Bombardier

Outcome

The Computools team implemented critical upgrades and introduced new features to the outdated flight documentation management web and mobile applications. The efficient collaboration framework resulted in a strong development performance.

Several key options we solved:

Updated the existing architecture of the flight documentation management.
Introduced new features to the system.
Removed persistent bugs in web and mobile applications.

+ 64%

Throughput, Users

+ 47%

Average Order

- 62%

Checkout Time

+53%

Increasing Revenue

- 50%

Reducing Costs

72%

Business Process Automation

Business
challenge

weaknesses

Outdated web application architecture and technologies
Tight project schedule with insufficient time to scale the internal IT department
No availability of in-house software engineers with required expertise
Multiple code errors and bugs of existing applications

strengths

Industry leader with strong global demand for its paperless solutions
Strong connections to several aircraft manufacturers
Customer-centric business model aimed at increased flight efficiency and cost savings
Full range of paperless software for cockpit and ground crews

Project
Description

On-Board Data Systems (OBDS) designs and develops paperless solutions for commercial aviation. With over 25 years of experience in providing electronic documentation tools to hundreds of operators and fleets, OBDS is an industry leader. Cessna, Bombardier, Dassault, and Pilatus aircraft owners are among the company’s regular customers. The OBDS’ mission is to provide customers with digital tools to replace paper both on the ground and in the cockpit increasing flight efficiency, improving safety and saving money.

The Computools team joined the OBDS in-house development efforts to update the existing architecture and introduce new features while removing persistent bugs. With a clear understanding of the client’s functional and non-functional requirements, we selected software engineers to join the project, and implemented high performance indexing solutions with full-text search capabilities along with several APIs.

Digital Platform & Technology

The development process comprised two parts: web application and Windows app implementation. The Computools team suggested the technology stack which was best suited to meet the client’s requirements.

ASP.NET MVC + С#

Since ASP.NET was used for the older projects of the client, the Computools team suggested using the same framework to ensure seamless integration. ASP.NET MVC enables agile pattern-based development of sophisticated web applications that conform to the latest web standards.

ASP.NET Core

Computools engineers suggested this cross-platform high performance framework for the development of the new features for the client’s cloud application. ASP.NET Core supports web application and server-side architecture development and enables local and cloud-based software deployment.

Lucene.NET

This open-source search engine library was suggested as a high-performance replacement for the BrFullTextSearch used by the older versions of the client’s application. Lucene.NET is a Java-based library ported line-by-line to C#. It indexes all types of content and enables flexible, precise, and efficient full-text search features

SyncFusion Essential WPF

This suite of WPF UI controls enables rapid implementation of multiple features for line-of-business applications. Computools team suggested the use of a .NET PDF library for opening, editing, and creating PDF files.

Communication Framework

Open and efficient two-way communication is crucial to the success of a digital transformation project. Following consultation with the client, we agreed upon a clear and unambiguous communication framework with scheduled regular face-to-face and online meetings and regular reports by email.Our communication ecosystem also incorporated a structured documents environment and client access to Computools' internal task managing platform. This made both the general project roadmap as well as specific processes transparent and clear for all parties.

Specification

Computools team worked alongside OBDS IT department on defining the scope of web and mobile applications’ update. Taking into account the client’s new functional and non-functional requirements, the international distributed team mapped out the implementation schedule and deliverables.

Upload zipped publication Create queue row in database Preprocessing service check database queue rows Check publication MD5 Unzip publication into temp folder Check is toc.xml file exist Change toc.xml from Bombardier format to OBDS format Index publication files Move unzipped publication from temp folder Notification service check database queue for a DONE status and not notificated Generate previous publications manifest Generate current publication manifest Compare two manifests Send notification data to Amazon SNS

Team

After screening their pool of software engineers, Computools suggested the most experienced ASP.NET and WPF experts to complement the client’s in-house development expertise and assist with completing the project on time.

1. Computools team 2. Bombardier

Business Analyst

Nikita Abelmasov

Team Lead

Oleg Svet

Project Manager

Aleksandr Novikov

Business Development Manager

Artem Babura

Software Engineer

Borys Harholinskyi

Software Engineer

Anton Manzhos

Quality Assurance Engineer

Gleb Kovalenko

Backstage

Using sustainable communication framework allowed the Computools team to efficiently support the client-side specialists, to plan and execute them development and implement the solution that meets the client’s every need.

Daily Scrum

Keeping the distributed team on schedule and within a budget was possible because of short and to-the-point daily scrums. Discussing progress, future plans and occurring issues helped quickly resolve problems and consistently keep software engineers on track.

Brainstorming

All members of the distributed team took part in the initial brainstorming session. Criticism-free web conference enabled the engineers to play ideas off against each other and come up with creative and efficient solutions to meet the client’s requirements.

Feedback Session

Apart from daily scrums and sprint retrospectives, regular feedback sessions were scheduled. Two-way exchange of ideas, issues, and suggestions fueled the team’s efficiency and drove innovations.

Internal Communication Flow

Computools software engineers relied upon a well-established communication framework flow to coordinate their efforts with the client-side developers and to ensure efficient cooperation. Daily emails and Skype audio and video conferences kept the whole team appraised of everyone’s progress, plans, and roadblockers. Scrum Master assigned tasks and followed their progress through Kanban.

Project Management Methodology

Mindful of the project’s requirements, the Computools team implemented a hybrid project management methodology that combined the benefits of Scrum and Kanban. Daily scrums and short sprints set the development pace, while Kanban boards enabled the team members to track each task’s progress from assignment to completion. This approach enabled the team to stay flexible in the face of changing requirements and unexpected issues. Software engineers rounded up the sprints with interim testing and demonstrations of the new features.