ACA methodology

your guarantee for smooth projects with maximum value

As a leading IT company, we want to provide the very best IT services to companies and organizations. That is why we are very committed to a highly sophisticated, Agile-based project methodology, which guarantees impeccable service and a successful delivery of every project.

Want to know more about our methodology?

Cornerstones of the ACA methodology

Co-creation
As a customer you are the center of every project, being an integral part of the project team. This way you remain fully involved in the entire research and development process.
Small iterations with continuous feedback
We work in small iterations of a few weeks to ensure continuous customer feedback. It enables us to stay in line with your wishes and to continuously add new functionality that you can test immediately.
Flexibility / Agile
Sometimes your needs and wishes change during the course of a project. We totally understand that. Our team members are set up for this and can easily rescale and reprioritize in consultation.

Transparency and open communication
Our collaboration model is based on high involvement, transparency, openness and continuous improvement. As a customer, you’re sitting next to the development team, so to speak, without having to be physically present. This creates an environment in which high quality is achieved and maintained.
Planning
In an Agile process, the phases of analysis, development, testing and delivery are not strictly separated, but are intertwined in a continuous process. The big advantage of this project approach is that the customer can test a requirement two weeks after it has been documented. In this way, ambiguities and uncertainties about requirements are detected very early and any errors can be easily corrected.
Clear reporting and predictability
To facilitate the follow-up of a project, we use efficient tools such as Jira (Atlassian), ensuring up-to-date metrics. Based on exact figures, detailed time registration and formulas, we not only get an accurate picture of the current state of your project, but also reliable projections for the final cost and delivery dates.

"

An Agile process integrates the phases of analysis, development, testing and delivery in a continuous process. This ensures that you as a customer can test and use it within a few weeks of documenting a need. In this way, ambiguities, uncertainties and any errors are quickly identified and corrected.

- Ulrich Bervoets, Digital consultant & project manager at ACA Group

Bespreek je plannen met een van onze experten

The importance of our methodology for clients

Our project methodology gives our clients the assurance that all aspects of a project are carefully planned, executed and controlled. This helps to minimize risk, reduce costs and deliver projects on time and within budget.

Better results
Our methodology ensures that you are completely satisfied with the progress of the project and that the end result corresponds 100% to your wishes.
More efficiency
Our methodology streamlines our processes, identifying potential errors at an early stage and avoiding delays and cost overruns.
More predictability
As a customer you want to know when the different phases of your project will be finished and how much it will cost. We use a combination of speed, focus and the number of developers to predict this.

Better risk management
There are risks in every software project: a technical problem, new customer requirements, sudden changes, …. It is best to neutralize them as soon as possible. That is why we discuss all possible risks with the customer in advance. During the project we also communicate continuously about the current status. Potential bottlenecks are thus identified at an early stage.
Operational Optimization
We organize retrospectives where the entire team discusses any issues and proposes improvements. These improvements are devised by the people who are involved in the project on a daily basis.
Resolute teamwork
Your project is in the hands of a team of experienced specialists. This experience and maturity is the result of a thorough selection and training of our employees. We put together the optimal team of experts for each project.

What our customers say

Tine Vande Casteele
“I noticed that ACA's approach is very dynamic, structured and comprehensive. By using small but very detailed user stories, we got a good overview of the structure of the entire project. It's amazing how ACA was able to systematically build a prototype with all these little puzzle pieces.”
Bart Temmerman
“ACA's clear methodology and open communication have made them a reliable partner ever since we worked together. We can be sure that they can credit the delivery of the museum pass project within the set deadline and budget, the successful launch and the focus on customers. We innovate together and look to the future with full confidence in each other.”

Our quality checks

Only one thing counts for the delivery of your software project: are you 100% satisfied with the end result. That is why we pay a lot of attention to the quality of our services and the end products that we deliver. Various quality controls have been built into the development process to monitor quality throughout the entire project.

Story review en kick-off

Before a story is ready for development, it is reviewed by a peer proxy, the client, and a developer. A story review ensures that everyone agrees on what will be achieved. It is also checked whether the story is clear, complete and has unambiguous acceptance criteria. It is also analyzed in a larger context, such as the relationship with other stories, the impact on the domain, etc. Story reviews prevent deviating expectations or interpretations from being discovered only after implementation or even when using the software. Every implementation of a story starts with a story kick-off where the analyst and tech lead explain the functional and technical content to the developer.

Code review

When a story is implemented, a code review is done before the new code is merged. A developer looks at the delivered increment with a critical eye and provides feedback. The focus is on those matters that are difficult or impossible to automate, such as the high-level design or the domain language used. The code review is only completed when all comments have been discussed and/or improved.

SonarQube

In addition to manual code reviews, we use SonarQube for continuous code quality control. Based on the reports, we look at what is needed to improve the code.

Test-driven development

Test-driven development puts quality control first by writing automated tests prior to implementation. When automating testing, we provide unit testing, integration testing and end-to-end testing. Depending on the agreements with the customer, we also apply behavior driven design tests to some projects.

Testing

After the implementation of a story, the analyst, together with the developers, performs an initial validation to check whether all scenarios are foreseen. After merging the code and deploying it to the test environment, the code is thoroughly tested.

How do we ensure a uniform methodology for all our projects?
We think it's important that you know what to expect. From quotation to final delivery. That is why we want to use the same approach for every project across all our services.
All our employees are immersed in the ACA methodology from onboarding.
All our employees are immersed in the ACA methodology from onboarding. We continuously organize interactive knowledge and inspiration sessions about our techniques and project approach. In this way, every ACA employee can perfectly apply our unique methodology in any project. In addition, each team lead monitors the correct application of our methodology. It guarantees a flawless project progress and a delivery that meets all your wishes.