How We Work

At SDSI, we believe technology should fit people, not the other way around. We build applications, integrations, and automations that help UVU departments spend less time on manual work and more time serving students, faculty, and staff.

We start with people and their process, not with code. Every project begins by understanding the work our customers do every day, then building the simplest, most useful tool to support it.

Partnering With Our Customers

The best software comes from a real partnership. We work side by side with the departments we serve so that what we build solves the actual problem, not just the one written in the first request.

We listen first. Before we design anything, we sit down with the people who will use the tool. We ask how the work gets done today, where it slows down, and what a good day would look like. Often the real need is different from the original request, and finding that early saves everyone time.

We look at the whole process. A request for a form may really be a need for an approval workflow, a report, or a connection to another campus system. We map the process end to end so the solution fits the way the department actually works.

We stay involved throughout. Customers see working pieces early and often. Their feedback shapes each step, so there are no surprises at launch.

We don't say "No." We say "Yes, with these conditions." Every request deserves a path forward. When something is complex, costly, or touches security or other systems, we explain what it will take: the timeline, the resources, the tradeoffs, or the standards it must meet. Then we work out the best way to get there together. Our goal is to find the right yes.

Built for Ease of Use

If a tool is hard to use, people will work around it. We design every application so that a new user can succeed without a manual.

• Simple and clear. Screens show what people need to finish the task, and nothing more.
• Consistent. Our applications share familiar layouts and UVU branding, so learning one helps with the next.
• Works anywhere. Responsive design means our tools work on a desktop, tablet, or phone.
• Accessible. We build to accessibility standards so every member of the campus community can use our tools.
• Less manual work. Wherever we can, we automate data entry, approvals, notifications, and reports so people don't have to.

How a Project Moves

We use an agile, iterative approach. Projects move in short cycles so customers see progress quickly and can steer the work as it develops.

1. Discover. Meet with the customer, learn the process, and agree on the real problem to solve.
2. Define. Outline the scope, priorities, and any conditions such as security review, integrations, or data access.
3. Build in small steps. Develop working features in short cycles, sharing each one for feedback.
4. Test together. Customers try the tool with real scenarios before it goes live.
5. Launch and support. Deploy to production, train users as needed, and stay available for questions.
6. Improve. Gather feedback after launch and keep refining as needs change.

We track our work in Jira, so priorities, progress, and requests stay visible to our team and leadership.

Standards, Security, and Documentation

Enterprise standards. Our work follows the development standards set by UVU Enterprise Architecture. New technologies are reviewed with Enterprise Architecture before we adopt them, so the systems we build are supportable for the long term.

Security first. We protect university and student data by following UVU security policies, using secure authentication, and limiting access to what each user needs.

Integration by design. We use the UVU API platform to connect systems. Our applications consume data from other campus systems and expose data through APIs, reducing duplicate entry and keeping information consistent.

Documentation. We document within our code and maintain records of the systems we build, the services they provide, the people involved, and the systems they depend on. This keeps the university's applications stable and supportable.

Modern delivery. Source control, code review, and automated build and deployment (CI/CD) help us release changes quickly and reliably.

Our Technology

We choose proven, supportable tools that let us deliver quickly and maintain applications for years.

Area																																							Technologies
Front end																																							Vue, HTML, CSS, Bootstrap, JavaScript
Back end and APIs																																							Python, FastAPI, PHP (legacy applications)
Data																																							MySQL, Microsoft SQL Server, Oracle
Development tools																																							Visual Studio Code, GitLab, Docker, AI-assisted development tools
Project tracking																																							Jira
Infrastructure																																							Linux servers, VMware virtualization, Kubernetes containers

 

We also build custom integrations and process automation between campus systems, in addition to full-stack applications.