WEB AND MOBILE PLATFORM AND BI SOLUTION FOR A GLOBAL E-COMMERCE COMPANY

Bespoke software development for a global ecommerce company with BI forecasting and analytics

ABOUT
the project

Client:

Global E-commerce Platform

Location:

USA

Company Size:

50 + Employees

Industry:

E-commerce

Solution:

Custom Software

Services:

Custom Software Development

Cloud Software Development

Mobile Development

Web Development

Technologies:

Ruby on Rails

MySQL

React.js

Elixir

Solidus

RSpect

USPS

TaxJar

BigQuery

Pentaho

Azure Data Factory

Azure Synapse

Power BI

Swift

Kotlin

Golang

We helped a U.S.-based e-commerce startup grow into a large company purchased by one of the leading retail businesses in the U.S. With our help, the customer released a dynamic and scalable e-commerce website and a mobile application providing seamless buying experience to the users. We also enhanced the client’s business by providing them with a comprehensive business intelligence (BI) solution allowing the client to organize their data and get meaningful insights.

They’re motivated, and they deliver what they promise all the time.” Leobit offers tech expertise at a fraction of the cost of local providers. They also fill the needs for data engineering and BI, unique to their competition. They offer strong flexibility and a sincere desire to help accompanied by consistent dependability, which helped them earn this ongoing work.

Kyrylo L.

VP of Data Services, E-commerce platform

Customer

Our client started as an ambitious e-commerce startup that sells diverse goods globally and provides product delivery services to their customers. The Leobit team contributed to their rapid expansion through the digital domain. A solid online presence with a user-friendly e-commerce portal helped the client boost their operations and raise $77 million in investments and grow more than 20 times in size, which eventually led them to the acquisition by a retail giant with market capitalization exceeding $11 billion.

Business Challenge

The customer was dealing with growing volumes of data and required a cost-efficient data integration solution that would help them weaponize their data and leverage BI reports. The customer needed the solution to be efficient, secure, and based on the latest cloud-based technologies. They also needed a team with solid experience in BI technologies to create analytical and forecasting reports pertaining to their sales data.

Why Leobit

Leobit attracted the customer’s attention with our readiness to provide a comprehensive coverage of diverse customer needs. The customer needed specialists for different strategic directions. Leobit provided experienced Ruby and React developers to help the customer build an efficient web platform for selling various goods. We also expanded the customer’s mobile development teams with our skilled iOS and Android development specialists. Finally, to help the customer weaponize their data, we provided skilled data management and BI specialists ready to establish an efficient data integration workflow enhanced with top-notch BI capabilities. Impressed with our expertise and dedication to their business goals, the customer decided to start a long-term cooperation with the Leobit team.

Project
in detail

The project can be roughly divided into three stages that involve requirements gathering and planning, active development, and post-development activities, such as testing, deployment, and operational support.

Requirements gathering

The project started with a thorough research of the customer’s requirements. We cooperated with the client’s team while planning the architecture of the client’s web platform, along with its functionality and user workflows. We analyzed the customer’s documentation and collected both functional and non-functional project requirements. Our data management specialists also ran a preliminary review for the project’s BI part. In particular, we reviewed their existing data infrastructure involving several data sources (Google Docs, MySQL, BigQuery) and their data stored in different formats. Upon reviewing the customer’s existing data architecture, our specialists came up with a vision of a new approach to data management and business intelligence.

Developing a back end for the web e-commerce platform

After collecting the customer’s requirements, our software developers started working on the web version of the e-commerce platform. Ruby on Rails (RoR) was the main back-end technology. Relying on its Convention over Configuration approach, our experienced RoR specialists managed to solve diverse development tasks in relatively short terms and without putting too much pressure on the customer’s budget. At this stage, we ensured the solution’s smooth work with MySQL, which was chosen as the platform’s main database. Over the course of the project, monolithic Ruby architecture was switched to the microservices architecture built with the help of Elixir. This significantly increased the traffic throughput and the efficiency of using web server resources. In addition, our team helped the customer to integrate the solution with several 3d party services, such as USPS and TaxJar, to enhance its functionality.

Front-end and mobile development

In parallel to back-end development, our front-end specialists worked on modernizing the app’s front end and adding new features. To make the app’s interface more flexible and user-friendly,, we helped the customer to rewrite the legacy version of the front end, based on JavaScript, SCSS, and HTML.ERB, with the up-to-date version to React.js. Our specialists helped the customer redesign the product, updated the flow for ordering the goods, upgraded website navigation mechanics, and ran several types of testing. Our mobile development specialists also completed several tasks for the app’s Android and iOS versions. We worked on the basic marketplace functionality and mobile app design. Our iOS developer also integrated the mobile app with an API server to ensure that the app communicates with external servers, enabling features like data retrieval, user authentication, and third-party service access.

Working on the data integration/BI solution

Our data management and BI specialists used the result of their initial research to define the architecture of the data integration/BI workflow. At first, Pentaho was used as the primary solution for ETL jobs and reporting. However, our team soon switched to the Microsoft Azure tech stack since Azure’s pricing plans were especially attractive to the customer and Azure’s tools would provide functionality covering all the customer’s needs. After the planning stage was completed, our team configured ETLs and reports on the reporting layer. In particular, we created user console (UC) reports for sales activity and analytics. We also used Power BI Report Server to prepare extracts for sales analytics in different formats. Our team configured the flow for the preparation of sales forecast reports based on data analytics info prepared by ETL and stored in the Azure Synapse data warehouse. Finally, our specialists configured the solution’s security measures, such as encryption for data at rest and in transition, and defined policies and permissions for data stored at the reporting layer.

