A Solution to A Long-standing Development Challenge

Overview

The proprietary software developed for a New Zealand-based workplace safety company was slow, delivered a poor experience for users and was difficult to enhance. DSS took over ongoing development and support for the platform, quickly stabilising it and then adding features. The client’s offerings now run quickly and smoothly, and the platform is on a predictable development roadmap.

Challenges

The client offers a range of mobile tracking devices relying on software that had been developed for over a number of years by a company with contractors distributed around the world.

Problems had developed over the course of the relationship, including persistently high turnover of contractors and the consequent need to onboard replacements, which was expensive and time-consuming. It also became apparent that the contractors hadn’t followed industry best-practice, which meant that software changes often required major redevelopment changes instead of minor rewrites.

The result: development became slow and costly and was often side-lined while resources were devoted to urgent performance issues and bug-fixes.

How DSS Helped

The company asked DSS to take over development of the platform and to provide ongoing support. We put the platform’s roadmap on to a sound professional footing by introducing best-practice coding standards, industry frameworks and a number of other professional processes. DSS first rectified immediate defects and then, using a DSS scrum master and an agile methodology and drawing on a team of software designers, developers and testers, embarked on programmed enhancements.

Results & Future Plans

The platform was quickly stabilised, and the worst defects remedied, improving the performance of user devices and cutting overall costs dramatically. It is now well advanced in its development roadmap, and the DSS team continues to provide support for the solution. The long-run benefits of the DSS approach include staff continuity, systematic documentation and proven quality.