Amit Karmakar & Associates has been providing Industrial Consultancy services for years for various industries from different domains.

Our Approach

 

We provide the best solutions to enable our customer’s success by utilizing Information Technology solutions that minimize their cost of operation and maximize their profits.

 

Whether the solution is to automate an existing business process or to optimize an existing technical solution, our approach is always systematic and thorough. By first understanding the business process and then applying analytical processes, we provide solutions that are initially technology independent.

 

We next apply effective design and implementation in alignment with enabling technologies taking into consideration existing clients’ infrastructure and systems.

 

Methodology

 

We follow a Rapid Applications Development Methodology (RAD) that quickly provides solutions without compromising detail and quality. This method allows us to fulfill the development life cycle in weeks instead of months with highly effective results. Our Software Engineers are skilled in conventional and Object Oriented development methodologies. They combine a blend of technical ability and business orientation which enables them to quickly adapt and understand the business requirement and then apply their technical skills to provide the most effective solution.

 

We involve our customers in the development cycle as part of the solutions team. This enables our customers to share in shaping their solution and thus, the end product is strictly to their specifications.

 

Our Focus

 

We provide on-site and off-site consulting services to small and medium-sized companies in project based engagements. We provide a diverse array of services that enable us to become the thought leader of your organization. We have the ability to blend our teams’ skills and approach with your organization policies and procedures, thus simplifying the execution process.

 

Web Solutions

Enterprise Application & Data Integration

Architecture & Infrastructure

Database Design & Implementation

QA & Process Methodology

Management Consulting

 

Our Industrial Consultancy Advantages:

Architecture & Infrastructure:

Most IT organizations still install and maintain computers the same way the automotive industry built cars in the early 1900′s: An individual craftsman manually manipulates a machine into being, and manually maintains it afterward. This is expensive. The automotive industry discovered first mass production, then mass customization using
standard tooling. The standards and practices described here are the standardized tooling needed for mass customization within IT. This tooling enables:

  • Scalable, flexible, and rapid deployments and changes
  • Cost effective, timely return on IT investment
  • Low labor headcount
  • Secure, trustworthy computing environments
  • Reliable enterprise infrastructures

 

The tools and methodologies we use to accomplish these targets are available and in production use now, in large mission-critical corporate environments, at a fraction of the cost of competing solutions. In contrast to legacy solutions such as Tivoli or CA Unicenter, we use readily-available software and incorporate recent industry findings, setting a new standard for enterprise management. This gives us world-class functionality such as:

 

  • Remote management
  • Secure communications
  • Distributed Monitoring
  • Unattended network-based installation
  • Automatic host administration (no need to manually track or apply changes to managed hosts)
  • Unified desktop and server management
  • Single System Image
  • Single Sign on
  • Continuous, long-term live host management (no re-installation needed to apply upgrades)
  • Ordered, validated changes to any given host
  • Prototype and class-based host definitions
  • A coherent framework for managing all of the above

 

If you want to join us in these efforts, see the List and Community page for the infrastructures mailing list, list archives, tools, and companion sites. If you are interested in the technology itself, see the Infrastructure Thinking section for an overview. The Checklist down the right-hand side of every page is the sequence of steps we generally use for building an infrastructure.

 

Our Solution Advantages

 

Web Solutions

 

Our Web Solutions team is a blend of experienced professionals. Our team consists of Information Architects, Software Engineers, and Creative professionals. Each skill becomes an integral part of the end product. We focus our solution around the customer business needs. Whether it is for just an informational website or for a web application, our team works throughout the entire project life cycle to deliver the best fitting solution to our clients’ needs.

