Volg ICTI

IT review and consulting

In an IT review project, a number of research questions about an IT system are answered in an objective and thorough manner. This involves looking at the system itself (through testing, measurements and possibly also source code research) but also into the business context and the IT organization. In this way a complete picture is created that is shared with those involved and advice can also be given to management on which follow-up steps to take.

Timing

The value of an investigation is highest when it is performed for an important decision, such as extending or concluding an agreement, investing in a new system or decision to renovate. Reports that are used in this way yield 5 to 10 times more than they cost by preventing bad investments.

Execution

Before the start of each review, the client is asked to determine the purpose of the review and to formulate the research questions. On this basis, a review plan is drawn up and the lead time and costs can also be estimated, after which the review is carried out for a fixed price.

Often the review is divided into three phases: Information Collection, Analysis and Feedback.

  • A number of workshops or interviews are held during the information collection. These are both with the IT staff involved who will build or maintain the system as with parties that use the system.
  • During the analysis, sources are studied and compared, the source code of the system might be measured and various tools are used to search for parts where something might be wrong (with respect to security, copyright, performance or maintainability). These ‘interesting’ fragments are then reviewed. The collected information is benchmarked for the research questions if relevant. Subsequently, the underlying causes and possible solutions for any abnormalities are looked into.
  • During feedback, the findings are shared with the people who maintain the system to improve the quality process, and the answers to the research questions are shared with the client. This can be done in a presentation or a report.

Time and costs

An IT review takes on average between 2 and 5 weeks. The duration depends on the availability of people for interviews, the size of the system, and the number of research questions. The costs also depend on the system and the questions, but are usually between € 5,000 (review on 1 question for a small system) and € 50,000 (extensive review into a large system). The costs and lead time are calculated in advance for each project.

How to start?

we offer a free initial meeting/conversation to understand your situation and make a proposal for our support. In this conversation we can discuss the context, scope, questions, deliverables and required team and effort.