Rothman & Associates are experts at preparing project scope requirement documents for the software development projects we undertake. When our clients want to upgrade their current technology infrastructure, they often contact us and ask us to collaborate with them to prepare a project scope document. Documenting the scope of a custom software application project is vital to the success of the undertaking and because Rothman & Associates are experts at this phase, we also offer this service as a stand alone service, separate from our programming services.

One of the most important tools used by the software development project managers at Rothman & Associates is the project scope document. Our engineers don't start programming until they have read and understand the documentation. This documentation is a major factor in eliminating or reducing cost overruns and ensures that we deliver our software products on time and on budget. We also require that our clients' stakeholders approve the project scope document before computer programming is started at our Solon offices.

Defining the project scope is a crucial initial step in the software application development process. We prepare project scope documents for our clients so that they understand exactly what to expert during the custom software application development process. We research our client's business rules and logic diligently and work hard to ensure that we understand the value a new software application will provide our customer or their customers.

In some instances, we are contracted to document the project scope and our client then uses this documentation to solicit bids from other software development companies. This is only fair and it doesn't hurt our feelings if we are only responsible for the project scope documentation. This part of custom software application development projects is often the most challenging and we have years of experience in defining project requirements before we begin programming.

Sometimes we specify what a software development project will cost and how long it will take to complete in a project scope document, but not usually, because these factors are usually determined after we finish defining the scope and this definition is approved by our client.

When Rothman & Associates prepares a project scope document, we often define, either in man hours or the actual monetary cost of moving forward with a custom software application project. Our client's executives use the project scope documents we create to make crucial decisions related to the cost/benefit analysis of software application projects. We meticulously list all the elements of a project and provide our clients with our interpretations of their programming requests.

Our documentation verifies information based on the “Five Ws and H”, the what, where, how, when, who and how. After we submit a project scope document in PDF format, our client is able to validate our interpretation of the software application development work to make sure everyone is one the same page. We carefully and clearly document the project scope because our experience over the years has shown that this is the best way to save our clients time and money and avoid unnecessary problems during programming, including “scope creep.” In some instances, we also include what will be considered “outside the scope” of the project,

Typical statement of scope documents prepared by Rothman & Associate project managers usually include the following:

• A description of our clients' reasons for considering the development of a custom software application. This section describes the goals, major objectives and our customer's vision of the finished software application or product.
• A project scope management plan and strategy to ensure that the custom software application project includes all the work necessary, and no more, to successfully complete the software programming project.
• How “change requests” will be accepted and delivered in order to control and manage requests for changes to the software application project scope.
• We list and describe the project deliverables which are required to complete complex software application development projects.
• Data architecture documentation describing how data is collected, store, arranged and integrated.
• Business logic which determines how our clients' data will be created, displayed, stored, and changed.
• Software application development project assumptions and risks.
• List of features and functionality provided by the software application.
• Specific plans and details related to the project process, databases, programming languages, URLS, human resources, hardware requirements, software requirements, servers, core technologies and other logistics of the project.
• Expenses for programming time and materials and other important financial variables related to the project costs in custom software application development projects.
• Functional and non-functional requirements.
• Our customers' acceptance criteria for custom software development projects.
• Payment plans are also established so that our clients understand how they will be billed, how much and when.

Our project scope documentation and software development services are normally billed on an hourly basis. Upon request, we can also prepare a fixed-bid estimate for your business or professional group.