EquipShare

Outcome

We successfully developed a platform in a short time span. As a result, a product has made it easier for customers to onboard and share assets, to find a truck, and send the rent request.

From the business perspective, this online marketplace improved their flexibility in managing fleet capacity and boosted their revenue.

+61%

Number of users

+85%

Increased revenue

74%

Business process automation

+80%

Average order

Business
challenge

weaknesses

Good attention to GDPR was required
Flexibility in production deployment
Work through an intermediary

strengths

A clear list of functionality to be implemented
Minimum Lovable Product which fairly easy to develop
Some features are simplified

Project
Description

A large manufacturer of forklifts named EquipShare wanted to create a digital platform for sharing industrial assets. The online rental of forklifts was a good start to see how customers would react to the idea.

Kion Group had several brands for various parts of the world.

They wanted to select 3 of their customers and help them work with the platform. To reiterate, every customer will have several locations with different trucks operating there. The customer will be able to rent the forklifts internally within its own set of locations. The customer will be able to rent forklifts from the dealer.

Digital Platform & Technology

The stack of technologies was initially provided by the client. To better align with the business model, ensure flexibility and efficiency, we decided to stop on the following technologies:

Hyperledger

This framework was chosen for being a good fit for the business model. Hyperledger is a software framework for developing blockchain-based applications and specialized business solutions.

The solution has a modular architecture that allows for plug-and-play use of various components and uses container technology to execute smart contracts that implement the system's application logic.

Golang

This programming language was used as the back-end engine because it goes well with Hyperledger.

Its high performance and simple syntax make it possible to develop applications much faster. The simplified syntax makes it easier not only to write your code but also to read code written by other programmers, which is especially important in teamwork.

Docker

Docker is open-source software used to develop, test, deliver and run web applications in containerized environments. It is needed for more efficient use of system and resources, rapid deployment of finished software products, as well as for their scaling and migration to other environments with guaranteed preservation of stable operation.

Kubernetes

Kubernetes was used mainly for Docker management and scalability.

It is a portable open-source platform for managing containerized workloads and services that facilitates both declarative customization and automation.

React

React is an efficient, declarative, and flexible open-source JavaScript library for building simple, fast, and scalable frontends or web applications. React allows developers to utilize individual parts of their application on both the client-side and server-side, which ultimately boosts the speed of the development process. React code is easier to maintain and is flexible due to its modular structure. This flexibility, in turn, saves a huge amount of time and cost to businesses.

Communication Framework

Based on the client`s requirements, we diversified our communication tools to ensure clear and effective task flow, documentation sharing, team meetings, etc.

Skype

Slack

Jira

redmine

Specification

The specification is always required to enable a clear understanding of architecture, business objectives, overall goals of the product, design, features, and list goes on.

Goal:

The project initially was at the Proof of Concept stage. We needed to create a Minimum Lovable Product and then take into account behavior data and feedback from the users.

As a consequence of being in the PoC phase, some features were omitted or simplified.

The main goal was to develop vital features for the platform, incorporating blockchain technology, and make customer surveys and prototyping.

Main flow:

The main flow for the user included simple functionality like user accounts, product data, search with filters, cart, contracts, check-in / check-out processes, truck history, reports, user behavior analytics.

The following entities were based on Blockchain to ensure their authenticity: users, trucks (including photos and maintenance history), contracts.

There were several secondary features like information about the customers, FAQ, ability to reach out to an expert, and multilanguage capabilities.

Team

For each project, we select a tech and design team with relevant experience and a sharp skill set in the required technologies.

1. Computools team 2. Intersys Railways Department Case

Team Lead

Oleg Svet

Architect

Mikhail Bobrovsky

Business Development Manager

Vlad Serdiukov

Project Manager

Andrey Melnychenko

SOFTWARE ENGINEER

Bogdan Kusch

Quality Assurance Engineer

Maria Grekova

Chief Technology Officer

Project Manager

Backstage

We always try to shed some light on the processes behind the scenes to make sure we`re on the same page with our clients.

Whiteboard Meeting

Although most of the developers are solo players, our team always strives to maintain a team-based approach and tries to dissect each project with great attention to detail. This is where whiteboard meetings come into play.

Brainstorming

Sometimes our brainstorming is happening online, sometimes it`s purely office-based discussions. Anyhow, discussing the ins and outs of the project is a must for our tech team where everyone is welcome to express their thoughts on possible obstacles that may happen during the development and how to avoid them.

Dev Meeting

Deadlines, speed, and quality of the development process is paramount. This is where our team leads and project managers come into play and monitor the status of each task. That way all the deadlines are met, and the client is satisfied.

Internal Communication Flow

With a clear board of tasks, Jira was our main communication tool. We also complemented it with additional tools like Email and Slack. All epics and tasks were added to Jira. The description of functionality was added to Confluense.

Project Management Methodology

The scrum approach was chosen as the most optimal option both for us and for the client. Sprint started on Wednesday, meet-ups, as well as any other team-wide activities were coordinated with the time zone of the client. Demo and retro happened on the last day of the sprint. The team had a retrospective, sprint planning, and task grooming after each 2 weeks sprint.

Project timeline

CONSULTING

Initializing calls with the clients to learn more about the project and expectations
Introducing our vision on the project, our resources, and solutions we can offer
Estimating approximate deadlines and budgets for the project

Product DESIGN

Setting up development guidelines, project management methodologies, and specifications
Defining product`s UX, content layout, and the overall set of features
Allocating engineers and designers for the project
Working on prototypes based on the overall architecture
Daily meetings with the team every day
Meetings with the client every day

Product Engineering

Describing all system components and their interconnections in a unified way
Working on both frontend and backend architecture
Improvements, bug-fixes, testing, and stabilization
Final launch

Design

The product architecture plays a key role in developing it from scratch and when working on an upgrade. Computools's integrated approach includes the development of the architecture for the project, which allows taking into account not only functional features but also their interaction.

Implementation
On Client’s Side

Launch

Before the initial launch, we have followed up with the client to check every single sprint is completed and everything runs smoothly.

Transfer

As we worked on the client`s Git, there were no issues with the project`s transfer.

Education

No post-support or education was required from the client.

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