Executive Summary: When one of the major logistics and trucking companies in USA contacted us, they needed an application which could log and track the routes of all their drivers. And they needed it fast. Their business was expanding rapidly and there was no way the single-user system s record keeping abilities could keep pace with it. With the truckers filling out a log of their routes, addresses, payment information information existed but could not be tapped for improving business efficiency. In addition, management of increasing number of delivery/shipping addresses spread across different geographies was becoming increasingly important as it was costing the client time and money for unplanned, inefficient routes. We at Mindfire had significant experience in designing and developing route planning systems and hence the client approached us for getting an online logistics application developed which can help him manage and monitor his trucks. He had a greater goal of rolling it out as a pay-per-use service to other trucking companies as well which meant transforming the single user business to service multiple businesses. They wanted to have the application run on mobile platforms for greater accessibility iphone, ipad, Android and others. For us, it was an ambitious project because of the sheer scale of it. We were not looking at just a log tracking or trip tracking application, but also a comprehensive system which could archive payment information and also have provision for unlimited number of stopovers and routes. And this was huge!!
About our client: Client: Trucking Service Provider Location USA Industry Shipping Business Situation With business growing, our client was in search of an offshore partner who could take up the responsibility to implement new features and functionalities in his existing system in order to have a better managed application in place. They also wanted to upgrade the application from single user business to multi-user business which could run on smart-phones and tablets. Their requirement was as follows: 1. The trucking app needed to be modified so it could work for multiple companies when it had been designed for working with single company only. 2. It needed to work for different companies and one company's data needed be completely isolated from that of the other company. 3. It also needed a super-admin feature which could setup various companies in the trucking app. 4. Each company needed to have their own users (Managers/Admin/Drivers); Route templates; Customers, Customer locations etc and this system was to keep track of everything and correctly shelling out information on dashboards. The second major thing which the client wanted was to allow users to get the status of the goods being transported using the application. And the dashboard needed to provide all the latest information, route templates, what trucks were assigned to those routes, drivers, number of stops for those routes, scheduled and actual times.
The Mindfire Solution We discussed with the client on detailed discussion sessions about how to make the system more interactive and responsive to inputs from all levels of users Admin, Managers & Drivers. At the end of the development window, we finally delivered the most useful trucking system which could be used by our client and its valuable customers. They implemented latest CSS 3 and HTML 5 so that it could be used in various tablets. This application was upgraded from ASP.Net 2.0 to ASP.Net 4.5 so that it could run for multiple companies. The basic flow of the application which we created is provided as below: The system created by Mindfire had 3 types of users play vital roles - Admin, Managers and Drivers. Admin users had total controlling rights of the system including creation, modification and deletion of company, geography. Manager users managed the trucks & drivers to routes while also being able to add more information on truck brands, models and create/modify route templates. Driver users could only view their truck details, route details, no of stops and what goods were needed to be delivered by them.
Drivers sign into the system when they arrive at the warehouse. Once the driver finishes loading his truck, he signs into the new tablet PC inside each truck, which starts the actual route. He selects the route he is driving and the truck he is using. He now sees a dashboard with his entire route and every stop includes any returns he needs to pick up. Those are manually added by the office to each route, when required. In his dashboard he can view his next stop, a map feature how to get there and a notes button in case of issues. If the driver faces any issues, he has to click on that button and insert his comments which will trigger an alert to all stores that are still on the route not delivered. Amongst many other such features which were implemented in the system for improving efficiency of the trucking system, one was to grab the entire route in a calendar view and in case the driver changes the scheduled deliver time, it would trigger an alert to all involved. The need was to see if we can foresee an issue and delay with any route. It was challenging for Mindfire to setup an online scheduling Tracking/Trucking application integrating with various other applications in older technology versions. Import/ Export features were implemented for merging multiple Ship-to locations. At the end, Mindfire could create what the client expected, perfectly exactly as the client needed. Achievements Achieving the client s objective of upgrading an old application to the latest technology was a challenge for our technical team. Also, they had to overcome performance issues of the old application and came up with new ones in order to provide better and efficient access for its users. Mindfire s dedicated team of developers did the job efficiently to deliver a robust application that not only served the purpose of the client but also provided them the facility of a well managed system that has the ability to store huge records in place and give a service to all its customers without fail. Features such as viewing transport details, documents associated with the request, and adding instructions
from the referred Managers and the truckers logging times, departing times the correlation between them, setting the no of stops, goods/boxes which need to be picked, delivered at correct places was an important and responsible job, was a bit of tedious task but our technical team managed well to produce a perfect solution. We committed to offer a scalable and robust system and satisfactorily met the client s needs. Technologies ASP.Net 4.5, SQL Server, C#, WCF, Entity Framework, Jquery Lib Final Results We added features to the existing template and fixed all the old issues. The mangers and the drivers could view their dashboard and know their truck details and route details, no of boxes to get delivered their stops/ warehouses details, schedule start time, actual start time, schedule end time and actual end time etc. A Flag was raised once the driver is ready with his truck for delivery and it vanishes when he actually delivers it by firing an email to his office. The attached printshot shows how the Super Admin manages (Adds/Edits/Deletes) companies amid other functions. If they disable any company, managers and drivers can't see any info and details of that company. This way it was created and customized by our professional development team.
Customer Benefits: We provided: 1. Latest framework and better architecture. 2. Easy to accommodate new changes- Flexible and Scalable. 3. Things that are broken or not working, were fixed. 4. Multi-Tenancy is gracefully handled without any patches. Most importantly, this increased performance significantly. We could provide custom client application installed, so that it could run on various tablets. The new application developed was very much efficient in handling request of users displaying all the relevant data. Implementation of new features and functionalities to the application made it faster and users had a better experience dealing with the application their positive feedback told the story. Future relationship Client was very happy and satisfied with our service and would love to continue with us for project maintenance, further customizations in the project and other project work. They have also expressed their desire to hire our software development services for their projects in other technologies as well. Fig 3. Photos
About us Mindfire Solutions is amongst the leading providers of Software & IT services encompassing development and delivery of complex projects for enhancing business growth of its customers. Mindfire has added value to more than 200 clients in US, Europe, Africa, Australia and Asia in the 12 years of its operations. The company has over 650 people, spread across 3 Advanced Development Centers (ADCs) in India which are equipped with ultra-modern facilities, and where Mindfireans strive round the clock to delight the customer. Copyright Mindfire Solutions 2007-2012 www.mindfiresolutions.com info@mindfiresolutions.com call us at +1 248-686-1424