Application Development
At Ventera, we focus on improving the way that organizations conduct their business, while helping them get the most from their IT investments. Very often, this means designing and building software applications, or integrating and installing COTS application products, to meet their business needs.
Ventera provides life cycle application development and integration services using the industry standard Rational Unified Process (RUP) methodology. RUP’s flexibility makes it appropriate for the wide variety of application development projects that Ventera undertakes, including development of custom applications, installation/integration of off-the-shelf software, and complex data migration/conversion efforts. In addition, RUP focuses on reducing project risks and building in quality, critical attributes that help us to develop high-quality solutions that meet our customers needs and are cost-effective, reliable, and maintainable. See RUP Implementation Scheme for a more complete description of how Ventera implements RUP.
Ventera provides our staff with extensive training in the RUP methodology, ensuring that we apply RUP consistently and effectively for all of our customers. Most of our senior technical staff have received formal certification in using RUP.
Our staff is also skilled in the following technologies and application development techniques:
- Business analysis, requirements definition, and use case modeling.
- Object-oriented analysis and design using Rational Rose.
- J2EE and Microsoft .NET distributed component architectures.
- Java/EJB, HTML/DHTML/XML, WebLogic, Microsoft ASP, Lotus Domino, and Cold Fusion development tools.
- Java application servers including BEA Weblogic.
- Middleware/Enterprise Application Integration (EAI) including WebMethods and Active Directory.
- Databases including Oracle, MS SQL Server, MS Access, and Sybase.
- Data warehousing tools including Business Objects, MicroStrategy, and Informatica.
- Reporting tools including Actuate, Business Objects, and Crystal Reports.
- Automated test tools including Silk Segue and RSW Team Test, and WinRunner.
- Internet infrastructure including Cisco routers, switches and load balancers.
- Unix and Microsoft Windows platforms.
- User training and system documentation.
Ventera’s highly capable staff and our use of industry-leading methodologies have enabled us to successfully deliver dozens of applications to our customers, including Nextel Communications and the USDA, Food and Nutrition Service (FNS). FNS turned to Ventera for help when their main legacy application, STARS, was no longer able to support the 800 users who monitor and manage activities at 146,000 grocery stores and specialized meal service providers. FNS contracted with Ventera to become their application modernization business partner – addressing their critical systems and data issues through the development of STARS II.
On the STARS II project, Ventera used the RUP methodology to perform a complete iterative application development lifecycle effort for a mission-critical enterprise system. Ventera completed a 14-month development and testing effort on-time and under budget, which enabled USDA to save millions of dollars while providing users with a web-based system that met their needs and could be accessed anywhere in the field.
STARS II Project Highlights
- Full lifecycle systems development and integration effort
- All aspects of the project were completed on-schedule and under budget, saving USDA millions of dollars
- Completed application consisted of more than 700,000 lines of code
- Project consisted of 12 RUP development iterations
- STARS II is fully compliant with Section 508 requirements
- Migrated over 9 Gbytes of data, from three sources of legacy data
Ventera's application development approach brings together highly-qualified people and a strong methodology to deliver systems to our customers that improve business operations while reducing costs.