Case Study: Rapid Application Architecture & Buildout

Challenge

The INSPYR Solutions team cultivated a long-term relationship with the client after serving as the company’s top talent solutions provider for over three years. During this time, the main point of contact from our team made the client aware of our Professional Services offerings and the types of projects we could provide for them.

Because of their comfort with our capabilities and the trust our team had built over the years, we were their first and only call when they needed help with an extremely urgent project. When they reached out to our team, we discovered that the client had committed to a large-scale project with a tight deadline for a very important national client. However, their existing architecture needed to be updated to handle the volume of records that had to be processed for the project, so the client was seeking an immediate solution that could be implemented in under two months.

Solution

Our team got to work right away, leveraging the most senior leaders from our Application Services practice to assess the client’s current architecture, build out a plan for updating it to optimize performance, and create a solution that would not only solve the immediate problem, but would allow the client to better serve future customers.

Understanding the urgency of our client’s situation, we utilized bench resources to put together a team of experts in less than a week. The team of experts included a Scrum Master, a Tester, and two Software Engineers who could all begin work immediately. The technologies we worked on included the modernization of an existing C# application to .NET 7. We created a new .NET API, an application that handles intake, validation, and processing of the client’s data, as well as a client-specific backend database.

Because the client’s project was on a size and scale beyond anything they had done before, our team worked quickly to address these requirements in an efficient manner. The client needed the application to run every 10 minutes, but it took over 11 minutes to run, meaning that it would never complete the process. Our team of experts quickly identified the issues causing the long runtime, including a flaw in the architecture, and created a solution that brought down the application runtime from 11 minutes to under 30 seconds.

In addition to the core work we performed to streamline the client’s architecture and create a reusable framework, we also ensured that the client would have the resources needed to move forward after the initial project was complete. As part of our overall service, the INSPYR Solutions team implemented a structured transition process to train the client’s staff and set them up for future success. We also remained available as a support resource with ongoing access to our consultants after the project was complete.

Outcome

Our team worked rapidly to deliver a best practice solution that optimized performance and could be leveraged for future clients – all in under two months. Not only did we reduce the client’s application runtime immensely, but the new application could process approximately 10,000 records every 30 seconds. With our solution in place, the client was able to process approximately 200,000 records, retain their high-profile national client, avoid penalties that would have been incurred with failure, and continue to use the framework we put in place for future clients.

We performed this work under an aggressive two-month timeframe, and the team worked in an agile fashion, building the solution in a highly flexible manner to evolve as requirements were firmed up throughout the project. Our flexibility, capabilities, and rapid response were key to the client’s trust in our team to complete the project under a challenging deadline.

In addition to completing the project, we introduced functional and technical components and improved the client’s testing and deployment processes. Building on a foundation of trust with this client, we delivered on this highly important project and left the client with the tools they would need for continuing success.

Client Profile

The client provides marketing execution services such as print production, mailing and fulfillment, marketing automation, supply chain, and direct marketing. They also specialize in related marketing solutions such as brand management, BI and reporting, as well as managed services.