Rapid systems development (RSD) is PA’s approach to rapid application development and is our preferred way of building systems for our clients – particularly where time to deliver is critical and/or the precise requirements are not understood at the outset of the project.
Delivering what the business needs faster
Achieving short time-to-market objectives or hitting particular windows of business opportunity means that there is increasing pressure on IT to deliver rapidly. But the industry is still plagued by long projects which eventually ‘run into the sand’ and fail to integrate with the business.
This has given rise to the emergence in the market of rapid development techniques and technologies. With today’s tools, application software can be produced more quickly than before, but major software projects still over-run because they fail to deliver what the business needs. PA has developed an approach to IT delivery projects that uses modern tools and techniques as enablers, but specifically focuses on the ‘softer’ issues which determine whether a project is ultimately successful.
RSD can deliver in half the time for only 80% of the cost
PA pioneered RSD over 15 years ago and since then has refined it using the experience gained by developing business-critical solutions in impossible timescales. RSD is based on working better and closer with the business users of the system throughout the project's duration. It aims to deliver a usable system as quickly as possible and then build on this system iteratively in order to achieve a perfect fit to the business requirements.
PA’s ability to deliver high quality solutions more quickly than our competitors (with a track record to prove it) is a key differentiator. PA’s experience in RSD covers all major business sectors and many different technologies.
Productivity metrics taken from PA’s RSD projects show that systems have been delivered up to four times faster than could have been expected using other, more traditional, approaches. However, there is more to RSD than delivering quickly. RSD delivers systems which more readily fit the business process.
