A leading provider of systems integration technology solutions to companies worldwide needed to improve its online presence. The main web site was published as static HTML, which prohibited rapid changes to the site. This resulted in an outdated website that did not accurately reflect the company it represented. The static HTML site also did not allow for dynamic interaction and engagement with their customers. The company desired the ability to quickly and regularly update the website in an efficient fashion, ensure publishing quality through a workflow system, and provide dynamic, engaging content to their customers.
TDK worked with the client to understand their business needs and define their requirements. TDK then helped select the ideal Content Management System (CMS). TDK selected the appropriate modules to meet the requirements, converted a new graphic design into a theme, and implemented the CMS with the custom theme and modules. TDK not only implemented pages, they provided training and documentation to the client so they could continue updating the site with new pages and content.
The technology stack included Drupal, HTML, CSS, JavaScript and LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP).
IT Case Studies
TDK Technologies has, since 2001, developed many successful solutions for business clients from small business e-commerce applications and integration to an operation management system tool to bring visibility of the many research projects executed during pre-clinical drug development.
Case Study List
A global leader in the financial services industry desired to enhance its merchant related business intelligence and data mining capabilities. Their goal was to create an application which could map merchant name and address information to information from various APIs regarding each merchant's web presence. The client approached TDK to help assess the viability of this approach and the usefulness of the data.
After researching several APIs, TDK developed the logic for traversing those APIs and retrieving the desired data. A confidence scoring algorithm was developed to indicate how reliable the data appeared to be. TDK then developed a C#.NET desktop application which read the input data provided by the client, traversed the APIs making requests and storing the relevant response data, and scored the data according to the confidence algorithm. TDK also designed and conducted statistical validation tests to assess both the confidence scoring algorithm and the overall quality of the data. TDK also provided recommendations for future phases of the project which could improve the performance, data quality and confidence scoring of the system.
The client, encouraged by the recommendations and pleased to learn that accurate data was being returned for 81% of the rows, is considering the development of an enterprise grade version of the proof of concept application.
The technology stack included C#, .NET v4.0, WinForms, NUnit, log4net, Web Services, JSON, Factual Resolve API, Factual Crosswalk API, Google Places API, and the Google Custom Search API.
A global provider of retailing, wholesaling, franchising and related B2B services approached TDK with a pressing need. Their custom lead management application was having issues with the routing of leads to the wrong stores and in some instances not delivering some leads altogether. The company wanted to identify issues within the application and develop a plan for correction. Additionally, the company was looking for a technology partner who could take over the long term maintenance and enhancement of the application.
TDK performed a detailed assessment of the code in order to decide whether the application was viable enough to fit in to the company’s long term strategy. TDK validated transfer of information to the application and undertook a full analysis of the functionality. TDK then created a test plan, executed over 200 test cases, and documented the findings. TDK reviewed the code in order to document the application’s database schema, architecture, and application interfaces. TDK analyzed all the findings to determine the viability of ongoing support for the application. Several functional defects were identified, including error handling deficiencies, lack of health monitoring capabilities, lack of continuous integration and unit testing, and poor organization of business logic and data access mechanisms.
Upon completion of the application review and testing, TDK recommended that correcting the functional deficiencies and continuing long term support of the application would indeed be viable. TDK created a plan for correcting the application’s deficiencies, migrating the production environment to the client, creating a stage environment for the client, migrating the development environment and application components to TDK, and establishing a primary source code repository, continuous integration server and periodic backups at TDK. A plan for long term Tier 2 support and application enhancements was created as well.
The technology stack included .NET v3.5, C#, ASP.NET, WCF, SQL Server, SSRS, SSAS, SSIS, ADO.NET, LINQ2SQL, HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and jQuery.
The St. Louis division of an international conglomerate selected TDK to manage their enterprise intranet portal. The company did not feel it was getting the required level of customer service and business results from its current vendor. They needed a vendor who could meet their wide range of needs and consistently deliver projects on time, within budget and to specification. They appreciated TDK’s core competencies in management and technology services, along with TDK’s ability to bring both creative and IT resources to the table.
TDK has provided a wide range of services to the client. TDK graphic designers have created new visual elements. TDK’s development team has worked with the design team to create flash animations. Updates to the website have covered a wide range of issues, including but not limited to: correcting session handling errors; correcting cross browser compatibility issues; integration with external sites and web services; updating existing pages; designing and implementing new pages; modifications to authorization methods; updates to SQL Server database schema and stored procedures; and redesigning the web portal of one of their subsidiaries. TDK has worked with the client for over 2 years and the client just recently extended the contract for another year.