Testing, deployment, and operational support

Once all the major development tasks were settled, we proceeded with solution testing. We ran numerous QA workflows and user acceptance testing (UAT) to ensure that the web platform and the data integration flow worked properly. Our team also helped the customer set up a custom QA framework built with Python and Azure DevOps. The customer can use it for continuous testing and monitoring with the system, along with the use of developer tests based on RSpect, allowing the client to run unit and integration tests in order to detect issues at their early stages. This support will help them keep the infrastructure productive in the long run.

Results:

Two business-critical directions covered by our team.
Continuous development and support helping the customer build an efficient e-commerce platform serving as a pinnacle of their eventual market success
A comprehensive cloud-based solution for BI created in around a year
Robust security measures for sensitive data

A comprehensive web platform for e-commerce

Our team of Ruby and React developers helped the customer build a robust web-platform capable of serving extreme volumes of users. The platform provides efficient search functionality and filters, as well as provides features for delivery tracking. The solution’s functionality was expanded with several integrations. For example, the integration with Solidus (fork for Spree) provided the customer with efficient CMS functionality for e-commerce. TaxJar ensures the customer’s sales taxation compliance. By integrating the app with USPS, we ensured tracking and control over the delivery of goods. We also integrated the solution with Elasticsearch for efficient data searches. The Leobit team used React.js to create a user-friendly application front end with efficient website navigation and order management mechanics.

Mobile-native apps for iOS and Android

Our mobile development specialists also used Swift and Kotlin to help the customer’s team build two mobile-native versions of the application. Our specialists created the basic online marketplace functionality corresponding to the features of the app’s web version. We also ensured the app’s integration with 3d party services by integrating it with the API Server built by the customer’s team.

Data Integration with Azure Data Factory

We created several ETL jobs using Azure Data Factory to ensure efficient data aggregation and processing. Our team leveraged strong experience in Azure services to help the customer use the main benefits of ADF, such as cost-efficiency, simple scalability, and serverless architecture, which facilitates efficient system manageability. The data is retrieved from several sources, namely Google Doc, MySQL, and BigQuery, and ADF handles several processes, such as: 1. Data cleansing 2. Checking for constraints. 3. Checking referential integrity 4. Pivot/aggregation of transactional data 5. Data preparation for reporting and analytics.

Detailed reports created with Power BI

Once ETL jobs are executed, data is stored in the Azure Synapse data warehouse. This exact data is used to create reports built with Power BI. The main advantages of this platform include its connectivity with the Microsoft ecosystem, cost-efficiency, and simplicity of use, which allows even non-technical specialists to manage informative and convenient reports. The User console can be used for creating sales activity and analytics reports. The solution allows extracting sales analytics in reports stored in different formats, such as PDF, XLSX, HTML, etc. There is also functionality for preparing sales forecast reports based on processed data analytics information.

Custom QA framework

In conjunction with this, our QA framework, based on Python and Azure DevOps, delivered a robust and scalable approach to quality assurance for the client. The framework incorporates automated testing, continuous monitoring, and comprehensive reporting, ensuring that every code change is rigorously tested before reaching production. With Python's extensive libraries and ease of integration, we developed and executed efficient test cases. Coupled with Azure DevOps, the QA framework facilitates seamless collaboration between the development and QA teams, reducing bottlenecks and improving the overall product quality. This integrated approach ensures that the client’s applications exceed quality standards and provide excellent user experience.

Efficient continuous integration and continuous deployment

Our recently completed CI/CD solution, implemented using Azure DevOps, has transformed the software development lifecycle for our client, enabling faster and more reliable deployments. By integrating continuous integration and continuous delivery pipelines, we automated the entire build, test, and release process. This approach not only accelerated the client’s time-to-market but also enhanced code quality and minimized human errors. The solution provides seamless integration with various tools and services, comprehensive reporting, and the flexibility to scale according to project needs. As a result, the development team is able to focus on innovation and coding, while the CI/CD pipelines manage the deployment process efficiently.

Technology Solutions

Flexible and dynamic web app built with RoR and open to integrations and continuous upgrades supported with RoR’s vast community
Numerous integrations expanding the app’s functionality, for example, USPS that ensures delivery management and tracking
Redesign of the app’s legacy front end with React.js, ensuring excellent user experience and expanding the app’s feature set with a new product order logic and innovative app navigation principles
Assistance in developing native mobile apps for iOS and Android; mobile apps’ architecture open for new integrations
Efficient ETL jobs for data processing, pivot, aggregation, and preparation built with Azure Data Factory
Efficient CI/CD built with Azure DevOps that brings flexibility and accelerates the system’s time to market
Diverse reports for sales analytics and forecasting built with Power BI
Robust QA framework that ensures continuous monitoring, automated testing, and comprehensive reporting

Value Delivered

Rapid boost of the customer’s business operations with an efficient web platform, allowing them to grow from a small startup into large company with several hundreds of employees in just few years
$77 million raised in investments and company valuation reaching several millions of dollars in just few years
A single team providing support, technical expertise, and implementation across various areas through ongoing collaboration
Customer’s business acquired by a U.S. retail giant with market capitalization exceeding $11 billions