CASE STUDY
Major advisory firm stabilizes and modernizes business critical software
Advisory is one of the top multinational professional services firms, operating on all continents. The client is a global multi-level marketing corporation, leader in developing and selling dietary supplements.
CAST Imaging enabled the advisory firm to streamline the discovery process by 50%, thereby reducing the involvement of the client’s SMEs and allowing them to focus on their core responsibilities.
Without CAST Imaging, we couldn’t have completed discovery in 8 weeks.
There is no other alternative!
Advisory’s Tech Leader
50% faster
discovery and
documentation
Less Reliance
on SMEs’ scarce resources
Challenge
The client's application, a mission-critical software integral to customer and distributor interactions, featuring CRM, Point of Sale, and Payment functions with Mobile Device Management integration, experienced frequent P1 outages.
Developed in-house, the UI is built on JavaScript and React, with a .NET/C# and SQL Server backend utilizing stored procedures. Due to poor documentation, making changes was challenging, leading to concerns over the timely release of new features in a competitive market.
Consequently, the client has sought the expertise of a leading advisory firm to fast-track the software's stabilization plan, undertake modernization, and develop a Minimum Viable Product using Java and a containerization strategy.
Solution
The Advisory partner used CAST Imaging to gain a comprehensive understanding of the client's application and quickly discern its inner workings. This allowed for the automatic generation of as-is architectural blueprints and the identification of structural flaws, which bolstered the client's confidence in the Advisory's capability to oversee the modernization effort.
The Advisory executed the project in two phases. Initially, a pod team composed of an SRE, QA analyst, and solution architect was assembled for stabilization and roadmap planning over eight weeks. Then, the effort expanded to eight pods for eight sprints, focusing on extracting business rules, developing the first increment, and transitioning it to the client’s internal team.
Results
Advisory's approach significantly streamlined the discovery process, efficiently reducing the duration by half to less than 8 weeks, without compromising on accuracy. This rapid discovery phase enabled quicker progression to subsequent stages, saving valuable time and resources.
In the stabilization sprint, designed for efficiency and effectiveness, there was minimal requirement for involvement from the client’s SMEs. This strategic approach allowed SMEs to focus on their core responsibilities while ensuring the smooth integration and stabilization of the project.
Furthermore, the utilization of CAST Imaging significantly accelerated the extraction of business rules, especially in the backend. It minimized the need for manual investigation, leading to faster and more accurate results.
