Softacom

Our client on this project was a company that produces woodworking machines. The company contacted us with a request to develop modern software that would be used for operating their machines. This software solution was expected to provide office staff at woodworking enterprises with a tool for their interaction with machines at their facilities. Moreover, it was required to make it possible to add data in real-time and ensure autonomous planning, regulation, and control of entire production lines based on the set manufacturing processes. To fulfill these tasks, it was required to use a cloud solution that would help to upload principles for managing manufacturing processes and connecting modules.

This client is a manufacturer of heat exchangers. The company is mainly focused on custom solutions for vehicles. The software used by the team was powered by old technologies and was developed by the employees who have already left the company. The maintenance included a lot of manual processes which led to an increase in costs.

The customer wanted to modernize the existing software in order to ensure faster calculations. The speed of calculations that is demonstrated by software is one of the key factors in the industry and it has a key influence on the decisions of clients who are looking for a company that will provide such solutions to them.

Our team received the following tasks:

• To increase the effectiveness of the sale/order management process, including further development of tools and apps that are used by the client

• To integrate tools with the client’s authentication system

• To stabilize the current system and preserve its components and business logic

• To modernize the user interface by making it look and feel more up-to-date

Our client is a manufacturer of construction mixtures. The company has its own SaaS product that is used by other manufacturing companies as well. It is a payment solution that is integrated with a row of third-party services. The system included complex reporting tools for calculating and tracking payments.

As the company's client base and its business plans for adding new functionality were quickly expanding,  the management decided to introduce a new service-oriented architecture (SOA) in order to make the system more effective and scalable. In this case, breaking the inner modules down into separate services could facilitate the system maintenance and growth as well as allow conducting the development in parallel.

Our client is a retail company that sells equipment for golf. The company’s eCommerce retail strategy has been developing over many years. With time flow, the team started to notice that they face serious restrictions due to the peculiarities of the existing infrastructure and realized they needed to take their website to a new level. The website began to work slowly, its design was not responsive and it was challenging to manage it.

The company needed a new website that could meet modern security, performance, and mobility standards. But at the same time, it was necessary to preserve the existing content in order to avoid downtimes during the modernization process. Moreover, it was required to deploy the solution in the cloud in order to ensure the required scalability, productivity, and backup.

In this project, we worked with a sportswear retail company. After a successful start in the Australian market, the company managed to initiate its expansion in the US and Europe. They sold their goods through an online store. The site was integrated with the warehouse accounting system. Nevertheless, amid its global expansion, it faced serious challenges, which can happen quite often.

The growth in online sales and in orders placed from mobile devices led to the necessity to deal with the following difficulties:

• Lack of mobile optimization

Due to the continuous increase in mobile traffic, the company’s management was preoccupied with the fact that their websites were not adapted to mobile traffic and mobile transactions.

• Obsolete design

The interfaces that were designed 10 years ago looked really old-fashioned.

• Heavy websites that required much time for loading 

The obsolete .NET version that was used for back-end development already didn’t cope with the existing loads. As a result, the websites needed a  lot of time for loading and it was really difficult to use them. It could become a reason for user dissatisfaction and financial losses.

The company contacted us with a request to modernize the platform for meeting quickly changing business needs.

In this project, our client is a provider of product lifecycle management and product data management solutions exclusively for the food and beverage industry. They offer a fast-start, advanced solution that accelerates time to market, improves product quality, and uses digitization to increase revenue and ROI while maintaining global regulatory compliance and reducing manufacturing costs. 

Our customer migrated his applications from Orpheus to the newest version of DevExpress using another company from India. As a result, numerous bugs started to appear. They turned to us, as their in-house developers were busy fixing other urgent bugs. The main goal of the project was to improve the Delphi system on DevExpress.

Legacy code can turn out to be very complicated for gradual and efficient modernization, especially if it was written decades ago and the people who created it do no work at this company anymore. Our customer was a European bank whose legacy code was written in 2007. The bank didn’t have full technical documentation and there were no in-house specialists who could execute software migration to the cloud. All this restricted their possibilities for legacy system modernization.

They contacted us with a request to migrate their systems to Amazon Web Services with a view to increasing efficiency, automating the security system, reducing expenses, and improving the quality of client service. The key goal of our client was to efficiently introduce updates without affecting the existing services and products that are used by many people in their everyday life.

Our client was a major global bank. Some years later after the implementation of the software, their corporate monolithic app became rather difficult and inefficient to use.

