CRITICAL DESIGN ASSOCIATES, INC.
LANDCASTER, PA

Who is Critical Design Associates? Critical Design Associates, Inc. (CDA) was established Dec. 2001 with a commitment to providing clients with greater operational efficiencies that centered on our people, platform and processes. By applying these three core principles to any IT business challenge, our clients quickly noticed a successful impact from these best practices in comparison to other approaches taken by other firms in the past. Why Critical Design Associates? Critical Design Associates employs a proven methodology to ensure successful management of customer expectations. When the below listed project specific processes are followed and implemented successively, Critical Design Associates can ensure customer satisfaction and provide adequate support for the customer’s technical environment and business processes. This criterion is applicable to any implementation and follows “best practices” as provided by most software and hardware vendors. Each phase of the methodology is described in brief below: The analysis phase is the most critical component of any engagement. During this phase Critical Design Associates works toward developing and defining the requirements and managing expectations for the entire project. It is typical during this phase to develop a detailed document outlining the existing environment since any subsequent projects may require changes to the existing environment. Risk mitigation is identified and documented via the recommendations sections of this phase’s final deliverable document. This phase can also include a Proof of Concept where basic ideas and system functionality can be quickly validated and tested in a lab environment prior to moving forward with a design. The analysis deliverable is used as the initial reference point for all subsequent phases. The design phase encompasses several processes, which are considered best practices for developing a solution. The tasks associated with this phase include hardware and software selections as well as a strategy for integrating together all of the required components. System functionality and architecture are defined and documented based upon the requirements gathered during the analysis phase. The deliverable for this phase provides a detailed description of the proposed solution. The design deliverable is used as the primary point of reference for all subsequent phases. The build and test phase encompasses the processes of building the hardware and application architecture to support the proposed solution based on the design deliverables. System functionality is tested and verified during this phase to ensure a successful production rollout. The deliverables for this phase typically encompass some step-by-step procedures for deploying the environment. Production Rollout The production rollout phase is where “live” users access the new environment. Typically, this occurs in at least three phases: The pilot phase encompasses a small production rollout for the purposes of collecting initial use feedback and to refine the final production rollout prior to full deployment. During the pilot phase user feedback and performance related statistics are collected. The deliverable for this phase typically represents the results of the pilot on a functional level, based on user feedback and any other statistics collected. Production Deployment During this phase of the project, the final production system is completely deployed to the entire end user community. During this phase of the production rollout, Critical Design Associates transfers knowledge to the onsite staff through interactive meetings and presentations. At this time all project deliverables are presented in binder format. The support phase is implemented upon request in the event modifications are required to support changes in the environment or in the event that support staff is unavailable. Support is also available in the event of any production downtime situations. The deliverables for this phase typically reflect documentation of the incident encountered and any steps taken to resolve the issue. Critical Design Associates also delivers advanced onsite and offsite training for the technical team as required. This phase encompasses the delivery of official curriculum items from the respective vendor or custom developed training as required. Are you curious why so many companies in the healthcare, financial services, energy, professional services and retail industries have selected Critical Design as their strategic solution services provider. Contact us to learn how our proven approach and tailored solutions have made a positive impact in the IT and business environments of our clients. By strategically aligning our business with leading technology partners, Critical Design Associates can offer innovative solutions to better service our client’s IT business challenges. By working closely together with both our clients and partners, Critical Design Associates bridges the gap between the customer and vendor by acting as a trusted, unbiased, outside 3rd party adviser to offer the most appropriate solution that meets the client’s business goals and within budget. We customize business solutions to streamline business operations, increase productivity, improve IT performance, tackle regulatory compliance guidelines and secure the environment from the ever growing internal and external threats that are out there. Critical Design Associates is positioned with the leaders in technology including Citrix, Microsoft, VMWare, Ivanti (AppSense, LanDesk and Shavlik), Bromium, Nutanix, and Veritas. Our technology professionals are certified in many of these respective technologies. By working closely with these strategic partners, Critical Design Associates can provide service and quality that is unmatched in our industry. Are you curious why so many companies in the healthcare, financial services, energy, professional services and retail industries have selected Critical Design as their strategic solution services provider. Contact us to learn how our proven approach and tailored solutions have made a positive impact in the IT and business environments of our clients.