The Background
A healthcare startup offering an innovative idea for shift assignments with one beta location was looking to roll out to a second location to continue their market validation.
The Need
During their market validation, the startup had uncovered issues within their solution that needed to be resolved. Their original development had started three years before, and the original developers were not in a position to update/upgrade the existing system.
To be able to meet regulatory compliance and functional needs that would allow them to support multiple beta sites and achieve market validation of their product, Softjourn undertook a technical assessment of their existing mobile-first solution.
Doing so would give the client much-needed information about what was immediately necessary to add or fix, and what could be planned for a future update or upgrade.
The Solution
Once Softjourn had access to the code, we proceeded with a technical assessment using the following criteria:
- Assessment of the core code/database, including:
- Are versions out of date?
- Are basic must-have features achievable?
- What is its current maintainability level?
- What is the current database structure?
If we found that the current code was capable of supporting must-have features, we then would attempt to answer the following questions:
- How could the must-have features be added?
- Are nice-to-have features attainable with the current codebase, without significant modification?
- Production Environment(s)
- Apps, any web interface? Located where?
- Does any test environment exist?
- System structure:
- Is the architecture scalable?
- Review security for immediate obstacles to getting more beta sites; recommended that, if existing codebase is kept, penetration testing is needed (Softjourn performs penetration testing through a partner company)
- Is the performance capacity sufficient to significantly increase the client base?
The Benefits
Once we completed the technical assessment, our client gained the following benefits:
- Written assessment of the code.
- Thorough opinion on the existing state of the application.
- Our recommendations on next steps.
- If the current codebase could handle the new requirements, we fully defined the must-have and nice-to-have features in terms of architecture, UI/UX design, and time/cost estimate.
Conclusion
As a result of Softjourn's technical assessment, our client was able to understand what was realistic from a business perspective. They gained a deeper understanding of their existing product, as well as what next steps were absolutely necessary to reach projected milestones and goals. They also gained an understanding of which requirements could wait.