The Big

Enterprise Application
Development
Questionnaire

132
Questions to Help You Get
Your Next EAS Contract

Hagop Panosian
RAD Studio Delphi C++Builder InterBase RAD Server

Contents
1. Help! I’ve Never Built Enterprise Software Before 3

2. Who Is Enterprise Software Built For? 4

3. What Makes Enterprise Software Different? 5

4. Types of Enterprise Application Software 6

5. Launching an Enterprise Application Software Project 7

6. procedure WhereToBegin; 8

7. Questions
1. Customer Profile 9
2. Business Operations 10
3. Corporate Processes 11
4. Strategic Goals 13
5. Project Limits 14
6. Information Management 17
7. Task Management, Teamwork & Collaboration 19
8. Interoperability 19
9. Data Security 20
10. Scalability, Update & Migration 21
11. After-Sales Support & Maintenance 23

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Help! I’ve Never Built

Enterprise Software Before

You’ve just held your first meeting with a corporate client

who’s shown interest in enterprise software for expected
fast-pace growth in several months’ time. Are you going to
start coding after the first meeting? Of course not. First
you have to do some exploration to determine what the
client wants and needs, plan implementation and delivery,
and reach an agreement on every detail of the project - a
long list of specs needs to be drafted before you and your
team write a single line of code.

This guide contains the 132 most important questions you

need to ask to develop the specifications and plan for your
enterprise project. They cover 11 core categories that form
the backbone of EAS systems, and create a picture of the
client’s expectations you will have to address.

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Who is Enterprise
Software Built For?

The purpose of enterprise software is to automate and optimize

operations for a given business, so that the business can grow efficiently
and achieve its goals. It stands to reason that the ideal enterprise
software for any business would be custom-made for its unique situation,
requirements and plans.

Naturally this is a costly and time-consuming process that not all

businesses are ready for. In fact, most businesses make do with mixing
and matching off-the-shelf tools or SaaS products to meet their needs.

Investing in enterprise software makes sense for a company that is

anticipating or planning for rapid growth several months to a year down
the road. It also makes sense for a business whose complete ownership
and control over its data is a top priority.

The Enterprise and Architect editions of Delphi, C++Builder and RAD

Studio are designed to help software companies build great enterprise
software. With a mix of advanced features and tools that enable
enterprise-level functionality, these editions are used to build and
maintain groundbreaking software that helps large enterprises grow even
larger.

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What Makes
Enterprise Software
Different?

Enterprise software differs from “regular” software in a

number of ways. Here are three fundamental differences:

1. Enterprise software is designed to enable and optimize

business operations. It does not just deliver a service; it
brings together products, people and processes in ways that
ultimately generate a competitive advantage for the business
that uses it.

2. Enterprise software meets the needs of an organization,

as opposed to most software tools that are designed to meet
the needs of a set number of individual personas.

3. Enterprise software is owned by the organization that

commissions it. It’s custom-made for a business at a
specific phase in its evolution. It’s built on a specific set of
current requirements, and forecasts around what that
business will need and how it plans to scale.

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Types of Enterprise Application Software

An organization can use software for its requirements in three fundamental
ways: 1) rely completely on third-party tools; 2) combine an EAS solution
that handles, say, 70% of its requirements and use third-party tools for the
rest, and 3) Build a complete proprietary solution for everything.

In most cases, companies that decide to invest for EAS will go for option 2,
commissioning the customized parts they need for their operations, and
using third-party tools for the rest. For example, creating “office suite”
applications for an enterprise seems pointless given the prevalence of
available and affordable tools.

The reasons for “paying only for what you need” are the lower cost and
time saved. In addition, enterprise software applications are not all
designed for the exact same purpose. EAS can be for a range of targeted
enterprise contexts and purposes, such as:

Payroll Management
Customer Support and CRM Systems
Email and Communication Systems
HR and Personnel Management Systems
Marketing and Sales Systems
Project Management Platforms
Supply Chain Systems
Enterprise Resource Planning
Logistics and Resource Allocation Systems
Incident Response and Management Systems

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Launching an Enterprise
Application Software Project

Building enterprise software begins with research. A lot of research. Enterprise

software needs to address a vast spectrum of requirements to serve the customer’s
goals effectively and deliver the right form and level of functionality that supports
scaling within the anticipated time frame.

In broad strokes, here are the areas that matter most in the research phase of an
enterprise solution:
1. Customer Profile: The customer’s profile as a business
2. Business Operations: How a company operates in the marketplace
3. Corporate Processes: How the company makes decisions
4. Strategic Goals: What targets has the customer set?
5. Project Limits: What are the desired tools and functionality?
6. Information Management: How will data be stored, processed and accessed?
7. Task Management, Teamwork & Collaboration: How will departments and
teams work together?
8. Interoperability: How will the system connect to third-party tools or data?
9. Data Security: What safety methods need to be introduced across the system?
10. Scalability, Update and Migration: How will the system adjust to positive or
negative changes in operations, and be updated or modernized?
11. After-Sales Support & Maintenance: What forms of after-sales service will be
provided to the customer?