The technology stack includes Photoshop, Flash, ActionScript, HTML, CSS, JavaScript, ASP, Visual Basic, SQL, Transact-SQL, and Web Services.
TDK had developed an internal application for consultants to enter their hours weekly via an electronic timesheet. The existing application was designed and developed to manage workflow through time entry, approval, and reporting. Security was designed and implemented through integration with both Active Directory and LDAP. TDK wanted to improve usability, increase the efficiency of the payroll process, and enhance the overall user experience with the application. TDK also desired for consultants to be able to enter their time via mobile devices.
TDK extended the functionality of the application to allow time to be managed at the client, project and task levels. The application was integrated with the payroll system which reduced manual interactions with the data by 83%. A new user interface was developed which improved usability and the look and feel of the application. Wireframe and image mockup prototypes were created. After several iterations of prototyping and user experience analysis, the final prototype was selected. The user interface was implemented using HTML, CSS, JavaScript, AJAX, JSON, jQuery, YUI, JSP, Tiles and Struts. A mobile application for consultant time entry was developed in Objective C for the iOS platform. The mobile application interfaced with the J2EE backend via Web Services.
The technology stack included Photoshop, HTML, CSS, JavaScript, AJAX, JSON, jQuery, YUI, J2EE, JSP, Servlets, Struts, Hibernate, Spring, SQL Server, Xcode, Objective C, iOS, and Web Services.
A provider of technology services to justice, government and quasi-government agencies was developing a mobile ticketing application. Needing to infuse best practices and mobile application development experience into their project team, they turned to TDK for technical mentoring, project leadership, development and architectural support.
The client had an existing VB.NET fat client application written to run on laptops in police cars. The application needed to be re-written to run on Windows Mobile 6 handheld devices. In addition to the challenge of developing for the older Windows Mobile 6 platform, the application also had to overcome the challenge of running on devices with inconsistent internet connectivity.
TDK worked to quickly understand the business needs, the existing development environment, the project team structure, and the capabilities of the development team members. Leveraging that knowledge, TDK was able to successfully mentor junior developers and provide the required development and architectural support. Under TDK’s leadership, the team succeeded in developing the application for the Windows Mobile platform, including optimizing web services and database interactions.
The technology stack included VB.NET, Windows Mobile 6, Web Services and SQL.
A global Software as a Service provider of document and process automation solutions was developing a new GWT web application to replace its legacy software system. The web application needed to replace and extend the functionality of the legacy system, including document/data management and process automation for accounts receivable, accounts payable, and human resources. The company approached TDK to meet several needs: user interface design, graphic design, rapid prototyping, and user experience analysis.
TDK worked with the client to understand the requirements. The TDK team analyzed the user experience of the user interface as it evolved with each development sprint, with emphasis on usability and corporate branding. When suggestions for improvement were identified, TDK analysts and designers created wireframes of the changes. With approval at each step from the company, the wireframes were converted to mockups and then implemented as prototypes using HTML, CSS and JavaScript. The TDK team also created a style guide to standardize the design and implementation of the application’s visual aspects.
The technology stack included Pencil Prototyping Tool, Photoshop, GWT, HTML, CSS, JavaScript, Google Web Toolkit (GWT), SVG and VML.
A global leader in marching band and musical performance group apparel needed a website with a new, improved, fashion industry caliber look. They also required an easy-to-use interface for making regular updates to the website content, even for non IT trained individuals.
TDK gathered requirements for the website and recommended Drupal as a Content Management System solution. During the design phase, TDK's graphic designers and analysts created wireframes and mockups which met the requirements. A model of how each section of the site would be implemented using Drupal's nodes, blocks and views was created as well. SEO analysis was conducted and incorporated into the site design in order to make the site search engine friendly. A custom theme was then developed to implement the mockups. Nodes, blocks and views were created to implement specific sections of the site, such as displays of news feeds, testimonials, sponsorships, designs and catalogs. The home page featured a jQuery image slider which was integrated with the views module through custom template overrides. Various custom template overrides were created to support other elements of the site as well. After thorough testing the website was successfully deployed, with the project completing on time, within budget and to specification. The technology stack included Drupal, Photoshop, HTML, CSS, JavaScript, jQuery, PHP, Apache and MySQL.
