Proven, Scalable Processes for a Successful Project

Prototypes and Staged Deliveries
Decades of research have proven that projects which define deliverables in terms of phases or stages are better able to identify risks and constraints early on in the planning process, and as such, are able to plan and implement counter-measures with a greater degree of success.

With smaller scheduled deliveries scheduled regularly throughout the course of the project, customers experience an enhanced sense of trust, confidence, awareness, and control. Rather than waiting for a single, large delivery at project end, small-batch deliveries phased over the entire project life cycle significantly increase the client’s assurance of quality control. Other benefits include:

• The functional portions of the project are developed and delivered in the early stages, allowing for more stringent quality control from the outset.
• The possibility of estimation errors is significantly reduced.
• Project visibility to both customers and upper management is increased.

Weekly Status Reports
After the end of every week, we deliver a comprehensive status report to our clients. Details provided in each weekly status report include:

• The project activities originally planned for the last week
• The project activities actually performed in the last week
• The project activities planned for the coming week
• Emerging challenges, problems, concerns, issues, and question, if any have arisen
• Proposed changes to stage schedule
• Explanation for requested schedule change
• Overall project status

Comprehensive Bug Management
Bugs -- tiny glitches or misfires -- are an annoying but inevitable part of the product development process. In the massive task of building a program from scratch, it’s likely that a few small problems are going to show up. The good news is that with proper response and management, bugs won’t result in an adverse outcome for your project. In order to combat bugs, Mantra uses the leading bug and defect-tracking tool Bugzilla, which helps us record:

• Clearly-defined, frequently-updated information about the status of each bug or defect
• Complete control over the bug-remediation workflow
• Full history of work done on each bug, defect, or enhancement
• Each users’ input and updates about new bugs and defects

Version Controlling
One way to keep projects on track is to make sure that all collaborators stay on the same page, so to speak. When many technicians, managers, and other personnel are modifying files, it’s vital to ensure that the recent changes are saved and the latest version is consistent. In order to achieve this, Mantra uses the most popular version controlling tool on the market, CVS. We also employ Visual SourceSafe (VSS) on client request.

Knowledge Management System
In the global knowledge economy, managing your firm ’s intellectual capital is the key to maintaining an edge. Mantra understands the singularly important power of knowledge management, and as such, we have implemented an organization-wide knowledge management system that ensures consistent information flow and communication between all of our departments. This helps us ensure that we don’t have to solve a problem more than once, thereby streamlining our operational efficiency and ensuring that your deliverables will exceed the most stringent quality requirements.