Questions Answered

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Who is Lolopop™ Project Central?

Lolopop™ Project Central is a partnership of Abator, a project staffing and management corporation since 1983 and Master Software, Inc., a software development and project management corporation since 1987. Abator provides its extensive staffing resources and experience and a roster of over 4900 technical specialists. Master Software provides its expertise in software project management, architecture, design, coding, testing and deployment. Our combined experience provides the methodology, means and resources to successfully implement software system projects within budget, on time, and to professional standards.

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Who has used your Services?

ACCESS Technology, Akzo Salt, Alcan, Alcatel, Ameritech Services, ARCO Alaska, ARMCO Steel, Associates Bancorp, Bayer, Boeing, Carnegie Mellon Research Institute, Century Aluminum, Cinergy Corporation, Clark Oil & Refining, Columbia Gas Transmission, Consolidated Natural Gas, Corning, DelMonte, DOD, DOE, Duke Power, Fisher Technology Group, E xcorporation, Ford, Geisinger Hospital, General Electric, Greyhound Lines, Grumman, Harris Methodist Health, Highmark Blue Cross, Home Insurance, Honda, IBM, Illinois Financial Institutions, Illinois Public Aid, Illinois State Police, Interactive Information Systems, J&L Specialty Products, JI Case, Lebanon Raceway of Ohio, Lexis/Nexis, Libbey Owens Ford, Litton Industries, Logan Aluminum, LTV Steel, Meade Data Central, Mellon Bank, Middletown Boxboard, Nabisco, NCS Information Systems, Nisource, North Carolina, Northrop Grumman, Ohio Job and Family Services, Oracle, Pechiney Rolled Products, Penn Fuel, Phar-Mor, Pizza Hut, PRC/Litton, Purina Mills, Regence Blue Cross, Santee Cooper,Scott Paper, South Bend Medical Foundation, Southwestern Bell Yellow Pages, State of Nebraska, State of New York, State of Wisconsin, TriState Distributors, Upjohn, UPMC, US Airways, Victoria's Secret, Wagon Lits, Washington Department of Personnel, Westinghouse, Wetterau.

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What Kind of Projects have you Done?

This is just a sampling of projects we have done:

  • Manufacturing Forecasting System - Addition to complete manufacturing system
  • Quality Control Statistics - Upgrade platform and extend statistics
  • Metrology Management System - System Analysis and Design
  • Medical Billing Product
  • Land Title Management System - Specification and Design
  • Biometric Security Application - Design, Development & Deployment
  • Quality by Attributes Sampling Plan System
  • Medical Manager Socket Interface to CAI Laboratory System
  • Indigent Charity Medical System - Analysis and Design
  • State & Private Healthcare Claims/HIPAA Compliance - Analysis, Design, Development & Deployment
  • Led, designed/deployed and supported a Virtual Case Manager for Human Services
  • Restructure, replatform and deployment fertizlizer store management system
  • Audit county hopital medical response system
  • Developed systems/processes to make legacy data (flat/hierarchical files) relational and internet available
  • Replatform and tune advertising agency system
  • Facility and resource plan for $13 Billion on line radio station facility
  • Auto Crash Information System
  • Data Warehouse System
  • Audit On Music Product
  • Nation Wide Medical Billing System
  • Race Track Winner Tax Tracking System
  • Race Track Payment Management System
  • Designed and authored the annual federal Child Support Report Program and provided primary assistance in preparation for six successful on-site Federal audits
  • Comprehensive QA test development to ensure design for SAP deployment
  • Designed/deployed systems and databases responsible for hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue from Federal funding, Fraud Detection, Child Support, Employment Security and Drug Rebate programs

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What technologies do you support?

Lolopop™ Project Central has found that project management and control is much more effective if the hardware, software, communication, development tools and environment are provided to bidders on its facilities using its licenses. This eliminates any ambiguity about ownership of the software, assures a known operational and development environment with known releases, and eliminates the difficulty in retrieving software after the bidder's task is complete. Therefore technology support is in three categories

  • Development environment configuration components Lolopop™ Project Central currently supports include:
    • All Microsoft Windows Operating Systems currently supported by Microsoft;
    • UNIX and LINUX;
    • Microsoft .NET Languages such as C#, VB, J++, C++ and others such as T-SQL;
    • C, Java, C++, Shell Languages, PHP;
    • Visual Studio including UNIX SUpport;
    • SQL Server 2000, 2005, ORACLE(C), MYSQL;
    • Microsoft Office Suite; and
    • Rational Unified Process, UML.
  • Development environment configuration components Lolopop Project Central will consider acquiring to support client projects include:
    • AIX, HPUX;
    • COBOL, PL1, ADA, PASCAL;
    • Studio 1, WebSphere; and
    • DB2, INFORMIX, INGRESS.
  • Lolopop™ Project Central will consider development environment configuration components provided by the client if security and access is controlled by Lolopop™ during development.

Lolopop™ Project Central has bidding technical specialists in almost any skill area or software environment (over 4,900). We can provide specialized skills for most requirements.

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How do we get a project started?

The very first step is to register your project and client information so that a Project Manager can be assigned to your project. S/he will provide you with signed non-disclosures, trade secret agreements, or anything else necessary to assure you that your information is confidential and protected. Samples of our non-disclosures can be seen in the documents section accessible from the top page.

Then we must obtain from you all of the relevant documentation currently available. Upon receiving this, the Project Manager will have all of the material reviewed to determine your stage of development and to note any defficiencies or ambiguities in the documentation. The goal is to determine your starting point. There are several possibilities.

