By using a customized process which is flexible, we ensure a smooth ride with better overall results.

Our work process for each project is customized to your specific needs and requirements. All projects begin with a strategic meeting to get a full understanding of the situation and to develop the initial ground work for the project. Typical steps in our process include the following.

Discovery Phase

• Meet with key stakeholders to set vision.
• Include usability tasks in the project plan.
• Assemble a multidisciplinary team to ensure complete expertise.
• Develop usability goals and objectives.
• Conduct field studies.
• Look at competitive products.
• Create user profiles.
• Develop a task analysis.
• Document user scenarios.
• Document user performance requirements.

Creative Phase

• Begin to brainstorm design concepts and metaphors.
• Develop screen flow and navigation model.
• Do walkthroughs of design concepts.
• Begin design with paper and pencil.
• Create low-fidelity prototypes.
• Conduct usability testing on low-fidelity prototypes.
• Create high-fidelity detailed design.
• Do usability testing again.
• Document standards and guidelines.
• Create a design specification.

Programing Phase

• Do ongoing heuristic evaluations.
• Work closely with delivery team as design is implemented.
• Conduct usability testing as soon as possible.

Launch Phase

• Use surveys to get user feedback.
• Conduct field studies to get info about actual use.
• Check objectives using usability testing.

Things we can help with.

Employee Participation: We facilitate the participation of your employees in our problem solving strategies because they are familiar with the existing processes and problems. Employees typically have good ideas and they need to become a committed part of any solution.

Catalysts for Change: We bring a problem solving approach and analytical techniques to help your employees recognize the need for change and energize them.

Objectivity: We serve only you, the owner/manager of the business, to help ensure you achieve the needed results.

Unique Skills: We bring special skills (not normally required in your day-to-day business) to help create innovative solutions.

Independence: As a professional third party, we can frequently collect sensitive information from your customers, distributors, competitors, or potential partners, which they would not share with you directly.

Knowledge: We have over 40 years of combined experience addressing issues in many companies and in many industries, so we can answer those "What have others done?" questions.

Improving how well your business communicates with your customers has many benefits that will dramatically impact your bottom line.

The collective effect of increased sales, reduced operating costs, and improved asset utilization significantly leverages bottom line profits. For example, if a business in which operating costs (mostly variable) are 50% of sales and investment costs (mostly fixed or step costs) are 40%, were to increase sales by 50%, reduce operating costs to 40% of sales and avoid any additional investment, it's profits would jump 400%.

During consulting projects, we will estimate the benefits and bottom line impact of our problem solving teams' recommendations and establish performance measurement processes to help ensure the projected results are achieved.