Trek Case Study | Red Arrow Software Architects

Case Studies

Trek - Ascend

Overview:

Our client provides its global dealer network with a point-of-sale system that facilitates the management and analysis of sales data, operational efficiency and comparative performance.

In 2010, our client realized that maintaining, updating and extending the application was becoming increasingly difficult. A “nearshore” development company provided insufficient results, and the company turned to Red Arrow to revamp and improve the application.

Outcome: Red Arrow redeveloped the application infrastructure, creating a flexible, modular service-oriented application for future development. We migrated VB6 to .NET, built a localization / internationalization framework to support global use of the software and provided support and development services for the in-house team.

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Then
International store employees and managers had to use the application in English which limited adoption and usage. Because of this, the information available to company executives was of limited use. Attempts to update and extend the application were thwarted by a brittle codebase and a lack of internal software development experience.
Now
The application has been translated and localized for multiple countries, which has increased adoption and use. The new modular architecture and .Net codebase, combined with skill transfer to the client technology team has made further upgrades and extensions routine rather than difficult.
Then
The application is used for measuring and reporting on store performance, querying inventory and placing orders. The client also uses the application as a communication vehicle for contests, new product announcements.
Now
The application is used for measuring and reporting on store performance, querying inventory and placing orders. The client also uses the application as a communication vehicle for contests, new product announcements.
Then
Application integrates with local instances of an accounting application, customer data, transactional data stored and processed by a 3rd party and inventory data maintained by corporate. Data is transferred over the internet in XML via SOAP.
Now
Taking advantage of modular design and domain-driven development, the application is built in such a way that disparate data is made available seamlessly regardless of its origin – the implementation of data integration is completely separate from UI or process logic.
Then
Unarchitected, “hardcoded” Visual Basic 6 running on Windows XP exclusively in English. No reuse of existing code, very difficult to port, upgrade or extend application and add new functionality. This impacted user satisfaction and limited internal adoption of the application.
Now
Re-architected from the ground up, a new modular codebase makes adding new functionality simpler and has separated UI from business logic and “plumbing”. Knowledge transfer has empowered the client to adopt iterative development of new features.