Requirements

The customer is a national real estate investment company that needed a way to improve communications with their investors. They wanted investors to have instant access to their statements and correspondence online. But before their customers could get that information, their staff needed that information.

Architecture

We chopped the project into three parts:

• Phase I: improve internal data storage.
• Phase II: Marry up to the minute statement databases with the customer database. Capture inbound and outbound communications for reference and quality assurance.
• Phase III: allow customers to log onto the web and view their statements and mailings.

We sketched out the user interfaces using whiteboards, faxes, and paper sketches. These sorts of paper prototypes show users how the application will work before a line of code is written. They can be quickly changed both because they are easy to make and also because so little time and money is invested in them.

Development

Working closely with the staff, we created a windows desktop application for viewing and editing customer database. We kept sensitive data encrypted using multiple public keys to ensure no one user could access the entire database in bulk. Social Security numbers, account data, and other sensitive information is restricted through client certificates installed on users' PCs.

Deployment

• We deployed four preliminary releases of the application, incorporating feedback from users at each session. Phase I went live in September 2007.

Iteration / Refinement

• After release, the customer came back to us with new reporting requirements. We deployed these changes through Auto Update.