Software company Softability Oy provides
software for a laboratory informatics
company, world leader in high-tech
instruments with annual sales in excess
of over $2 Bn. As is the latest trend
in software production, Softability
Oy designs the software, outsources
its development to an external service
provider, and performs the project
management of the software development.
According to the laboratory informatics
company's request, Softability Oy
designed FDA-compliant
software for the new spectrometer.
The purpose of the software was to
allow the user configure and perform
measurements, to generate reports,
to provide data visualization and
data analysis tools, and to store
the measurement results for unlimited
time. According to the design, the
software included an MS SQL database,
communication module for communicating
with the spectrometer, and a .NET
Windows-based graphical user interface.
For data security, digital signature
was to be implemented.
For the spectrometer software project,
Softability Oy selected Arcadia, Inc.
as the external service provider.
Softability Oy considered several
potential outsourcing partners. Recommendations
play a very important role in selection
of an external service provider. One
of the Softability Project Managers
had previous experience of working
with Arcadia on outsourcing projects
and highly valued Arcadia' services.
The Project Manager's recommendation
and experience played a crucial role
in selecting Arcadia as the service
provider.
Arcadia, Inc. established for Softability
Oy an offshore software development
center (ODC). Under the ODC model,
a dedicated team of developers was
assigned to the Softability's project.
All project management was on the
customer's side. Arcadia, Inc. provided
the team with administration, facilities,
and resources. The development team
and the Customer's team had regular
meetings, either at Arcadia, or at
the Softability's premises. During
the meetings, all aspects of the development
were discussed, which allowed to minimize
documentation work. The two sides
exchanged daily several rounds of
e-mail. All source code and other
project-related files were stored
in the version control system at the
Customer's side. Arcadia's team accessed
the version control system via the
Internet.
At the beginning, four software developers
worked at the ODC, and later, the
team was expanded to six developers.
All developers were highly experienced
in technically similar projects, but
they had to gain additional knowledge
in the subject area of spectrometry.
Since the software had to be FDA-compliant,
the developers also scrutinized the
corresponding FDA requirements. Although
the general architectural design was
performed by the Customer, Arcadia's
developers designed separate modules,
such as data visualization and report
generation modules.
The project lasted for 18 months and
was successfully completed. Arcadia's
ISO 9001:2000 certified quality management
system ensured the high quality of
the product. Softability Oy was very
much satisfied with the result and
has plans to outsource to Arcadia
software for two more spectrometer
models.
Employed Technologies:
DBMS: MSDE 2000, MS SQL 2000 Server
Programming languages: C#
Development environment: .NET
Project Duration : 18 months, or 84 person-months.
