NISG adopts its standard methodology for executing Projects, which is termed as ‘CADS Methodology. (Conceptualize - Architect - Define - Support). The CADS methdology is the outcome of NISG's experience of handling varied e-Governance Projects of varying scope and duration. The illustration below gives a snapshot of the CADS methdology of NISG.

Conceptualization Phase: During this phase of the project, the expected outcomes, the degree and nature of transformation required and/ or desired and the services to be offered (scope) are determined in consultation with project champions/ owners. The process followed will include study of as-is situation (including processes, services, systems, organization, HR aspects), outlining of desired situation, comparisons with best practices/ benchmarking, Gap analysis and cooption of all stakeholders. Where necessary, a review / definition/ redefinition of the vision & mission of the organization and/ or the project as appropriate is also taken up. Ownership of the decisions will rest with the Empowered/ Committee of the organization.

Architect Phase: During this phase, the solution is architected to meet the project objectives. Developing requirements/ specifications of the functionality of the solution, assessment of the technologies that need to be deployed to provide the functionality along with other required features such as scalability, inter-operability, performance, up-time and fault tolerant characteristics, security, disaster recovery and business continuity, process reengineering, organizational interventions, assessment of needs of capacity building constitute this phase.

Define Phase: Based on the solution that has been architected, a set of definitions of transformed services (process reengineering), service level metrics (for processes and technical systems) and roles and responsibilities (change management) of the stakeholders are arrived at. Also defined in this phase is the business model that is to be adopted in implementing the solution and sustaining it - who will own the infrastructure, how will the implementation partner/ operator recover his investments/ operating costs and make a profit, at what kind of transaction volumes, what levels of user charges are permissible, what will be other revenue streams, how will the revenues be split etc. are some of the questions that need to be addressed. These are the pre-requisites for seeking bids from potential implementation partners through a RFP. A review and approval of these definitions by an empowered committee of the Client at this stage is recommended as a good practice.

Support Phase: RFP (Request for proposal) as a key deliverable is the culmination of all that has gone into the project till this stage including draft legal agreements with implementation partner. PoC (Proof of Concept) in terms of building a minimal operating model of the solution focusing on the key/ new & innovative / high risk concepts & technologies to be deployed is undertaken, if warranted, to get a feel for the solution at this stage. The learning from building and operating the PoC is funneled into the RFP to guide the bidders (and later the implementation partner) in assessing the complexity (and in actual construction of the solution). Based on the specifics of the contracted assignment, support is extended to bid process management and evaluation, negotiation, legal agreements, subsequent program management, acceptance testing, pilot implementation, 3rd party audit of implemented solution, scaling up and rolling out the application including related business models and eventual assessment of the project vis-à-vis targeted outcomes.