Automa Consultoria & Informatica Ltda. provides easy-to-use software solutions for metrology, calibration, tests, quality assurance and automated measurement. Automa Consultoria & Informatica Ltda. uses AQdevTeam to track software releases and share important information.

Overview

During Automa's constant process of improving their product and development process, they found that they didn't have enough control over their software releases. "We didn’t have control over the features and bugs that were included in each release version", says Wagner Landgraf from Automa Consultoria & Informatica Ltda. "Information was not being shared with all employees, so one programmer didn’t know what the other was doing and there was minimal control over tasks."

Initially, Automa looked at several other tools including AQdevTeam. "We chose AQdevTeam because of its flexibility and powerful features that allow us to perform complex tasks. We had no idea what every task would entail at that time but we wanted to be free to invent things like sending e-mails, performing automated tasks and changing the task workflow."

Solution

Automa has configured AQdevTeam with four main item types: bugs, features, versions and support requests. "For every customer request a support request is created, for example, creating a report, asking for help to do a complex task, reporting a bug or suggesting a feature. The support requests can be accepted or rejected. If accepted, we provide a final date for the support request to be concluded. If the support request is a bug or feature request, a bug or feature item is created and linked to the support request. When the support request is done, it is flagged as finished along with the bug or feature item. Then we wait for the customer's approval. If the customer approves the change, it is definitely concluded."

"The customer receives e-mail notifications from AQdevTeam during the whole process. When a new version is released, an AQdevTeam macro is run. This macro creates a new version item, checks for all bugs or features that are not yet flagged, and then links the bugs or features to the version, which creates a history for the version. This way we automatically know which bugs or features are included in each version. There are also other minor tasks, like sending e-mails directly from AQdevTeam to the programmers with current tasks and delayed tasks."

"The ability to easily change workflows and create fields is especially useful for us in our constant development process. Also, the macros allow us to integrate item types and perform automated tasks."

Not Everyone Uses AQdevTeam the Same Way

Wagner points out that not all of Automa's employees use AQdevTeam the same way. "Programmers often check the support requests that are assigned to them and keep working with these until they are finished. Our help desk team creates the support requests and forwards the support requests to the people that solve them. Also, the help desk team creates new versions when needed. Managers keep track of all open support requests in order to have an overview of the workload since each support request has the employee assigned to it and the estimated number of hours to solve it."

"We have specialized employees that work with AQdevTeam. They have Pascal, OOP and AQdevTeam object architecture knowledge. They also deal with the script engine's variants, conversions and objects internal code. This is an important part of our process, and it’s not something that can be easily delegated, so the administration of AQdevTeam is in the hands of very few employees."

AQdevTeam Saves Time for Automa

"AQdevTeam has saved us time automating a lot of our tasks that use to be manual. Especially tasks that generate version history, and deal with open support requests, which are now organized and easily accessible. It also made our internal process more standardized, so any new employee can be easily integrated with the process without a lot of training. There is now a lot less chance of mistakes and employees no longer forget to perform tasks."

Customers Notice the Difference

Wagner goes on to say, "time is money and our customers have noticed that we have a more organized system to communicate with them. This makes our customers happy and informed, which indirectly turns into more money for Automa."

"If you need something simple, ready to use out of the box, then AQDevTeam is probably not for you. However, if you need a full-featured system with advanced features like sending e-mails and automated tasks or a system that will grow as your needs grow, then AQDevTeam is the right tool for you. I don’t think there is any other system on the market as powerful and configurable as AQDevTeam."

About Automa Consultoria & Informatica Ltda.

Automa Consultoria & Informatica Ltda. provides software solutions for metrology, calibration, tests, quality assurance and automated measurement, for industry. While Automa Consultoria & Informatica Ltda. is a small company with 10 employees, they have a very impressive customer base with 100 customers that include: Petrobras, Siemens, Fiat, Roche and Merck.