A global leader in the financial services industry approached TDK to design and implement a framework and develop modules for a new Application Programming Interface (API) information and provisioning portal. The portal would allow the client to manage a set of APIs for authorized external businesses and consumers. The APIs would allow third party developers around the globe to create new ecommerce and mobile payment applications using the client’s payment and data services. The portal also needed to allow the client to manage security credential provisioning for end users, provide social media interaction, and to allow business partners to exercise the exposed APIs in a secure “playground”.
The client selected Atlassian Confluence as the base portal product and required a strong team to implement the framework within an aggressive timeline. The client also needed custom modules designed and developed to support the functionality required for the third party developers who would be using this new product.
TDK implemented the highly customized Atlassian Confluence application, including configuration, customizations and extensive web service development. After creating a robust framework which met the client’s requirements, TDK designed, built and deployed custom modules to provide the required management and collaboration functionality. TDK designed, built and deployed custom web services as part of the project. Confluence, Java, Web Services, Flex, HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and AJAX were utilized in the technology stack. TDK also provided technical mentoring to facilitate knowledge transfer to the client, ensuring the client sufficiently understood the final product.
After the end-of-life announcement was made for the Solaris 8 operating system, a TDK client needed to migrate one of its Java applications to Solaris 10. The application was a B2B system consisting of a payment engine and a web portal, which allowed customers of the client to use their ERP systems to manage payments with suppliers. TDK provided analysis and design for the project, which included significant complexity due to extensive integration with Solaris 8 and many of the client’s applications.
Under this project TDK analyzed and assisted in technology changes which included the operating system upgrade from Solaris 8 to Solaris 10, application framework upgrade from Spring 2.5.4 to Spring 3.0, language upgrade from Java 1.4 to Java 1.6, and ORM upgrade from Hibernate 3.1.3 to Hibernate 3.5.4. The implementation also required complete functional and JUnit testing. TDK completed and submitted analysis and design documentation of the migration for all application components. The technology stack included Solaris, Java, JBoss, Spring, Hibernate, JUnit and JMS.
TDK was approached by a personalized sports and entertainment printing company who was unable to keep up with business demand due to time consuming manual processes. In order to grow, the company needed to automate their core business processes.
TDK analyzed business processes, identified bottlenecks, and recommended a technology solution in a phased approach. TDK then designed, developed and deployed a software solution to automate order entry, order processing, order fulfillment, and product manufacturing. The software also provided order status from placement through delivery and integrated with Quickbooks for order invoicing and royalty payments. The technology stack included Java, JSP, Servlets, Struts, Hibernate, AJAX, Axis, Web Services, HTML, JavaScript, C#, MySQL, and Unix Shell Scripts. Implementing the solution increased productivity and delivered double digit reductions in order error rates and overall cost, allowing the company to meet demand and grow.
An innovator in the electric heating and control systems industry turned to TDK to architect and develop a new web application which would replace existing legacy order management systems and manual processes. The client manufactures electric heating and control systems for a broad range of industrial, marine and commercial uses. Products were managed through either a legacy web application, a legacy thick client application, or manually through paper catalogs. The client’s desire was to quote, order, design and initiate manufacturing of their products through a single web interface, and to have the capability for future product integration. The reliance on manual processes for some products and the difficulty to support, change or enhance the legacy applications made it difficult to migrate to a web interface with expanded functionality.
The project goal was to replace the legacy applications and manual processes with a new web application which would reside on a new architecture. The new application would contain all functionality of the legacy applications and also have expanded features and functionality, including a new product catalog. The new application would also exhibit the key quality attributes of maintainability and extensibility which were absent in the legacy applications. TDK provided business analysis, software architecture and software development services. ASP.NET, C#, Razor, CSS, JavaScript, jQuery, Knockout, AJAX, Castle Dependency Injection, Entity Framework, and LINQ were utilized in the technology stack.
TDK business analysts created all of the business requirements for the new system including the accommodation of all known future product considerations. TDK’s architects then created and implemented the new architecture for the application which provided the level of maintainability and extensibility required by the client. The development team completed the conversion of the legacy applications onto the new application architecture and migrated the customers’ functionality and product information, including the new product catalog functionality.