One possibility is that you have simply a statement of an idea, concept, or need that you want to develop in software. If this is the case, a System Analysis will be required to complete your business vision and requirements definition. We will provide a bid to complete this. This is the first step.

Some may have a complete Business Vision but may not have a completely developed specification. We will provide a bid to complete a specification. This is the second step that must be completed.

Some may have a complete specification or close to it. The Project Manager's Review will simply feed back questions and areas that need more information. If the client wishes, we will provide a bid to complete the specification and detail areas where detail is necessary.

Some may have a complete design, architecture, configuration and acceptance criteria. If not, we will provide a bid to provide these critical items.

Once a starting point is determined, Lolopop™ Project Central will provide an complete fixed bid for the next step and will provide estimates based on its past experience for subsequent steps. At every stage of the work, the client will have a complete professional package that can be continued by any project organization, though we hope clients will want to continue with Lolopop Project Central.

Examples of steps that may follow from the starting points above include: design; development/coding; testing; implementation; acceptance; deployment;and maintenance. Depending on the nature of your project and what you ask us to do, subsequent steps will be determined, bid, and implemented.

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What if we decide we want changes?

The client submits a Change Order to the Project Manager, who will assist the client in implementing the change. The Project Manager immediately issues a Stop Order for any tasks affected by the order. The Project Manager then requests that the Configuration Manager convene a Change Committee Review Meeting including the client and Lolopop(TM) Project Participants assigned to the Project. The review will cover the impact of the change from the stopped position. At that meeting:

  • The Project Manager will describe the tasks that were stopped and assess the current state of each task from a schedule point of view.
  • The Quality Manager will review and determine the actual state of acceptable work at the stop point and the costs incurred by the client of work to that point.
  • The Configuration Manager will assess and report impact to the development and operation configuration and work, products, or other costs that will be required to implement the change.
  • The Project Manager will identify and sum up the cost of closure of all stopped items and propose a list of new tasks to implement the change. Several things can happen at this point.
    • A task is not affected and the stop order is removed allowing the bidder of that task to continue.
    • A task is affected and is closed out in its existing form with payment for work accomplished to that point, if any.
    • A new task is inserted with extension or changes to an existing task. At the client's option, the bidder of the changed task will rebid the task, or it will be put out for rebidding by all qualified bidders.
    • A task is affected and not needed. Work will be paid for to the stop point.
  • All bidders with affected tasks are paid for % completed to the stop point.
  • The Project Manager adjusts the schedule to reflect the changed tasks and work on these and other tasks resumes.

The basic principle is changes are implemented by closing out changed tasks and adding new tasks to affect the change.

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What if something goes wrong?

Occasionally unforseen events occur in the middle of a project implementation and must be addressed. When an issue is identified - be it by client, project manager or bidder - a Problem Review and Resolution Meeting is arranged by the Configuration Manager. The Project Manager will provide all of the relevant facts concerning the issue and will recommend, or have bidders recommend one or more possibilities for a resolution. The impact on cost, schedule, or specification will be provided for each resolution possibility so that the client can select the option most acceptable to them.

The Project Manager will recommend the necessary changes for the chosen resolution, assess the impact on cost, schedule, or changes in documentation, and implement them.

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How do I know I got what I paid for?

The Quality Manager is responsible for the acceptance process. When a bidder says that they have finished a task, a complete quality review is done for the task and its deliverables. The assessment will include a functional test, a comparison to a style or standard guide for that task, and a software performance review. If there are any defficiencies, the bidder is notified and must remediate them. Once the task passes quality review, it is presented to the client for acceptance with results of the review and any associated deliverables. If all requirements are met, the Quality Manager authorizes payment to the bidder.

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How is this paid for?

Payment for every task is put in escrow before the task is begun. On large projects, this means the Project Manager will provide a list of tasks scheduled for the next month that must be escrowed to ensure they begin on time. On smaller projects, the entire amount amay be escrowed at the beginning.

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How do you manage risk?

At the beginning of the project, the Project Manager does a complete risk assessment and prepares a Risk Management Plan which is shared with the client. Any disparities are worked out with the client so that everyone is satisfied that the risks are real, qualified and quantified.

In the Risk Management Plan, the Project Manager identifies how the stated risks will be mitigated. For example, s/he may only invite more experienced bidders or bidders with special skills to bid on key items. The Project Manager may accept more than one bid for the same task and implement both bids, awarding full payment to the one that finishes first, and stop ordering the other bidder and paying them to the stop point. The Project Manager may recommend a buy of known technology that will implement the task.

The Project Manager will also determine the contingency budget for the project depending on the probability assigned to the respective risks.

Finally, if a risk is real, unmitigatable, and probable, the Project Manager will task the risky element on a Time and Material Basis and accelerate management and reporting so that action can be taken as soon as it is realized that risk is occurring.

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What quality assurance do you provide?

The Quality Manager develops a complete test plan for every task, and the Project Manager identifies and schedules testing as a task for other bidders to perform. If all possibilities can be tested, they are. If not, a Quality by Attributes Sample Plan is prepared and testing is arranged to guarantee a certain Quality Level within a certain tester's plan. The level is selected with the client.

Performance Testing is done to guarantee a certain Service Level as defined in the specification. That service level is assessed by modeling the overall configuration and determining what the performance to that service level should be. It is the responsibility of the Configuration Manager to match the client's configuaration to the development configuration and determine the correlation of the client to the development environment for the purpose of setting performance test goals on the development system. Performance Modeling is a Project Task.

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