 

As part of our solution, we fully understand the business need by viewing it through the eyes of our clients. Our deliverable includes:

 

Business requirements Definition
Market Research and Branding
Performance analytic
Methods for performance optimization
Methods for traffic improvement

Our technology solution follows a Rapid Application Development Method (RAD) that enables us to timely deliver with accuracy.
We focus on Visual Design and Information Architecture to best present our customers’ information. Our Web Solutions include:

Website Development:
eCommerce sites with shopping carts and online payment processing
Intranet Solutions that incorporate Business Workflow and Business Intelligence
Business Web Applications that incorporate Enterprise Application Integration (EAI) methods to allow businesses to effectively utilize their applications and data on the web.

 

Our professionals are skilled in, and stay current with, the best of breed and latest technologies of Web Development Tools, Web Application Servers and Content Management tools. All of which become key to perform their tasks successfully.

 

Database Development & Integration:

 

Databases are one the most important elements in the applications development process bridging the gap between all aspects of a strong application architecture and design.

 

Many organizations compromise the development of well-designed database by taking short cuts and neglecting the importance of having a DBA or a team that specializes in data designs.

 

Amit Karmakar & Associates can bridge that gap by providing experienced personnel in database design. Whether your business needs are for an application database, data warehouse/ business intelligence or for standalone databases, our team can help. We follow a robust life-cycle for database design and implementation that ensures data integrity with a flexible and accurate data management.

 

We are skilled in developing relational, multidimensional and hierarchical databases.

 

Our skills:
Full understanding, analysis and documentation of the Business Rules.
Data Modeling – independent of DBMS (logical Entity Relationship. Diagrams and data normalization).
Selection and Implementation of suitable DBMS.
Creation of physical models.
Creation of data structures.
Renormalization and creation of data warehouses and data marts
Implementation Interfaces with Data warehouses like SAP’s BIW.
Data conversions and transformation.
Creation and integration with multidimensional database structures.

 

Management Consulting:

 

Our management consultants are seasoned managers who gained their experiences through hands-on involvement in many levels of the organization. Our team members come with experiences ranging from a senior executive level to project leadership.

 

Our Management Consulting Services:

 

Executive Consulting

Project Leadership

Project Management

Business Process Re-engineering

Database Management

CIO consultancy

Technology Infrastructure

IT Project Management

 

We are skilled in helping organizations determine their tactical and strategic technical needs.

 

We help organizations in planning their technology infrastructure and in plotting their business continuity plan that prevents any business disruption in the case of disaster. Our team collaborates with our customers teams for success. Our project management methods produce realistic project schedules including metrics on project cost and schedule performance. We ensure accuracy and on time delivery by incorporating risk analysis methods and risk management techniques.

 

We specialize in:

 

Strategic Planning for infrastructure and business continuity
Project leadership & Project Management
Business Process Re-engineering
Business strategy fine tuning ensuring cost effectiveness and profitability
Mapping the latest and most cost effective technologies to fulfill the business requirements and strategy
Identification of inefficient business areas and providing methods to cut cost and increase profit

 

Quality Assurance Methodology:

 

Project Leadership Approach:

 

Amit Karmakar & Associates assigns two leaders to its projects:

 

  • Project Manager:
  • Project manager is a technical leader for the project. He is responsible for the technical success of the project; he makes sure everything gets delivered on time and with high quality.
  • Project Coordinator:
  • Project coordinator is responsible for all communication and documentation of the project. He is a single point of contact for all client communication issues – reporting, updates to requirements, status tracking and so on.
  • All Amit Karmakar & Associates project coordinators are fluent English speakers. Project coordinator acts as an advocate of the client’s team to the development team and vice versa. Concept of a dedicated project coordinator is unique to all Amit Karmakar & Associates projects and has worked extremely well in many of our past project.

Amit Karmakar & Associates project oversight committee, led by senior management, monitors all project progress on a regular basis.

