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About UsA Microsoft Gold Certified Partner, RDA provides custom application and software development services for all types of businesses. We specialize in delivering faster, better results for a lower cost than other development companies because of our skills, processes, and toolset. Our expertise includes both Microsoft .NET and Java technologies. This section provides an overview of the following: View the RDA Overview Presentation.
To be recognized by our customers and partners as the leader in solving complex business problems faster and better, for less, through custom software development.
Our TeamRDA has a staff of over 120 technical consultants, including project managers, principal architects, software developers, implementation specialists and systems analysts. RDA developers are adept in Microsoft .NET and Java technologies. In fact, the experience and depth of RDA’s consultants is among the highest in the industry:
RDA pursues and retains high caliber individuals skilled in business analysis, object-oriented analysis and design, distributed architecture design, leading web development technologies and relational database tools. Our technical staff has earned one of the highest certification levels in the industry with over 1,100 total certifications, resulting in an average of over six technical certifications per employee. Technology Evangelist Groups As part of our commitment to technical excellence and the continuous enhancement of our delivery team, RDA has established Technology Evangelist groups that focus on developing expertise among their members in defined technology areas. Every RDA developer is aligned with at least one Evangelist group. Members of the RDA Evangelist groups are specialists, functioning as dedicated technical resources within their categories of expertise. Our customers richly benefit from the expertise of the RDA consultants. Not only is the project team composed of skilled developers proficient in the technologies specific to the project, but this team also has direct access to other specialists throughout the company to cover nearly any technical contingency that could arise during a project. This comprehensive resource pool is a benefit built into every RDA project for our clients. RDA Technology Blog Sites RDA has developed the following blog sites based on the expertise of our technology evangelist teams:
Executive ProfilesRDA’s executive management team includes:
Tom Cole RDA President and Chief Executive Officer Tom Cole has been with RDA since 1998. Prior to his current role with the company, Tom led all business development activities for RDA. In addition, he formerly headed the company’s Professional Services and System Integration divisions. He also previously served as RDA's Senior Vice President for Marketing, and, prior to that, as Managing Director of RDA's Baltimore/Washington offices. Cole spent 11 years with Hewlett Packard before coming to RDA, and seven with The Apex Group, a network and systems integration provider. Born in upstate New York and reared in the Washington, D.C. area, he holds a bachelor's degree in marketing from the University of Maryland and an MBA from Loyola College. His interests include spending time with his family, playing golf and fly-fishing.
Steve Kupres Steve Kupres has been with RDA since 1990. As Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer, Kupres is responsible for overseeing the company's financial, IT, administrative and human resources functions, including managing company finances, financial reporting and projections, development of office support infrastructures, recruiting and company benefits administration. Kupres earned a bachelor's degree in business administration from Loyola College in Baltimore. He was appointed by Maryland Governor Robert Ehrlich to serve as a Commissioner on the Maryland Real Estate Commission—a commission that presides over more than 50,000 registered real estate agents in Maryland. Outside of RDA, he enjoys fishing, camping and other outdoor recreational activities.
Tony Pekala Tony Pekala has been with RDA since 1992. As Vice President of Technical Services, Tony is responsible for overseeing all professional services delivered in the field to customers. This covers project delivery, people management, consultant hiring, skills development, career growth, and partner management. Tony has a technical background and a vast amount of experience operationally with the company. He has held several prior roles, including Director of Capability and Marketing, Technical Sales Programs Director, Program Director, Managing Director for the Virginia Office, Project Manager, and Senior Software Engineer. Pekala spent three years with Intersolv as Director of Information Technology before coming to RDA. He moved to the Washington, D.C. area in 1985, where he earned his Bachelor of Business Administration degree from The George Washington University. His interests include spending time with his family, golf, and performance driving.
Our Core ValuesRDA maintains its culture through the following shared core values: Integrity – We are committed to honestly communicating with all of our clients and resolving any problems quickly. Innovation and Flexibility – We listen carefully to our clients so that we can continue to provide services that meet their needs. Whether this involves providing new offerings or changing the way we provide existing services, we will always try to do what is right for our clients. Commitment To Getting the Job Done – If we say work will be done by a deadline, RDA will do whatever it takes to deliver on time, meeting the specified requirements and providing a quality product. Collaboration – We believe that partnering, communicating, and working together is what makes teams, and ultimately the project, successful. Continuous Improvement – We are constantly looking for ways to improve our process, expand our knowledge and skills, and strengthen our client partnerships. Accountability and Empowerment – Our teams focus on doing whatever it takes to make the project a success. We take responsibility for that success, whether the project is RDA managed, jointly managed with the client, or managed solely by the client.
RDA leverages Rational’s Unified Process (RUP), a rapid, iterative development process. The process focuses on delivering business value to our clients’ projects by balancing business requirements (such as features, content management, performance and security) with constraints (such as budgets, deadlines and resources), with a heavy emphasis on risk-management.
The Project Life Cycle RUP consists of four phases: Inception, Elaboration, Construction and Transition. The completion of each lifecycle phase is marked with a milestone, which defines measurable objectives and standards for achievement as the project proceeds and helps track schedules and progress. Each phase contains one or more iterations focused on producing the necessary deliverables to achieve the business objectives.
1. Inception Phase The goal of the Inception phase is to acquire enough information about the project to confirm whether or not the project should proceed. During the Inception phase, the focus is on gaining a high-level understanding of all the requirements and establishing the scope of the system. This phase also includes mitigation strategies for business risks as well as producing the business case for building the system to obtain buy-in from all stakeholders. The end of Inception is marked by the Lifecycle Objective (LCO) milestone, which defines the following objectives: · Understanding what to build · Identifying key system functionality · Identifying at least one candidate solution · Understanding costs, schedule and risks associated with the project · Deciding what process to follow and which tools to use
2. Elaboration Phase The goal of the Elaboration phase is to address all architecturally significant use cases. In the Elaboration phase, emphasis is placed on use case realization and design impacts to the overall solution. High risk use cases which will define the design are addressed in the earlier iterations of the phase. The end of Elaboration is marked by the Lifecycle Architecture (LCA) milestone, which focuses on four major objectives: · Understanding the application (requirements) · Understanding the solution (architecture) · Tracking to cost and schedule · Following the correct process and using the most appropriate tools
3. Construction Phase The goal of the Construction phase is to realize a fully functional beta version of the system. Emphasis during the construction phase shifts toward requirements tuning and detailed design, implementation and testing. Construction is intended to be a low risk phase, as most of the architectural risks and impacts have been addressed in Elaboration. The Initial Operational Capability (IOC) milestone marks the end of the Construction phase with the first operational version of the system.
4. Transition Phase The focus of the Transition phase is to ensure that the system fully addresses the needs of its users and that the solution is production ready, deployed to production environments and production support established. Transition is about fine-tuning of functionality, performance and overall quality and is concluded by meeting the Product Release (PR) milestone.
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