Corporate Information
Where is MBS located?
Our street/mailing address is 18 Korolenko Street 6, Kharkiv, 61003, Ukraine
Phone/fax lines: +38 (057) 7311065, +38 (057) 7142996, +38 (057) 7312198
Web site: http://www.mbs-ukraine.com
What is Kharkiv?
Kharkiv is one of the most industrially developed centers in Ukraine.
It has a population of approximately 2 million people. Kharkiv is a city of many academics
and each year about 3,500 students having computer education graduate from colleges and Universities
(from the total of 40,000 - 60,000 students).
What is MBS' staff?
23-25 fulltime developers on staff. In addition, we share contract resources with Khartron, a major aerospace firm with over 3,000 engineers on tap; through this means, we can double our experienced professional manpower within a week to meet unexpected surges or planned ramp-ups.
What kind of services do we offer?
 IT Consulting
Software Development
Porting and Reverse Engineering
Data Entry and Processing
What projects can we handle?
We have experience and established software process to handle large complex projects
and motivation not to reject small ones. In any case MBS can be your advantageous reliable
remote development partner.
What are MBS skills?
Platforms: IBM 370, IBM S/390, EC9000; RISC 6000; AS/400; IBM PC; SUN
Operating Systems: IBM OS/2; MS Windows NT/2000/XP/Vista; IBM AIX; IBM OS/400; UNIX (SCO, BSD, Linux); MVS, OS/390
DBMS: DB2; Oracle; MS SQL Server; MS Access; Adabas/Natural; Sybase; MySQL
Languages: C/C++; Visual Basic; Java; Perl; PHP; COBOL; RPG; PL/1; Fortran; Assembler
Network Protocols: TCP/IP; UDP; IPX/SPX; SNA
What hardware does MBS have in office?
Apart from PC-based servers and workstations, we have middle-class hardware
(like IBM RS 6000) and business class equipment (such as IBM AS/400).
What is MBS experience & past projects?
Please see our profile for detailed description of several our projects
Contract Administration
What contracts does MBS work on?
We are willing to work on fixed price projects and time & material
projects.
How money would be transferred (bank, where etc)
Payment is normally tied to project milestones (contract signing,
alpha, beta, acceptance). Normally our payment schedule is done
this way so clients pay for what is delivered to them. In average
acceptance stands for at least 30% of project cost.
Contract - how is it formalized?
We sign Master Development Agreement and / or SOW (Statement of
Work). Master development agreement is used for long-time relationships.
All contracts took shape of the SOW upon finalization of requirements.
Contracts are done in English.
Can we make a bid upon requirements?
Yes, this is exactly what fixed price contract stands for. We are
ready to give our firm fixed bid for development based on your specification.
Project Management
Do I need strictly defined requirements to start discussing project?
No, minimal requirements spec or an overview of the system (may
be a page or two page description of the system) is sufficient to
start, however the reality is that the better the requirements are,
the easier start we have. If requirements are unavailable we are
ready to prepare detailed specifications in interaction with the
client to create Software Requirements Document (SRD). Once requirements
are set we try to freeze them and start design and implementation.
Understanding, that requirements generally suffer modification during
the development lifecycle, we would add all change requests into
SRD.
Of course we would suggest the most appropriate technical solution.
Depending on the project size and state of the requirements received
we may or may not request pre-payment for such work.
How communication would be conducted?
Day-to-day communication is provided via Email (24 hours feedback
guaranteed), instant messaging software (ICQ, Yahoo, MSN), scheduled
voice-enabled conferencing (NetMeeting).
On agreed stages of work our project manager and / or required developers
can match client work hours, even if 11-12 hours of time difference.
How project management would be conducted?
We use Microsoft Project 2000. If client wishes (usually for smaller
projects) we may use www.quickteam.com. Once a week (or twice) client
is sent weekly progress report with what is done and what issues
are raised during the week. Each client gets a dedicated English
speaking project manager to deal with. Company top management (president,
technical director) is also available at any client request.
Would I need someone from my company to work with you on the project?
We require a responsible contact at client side available to discussion
and settlement upon all issues that might occur during the project
lifecycle including ambiguous requirements and providing additional
information.
How do we handle change requests?
Due to balanced politics towards change requests we never had tensions
with our clients on this account.
What is acceptance procedure based on?
Normally acceptance is done based on Software Requirements Document.
For larger projects at the requirements definition / design stage
we develop and settle upon testing (acceptance) plan and test cases
that must drive acceptance testing by the client.
Development Process
What software development practices does MBS follow?
We are ISO certified and follow a very strict development
process and methodology for the Best Practices in Software Engineering.
We apply procedures indicated in ESA (European Space Agency) standards
for software production. Depending of the project nature we can
use EVO (evolutionary delivery method).
Our software development includes requirements specification &
analysis, architectural design (UML, Rational Rose), detailed design
& coding, debugging & testing.
Upon client request we are ready to adopt (follow) his normal l
practice.
What are common milestones for project?
Normally our average project includes the following milestones (delivery,
payment). Milestones may vary in each specific case depending on
project size and delivery method used.
Contract signing
Requirements definition
Architectural design
Alpha
Beta
Release
Acceptance
What tools are used to assure high quality of the project?
Rational Rose is used for architectural design.
We also use other tools to make collaboration with us easy and efficient
for those clients who are familiar / get used to other environment.
How do we assure high quality of the testing?
Testing is done by provided by our specialized internal quality
assurance team. This is an independent team that also provides third
party testing services for external clients. Resolution of test
team chief is required for all deliverables. In debugging and testing
we use such tools as Rational Purify, Visual Test.
How code delivery is scheduled?
Code delivery is done upon milestones (based on project plan) or
once in a certain time period (biweekly normally, depending on project
size) if evolutionary delivery method (EVO) is used.
Is post acceptance support provided?
Post acceptance support is provided via Internet.
We are a stable company (working since 1991) so we are able to provide
our clients with proper support and enhancements on long-term basis.
Miscellaneous
How do we handle the language difference?
All managers, all client-contact people, and many developers, are fluent in English and at least one other European language. Our language skills are such that we regularly provide original documentation and translations in and between English, German, French, Spanish, Russian, and Ukrainian. And, in every country with which we deal, we have local Client Relations Managers who are native citizens of that country. You will always deal with an MBS representative who speaks your language.
How do we handle cultural differences?
As a European country, we find cultural differences to be remarkably few, even with our American partners. Our culture, history, educational system, arts, literature, architecture, music, cuisine, sports, fashions, family life, and aspirations are entirely Western in nature. Even our weather is the same: we hit the beach in summer, and shovel snow in winter. There's really not all that much difference.
Finally, can I visit MBS?
Yes, we are always glad to meet you in our office. We would be happy
to provide all the required support, including transportation, accommodation
and sightseeing.
 Top of this page
|
Our Booklet (PDF)
About Us