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procedure WhereToBegin;
begin
var DefineScope := ‘132 Questions’;
end;

New to Enterprise Application Software (EAS) development? The 132

questions that follow will help you understand how to create a project
scope and bid successfully for new EAS contracts.

Use these questions to create spreadsheets with requirements,

deliverables and timelines, answer the key questions, and create a
timeline and cost allocation schedule that you can implement and track.

A word of warning: every EAS project is unique, because each customer’s

goals and requirements are different. In that context, it’s important to
remember that this list is in no way exhaustive. In fact, each of the
questions contained herein will lead to more questions that will help
specify the requirements further.

Conversely, not all the questions on this list will be relevant to your project.
A project with a relatively narrow scope may require only some of the
sections listed in this guide. Leave out any section that is not useful or
relevant for your project.

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Embarcadero Case Studies:

Discover The RAD Studio Success Stories

1 Customer Profile

1. Where is the company based?

2. What’s the company size?
3. Where does the company operate?
4. What products and/or services does the company offer?
5. Which verticals does the company operate in?
6. Who are the company’s customers?
7. What are the company’s current growth trends?
8. What’s the company’s hierarchy and role distribution map?
9. What is the company’s annual revenue / profit range?
10. What are the company’s key financial performance indicators?
11. Which phase of its life cycle is the business in (new, growing, mature, etc.),
and how does that affect the systems that are required?
12. What’s the ownership structure of the company?

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2 Business Operations

13. What’s the company’s product and/or services lineup?

14. Which products and/or services produce the most revenue?
15. How does the company position and promote its products?
16. Does the company sell digital or physical products, or both?
17. For physical products, where does the company manufacture them?
18. For physical products, how are they transported?
19. For physical products, where are they stored in the company’s zones
of operations?
20. Does the company operate in more than one country? If yes, which?
21. What are the market sizes in each country for the company’s
products?
22. How are teams distributed in each region of operations?
23. What are the customer profiles in each region of operations (B2B,
B2C, B2B2C)?
24. How is the company obligated to adhere to legal requirements in
each region of operations, and how does that affect the systems it can
use?

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3 Corporate Processes
25. How does the company make decisions? How centralized or decentralized
is decision-making overall, and how is decision-making power distributed
across corporate teams?
26. How does the company currently manage relationships and
communication with customers? (CRM)
27. How are new customers onboarded? (CRM)
28. What is the company’s customer support system? (CRM)
29. How are new employees recruited?(HRM)
30. How are new employees onboarded and trained? (HRM)
31. How is employee or team member performance measured? (HRM)
32. How are employees currently compensated (salary, benefits, insurance,
perks, etc.)? (Payroll)
33. How is communication between employees, departments and team
members handled? (Communication)
34. How are the company’s governance processes and their outcomes
documented?
35. How is the company’s value creation process measured and optimized?
36. How are the financial and other resources distributed and allocated?

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4 Strategic Goals
37. What strategic goals has the customer set?
38. Which KPIs does the company use to measure performance and success?
39. What are the company’s goals on increasing employee productivity?
40. What are the company’s goals on increasing revenue and net profit?
41. What are the company’s goals on improving customer relationships?
42. What are the company’s goals on community outreach?
43. What are the company’s goals on innovation?
44. What are the company’s goals on generating new revenue streams?
45. What are the company’s goals on reducing costs?

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46. What are the company’s goals on increasing customer satisfaction

47. What are the company’s goals on reducing customer churn?
48. What are the company’s goals on reducing budgets?
49. What are the company’s goals on operating in new markets?
50. What are the company’s goals for competing with other companies?
51. What are the company’s goals on improving cross-departmental productivity?
52. What are the company’s goals on attracting high-level talent?
53. What are the company’s goals on improving workplace safety?
54. What are the company’s goals on improving facilities management?

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5 Project Limits
55. What is the core purpose of the system? What is it intended to achieve?
56. Who are the project stakeholders?
57. Who are the sponsors, the team, executive managers, clients and external
organizations attached to the project?
58. Who are the core end user groups of the system?
59. Who are the team members?
60. What are the problems of the existing system? What challenges will the
new system solve?
61. What are the required tools and functionality?
62. What are the set deliverables for each phase in the project? How are they
prioritized?
63. What is the system’s anticipated environment and ecosystem?
64. Will the system interact with or complement other existing enterprise
systems used by the same company?
65. What is the project timeline, and what are the phases?
66. What are the dependencies for each phase and each task?
67. What are the third-party tools that will complement the system?

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68. What are the roles and responsibilities of each team member?
69. What are the required skills, expertise and resources for each role, and
each phase?
70. What software development tools and frameworks will be used to build the
system?
71. What devices will the system run on?
72. What platforms will the system target?
73. How will regulations influence where data and functionalities will be stored
on the system?

