Client
Our client from the USA sells inventory management software for dental clinics in order to maintain control of their materials, equipment, tools, and supplies.
Challenge
The legacy version of this software was desktop-based, which created no small number of problems:
- It had compatibility issues with the newer Windows versions and hasn’t been updated in a long time, causing all sorts of bugs.
- Moreover, supporting such a system was a nightmare - the support specialists had to access the customer’s desktop remotely, which was often impossible for security reasons.
- Customers complained that they tried to order merchandise that was either out of stock or had a different price.
Solution
To address these issues, our client decided to develop a modern custom cloud-based inventory management system. They contacted Belitsoft, a custom inventory management development company, to rewrite their old IMS.
Features
The cloud-based version of this inventory management software turned out to be a powerful dental inventory management system with the following core functions:
- Barcode scanner integration. Includes printing barcodes that could be scanned to quickly update inventory and make orders
- Supply management. Creation/tracking of orders to multiple vendors
- S2K ERP Integration. Allows to automatically update item availability and prices so that the users always have the latest information on hand
- S2K ERP Integration. Allows to automatically update item availability and prices so that the users always have the latest information on hand
- Product, Location and Vendor Maintenance. Addition, deletion, updating, and tracking products, product vendors and product locations
- E-commerce shopping cart development. Creating, editing, updating, deleting users and assigning them roles and access rights
- Reporting. Order and inventory reports that can be exported as .xls files
As this was a business application, impressive visuals weren’t among the important requirements. To better use the customer’s budget, the team applied a ready-to-use Bootstrap theme instead of a custom design.
Process
Requirements Gathering
The project began with a discovery phase. An experienced business analyst (BA) communicated with the customer to gather the detailed requirements
Prototyping and Design
Based on these requirements, the analyst created interactive wireframes that let the client get a look and feel of how their future system would work
Software Requirements Specification
The BA also wrote a detailed Software requirements specification (SRS). When both the wireframes and the SRS were approved by the customer, the developers got to coding
Fixed-price contract
As this project had an extensive discovery phase, an SRS, and a set of wireframes, the team developed it using Kanban development methodology and Fixed-price cooperation model
Rewriting legacy application
Our inventory management system developers have preserved the proven business logic of the legacy system, while completely redesign the UX. All of the existing features were transferred, and a few new ones were added
Results
The project was developed in 8 months, three of which were spent on the discovery phase. Thanks to the detailed requirements and anticipating the possible change requests, the team was able to complete the project on time and within budget, to the customer’s satisfaction.
Belitsoft has been the driving force behind several of our software development projects within the last few years. This company demonstrates high professionalism in their work approach. They have continuously proved to be ready to go the extra mile. We are very happy with Belitsoft, and in a position to strongly recommend them for software development and support as a most reliable and fully transparent partner focused on long term business relationships.
Global Head of Commercial Development L&D at Technicolor