Generic - Who is QAIassist - origin ?
Generic - QAIassist is an interesting name - where did it come from ?
Generic - "IT Efficiency" - that is an interesting term - what is its context ?

IT Efficiency - What is an IT operational discipline?
IT Efficiency - Where can the greatest IT efficiencies be gained?
IT Efficiency - Where to begin?
IT Efficiency - How long will it take to complete an IT Efficiency diagnostic evaluation ?

Methodology (General) - What is an "IT Methodology" ?

Generic - Who is QAIassist - origin ?
QAIassist is proudly Canadian - our Head Office is in the nation's capital of Ottawa, Ontario. Established in 2007, our origin was based on recognizing four fundamental realities. First, that economic conditions were forcing small and mid-sized business (SMB's) to do more with less. Second, that all SMB's were reliant (to varying degrees) on information technology (IT) to keep them competitive in the marketplace. Third, SMB's did not have access to a reliable knowledge base they could utilize to assist them with their IT related decisions. Fourth, there was a need to develop, deliver and support an affordable suite of scalable "IT Efficiency" solutions that SMB's could leverage to increase their product development, operational efficiency and bottom line.

Generic - QAIassist is an interesting name - where did it come from ?
From the beginning we realized SMB's could improved their operational performance and bottom line through "IT Efficiency" - we also realized the value associated with these "IT Efficiency" solutions would be dependent on insuring they contributed to the SMB's ongoing "quality" and "improvement". As to our name, the "Q" = Quality, the "A" = And, the "I"= Improvement, and the "assist" = assistance. The result - QAIassist.

Generic - "IT Efficiency" - that is an interesting term - what is its context ?
All QAIassist products have been designed in accordance with industry recognized standards, best practices, and quality frameworks. This affords our customers, "Affiliates" and clients of our "Affiliates" the security to know their QAIassist "IT efficiency" solution will be reliable and cost effective.

IT Efficiency - What is an IT operational discipline ?
Industry recognized standards, "best practices" and quality frameworks apply specific terminology. In most cases these terms originate from a particular standard, best practice or framework (PMI, ITIL, CMMI, etc). As  IT efficiency experts, QAIassist references and utilizes these terms to describe operational disciplines (project planning, requirements management, metrics, project tracking, testing, etc) within the IT industry. We have created an inventory of IT operational disciplines which we use as the basis for designing our "IT efficiency" products and solutions.

IT Efficiency - Where can the greatest IT efficiencies be gained ?
As organizations differ so too does the opportunity to increase IT efficiency. One organization may benefit from an increase in applying project management, another in defining business requirements and another in integration testing. The uniqueness business parameters (ie strategic direction, objectives, mission critical applications) must be assessed as part of the "IT efficiency" exercise. In some organizations IT efficiency can be specific to optimizing one IT operational discipline, other organizations may benefit by optimizing several IT operational disciplines would be more beneficial.

IT Efficiency - where to begin ?
IT strengths and weaknesses differ between organizations - some organizations are strong on project planning others are strong on testing, etc. In the majority of cases, any inefficiency problems will be recurring - happening over and over again. These recurring problems act as the basis for a diagnostic evaluation to a specific operational discipline(s). In some organizations the diagnostic valuation is limited to one specific operational discipline, in other organizations multiple operational disciplines are evaluated simultaneously.  
 

IT Efficiency - How long will it take to complete an IT Efficiency diagnostic evaluation ?
This depends on the size of the organization to be evaluated, the number of staff and management to be interviewed and the number of IT operational disciplines to be addressed. A limited scope evaluation (small organization, few staff, one operational discipline) can be completed in a number of days, a larger scale evaluation (medium sized organization, several layers of staff, and multiple operational disciplines) could take several weeks.
 

Methodology - What is an "IT Methodology" ?
An IT Methodology is a process used by IT developers and maintenance staff to consistently deliver products and applications on time and within budget.