The purpose of this solicitation was to produce Electronic Certification Automatic Processing (ECAP) Functional Requirements Documentation, Technical Design Documentation and to redevelop code that was previously implemented. ECAP was created to process incoming electronic enrollment certifications and changes. Technik gathered the functional requirements to create the technical design documentation in order to provide to the VA with a relevant and capable system to support the Education Services Regional Processing Offices throughout the United States.
Project Accomplishments
Project accomplishments and associated activities are described below.
Task 1: Operations
Technik ensured that PEPS and eAPP was functionally available on a daily basis to support all of the associated business units and customers.
Task 2: Maintenance
Technik was responsible for all formal maintenance releases to PEPS and eAPP. There were four scheduled maintenance releases each year – October, January, April, and July. Technik followed the standard operational methodologies consisting of, but not limited to, requirements traceability, configuration management, change management, version control, and documentation updates.
All software development followed the Federal Student Aid Solution Life Cycle Guide, which includes vision statement, project planning, requirements analysis, system design (logical and physical design), construction, testing, implementation, and transition support.
Task 3: Functional Requirements and Technical Design Documentation
Technik produced an ECAP Functional Requirements Document and an ECAP Technical Design Document that accurately described the functionality and technical design of the ECAP application that is currently in production at the four Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA) Education Service Regional Processing Offices. Technik’s goal was to describe the existing “as-is” ECAP architecture (current real-world configuration of resources, rules, relationships and implementation of capabilities and assets in the field) in complete detail and highlight the modifications necessary for interfacing to the rehosted BDN applications in the SUN/UNIX and ORACLE platforms. Technik outlined the essential aspects of the existing ECAP architecture and aggregated the data for presentation at the enterprise level.
Documenting an existing application involved looking at two dimensions of the application: Static Structure and Dynamic Behavior. If the basis for performing the documentation is to pave the way to forward engineering, then the structure of the to-be application may change based on the need for contemporary techniques and changes in execution architecture styles based on technology innovations. However, the dynamic behavior is usually expected to remain the same to prevent changes from rippling through other systems that are related to the subject application.
Task 4: Rewrite Code
Technik was tasked with redeveloping code previously implemented without the use of standard software development paradigms. Technik’s team of analysts, system programmers and developers, as well as, database architects utilized the industries best practices for developing efficient and effective code that is concise and flexible to allow for easy and simplistic maintenance procedures for the application. Our technical team had the knowledge of streamlining pre-existing codes that was developed in a piecemeal to a much more cohesive code that addresses the overall functional and performance objectives of the application, with the ease of maintenance kept in mind.
Technik engaged in full life cycle system development from the definition of functional requirements through design and code, unit and system/integration test, regression testing, user acceptance testing, solution acceptance, and implementation. The life cycle process was performed sequentially as follows: Analysis and Requirements Definition; Design and Code, Unit Test; Integration and Regression Testing; User Acceptance Testing (UAT) and Solution Acceptance; and Solution Installation/Source Code Release.
Overall Performance: Excellent
Delivery: Technik adhered to all deadlines and produced deliverables in a timely manner.
Cost Control: Technik performed within cost and budget.
Corrective Actions Taken: None
Deliverables
Project Management Plan, Functional Requirements Document, Technical Design Document, Technical Architecture