Funded Enhancements
What are funded enhancements?
Funded enhancements are changes to the TASS software that are funded by a school or group of schools (co-funded project).
The school/s will act as a design partner; TASS will work through the problem and use cases with the school and propose a software solution which the school can review and request changes to.
This offering allows TASS to fund more development resources and deliver the changes that you need quicker.
Why is TASS offering funded enhancements? Why do we have to pay for development?
The TASS development pipeline and roadmap includes thousands of valid potential enhancements: we might have an enhancement flagged for a future version, but your school requires a feature that’s extremely important to be implemented sooner than we have planned. This offering gives customers the opportunity to speed up and prioritise development.
We realise that schools investigate other solutions to work alongside TASS because there’s something that falls short within the TASS product. We see schools implement a solution for this reason and because TASS might not have a timeline for the enhancement.
Funded enhancements are entirely optional. Enhancements submitted by customers on the Forum are a top priority for TASS which we evaluate and prioritise accordingly.
Why do other schools have access to our funded enhancement?
TASS develops and maintains one version of the software i.e. we do not customise software code for individual schools. This ensures version control and safe, stable upgrade paths for all customers.
As such, any addition to the software is automatically available to all customers through their TASS license subscription.
Funded enhancement is not only a prioritised change but an assurance that TASS will maintain and support the change ongoing with no additional cost to your school’s TASS license subscription.
The only ‘custom’ type development TASS completes is for Academic Reports (to be delivered to Parents) which leverages off existing TASS features. This is available to schools when the existing TASS Academic Reporting suite does not meet the needs of the customer.
What are the benefits?
Your school gets access to a solution that you need, quicker. Funded enhancements are prioritised and a timeline is negotiated.
TASS continues to support and maintain your funded enhancement as it is built into the software suite (i.e you don’t have your own orphaned version of TASS).
Your school gets to act as a ‘design partner’ meaning you have direct input into the functionality that is developed.
If you were considering another product which included ongoing costs, consider the following in your cost-benefit analysis. Your enhancement:
Is built into your School Management System (one throat to choke / vendor to deal with)
Has a once-off fee.
May be further developed by TASS if we choose to build upon your enhancement.
Integrates into your existing school management system.
Systems with duplicate data might be avoided.
Can we get anything developed by you?
No. As TASS maintains one version of the software the enhancements and changes that occur must be beneficial for all customers.
To ensure that the TASS software aligns with the requirements of a broad spectrum of schools, all funded enhancement requests are reviewed and must be of value to other customers i.e. not unique to your school.
Examples of what we consider:
Is this solution / enhancements future-proof or do we need to adjust it?
What impact will this have on other modules and integrations?
What’s included in a funded enhancement?
A funded enhancement covers more than just development time, it also includes:
Collection of ‘use cases’ and consulting
Design plans, initial scoping and proposals
Technical specification documents
Impact and risk assessments
Collection of ‘use cases’
Testing plans and multiple rounds of quality assurance testing
End-user documentation
End-user training.
When a funded enhancement is released, your school will also have an opportunity to provide feedback for possible further enhancements.
What’s the difference between voting and funding?
Submitting and voting on feature in the Enhancements Voting system (available via the Community Forum) influences the TASS roadmap.
Funded enhancements are a direct commitment between the school and TASS. We work one-on-one with the school to create a solution with a negotiated and agreed timeline for completion.
What’s the process for a funded enhancement?
A Funded Enhancement request can be submitted through the TASS Community Forum under the Funded Enhancements category.
TASS will review the request using the following criteria:
Validity: Will this be beneficial to other schools? Do we need to propose an alternate idea? Is the idea/solution future proof?
Solution: Do other programs need to be touched? What software changes would be required to implement this?
Time and delivery: if requirements are clear, we’ll discuss a ballpark cost and potential timeline.
If the requirements that have been provided are clear, TASS will provide an initial ballpark cost and potential timeline for the school to consider.
If the school wishes to proceed, a Discovery session will be conducted and encompass:
Questions raised by TASS during initial review.
Use cases and any additional information.
Any alterations to their idea to ensure the needs of the wider TASS customer-base are met.
A discussion on ballpark cost before proceeding to proposal and assessment.
TASS will then create a proposal which will include detail on the enhancement, cost and timeline.
Once the school accepts the proposal, development will commence
Throughout development the school will be provided software demonstrations and consulted if questions arise.
Once development and testing is complete, enhancements will be delivered in an update through the TASS Software Update program.
Finally, TASS will formally demonstrate the enhancements to the school.
When do we include these enhancements? How quickly?
TASS will work with the school to negotiate a mutually agreeable timeline for completion.
Timelines will depend on the complexity of your request and when you need the enhancement implemented by.
How does co-funding work?
There are typically two scenarios where co-funding occurs:
When a school has submitted a funded enhancement request and would like see if other schools would be interested in joining the project. In this scenario, the school or TASS will make a post on the Forum to gauge interest.
When multiple schools have already discussed and expressed interest in co-funding a project together (usually via the Forum).
The process of co-funding is the same. The only difference (besides sharing costs) will be the joint collaboration on the design and functionality of the enhancement during the initial discovery meeting.