Highrise Consulting, Inc. specializes in all aspects of Software Development Life Cycle.

Highrise has extensive experience in defining complex system requirements: a key aspect of our process is to insure that we have end-user buy-in - a critical step to the successful delivery of the end product.

It is critical in the requirements process to be able to convey the requirements to application developers, system architects, and system testers. RUP is a framework containing best practices to be employed in defining business requirements. Highrise tailors our implementation of RUP in meeting the needs of future system users.

Highrise implements a rigorous change control process to ensure that requirement creep does not become a problem and jeopardize the success of the project.

Working with business users, Highrise determines the specific detailed requirements of the initiative by producing Use Cases and associated supplementary artifacts.

Highrise recommends developing HTML prototypes for interfaces required by the Use Cases. The objective of this effort is to visually show the functionality defined in the detailed requirements, while validating the requirements early using this low cost method.

Once completed, the Vision, Use Case model, prototypes, and detailed requirements artifacts are available for inclusion in the Project Initiation Document. Such an approach has proven very successful at NIH eRA Project, in which Highrise has developed many Use Cases specific to the needs of NIH.

Equally challenging are the maintenance of requirements associated with mission critical systems. Using our experience in Configuration Management and Requirements Repository administration, Highrise will ensure that requirements continue to reflect the functionality of the system. This is achieved by defining requirements baselines and maintaining these baselines using Configuration Management best practices and requirements management tools such as Rational's RequisitePro, ClearQuest, and Rose.

Our staff members have expertise in a wide range of fields including government, manufacturing, publishing, non-profit, and mobile industries. We can architect, develop, deploy and manage solutions:

• Web-Based Internet/Intranet Applications
• Web Services
• Dynamic Customer Driver Websites and Portals
• Content Management
• Struts, MVC
• EJB, Hibernate, JDO, Persistance Management Systems with Object Relationships
• C#, ASP.NET, VM.NET
• Database Applications
• Wireless/Mobile Applications
• Linux and Unix/Solaris Applications

• Java Development
• Web Driven and Standalone Application Development
• J2EE Implementation - JMS, EJB's, JDO and Other Persisitance Mechanisms, Middleware
• JSP & Servlets using Struts MVC
• BEA's Weblogic, Apache Tomcat, JBoss, Jetty and Orion Server

• C# .NET, ASP.NET, .NET 2.0, .NET 3.0, ASP.NET 2.0, ADO.NET, VB.NET, Visual Studio

• Visual Basic
• Database (SQL) Driven Applications with millions of transactions per day
• Cold Fusion
• Perl, PHP and CGI
• Web Design, Usability Analysis and Graphic Design
• Linux Server - Red Hat, Gentoo, Fedora
• Linux Email Integration With Applications

• Linux Servers - Gentoo, Red Hat, Fedora
• Microsoft Windows Servers
• Sun Solaris

• Java and .NET - Web-Based Applications
• J2EE - EJB, JDO, JDBC, JNDI, JMS, JMX
• .NET - C#, ASP.NET, VM.NET
• Hibernate, Kona & Top Link
• Apache, Apache Tomcat, BEA's WebLogic, JBoss, and Orion Server
• Microsoft SQL Server, Oracle, MySQL, PostgreSQL, HSQLDB (Hypersonic SQL)
• PHP and Perl Based Solutions

Highrise employs modern testing methodologies and tools that allow our clients to minimize many risks associated with software bugs, incomplete requirements and inadequate application performance. Our expertise includes manual testing and automation using major tools including Mercury, Silk and IBM Rational. We meet with the teams and management staff to determine the best approach and strategy in implementing the products and customizing the business processes.

We also offer independent consulting to determine which tests are needed to ensure that your product meets industry-standards criteria. We provide our clients with competent knowledge in:

• Acceptance testing
• Defect tracking and Defect management
• End to End testing
• Functional testing
• Operational Readiness Testing â�“ ORT
• Performance, Load, and Stress testing
• Automated testing
• Reviews, walkthroughs and inspections
• Security Testing
• System testing and integration testing
• Test management and test planning
• Test measurement and testing metrics
• Test strategies
• User Acceptance Testing - UAT
• Usability Testing

Quality Assurance (QA) involves the entire software development process - monitoring and improving the process, making sure that any agreed-upon standards and procedures are followed, and ensuring that problems are found and dealt with. We guarantee release-to-release, systematic reduction in regression testing time, simultaneously increasing the quality of the product. For us, Quality Assurance also involves supplying objective and accurate information on risks, issues and milestones throughout the project lifecycle, not just in the final phase. And this clarity enables managers to make informed and timely choices as the project proceeds.

We have brought together a team of specialists with excellent QA skills who are passionate about their chosen profession. We use this collective knowledge to accelerate the creation and delivery of QA solutions.

Our goal is to substantially increase the value our clients derive from Quality Assurance. We work to a set of principles, which govern how we conduct our assignments, but don't form a constraining method, which would restrain innovations.

Our team believes that Quality Assurance is one of the major elements in any project's success.

Highrise will support the Client in the development of the following operations documentation:

• System Administration Guide
• Database Administration Guide
• End-users Guide
• Release Notes
• On-line Help Content for the system
• Disaster Recovery Guide
• Systems Management Guide

Additionally, Highrise Consulting has vast experience in end user support and training and can support formal training (hands-on and/or lecture style) of trainers, operators, and administrators on the use of the system and relevant system components, as well as the development of the training plan and other training materials as need.