The Local Cloud - Data Management with InterBase and AWS

74. What is the impact of regulatory compliance requirements on system

components and functionalities in countries of operation?
75. What error management and exception handling protocols and procedures
does the system require?
76. What incident reporting and management protocols and procedures does
the system require?
77. What crash recovery and system resilience protocols and procedures does
the system require?

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78. What reports will the system generate and for whom, with what information
and at what frequency?

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79. How are the involved development teams distributed around the world?
80. What are the existing core expertise of the development team WRT
existing systems?
81. What are the development language and ecosystems preferred by existing
teams?
82. Does the new system need to provide Internationalization (i18n) and
Localization (l10n) support?

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6 Information Management
83. How and where will data be generated (human or IoT)?
84. How and where will data be stored (on-device, client-server, multi-tier, cloud)?
85. Will the system have a custom database, interface with an existing one, or
both?
86. How and where will data be managed (gathering, processing, analysis)?
87. What data reporting protocols will be required?
88. How will user information be managed (generated, updated, stored, deleted)?
89. Who will have access to what levels of information, and how?
90. Who will be responsible for data management?
91. What is the status of the current data management system and how will it
need to be updated?
92. What new types of data will be captured that are not available now?
93. How will the system be adjusted to incorporate new types of data?
94. How and where will activity logging occur, and who will have access to it?
95. How will customer support tickets and user feedback related information be
managed?

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7 Task Management,
Teamwork & Collaboration

96. What tools will departments and teams use to organize tasks?
97. How will tasks be distributed, tracked and managed (internal or third-party)?
98. How will employee or team performance be measured and reported?
99. What levels of access will each role have to the system?
100. What tools will each role in the company have access to?
101. What tools will management use at different levels to track productivity and
performance?
102. What problems of the existing system will the new system solve?
103. How can existing and new anticipated tasks and processes be automated?

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8 Interoperability
104. How will the system connect to third-party tools or data?
105. With which new tools and systems will interoperability be
required?
106. What are the existing systems with which interoperability
will be required?

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9 Data Security
107. What data protection systems are in place?
108. How does the existing system need to be upgraded to match the new
requirements?
109. What new data protection systems will have to be introduced?
110. What security systems will be needed for data at rest?
111. What security systems will be needed for data in transit?
112. What sensitive data will the system gather (IP, MAC, RFID, TDOA, GPS)?
113. What physical+digital security systems will be used?
114. What physical security requirements like facility access will be needed?
115. What crash recovery and system resilience systems will be needed
116. What processes will have to be protected (e.g. financial transactions)?
117. How will customer data be protected?
118. What measures will be required for code security?
119. What security tools will be required for IP security?
120. What security tools will be required for external libraries?
121. What security tools will be required for version control?

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10 Scalability, Update & Migration

122. How will the system be designed to manage rapid scaling?
123. How will the system be updated or modernized?
124. How will the system adjust to positive or negative changes in operations?
125. How will the migration of old data or systems to the new system be
managed?
126. How will changes in company policy be reflected in the system?
127. How will the system be configured, and who will control and modify
configurations?

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Target Platforms
Windows: 64-bit versions of Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 7 iOS and iOS Simulator: All requirements for macOS support plus a
(SP1+), Windows Server 2019 and 2016. recent version of Xcode 12. An Apple Developer account is required to
Android (Delphi and C++; C++ targets only 32-bit Android): An Android deploy iOS apps to physical devices, an iPhone or iPad running iOS 15
device that runs on AArch64 processors or ARMv7 processors with or iOS 14. iOS Simulator support requires a M-series (Apple Silicon)
NEON support and running Android versions 12, 11, 10, 9 and 8.1. Mac.
macOS: An Intel-based or ARM-based Mac running macOS 12 Linux (Delphi only): A computer with Ubuntu 20.04 LTS and 18.04 LTS,
Monterey, 11 Big Sur, 10.15 Catalina. An ARM-based Mac is required RedHat Enterprise Linux v8, WSL2 (Windows Subsystem for Linux).
for debugging ARM applications.

System Requirements
• A PC or tablet running Microsoft Windows 10 or Windows 11 64-bit
(or a VM with the same operating systems running any compatible
hardware platform, locally or remote)
• 1.8 GHz or faster dual-core processor. Quad-core or better
recommended. Single-core is not supported.
• 6-60 GB of available disk space depending on edition and
configuration. Using a solid state drive (SSD) is strongly recommended.
• 3 GB RAM (8 GB RAM recommended)
• DirectX 11 capable video card that runs at 1,440x900; a 1,080 vertical
resolution screen is recommended.

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After-Sales Support & Maintenance

128. What levels of after-sales service will be provided to the customer?
129. What kind of user support will be provided?
130. What after-sales performance KPIs will be used to measure service
quality?
131. What types of training will be provided to employees on the new system?
132. What levels of warranty will be provided with the system?

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