At STG, each project is approached using a combination of component risk assessment and rapid application development (RAD) techniques. This collaborative methodology enables STG to quickly discover customer requirement gaps, assure customer concurrence with solution look and feel characteristics, and focuses the necessary resources on the areas of highest risk at the earliest opportunity, thus avoiding schedule slips. The entire life cycle of the development project is executed through a combination of onsite and offsite teams, whose composition varies depending on the phase of the life cycle being executed

 System architects and design specialists, in close and frequent contact with customers, analyze the business requirements and design a solution to solve that customer's need. Using the appropriate development tools, databases, programming language(s), and tool sets, solution components are rapidly constructed with minimal functionality.

 STG's customers then review the components using hardcopy documents and/or network-based collaboration tools. During these reviews, user interface models and navigation paths are presented and tuned, data input validation rules are discussed and agreed upon, and any relevant system interfaces are discussed regarding timing and data content. Work product resulting from these efforts is continually built upon so most components evolve with very little "throw away" code being produced.

 During this period, work is simultaneously started on system components that present the most difficult technological challenges. This has the benefit of exposing the areas of highest risk at the earliest point. Many system components not visible to the end-user of the solution (modules that execute without user intervention, networking and interface modules, etc.) are frequently the source of these challenges.

 Upon concurrence with the customer on the "look and feel" of the visible components of the system and the component functional logic (data elements necessary, module/system interface agreements, processing rules), work begins on building in fault tolerance, functionality, and component integration. System modules are tested for compliance with requirements and ability to withstand user errors in data input or navigation.