Designing and developing technical solutions

What is technical solution design and development?

The structured process of creating new, or updating existing, technology solutions to meet organisational needs.

Knowledge

• Knowledge of the organisation’s architecture principles, standards, and governance. Understanding of data governance and data security.
• Understanding of best practice solution design, including requirement led design and user focus.
• Understanding of different requirement types including functional and non-functional.
• Understanding of different project delivery approaches, including Agile and waterfall and the different requirements definition approaches needed for each.

Skills

Able to:

• Think strategically: Ensuring requirements align with the overall strategic objectives of the organisation and consider key constraints.
• Start with requirements to ensure user focus: Taking requirements developed by the organisation to understand user needs and any related constraints before designing and developing solutions.
• Consider options: In the context of architectural governance and standards, and the requirements specified, work with stakeholders to understand how best to meet the need.
• Design solutions: Creating a conceptual design for the technology, making its functionality and core component requirements clear.
• Specify and select solutions: Determining the technical components to use, either leveraging existing technologies, using available open-source components, or procuring new solutions.
• Prototype solutions: Working as part of a multidisciplinary team to develop and try solutions, enabling early feedback and iteration.
• Develop and/or configure solutions: Depending on the solution/s selected, develop the design using code or configuration.
• Co-ordinate technical testing: Ensuring that solutions meet requirements and acceptance criteria before any user testing takes place.
• Ensure appropriate documentation: To aid transition and change impact assessments to be undertaken.
• Support technology deployment: Following defined transition governance and plans to support the go live of the new solution(s), or changes to existing, working to defined roles.
• Plan for the maintenance and monitoring of solutions: So that post go live systems are well supported on an ongoing basis.
• Manage change: Working within project or programme governance to ensure changes to requirements are well managed, documented and fully traceable.
• Communicate and collaborate effectively: With stakeholders at all levels, including technical and non-technical teams.
• Manage risk: Understanding the risks associated with development and configuration, seeking to manage and mitigate these, ensuring they are tracked in the risk register and within risk appetite.