Custom Platform for Logistics and Goods Transportation

Azati helped a European startup build a custom logistics platform aimed at connecting small local shipping companies with retailers and manufacturers. The platform offers real-time goods tracking and ensures that buyers receive their products in perfect condition. The customer’s goal was to enhance the platform’s functionality and integrate third-party services to improve shipping efficiency.

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All Technologies Used

Amazon RDS
Amazon RDS
AWS Codebuilt
AWS Codebuilt
Sinatra
Sinatra
React
React
Circle CI
Circle CI
Vue.js
Vue.js

Motivation

The customer had developed a partially operational prototype of the platform but needed to improve its functionality and integrate third-party services to finalize the MVP. The objective was to enrich existing features, improve performance, and address challenges related to module integration, bug fixing, and domain knowledge in logistics and transportation.

Main Challenges

Challenge 1
Incomplete Documentation of Third-Party Services

The integration of third-party services was hindered by the lack of complete documentation. The customer’s service providers used different technologies, making it challenging to integrate their services smoothly into the platform.

Challenge 2
Lack of Domain Knowledge

The development team had limited experience in logistics and transportation, requiring time to learn industry-specific terms and processes in order to contribute effectively to the project.

Challenge 3
Performance and Testing of Third-Party Modules

Integrating third-party modules was complex, as the input and output data often changed unexpectedly. Testing these modules, which were part of a microservice and serverless architecture, proved difficult without detailed information on their internal functionality.

Key Features

  • Core API: The primary API that connects all incoming data from external services and modules, ensuring seamless integration across the platform.
  • ETL Service: An ETL service that handles data processing by sending pieces of data to cloud functions, which then return structured outputs for further use.
  • Front-End Services: These services generate pages and manage user input data, with separate interfaces for different users, including brokers, carriers, and operators. Technologies like React and Vue were used to build these services.
  • Metabase Service: A service that stores metadata and provides intelligent data processing capabilities. It also helps the product department create visualizations and reports.
  • Machine Learning Features: Some platform features leverage machine learning to enhance data processing and visualization, improving decision-making and workflow efficiency.

Our Approach

Rapid Familiarization and Team Integration
Our team quickly adapted to the customer’s workflow and processes by participating in all internal meetings. Initial research helped us understand how the third-party modules functioned, and we then joined the project as full members, working remotely.
Feature Enrichment and Bug Fixing
We focused on improving the platform’s existing functionality, including bug fixing, performance optimization, and integrating third-party services. The development process followed modern project management methodologies and included extensive testing to ensure stability.
Microservices and Serverless Architecture
The platform was designed using a mix of microservices and serverless functions, hosted in the cloud to ensure scalability and cost-efficiency. Our engineers integrated multiple services, including data processing and visualization tools, to enhance the platform's overall functionality.

Project Impact

Improved Functionality: The platform’s improved functionality and successful third-party service integrations resulted in faster and more reliable shipping.

Scalability and Flexibility: The solution's scalability, flexibility, and cloud architecture reduced maintenance costs and allowed the platform to easily adapt to increasing demand.

Real-Time Tracking: The platform’s real-time tracking system greatly enhanced customer satisfaction and ensured timely deliveries.

Bug Fixing and Feature Enhancements: Our engineers worked proactively to fix critical issues and improve system performance, contributing to faster delivery and a smoother user experience.

Team Expertise Growth: The project helped our team deepen its technical expertise, especially in modern technologies and industry-specific tools, making them well-prepared for future enterprise-level projects.

Customer Satisfaction: The customer was highly satisfied with the results and now views outsourcing as a viable and efficient solution, thanks to our team’s ability to seamlessly integrate into the project and deliver high-quality work.

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