The Innovate methodology is utilized for object-oriented application development at Datassured. A "spiral" approach, based on the recommendations from the Object Management Group (OMG), Unified Modeling Language for notation and the Rational Unified Process will be used for application development. The iterative nature of this methodology allows Datassured to overcome the shortcomings of the traditional "waterfall" approach and helps to better align application development to business objectives.

The important features of the Innovate methodology include:

 Iterative Process Unlike the traditional "waterfall" development models, the Innovate methodology allows input from what are thought of as "successor" processes at each stage of development. The resultant flexible and responsive development process creates an application that is better aligned to business objectives.

 Deep User Involvement The Innovate methodology requires involvement of application users throughout the development and testing life cycle. This means those risks of misalignment between user needs and application capabilities are minimized.

 Object Orientation Emphasis on an object-based design process encourages identification and development of common, re-usable elements - whether formal objects or design patterns. Such component re-use leads to a more reliable, more robust application, at the same time requiring less effort.

Innovate Methodology consists of 4 phases, briefly described below:

 Inception Phase - This phase maps with the requirement analysis and scope finalization stages of the SDLC. In addition any interfaces (internal/external) that interact with the system are identified and documented. Risks associated with the project are identified, a mitigation plan drafted and a Project Plan that shows the resource-loading pattern and schedule is prepared. Datassured analysts would also study the existing systems' documentation and where possible derive the requirements using reverse engineering techniques.

 Elaboration Phase - In this phase activities like conceptual design, detailed design, architectural design/prototype, database design, finalizing report and screen layouts are carried out.

 Construction Phase - The actual application is built here, incrementally and iteratively. This phase can be further broken into sub-phases like coding, unit testing each program, creating user documentation like technical manuals, help files, etc. in parallel, and finally integration/system testing to confirm application meets the defined functionality, performance and usability considerations.

 Transition Phase - The focus on this final phase which includes "stabilization" is towards conducting acceptance testing, user training and an implementation strategy to install the application at all sites. Support is provided during acceptance testing where any bugs/errors identified are immediately corrected and re-tested.