expenditure.
- Stage One: business process analysis, research, interviewing of people taking part in the business process, preparation of technical specifications. In case the executives treat the development seriously they should take an active part in this project stage.
- Stage Two: System prototype development.
- Stage Three: System release version development. Installation.
Discuss the possibility to update Technical Specifications at the development stage.
Arrange regular meetings, for example, after completion of each project stage.

How to learn if you need support?

Specifics
A developed system requires adequate support. It is widely known that there is no perfect software — any software requires support and revision. Even key figures on the basic software market (Microsoft, Oracle, SAP and others) offer updated versions for many of their products. The support is well paid off because of the large number of users.

Advice
When ordering software you should consider one important thing — in many cases only the developer will be able to support the developed system. Most likely that you will manage only monitoring of the system. Thus, opening a software development project you should think of the way to get the support you may require.