Business Challenge
The client consulted with SoftServe to integrate a custom payroll solution into its product that was used by state agencies including Health and Human Services Corporation (HHSC), Department of Education (DOE), and Department of Accounting and General Services (DAGS). Although the requirements and the implementations for each agency were similar, some requirements were unique. SoftServe’s main task was to provide the state agencies with a number of the application maintenance support services, such as development, testing, deployment, and new functionality support, as well as 24-hour support service during the payroll calculation period.
Project Description
The requirements manager role was essential in solving the number of maintenance support tasks , such as:
- Analyzing problems raised by the client’s support center and identifying the root cause
- Providing an explanation of the problem’s root cause
- Proposing a workaround using existing functionality
- Providing an explanation when the existing system is not able to perform according to the customer request
- Assisting in bug fixes for the issues related to the custom payroll system
This process is followed for each issue. After issues relating to the same functionality or requiring urgent delivery are gathered, the release date is defined. Then, the requirements manager gathers the approved work order documents for delivery, and prepares release documentation with the help of developers and QA engineers for the following:
- Release Notes
- Test Summary Report
- User’s Guide
After all the release documentation is ready, the requirements manager sends a delivery message to the customers. The SoftServe requirements manager and client communicate via e-mail and weekly conference calls. The requirements manager provides the meeting agenda and the file providing status updates, leading the discussion on outstanding issues and sending the meeting minutes after the call.
Value Delivered
SoftServe has worked with the client on DOE/HHSC support services for more than six years with an initial project that focused on new development contracts. Since that time, SoftServe consulted with the client to developed a powerful payroll application that has been in use for four years.
With the help of the requirements manager, SoftServe continues to improve the solution through its collaboration with the client and the DOE/HHSC agencies. The requirements manager role resulted in a better understanding of the customer’s needs, which has allowed the team to implement new functionalities fa ster with higher quality. The application automates payroll calculations such as regular, partial month and historical, vacation payouts, workers compensation, temporary assignment, etc. Also, the system generates reports based on the results of the calculation modules function, which simplifies the calculation correctness and accuracy verification processes. The delivered solution fully replaced the previous system with its newly developed payroll application.