Process:
Amit Karmakar & Associates standard project development process has been mostly influenced by RUP and MSF. At present the process is heavily tailored to the requirements and limitations set forth by the customer, however in general it continues using the main points of the above-mentioned methodologies. Projects are executed iteratively; with most iterations consisting of the following phases (MSF):

 

  • Envisioning
  • During the envisioning phase, the team and the customer define or refine the business requirements and the overall goals of the project. Alignment of business and IT priorities in this phase is crucial, and the team will spend time understanding how the architecture will be used. During this phase, the team also begins identifying and mitigating risks. The envisioning phase culminates in the vision-approved milestone, which indicates that the team and customer agree on the project direction.
  • Planning & Designing
  • During the planning phase, the team plans the development and makes requirements more specific. The end of the phase is marked by the approval of the project plan by the customer.
  • Developing
  • During the developing phase, the team moves from project planning into the projects themselves.
  • Stabilizing
  • During the stabilizing phase, the team collects and integrates feedback on the released version, resolves project-related issues, enhances the architecture, and prepares for the next version.

We have standards in place for Configuration Management, Code Styles (all code produced follows coding styles) and Project Documentation.

 

Communication:
The project process is completely transparent. Time spent on project is controlled through a web-based instrument (PM), and customer is capable of reviewing it at any moment. Amit Karmakar & Associates  has a very strict policy on filling timesheet records, so the customer can be absolutely sure that the system shows most current information. All contacts in SDC (SDC project managers and coordinators) speak fluent English.

 

Time Difference Management:
Working day is usually shifted to provide most efficient coverage with US-based customer’s business day.

  • Project manager (technical leader) has at least 4 hours overlap with US business hours
  • Coordinator (person responsible for all communications with the customer) has at least 5 hours overlap and is available 24 hours over mobile phone.
  • Development team and QA team can work one after another, to take advantage of the time difference.

 

Requirements Management:
For remotely implemented projects, it is essential that requirements are assessed, analyzed, and updated accurately and effectively. Amit Karmakar & Associates has an established requirements-assessment procedure in place.

As part of the standard process, the Project Coordinator and Project Manager go from top to bottom, from understanding the client’s business processes to creating workflow models of the software to be built and down to creating technical requirements for software. Every step is documented and approved by client along the way.

 

Rational Requisite Pro is used for requirements automation and tracking in many projects.

Requirements Change Management:
Amit Karmakar & Associates recognizes the need to accommodate requests to make functional or operational changes to the system. All requests for changes will be submitted through the project supervisor on the client side. Amit Karmakar & Associates will estimate the cost of the change, schedule and system impact of the change. This analysis is delivered to the Supervisor.

 

Change Procedure Standards
Amit Karmakar & Associates follows certain fundamental principles when making any change:

 

  • Making any change must not affect the integrity of the system
  • The system must be consistent, both in the working procedures (i.e. data entry, reporting, etc.) and user interface. Therefore, all changes must be done in alignment with existing system style.
  • A change must be properly documented and change development must be planned and executed.
  • A list of changes must be traceable.
  • Software code repository must permit rolling back to any previous system version
  • Deploying an updated system should have minimal or no affect on the normal work cycle.

 

Document Sharing and Management
All project documentation is maintained in a centralized repository accessible to a client over the web. This repository is supported by Source Safe. Typically, project repository makes use of Microsoft SharePoint team services.

Project Tracking
Amit Karmakar & Associates uses a proprietary Project Tracking tool, which provides the project status in real time. It lists the project tasks with statuses, assigned developers and effort spent. Client has access to this tool over the web.

 

Enterprise Applications & Data Integration

Enterprise Application Integration is the way businesses leverage technology to web enable the utilization of legacy business applications and data.

 

Our professionals use the latest in technology Extract Transform and Load (ETL) tools as well as middleware to enable legacy business and applications access through the web.

 

These solutions reduce businesses new development expenses and make their day-to-day operations more efficient and more effective.

 

Our technology consultants team up with our management consultants to architect and implement the best fitting solution to our customers’ business needs. Our areas of expertise include but not limited to:

 

Interfaces with ERP & CRM applications
Interfaces with Data warehouses like SAP’s BIW
Data conversions and transformation between dissimilar database management systems
Creation and integration with multidimensional database structures