The global leader in pipeline rehabilitation services for the sewer, water, energy and mining industries was considering the redesign of their corporate website, including consolidating several subsidiary websites onto their flagship domain. The client approached TDK to elicit and provide detailed requirements definition, in order to assess the scope, budget and timeline for the project.
TDK business analysts examined the existing corporate websites and conducted 15 stakeholder interviews in order to capture the required features and functionality. Requirements were analyzed and prioritized with input from the project owner. TDK defined the architecture, design and implementation elements of the website, including requirements for tools, application development, wireframes, site structure, usability, infrastructure, content management system (CMS), locale, bandwidth, SEO and mobile.
TDK created a comprehensive requirements document and recommended a phased approach for executing the website redesign. Based on the complexity and size of the project, a phased approach offered a framework for maintaining focus on delivering business value quickly, while reducing the overall risk associated with the project. The phases of the project were carefully defined to ensure that each new phase was built upon the previous phases. In the initial phase the core website architecture was created and implemented, followed by subsequent iterations which incrementally added design, content, and functionality. Each phase produced a functional release to be tested against the requirements. This resulted in higher quality, less risk, improved change accommodation and increased reuse of components.
The global market leader in a competitive engineering industry vertical was interested in strengthening their brand and market share by increasing the visibility, traffic and qualified leads generated by their four web sites. Already aware that Search Engine Optimization (SEO) was the ideal way to approach this problem, they felt like their current SEO vendor had exhausted their capabilities. Due to TDK’s reputation for delivering business results, the client contracted with TDK to breathe new life into their search engine marketing campaign.
TDK began the project by getting to know the client’s business and the goals for their website, followed by a comprehensive SEO analysis. TDK’s SEO specialists analyzed each site for keyword targeting, HTML tag optimization, content optimization, topical relevancy, website architecture, crawling, indexing, and other technical issues. TDK also analyzed the client’s existing search engine presence, including their rankings, organic search engine traffic, and link profile.
Upon completion of the SEO analysis, TDK provided recommendations and implemented both on and off-site changes to ensure the client’s website, search engine listings and inbound links all followed SEO best practices. This allowed the client to maximize the benfits of both its existing online presence and any future investment. TDK was also contracted to provide ongoing search engine marketing services, in order to drive steady growth to the client’s online presence and desired business results. This second SEO phase included updates to the website to maintain SEO best practices, link building, anchor text optimization, and enhanced keyword targeting with added emphasis on over 10,000 long tail keywords.The results have exceeded the client’s goals. After 3 months search engine rankings were up 55% and traffic was up 30% across all 4 sites. After 1 year rankings had grown by over 500% and traffic was up over 80% across all sites. This included a 110% increase in traffic for the largest site which was responsible for representing the company’s flagship brand and core product line.
TDK developed a professional services website for a St. Louis pre-clinical drug development lab. Prior to this project, the client's website was a static HTML website that summarized services of the firm and highlighted the scientists that supported those services. In order to make changes to the prior site, the client needed to forward requests to the web developer for a fee. Few changes were made and the site became very stale and dated.
The marketing focus centered on converting the prior site into an information portal that would improve communications, generate new business, and meet the changes of an evolving marketing paradigm. Beyond the added functionality, the client wanted to refresh the "look and feel" of their website and gather information about what was of interest to site visitors. In addition, they desired a Content Management System (CMS) to provide the ability to modify and add content to the website without engaging a vendor.
TDK started immediately to identify the client's web needs. Working with True North Group, the firm's marketing consultant, TDK captured the site goals, established the site architecture, integrated the site's new "look & feel", and implemented the wireframes for each site page. Over a five week period TDK assembled the functionality using open-source content management software - Drupal, and developed the theme (site look and feel) in HTML, JavaScript and CSS from PhotoShop files provided by a creative design firm. In the sixth week the functionality was tested and in the seventh week the content was loaded and presented to the client. The site was well received. As with any project, adjustments were needed. TDK programmers were very responsive, making those changes quickly. Once finalized, the site was turned over to True North Group for ongoing content development.
The results have been very impressive to date. TDK installed and configured Drupal CMS; developed, tested and published all the web pages on the hosting vendor's servers; and all completed in seven weeks. The marketing value quickly became apparent. Over the past 12 months, the client has built numerous subscribers, is listed first in two Google categories, and received over 4 requests for scientific projects that resulted in 3 paid projects.