The monolithic architecture is built as a single whole and the majority of legacy apps have this form. When it is necessary to introduce one update to the app, all development teams have to coordinate their work in order to make sure that the introduced update won’t have any negative impact on other components of the app and to introduce the necessary changes. For the global app, this monolithic architecture meant that it could take really a lot of time to introduce even the smallest updates to the app. Moreover, the process of app deployment was conducted manually and involved some bugs which led to additional delays and disappointments. The bank decided to change the architecture of the app and contacted us with a request to migrate the app to microservices on AWS.

The client that we worked with is a vendor of software for municipalities (Civic Tech solutions). Thanks to this software, social authorities can create law enforcement practice records and track whether people receive the necessary allowances.

The software was developed many years ago. That’s why there were a lot of risks and challenges related to its support and updating. The management had to make a decision on whether they should migrate the software to an up-to-date Delphi version or develop a software solution from scratch using another technology. They contacted us with a request to conduct a business analysis and come to a final decision as well as to execute re-engineering in order to make it easier to maintain the existing code.

Our client sells different types of toys for children. As the number of clients was continuously growing, there appeared a necessity to develop a custom CRM system for business process automation.

The company contacted us with a request to build a solution for managing a client database and a history of interactions with clients, planning work, managing notifications, and actions, evaluating managers’ work, and reducing expenses on marketing efforts.

Our client provides parking places across all European countries. They had 20 legacy apps written in Delphi 5. The company contacted us with a request to modernize apps as they had problems with their functionality and their support was getting more and more complicated and expensive.

The programs were already significantly expanded and, consequently, the code required refactoring and reengineering. A part of the code had to be rewritten. That’s why our first task was to analyze the existing code and to get a clear understanding of how everything should function.

Our client was a Music academy. It is a multidisciplinary art center that has been welcoming performers and visitors for more than 100 years. It offers globally known theater, dancing, and music programs, operas, films, and much more on its unique dynamic platforms. As its events traditionally attract hundreds of people, one of the top priorities for the academy is to create a secure and hospitable environment for both its guests and employees. And this environment requires a reliable and uninterrupted security system.

That’s why this organization contacted with a request to build and implement a security system.

Banks try to attract clients by offering them not only high-quality banking services but also a pleasant atmosphere at their branches. The goal of our customer was to ensure the highest level of comfort for their visitors and to enrich the efficiency of interaction between the bank workers.

The client asked us to develop a system for queue management with a view to optimizing and organizing the visitor flow and facilitating the process of providing services.

Our client is a software development company that provides software solutions for interior designers. Its business journey started two decades ago and since that time its client base has significantly expanded. One of our client’s most popular solutions is an app developed with Delphi 7. It was a feature-rich application but a couple of years ago our client discovered that the demand for the app and the interest from the side of its users started gradually decreasing.

The company decided that it happened because the software had become old-fashioned and it didn’t provide users with some important functionality. Moreover, from time to time users reported different bugs. But it was rather challenging for the client’s in-house team to fix them as they didn’t have developers who knew the technology well enough.

That’s why nearly 2 years ago, our client decided to migrate the app to .NET. For this task, they hired an outsourced team. However, the idea to migrate the system to another technology turned out to be a mistake. The team spent nearly a year trying to migrate the app but they didn’t manage to do it. As a result, after the client spent around $120,000, they still didn’t get the app migrated. Moreover, the developers even couldn’t manage to set the exact timeframes and budget for this migration as they faced many different challenges that they couldn’t predict.

That’s why the company decided to leave this migration project frozen and to look for another solution and other specialists who had stronger expertise in working with obsolete Delphi software. After a thorough search, they chose us.

Our client is a global enterprise contact center solution provider, delivering edge customer experience and workforce engagement software. They turned to us as they wanted our team to help them migrate their desktop software to the cloud in order to make it accessible on a variety of devices through the web.

Though the task didn’t seem difficult for us, together with the client we previewed the common risks associated with software reengineering projects caused by re-platforming old software to the cloud.

Our client had enterprise software written with Delphi 2007 and older Delphi versions. All in all, there were 20 desktop apps used for managing the manufacturing processes at the factory that produces different polyurethane foam types. The apps contained a lot of formulas and variables. Also, the software has been seriously expanded since then and needed code refactoring. As a result, the client even couldn’t make the necessary debugging and was unsatisfied with the work of their apps.

That’s why our first task was to analyze the existing code and to get a clear understanding of how everything had to function.

The main request from the client was to execute the migration of the software to an up-to-date Delphi version to provide necessary debug messages; to improve application authorization and authentication business logic; to extract settings from the source code to configuration files.

