Project Description

PROJECT INFO

Overview

The client is a technology company that provides software and services for the construction industry.  Their core software installs on the Windows OS and enables construction companies to easily and accurately estimate new construction opportunities and also to track the profitability of projects once they commence.

The client wanted a cloud storage solution for clients to be able to store the estimate files that are produced by the software.  The client also wanted a mobile solution which would enable their customers to create, read, and edit estimate data in the field.  The client wanted to be able to transmit the data collected in the field to the cloud solution.

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Key Challenges:

  • Ability to create a multi-tenant central server solution that can be accessed by desktop browsers and mobile devices
  • Ability to read and write to the client’s proprietary file format
  • Create a mobile app solution that could access web content as well as the client’s proprietary file format.
  • Ability to store estimation data locally when there is no connectivity in the field and then transmit back once connectivity is obtained.

The solution
Outright worked with the client to understand their business workflow, the personas of their users, and the technical details of their existing software product.  Outright designed a technical solution to which included a Microsoft SharePoint server as a cloud storage server which would store the clients’ estimate files.  Outright built a native iOS app solution which would enable customers to authenticate to the server software, load and write/read proprietary data files, as well as to browse the Sharepoint web pages.  Outright created a REST web service to serve as the communication layer between the mobile app and the SharePoint server.  Customers were also able to create new estimate files using their mobile devices and write the data to the server system once connectivity was available.

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