Software                                                                Development Arkateq develop software that is unique to your business, giving you the competitive edge in the market. Arkateq’s focus is business to customer solutions where companies can have more interaction with their customers. Arkateq’s software solution will enhance, optimise and automate your business processes to increase your bottom line. Arkateq currently has a unique procurement, rental and asset management solution baseline that can be customised according to your business needs. We make use of the modules from this product as building blocks for new solutions. Arkateq’s software engineering approach makes use of a combination of UML (Unified Modeling Language) and a rapid prototyping model. UML makes it easy to model business processes and data structures during the development of solutions to ensure that the desired outcome is achieved. Arkateq follows a modular design and implementation strategy for all software development projects. All development is performed according to a phased approach with strict and measurable project management and defined milestones. The typical lifecycle of a development project will be: The development process is started with a User Requirement Specification (URS) phase where the customer and system user assist the developers to design the system they want and need. The development is plotted via a project management system and updated weekly. All parties involved receive the project plans. This has no additional impact to the customer. There is a specific change control process that is followed when changes need to be made or functionality added. The project plan and costs are immediately plotted so all can see the impact on the project. After the initial URS and deposit costs, payments are usually made only when milestones are achieved. All development work is done in standard development languages. No proprietary development language is used so as not to lock the client in to a specific supplier or functionality. The system is custom built specifically for the customer, giving the customer a competitive edge. (Agreements can be reached where similar product are not built for direct competition.) The development languages used are Object Orientated, making additions or expansion easy to achieve. The development is done in modules to limit bugs, isolate problems and speed-up completion. The customer has access to the developers. They can explain their needs directly to the people designing and building the system. This cuts down mistaken interpretations. The object orientated and modular design allows for rapid development and deployment. Modules that have previously been developed can be easily plugged into the system. The development caters for flexible payment terms over the development period of the system and even afterwards. This helps customers with cash flow and liquidity. It also ensures completion of the project and protects the customer investment. There is an option, if standard modules are used and development held to a minimum, that the system can be rented. There are no compulsory maintenance fees. Maintenance is done ad-hoc as the customer requests or the developer justifies. This assists the customer even further by limiting costs. The system is quoted complete. No additional hardware, Operating Systems, Database Server Software, Report Writing Tools or Project Management Services are needed. Arkateq can design the system, to cater for customer connections into the system. This allows customers to manage their own accounts, pull their own reports and manage their supplier interaction better. This frees up sales and admin resources for suppliers. Arkateq has the ability to integrate email and SMS functionality to notify anybody on any event that needs immediate attention or updating.