Our client is a healthcare equipment manufacturer. They started using different types of business software more than 20 years ago. Practically all the modules were built by the company’s in-house development team. But each module was built at different times and the modules were not integrated into a single system.

We had the following modules for integration:

• Procurement
• Inventory management
• Warehouse management
• Manufacturing
• Supply chain management
• Costs
• Accounting and Finance
• Human resources management 

In addition to the ERP module integration task, our client asked us to build a new CRM (Candidate Relationship Management) system for their HR department. They needed new functionality that would cover all the stages of working with candidates, including onboarding. The system was expected to be able to provide access to multiple users at the same time as well as to be synchronized with the email box.

On this small project, our client was a global media company that produces and distributes print, digital, and video content of the world’s leading brands. The company had two obsolete software products written in Delphi 7:

• workflow automation software (analytics, billing, etc.)
• software for automation and management of ad sales and ABS (advertising booking system) with CRM features

The client didn’t have any system tech documentation for the existing software products and only two in-house Delphi developers had all the related knowledge in their hands. That’s why the client asked us to develop tech documentation.

Our client is a spare parts manufacturer supplying a wide range of European car brands with auto parts. By the time the company contacted us, they were using an ERP system built over 30 years ago. It was a large mature product written in Pascal with the help of the free Pascal Compiler. However, they couldn’t keep the product updated efficiently because their in-house development team had very few specialists who had enough skills of working with Pascal.

The client had already built a modern UI using Winforms but they needed someone’s help to migrate the software storage and business logic to modern technologies.

The ERP system covers all stages of the auto spare parts manufacturing processes starting from setting a task by the business department based on the received orders and ending up with shipping orders to end-users.

All departments, all specialists have access to the system via their workplaces (some of them through touchscreens). They get their tasks via this software, indicate the fulfilled tasks and set the requirements for those specialists who will work on this order further.

Our client owns Delphi software that processes huge volumes of data in different formats (including text data, images, videos) received from different outlets located all over the world. It accumulates news information from journalists who work in different countries. The received information is gathered on the central servers and is further sent to editors of news websites, magazines, newspapers and TV channels.

It is a high load system that should be able to process 1000 transactions per second.

Initially, the app was written with Delphi 2010 with 3rd party component Orpheus. With the flow of time, the app failed to meet some performance standards and the client took a decision to migrate it to Delphi 10.4 with a 3rd party component DevExpress. But as soon as it was done, the client started to notice some errors in the app functioning that led to the overflow of the storage and losses of data. Due to the fact that there was an accumulation of errors, the available server resources were reduced.

The client’s in-house team couldn’t detect the nature of the error and to solve the problem on their own that’s why they decided to find external specialists and they chose us thanks to our rich expertise on working with Delphi software.

The company that we worked with on this project was a provider of ERP systems for manufacturers of automotive parts.  Our client started offering solutions of this kind nearly 30 years ago, gradually updating their tools and technologies. At the moment, when the company turned to us their product was written with Delphi 2007. Actually, as for performance and functionality, the software was quite good. However, it didn’t meet some UI standards. Moreover, for developers, it became rather challenging to work with it as, for example, the ways of working with data types that were applied for it are not widely used today.

That’s why the client turned to us with a request to provide the necessary assistance in migrating their obsolete software to Delphi 10.4. The software had 5.5 million code lines. Some of its parts had already been migrated to the new Delphi version. However, the bigger part of the software including GUI was still on the old version.

It means that we got partially migrated software and had to continue the work that was initiated by another team.

There was also an additional challenge for us. While some components could be easily migrated to Delphi 10.4, some others were not suitable for such migration and we needed to change their type before moving them to a new version of Delphi.

As it is quite typical for this kind of migration, it was necessary to introduce some software enhancements in order to make the app fully functional.

Unfortunately, because of the confidentiality agreements, we cannot share any screenshots, code samples or names.

A great number of different POS systems are available on the market today. Many of them are specific to a particular industry or sphere: pharmacy, retail shops & supermarkets, restaurants & other HoReCa niches.

Our client is an expert in the fashion retail industry and specializes in the automation of sales and all business processes for fashion stores. Our client had its own custom software that was built more than 20 years ago.

But everything is changing, each 2-3 years we have new trends in the IT sector, new tendencies in UI/UX design. As our client works in the fashion industry, it is crucial to have up-to-date software.

So, our client decided to fully redesign the UI/UX of their core module – the client’s side of the POS system – a workplace of a cashier and a store clerk.

