Our Approach

As you make the move to create online training, mobile apps, or build an entire database application to track or house information, the Center for the Application of Information Technologies is here to facilitate the process through a phased approach.

We understand this may be new territory for you and can be somewhat overwhelming or intimidating. Not to worry, CAIT is here to help no matter how large or small the project. At CAIT we can help you determine where you want to go (desired outcome) and the best way to get there (business process). Our cycle has three primary phases which follow the ADDIE model.

The ADDIE model is the process traditionally used by instructional designers and system developers (Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation, and Evaluation). This process represents a dynamic, flexible guideline for everything we do at CAIT.

Graphic showing CAIT's project cycle. Phase 1: Scope of Work, Phase 2: Analysis, Phase 3: Planning, Phase 4: Development, Phase 5: Testing, Phase 6: Implementation

1. Developing a relationship and understanding your needs (Analysis)
2. Mapping and creating a solution that works for you (Design and Development)
3. Supporting you during and after Implementation (Implementation and Evaluation)

Please keep in mind that CAIT can do all or portions of this phased approach based on your needs.

Developing a relationship and understanding your needs

It is important for us to get to know you and your staff so we can understand your culture and build a business relationship based on trust, flexibility, and patience to best identify a solution that works within your organization and budget.

• We will ask you to involve the right people from the beginning (the critical stakeholders).
• We will assess current practices, risks/resources, identify audience and determine any technology limitations.
• We will demonstrate how others have addressed similar problems.
• We can help you determine if a custom solution is needed or if we need to build a solution to fit within your existing technologies framework.
• We will facilitate the analysis process and bring options to you for consideration. Formal and informal evaluations/analysis of needs are conducted through interviews, observation, shadowing, and documentation review.

Mapping and creating a solution that works for you

Once we have established a relationship and analyzed your needs, it's time for us to roll up our sleeves and get to work.

• We document your needs (scope of work and design document or storyboard) – a very collaborative, interactive, and iterative process between your team and ours.
• We establish a professional team to work with you which is dedicated to your project from analysis to implementation with one single point of contact.
• We will manage the project. Project management is critical to the success of any project, and CAIT will provide this support to ensure projects are on-time, within budget, and on track with scope.
• We will keep communication open. Work group meetings with team members/stakeholders will be ongoing throughout this phase. This is essential to make sure we are all on the same page.
• We will create prototypes during the development process for client review and/or beta testing.
• We will build a solution based on your needs.
• We will test the solution. As we wrap up the last phase of production our support staff will conduct quality assurance testing before it is submitted to you for final review.

Supporting you during and after implementation

So we have built it – now it's time to pilot the program/system, make any revisions, launch and support it. It is always good to test any system or new training with a sample of the intended audience before the formal roll out to get feedback. It is also critical to provide ongoing support to end users once the system is live.

• We can assist in the pilot process by facilitating it, collecting feedback, and making revisions.
• We can assist in the development of marketing campaigns to generate awareness, excitement, and buy-in.
  • Multimedia presentations
  • Flyers/posters
  • Press releases/conferences
  • Support materials
  • Outreach – state and national conferences
  • Social media
• We can provide ongoing maintenance and revisions as the new system/training is utilized by the full audience.
• We also offer hosting for our clients on leading infrastructure built on highly stable equipment. Our data centers use clustered technology that provides maximum uptime and reliability. Each of the data centers is connected to the Illinois Century Network, providing us with the best quality Internet connectivity and redundancy. Uptime is 99.9%.
• We provide support services days, evenings and weekends via our support desk. Our support desk prides itself on its personal touch by offering users friendly assistance via our 800 number as well as email.