At the project idea or conception phase, Intelligent Systems Consulting can work with executives, VPs, managers, and others within the organization in order to analyze the current systems, personnel, processes, situations, & problems, and recommend a course of action, assess a project's feasibility, or establish and initiate the project itself. Typical activities for this type of work include:

1. Identifying problems/opportunities
2. Cutting through to measurable "bottom line" motivations
3. Establishing a vision or long-range goal
4. Diagramming existing or envisioned business process flows, technical environments, and/or data flows
5. Calculating current and future operating costs and benefits
6. Estimating work efforts and project schedules, and establishing desired team structures and skill sets
7. Defining scope and priorities, and evaluating the risks, constraints, and critical success factors

Intelligent Systems Consulting can help you assess the risks associated with any endeavor and recommend contingency and mitigation plans. In particular, many clients benefit from the risk mitigation that comes from quality Security Strategies and Disaster Recovery Plans.

Quality Assurance is more than just "Testing"! Quality Assurance is proactive and preventative, while testing refers to activities that locate and articulate problems or software bugs after they have been introduced. Effective Quality Assurance incorporates the following:

• A collaborative and supportive environment with a shared vision of "zero defects"
• Situation-specific and measurable quality goals
• Diligent organization and pursuit of QA goals
• QA goals/responsibilities in all segments of the project, with defined entry and exit criteria
• Automated tools (in some cases)

Intelligent Systems Consulting can help you to create and staff an entire Quality Assurance department within your organization, enhance your existing efforts with industry best practices, or simply incorporate QA measures in an ongoing project.