Functional Specification / Consulting

Bachelor Controls can develop a functional specification to define the project’s parameters for success. Matching up expectations with deliverables gives peace of mind and sets agreed-upon standards of success. A well-designed functional specification prevents surprises and compromised results!

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Specification Writing:
Defining Deliverables and Constraints

Discover the Activity Model
To make our customer more successful, we must understand how they operate their business.

This is probably the most important aspect of specification development. Whatever solution is being considered MUST improve the normal business activities of the company being served. This concept is true from the IT business model down to the steps an operator has to perform to accomplish a given task.

We have a unique blend of both IT interviewing skills as well as a depth in plant floor process knowledge as it applies to those industries that we routinely serve.

Discover and Define the Constraints
It would be a most unusual for a project to not have constraints applied to it. Constraints can come from a variety of sources: the process itself, user needs, security, physical network schema, maintenance capabilities (process and IT), costs, schedules, etc.

Identifying and specifying these constraints are part of the discovery process. It's imperative that the project team responsibly deal with the associated constraints if they are to meet the project's objectives.

Derive the Required Data Model
This is the part of the project that determines what information is needed to drive the process, what information is needed to manage the process and what specific information does each person, office or device need to perform its function within the business activity model.

Usually all aspects of the business are quality conscious, but the activity paradigms of the transaction-based business system and the real-time environment of the plant floor drive different ways of thinking. The transaction-based business system demands a high level of data integrity, while the plant floor operates in a real-time environment where flexibility, up-time and throughput are the prime concerns.

The Data Model needs to be designed so that the transactions of the business system can be submitted directly to the production process and then allow real-time management of that downloaded batch of work orders. The respective data collection associated with the work order flow is to be gathered in real-time and returned to the business system, as required.

Incorporate "Good Practice" Methodologies
Fundamental standards should be included in order to clearly communicate the basic methodologies and disciplines that are expected in delivering the project. Do you want to specify the development and delivery of a high-level design document? Do you care what form this high-level design document takes? Do you want to stipulate a methodology for error trapping and logging?

It is not the intent of this guide to incorporate all the "good practice" methodologies that should be applied to a given project. The intent is to point out the need for such detail.

Define the Deliverables
Obviously, the specific deliverables that are required for the project must be identified and so stipulated.

Without a defined set of deliverables for a project, there is little hope for success.

Establish a Schedule with Milestones
Milestones play a key role in the management of schedules. With easily identified points of measurement, you can verify percent complete against the timeline.

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Bachelor Controls was extremely thorough while gathering the information they needed ... The result was a functional specification that defined exactly what we hoped to accomplish. Not only did BCI deliver what we specified, but the start-up went so smoothly, it took very little of our staff’s time to support it.

Jeff Lang
Vice President
DAD’S Products Company