The Only "Rapid Application Development Methodology"
Our services utilize RapidTrak, our proprietary methodology. RapidTrak is our best practices "Rapid Application Development Methodology" designed to further speed the delivery of Applaud solutions. RapidTrak addresses the issues of documenting, organizing and controlling the high volume of specification changes that occur on fast-moving projects. RapidTrak reduces the delivery time to the absolute minimum. It also speeds the response to specification changes. Our clients are consistently amazed by the speed of our response to changes.

Based on Many Years of Experience
RapidTrak was created by our Applaud Professional Services Group . Our experience in providing services in literally hundreds of successful client projects was used to create RapidTrak. Our experts have fine-tuned RapidTrak over many years to deliver the fastest solutions possible.

Our RapidTrak Methodology

Higher Productivity, Faster Time to Delivery, Higher Quality, Reduced Costs, and Reduced Risk
Here are the primary components of our RapidTrak methodology:

	Requirements Discovery - The first element of our RapidTrak methodology is called the "Issues List". The Issues List provides a forum to manage our requirements knowledge. It is designed to help us document "what we don't know", "what we do know", and "how we know it". Our methodology gives us a central place to keep track of every issue (question) that needs to be resolved (answered). We begin a project by documenting issues that need to be resolved. As issues are resolved (questions are answered) we record the resolution as well as who resolved the issue and when it was resolved. Then when resolutions change (a new revised answer is provided), we record the new resolution and the reason for the change. The net result is a process that can identify at any time: •  All issues that need to be resolved; •  The latest resolution for any issue; and •  A complete history of all changes to every issue resolution. The result is a strong control over a very dynamic process. The Issues List can be separated by every category of knowledge, and can be sorted by topics, dates, people, etc., thus making it easy to access all knowledge regarding literally every requirements issue.
	Solution Design & Development - RapidTrak also includes comprehensive design and development standards. Every one of our professional services team members applies the same design process, the same naming standards, the same development structure/style, and the same thorough documentation standards. This ensures that every project is delivered with the same high quality. It also speeds the interaction on team-based development projects and facilitates turnover to other individuals when it is desirable.
	Quality Assurance - Our RapidTrak methodology also includes extensive, formal testing standards. We apply advanced testing techniques at every step of the development process to ensure the delivery of the very best product. For example, we use Applaud's analytical tools to ensure that all cleansing and transformation components process exactly as expected. We also utilize Applaud's advanced random sampling techniques to select subsets of high volume data for testing. But our quality assurance procedures (and Applaud's testing capabilities) are much more robust than just analysis and random sampling. When appropriate, we build comprehensive Applaud solutions to perform extensive testing activities outside the initial Applaud solution we are delivering. These can test the results of any system processes. For example, these techniques make it easy to test the results of parallel tests. They also make it easy to provide post-implementation audit to ensure that target system tables are populated correctly and the new system is operating correctly. Additional advanced testing techniques also include what we call "Certification Processes". Certification processes are used to test (and re-test) solutions before each "release point". By running a certification process, we can quickly ensure (positively certify) that the most recent changes do not affect other components. Our advanced testing procedures are vast. These are just a few examples.
	Release Control - In addition, RapidTrak provides concise documentation for every "release point" in the software. When we "release" an Applaud solution for testing (or for production use), we provide comprehensive documentation regarding each enhancement that was made since the last release. This documentation includes an assessment of the risk of new bugs for every enhancement so that our clients are always advised of the reality of the impact of changes and can prepare accordingly. Armed with this information, our clients understand the risk (or lack of risk) resulting from component changes and can therefore apply testing resources to the exact areas of risk rather than taking the traditional approach - test everything at every release point - or worse yet, test nothing because it is too time-consuming.
	Project Management - Finally, RapidTrak includes a unique status reporting and scheduling process. Our status report process provides a dynamic tool to document the changes in key dates for every deliverable component. It provides a format for identifying the continual schedule changes required to support dynamic requirements changes. At any time you can see the initial schedule for the delivery of each specification, and you can also see if any date slippage has occurred so you can quickly determine if the delay risks any element of the project.