A typical project begins with in-depth discussion of the project with participants that may include marketing, engineering, management, and others. Often there are questions about what features and functions should be included in the product as well as how to best implement the product or what current technology is most relevant. Many times there are tradeoffs that need to be evaluated before a conclusion can be made. The investigation into the issues pertaining to the project is formalized into a simple outline of tasks that will become collectively known as a design study.
The deliverables typically resulting from a design study may include a hardware design requirements document, software design requirements document, system design requirements document, or equivalent technical definition of the intended product design. The design requirements documents go beyond marketing definition, and provide detail to the engineering level that will support actual development.
Sometimes the idea for a new product involves some question of feasibility, or whether technology available can accomplish the required tasks. When the product idea looks good on paper as a result of the design study, a "proof of concept" prototype may be built to test the basic concept of the product. The proof of concept is not intended to model the final product, but rather to provide functional answers to "will it work" questions.
Creating the proof of concept prototype will involve some amount of development. Off-the-shelf products will be used when possible to speed up the prototype development. Typically just a subset of functions intended for the final product will be implemented in software for the proof of concept. Once the "will it work" questions are resolved, the project migrates into the development phase where hardware will be refined to its final form often with custom circuit board design, and software will be completed to implement all features and functions required.
Deliverables typically resulting from a proof of concept exercise include prototype hardware and software, and usually an update to design requirements documents based on the findings of the proof of concept study.
Development includes detail design of custom circuit boards, other custom components, and selection of off-the-shelf components where applicable. Circuit schematics are drawn, circuit board artwork is created, bills of materials are produced, and any other necessary documentation is created.
Development includes writing the software where applicable that will make a microprocessor based product do its job. A suitable software architecture is devised, and flowcharts, block diagrams, and other suitable means of documenting architecture and program flow are created. The actual program code is written, typically in embedded C.
The development phase ultimately leads up to production of prototypes that are intended to model the final production unit. This becomes the test bed used to prove functionality and presence of features identified for the product. This also becomes an opportunity for marketing to look at the product and judge whether additional enhancements should be made to increase market appeal. Upon passing functional testing, prototypes are typically submitted for agency certification as well (UL, FCC, CE Mark, etc.).
The design will at some time be considered "frozen" meaning that the documentation produced to that point in development will now be deemed to be a suitable blueprint for full production. Typically a short production run will be made, and the first run units will be placed in service as field test units. Upon passing field test, full production begins.
The notion of "freezing" the design does not mean that changes cannot be made in the future. It does mean, however, that changes must be carefully documented and tracked completely through the production process and through the field service and customer support resources.
An important element of the development process is periodic design reviews. A review is generally held upon completion of any significant deliverable or milestone. Additional design reviews may be held to make pertinent design decisions along the way. Most reviews are design engineering related and highly technical in nature, but it is often a good idea to have marketing and manufacturing reviews as well.
Deliverables typically resulting from the full development project include a complete documentation package, circuit board artwork, software, other drawings and tooling as required, and some number of working pre-production copies of the finished product.
Putting documentation on the menu as dessert is not to suggest that documentation begins when development is done. It is merely the final deliverable, and Avalon's documentation will be a sweet treat to a company that has had experience struggling with inadequate documentation in the past.
Documentation begins in the design study by carefully itemizing a detailed definition of all functions and features to be included in the final product. The result of this effort will be a document known as a Design Requirements Specification. Formal approval of the Design Requirements Specification(s) by appropriate company officials is typically required before full development begins. Toward the end of the development cycle, the Design Requirements Specification becomes the "written test" which the prototypes must pass before the development job is deemed complete.
Several elements of documentation are or may be created throughout development. There is a minimum set of required documents that will vary from one project to another. There are additional more detailed documents that may be provided at the request of the client. The available documents include:
We try to keep your tab as low as possible by serving our menu à la carte. We work on either a time and material basis or fixed bid basis. We will mutually establish the most appropriate terms and conditions for each project on a case by case basis. A larger project will typically be broken down into milestones with a review of all aspects of the project upon completion of each milestone.
You are welcome to call upon us for follow-up work after the initial project is done. This work may involve introducing a new variant of the original product, enhancements, cost reductions available as a result of newly introduced technology, adding new features to the existing product through software enhancements, or just simply manufacturing support as needed.
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