We were asked to develop a concept of UI/UX for a new version of their application, to test it on focus groups (client’s existing clients (30%), potential clients, who had never worked with the software before (60%), client’s employees (10%)) and then to implement new UI/UX for their system.

We faced some difficulties with the implementation:

No requirements regarding the new UI/UX

Our client didn’t have any ideas on how a product should look like. We were just asked to perform the analysis of the market trends and the  competitors, review modern tendencies in POS design and suggest a couple of concepts;

New UI

After we approved the concept we got a real challenge with its implementation. The existing client’s UI was not adopted for such a kind of redesign. That’s  why we decided  to develop a new UI and create new forms from scratch re-using a business logic source code where it was possible;

Problems with the source code

The client had been working on this software over the period of the last 20 years and the source code was not well-documented, well-structured and well-written. We performed source code research and analysis, tried to understand the sense of some parts of the source code and its logic. Also, we couldn’t leave the code “as is” without source code refactoring.

Our client is an expert in the Payroll, Tax, HCM industry and specializes in the automation of all the Payroll & Tax Filing processes. Their payroll and tax products are flexible, scalable, and reliable. With mobile, cloud-based software, and full-service options, users can manage both simple and complex payroll and tax management needs. Our client had its own custom software that had been built more than 20 years ago.

But everything is changing and evolving, so since the app has been created there are lots of changes in technology stack so each 2-3 years we have new trends in the IT sector, new tendencies in UI/UX design, security, frameworks etc. As our client works in the tax and payroll industry, it is crucial to have up-to-date secured software.

So, our client decided to migrate and modernize their core software application. By updating the version of Delphi and removing it from the technical debt we going to resolve the following issues:

1. Prevent memory leaks;
2. Make a more modern 64-bit platform that will allow to take care of AWS/Cloud infrastructure;
3. Improve performance and stability;
4. Lastly, moving to the up-to-date Delphi version made it possible to hire staff who work with a more current development stack

The difficulties we met during the implementation were the following:

Cumbersome source code

The client had been working on this software over the last 20 years and the source code was not well-documented, well-structured and well-written. We performed source code research and analysis, tried to understand the sense of some parts of the source code and its logic. Also, we couldn’t leave the code “as is” without source code refactoring. During the project life cycle it is the commonly faced difficulty that the documentation routines are not liked by the development teams. It’s not so obvious that the information about the fixes and changes can be helpful and even crucial for follow-up work.

Irrelevant use cases

As far as the application had some updates, many of the test cases became obsolete. Big part of the test cases relied on specific databases with certain settings that were not described in the test cases but could affect test results. Many of the test cases were not described in detail, which made them difficult to understand for inexperienced users. Our team suggested a testing approach and testing tool that helped reach the testing goals.

Unexpected business logic behaviour

As the sphere of payrolls and taxation is quite complex, in some cases it was quite difficult to “predict” the right application behaviour. Due to the lack of documentation, controversial moments were thoroughly discussed with the client and also compared with the old version.

Completely outdated components

Some of the components were not backward compatible due to the changes of business logic. These components had to be updated.

Code issues:

• Unicode issues
• Assembler issues
• Pointers issues

We know a lot of different software development areas and domains. Some of them are well-known and not so hard for work from an expertise point of view, for instance, ERP and CRM software, different office and company/business process management software, mobile applications, web and enterprise portals and so forth. But another type of software which is totally different and too hard for the kick-off and even understanding – we are talking about different scientific software.

It’s impossible to start developing or improving such a kind of software without the deep technical expertise and understanding of the necessary technological domain. You cannot just start development if you don’t understand what you are doing, but from the other side – it’s almost impossible to find an outsourcing company with available resources with the necessary unique expertise and skills in the past. What to do in a similar situation? – We suggest finding a balance between existing expertise, developer’s education expenses and QA routines for comparing functionality before and after modernization.

Our client is a transnational corporation and an expert and manufacturer of healthcare diagnostics equipment for scientific and medical purposes with 200 years of history. Client has its own custom developed software complex for diagnostics equipment developed 22 years ago (for 2021).

Software complex was developed a lot of years ago and nowadays these technologies are obsolete and for the customer it was too risky to keep the software on legacy and unsupported development tools. It was even too risky and not easy to maintain and improve software, because their in-house developers were not familiar with legacy frameworks.

Client’s team came to us and asked us to perform business analysis and research and made a decision: what’s the best solution – perform software actualization and migration to an up-to-date version of the framework or develop the software from scratch with totally different technology.

Our company has deep expertise in software migration, this is why after one of the international conferences we met with a client’s team and made a decision to start working together. It was the start of the long way of successful cooperation.