Full-Service Project Management
for Simple to Complex Initiatives
USA Firmware sets itself apart from the competition with its thorough approach to managing embedded and IoT projects. We follow a time-tested process to take projects from initial concept to final delivery. Our experienced project managers build a project plan that monitors and steers its execution, while keeping the client fully informed with regular status updates. Our process focuses on both the client and our development team having the same set of shared expectations at all times.
Our
process
Project Planning & Roadmap
Our project managers lead a thorough technical assessment of our client’s requirements. Senior members of our engineering staff are brought into the conversation to understand the details and create work breakdowns and effort estimates that will serve as the project’s roadmap.
Project Execution
Once work on a project begins, USA Firmware project managers keep watch over what we call the project management triangle: budget, schedule and scope. Changes in any of these aspects affect the other two aspects, so our experienced project managers keep them in balance. We encourage collaboration among the team and with the client, meeting frequently to check status and avoid roadblocks.
If plans change, we implement our proven change order process. We carefully document the necessary adjustments and ensure complete alignment of all parties’ expectations before implementing requested changes.
Project Status Reporting
We keep our clients up to date on project status with regular meetings to review and discuss the current outlook of the budget and schedule. Our project forecasts are updated weekly, so any problems are exposed promptly. We believe in being transparent with our clients because transparency reduces costly communication errors.
Benefits of
USA Firmware
Our project managers have decades of experience designing products and leading development teams. We understand what we’re building at a system level, which enables us to plan and integrate the work of electronics, firmware, software and mechanical engineers.
We use enterprise-class Professional Services Automation (also known as PSA) software to manage clients’ projects from the proposal stage to final delivery. Our system tightly links time tracking, budgets, milestone schedules, purchase orders, and invoicing, giving our project managers and our clients an up-to-date forecast showing how our performance is tracking against the plan on budget and schedule.
Project status communication includes the project management triangle on a report dashboard with easy-to-follow graphics. Bar graphs track the budget forecast, showing how much we have previously invoiced, how much we expect to invoice going forward, and how that lines up with the purchase order cover. Estimated effort burndown charts show planned versus actual schedule progress, and clearly call out changes in project scope. Milestones, risks, and open issues are kept in front of all stakeholders and team members.