End-to-End App Development for an IT Vendor and a Sign Language Interpreting Agency

Challenge

The Client sought our custom application development services to help sign language interpreters address team performance issues, cluttered browser tabs, and having too many different login details to remember. The interpreting team had one application for delivering services, but wanted to extend it with features for:

• Monitoring work time and breaks;
• Clocking in/out; and
• Tracking professional development courses.

The client’s existing software hindered workforce productivity. At the start of their working day, team members had to log into numerous web apps and keep the tabs open for each to function properly. This setup was highly inconvenient and consumed a lot of browser resources.

The Company wanted to create a platform that would consolidate all workforce apps in one place. They also wanted to implement single-sign-on (SSO) to improve user experience without sacrificing security.

Main Goals

• Validate and estimate the idea
• Create a single web application toolkit
• Secure and thoroughly test the application
• Maintain the application after release

Technologies Used

Java 17, Spring boot, Vue.js, JHipster, Kubernetes, Okta

Solution

Edvantis developers saw the potential to significantly accelerate product development by integrating third-party products as widgets or SSO extensions. Having validated the idea, the architect designed a code base for the application that was then used to create the app’s business logic and UX-friendly product interfaces.

Edvantis assembled a Scrum team consisting of a team lead, a business analyst, QA engineers, front end developers, and a designer.

Having analyzed the functionality that the interpreters use the most, Edvantis’ specialists developed four widgets.

• TalentLMS: Enables users to see the professional development courses that are available to them, track their progress, and get directed to the TalentLMS page.
• Team Break: Shows the available slots and lengths of break times, and the number of people on a break in real time.
• Attendance: Allows users to clock in and out, assign breaks, see their upcoming shifts, and monitor their work history.
• Admin Functionality: Monitors the number of people on a break and creates and delivers announcements.

Edvantis’ specialists implemented extra backend functionality within the new product. They integrated SSO via Okta, an identity platform for secure log-ins. Additionally, they integrated other third-party solutions using APIs and Webhooks infrastructure.

Additionally, Edvantis developers did the following work: 

• Manually tested the whole application during each sprint.
• Released a beta version to a test user group and then rolled out the alpha version to the entire workforce.
• Maintained and supported the application immediately after the first release and on an on-going basis.
• Consulted the Company on the setup of GitHub environments (development, QA, stage, and production).
• Set up a CI/CD process with automatic deployments to GitHub environments, and a multiple-instance model for the servers.

“Having worked with Edvantis for more than seven years, we are happy with their services. Edvantis has proven to be a reliable partner in terms of both administrative processes and software delivery. Their flexibility has impressed us.”

CTO and Owner of a Software Development Company

Results

The project has been going on for five months and is now in its final stages. During that time, we scaled the development team from two to seven specialists, hiring according to the Company’s requirements and needs. Edvantis specialists released the product to 10 beta users, then increasing to 60 people. In the future, we will release to the entire workforce of 350 entrepreneurs.

Also, we have achieved the following results:

• Created a high-performing and maintainable web platform with seven integrated and customizable applications. Over 90% has now been tested, following best practices.
• Created an end-to-end application that saves time and increases productivity as interpreters can now access all workplace tools from one interface. Since we integrated Okta into the application, they no longer have to log on separately to every app.

Furthermore, our specialists improved the development process by:

• advising the Company on a more lightweight and secure application infrastructure and logic, using widgets;
• analyzing user feedback and recommending the optimal functionality and updates to satisfy their needs;
• strictly following Scrum best practices (Code Freeze, TestRail, DoD, etc.) which led to a rapid development.

We have partnered with the Company for over seven years, working on numerous projects and proving that long-term outsourcing partnerships can generate better results than one-off contractor-customer relationships.

The Company benefits from Edvantis’ proactive recommendations, candid communications, and the value-driven approach that we take when working with our clients.