Custom Application Development can be Fastened Using RAD

Think of atleast one thing which is not available in plenty on this planet even if you are willing to pay billions of dollars, you would say everything on earth can be bought with money, but I know a thing which cannot be bought even if you spend a billion and that is TIME. Though the richest people have access to everything they are the most limited by time because they have lot many things to do in 24 hours. Custom application development to a large extend helps them rapid their business process which will leave them with less work and more time to focus on various other things.

But custom application development in itself takes lot of time and the time taken increases even more if the web development company which is working on the project is less skilled or does not have the appropriate knowledge of technologies which can help them speed the process. Developers have been working hard to devise various methodologies which can considerably reduce the time required for custom software development. One such method we all are aware of is agile development but there is one less popular method known and that is RAD (rapid application development).

RAD was first practiced and publicized in 1991 by James Martin for high end custom application development. The main and only objective of the process is to fasten software development process as much as possible. Now you would be thinking how a process can help fasten the complex process of custom application development. Then it becomes imperative to mention that RAD is not only a process but also involves a combination of various things which can reduce the time otherwise required for coding. It follows structural procedure, uses CASE tools which stands for Computer Assisted Software Engineering tools as well as iterating process description.

For example if a Web development company has a project for creating a gaming software which has a graphical interface then the process of developing the graphical interface can be fastened using the tools of rapid application development. These tools facilitate writing codes for each interface by infilling the prototype tools with basic specifications. Whenever there is need to write the same code developers can just use the tool instead of writing the code afresh each time.

On an estimate large firms spend about 65% of the budget on maintenance and application upgrade. This was because often applications require certain changes to suit business requirements. With RAD such tasks can be accomplished easily and smoothly. Custom application development becomes at least 20% faster if RAD is used because RAD can visualize the end product and thus help developers test and rectify steps involved in application development before anything goes wrong. Application prototype can be made available to clients much faster so that they can give in their valuable inputs as well.

Some other benefits of RAD are that it allows stakeholders to walk hand in hand with the latest technological enhancements. Also there are very few chances of cost and time overrun if custom application development is done using RAD. It gives ample opportunity to stakeholders to provide inputs which can be also made practical in a short period of time.