BACKGROUND
Vetsource is the largest and most trusted Home Delivery Services Provider for veterinarians sourcing quality medications, over-the-counter health care products, and pet food directly from the manufacturers and shipping them right to clients' front doors. Their services include home delivery of pet products, scheduled product shipment with regular and periodic reminders, and a monthly pet health-related informational newsletter.
The client had an integrated solution in place that was basically a combination of 4 separate applications. Each had a different use, i.e; e-commerce, catalog update, order approval/fulfillment and analytics. The technology stack was a bit outdated, and the integration/communication between the applications was cumbersome.
Since the in-house technology team was busy supporting day-to-day operations of the business, the client was interested in building an external team to roll out a new and improved version of their current system from the ground up.
The 2 key requirements of this new solution were as follows:
- ✓Unified Portal- The new system had to encapsulate all the company's applications under a unified portal, built with modern frameworks and a consistent UI.
- ✓Role bases access- Each employee required access to specific sections of the software based on his/her role in the company, and certain limitations needed to be set based on the employee's functionality. This proved to be challenging for several reasons. Firstly, since the front-end framework used did not have that functionality, it had to be developed from scratch. Also, the role-based access feature needed to be completed in a short duration of time.
SOLUTION
The team used the following technology stack to develop the applications.
- ✓Front End- Vaadin, jQuery, JavaScript to design and develop the UI
- ✓Service Layer- Groovy/Java, Spring Boot, jOOQ to design and develop the business and service layers of the application.
- ✓Backend- MySQL, PostgreSQL and MS SQL databases to store the app's data.
- ✓Business Analytics- Microsoft PowerBI, a business analytics service, to render interactive charts and data visualizations, which gave the client the ability to draw vital information to be used in future business decisions.
The engagement started with 3 developers initially and grew four fold over the years. To minimize delays in onboarding newly hired developers, our team created a user manual to address common issues and possible resolutions. The client's DevOps team verified the guide before it was uploaded to the company's knowledge library for everyone’s use.
After finishing set up of the developer environment, every team member was assigned tasks/work through the software development tool JIRA. With the client’s project manager as Scrum Master, we followed an agile development methodology with initial sprints running for three weeks. Once our team and the client established a smooth operational structure, the sprints were reduced to two weeks.
RESULTS
By setting up a Staff Augmentation arrangement with our team, Vetsource was able to increase its team size rapidly and cost-effectively. Although our team is located in a different time zone, all team members assigned to the project work full-time and participate in daily standup meetings and code reviews with Vetsource's Engineers & Product Managers.
The solution that our team developed over a span of three years is a modern, state-of-the-art e-prescription SaaS product that is currently being used by various independent veterinarians as well as large corporate vet/pet clinics and hospitals.
After a MVP (Minimum Viable Product) was released, the product's performance attracted overwhelming attention, which provided a broader appeal in the market and positioned the client as an innovation leader in the industry. Furthermore, the ROI for the new product exceeded the initial predictions, which is why the client quadrupled the size of the remote team from 3 to 12 members after the initial launch.
Due to the expertise and professionalism demonstrated in the early stages of the project, Vetsource grew the team size with Asahi Technologies, increasing the critical role we played in the company's roadmap for future development.
BENEFITS
The new software allows veterinary practitioners, clinics, and hospitals to:
- ✓Remotely prescribe pet medication for their customers
- ✓Fulfill prescriptions using home delivery
- ✓Run different reports to help both the company and the clinics make informed financial, medicinal, and logistical decisions
- ✓Provide information to their clients with medicine and food recommendation items to various pets based on their previous consultations.
