As many of you will be aware, this is actually a welcome back to Beacon for Struan.  Having spent over 4 years as part of our Support Team, Struan brings extensive knowledge and experience to his new role.

I had a chat with Struan today to find out a bit more about his new role at Beacon and how he was finding it.

Struan, how are you settling into your new role?

I am really enjoying the challenges the new role offers and learning about Beacon from a different angle.  My previous experience at Beacon has allowed me to hit the ground running and has given me a head start learning about Software Testing and Automation.

It’s great to be back, Beacon have a really friendly and supportive team and it’s fantastic to feel acknowledged for my contribution.

What does a QA & Custom Dev Co-ordinator do?

As the QA & Custom Dev Co-ordinator, I work closely with our Dev team to ensure new versions are well tested before being released as well as overseeing our Custom Developments to ensure they are delivered to specification and on time.

What are you working on now?

We have so many exciting projects on now! 

I have just upgraded our Pilot site for Beacon Version 3.1.X.X, in this version we have overhauled the look and feel of the Beacon Back Office.  From this version onwards the Back Office will be Full Screen, well actually even multi-screen if you have a second screen connected! We have also included links to our new Training videos and a few more quick buttons to make navigation even easier.

Also underway is our BAU Project, BAU stands for Business Automatic Updates, or Business As Usual.  The goal behind this project is to automate our upgrade process to both reduce the impact of upgrades on our customers, but also reduce the workload on our Support Team so they can spend that time focussing on the most important task - assisting our customers.

We also have a lot of Custom Development projects underway at the moment, finalising and implementing our Shell App integration, specialised ERP Exports, POS Button refinements and some custom reporting.

How much Custom Dev work does Beacon do?

Quite a bit actually!  We have three very experienced full time developers in our team, this allows us to offer Custom Development services as our customers require them.

What is the process if one of our customers wants a custom development?

Get in touch with us! 

The first step is scoping out the development with the customer to ensure we have a good understanding of what the customer is looking for. 

From this scope our Dev team are able to assess how many hours of programming and testing time this project would require, and our sales team will provide you a quote.

If you decide to proceed, we then allocate this project to a developer, who will work their magic and include this new feature in a Beacon release.  Once in a release, it will be handed back to me for internal quality and assurance testing, provided it passes we will upgrade your site for you to test and approve.

Thank you Struan, it’s great to have you back!

If you would like more information on our Custom Dev Services, please call our usual number 03, 8807 9989 and Select option 3.