A major client in the financial services industry approached TDK with a unique opportunity to manage and maintain over 100 of their core customer and business facing websites across the globe. The client was interested in outsourcing all Project Management and Business Analyst functions to TDK for all business as usual projects, global application rollouts, and overflow work. The client wanted TDK to work directly with their marketing teams in each region of the globe, interface with their internal technology group and off-shore development team, and manage the full life cycle of all the projects.
TDK created an internal project team to support the global website management and developed a transition plan to support the outsourcing of all the required functions. The TDK team consisted of project managers and business analysts with solid business and marketing knowledge. This team also had technical skills with all the major browsers, HTML, Java, MS Access, Content Management Systems, and image editing software. Due to the success of the engagement, the client extended the contract for 18 months and continues to add additional projects to the engagement.
A leader in the wholesale floor covering market faced the need to migrate its database environment to SQL Server 2008 due to Microsoft's elimination of support for SQL Server 2000. This was a particularly challenging situation due to the fact that over the previous 10 years more than a dozen custom applications had been created for the business in a number of different technologies including Access and VB6. A few of the applications received limited or no usage. Several of the applications contained functionality that overlapped with others in use. In many cases multiple applications were used to complete one task. Very little documentation existed about each application regarding its functionality and purpose. The client engaged TDK to complete an assessment of the applications to determine which were still in use, where redundancies could be eliminated, and recommendations for better technical solutions.
TDK analyzed the current applications in order to understand and document relationships between data, functions, platform components and the user interfaces. In addition, TDK interviewed key marketing team members to understand the usage of each application, uncover and document business requirements, and determine desired areas of improvement. TDK also expanded upon existing documentation related to the SQL Server conversion and support, including a detailed schematic of the future state.
The deliverables for this engagement included expanded technical support documentation for the applications that needed to be migrated, a detailed findings document from interviews and code review, a schematic of the current state versus the proposed future state, and recommendations for migrating, retiring or replacing the applications. TDK created an execution plan for completing the migration and upgrade to SQL Server as well as a matrix detailing the impact to the business and ROI justification.
The Client, a leading resource for electronic data management for the building industry, approached TDK with a unique need. They had used an out-of-town software firm to develop and maintain their proprietary application, the cornerstone of the Client's business, from its inception. After several years, the Client no longer felt that the out-of-town firm had the Client's best interests at heart. After a quick review of the software, TDK explained to the Client that the application was written using outdated and unsupported technology, and wouldn't support web-based access or a number of other product enhancements the Client wanted to incorporate.
TDK performed a "start from scratch" analysis of the product by reviewing current application functionality. TDK reviewed industry protocols and standards to ensure that the future design would include industry-standard integration with architectural design and maintenance management packages. TDK mapped current-state process flows and developed new application requirements with the project sponsor and business stakeholders. TDK then presented the Client with full requirements for the re-engineered application, including screen flows, wireframes, and a fixed price estimate and schedule for development in a .NET environment.
A market leader in providing technology solutions for benefits administrators was interested in migrating their product line to a Software as a Service (SaaS) architecture. The current technology solution was written in Visual Basic with a SQL Server database. The client engaged TDK to recommend a web technical architecture to support the SaaS model.
TDK analyzed the current application architecture, including all components and relationships between data, functions, platform components and user interface. TDK worked closely with the client to define the goals for the SaaS model and perform a gap analysis. The TDK architects and business analysts leveraged their strong backgrounds in understanding business requirements and designing architectures to create recommendations for the SaaS technical architecture and an execution strategy to implement the new architecture.
The recommended technical architecture included a detailed architecture for all the application tiers, technology stack, system integration impacts, goal impacts and migration path. The technologies within the recommended technology stack included C#, ASP.NET, SQL Server, AJAX, JSON, WCF, Jquery, YUI, Spring.NET, Silverlight, Prism, POCO, Nhibernate, and Ideablade DevForce. The recommended execution strategy included an Agile development methodology and process, staffing, and an estimated project timeline.
A financial services firm brought TDK an assignment to design and develop an important infrastructural software component. The client was in the process of building a new advanced processing solution with aggressive timelines and industry leading system capabilities. An integral component was required that would provide a vehicle for the advanced processing application suite to deliver alerts and notifications to customers and system users via email and/or SMS text messages. The client turned to TDK to build out a robust, efficient and easily maintained solution that would act as an abstract gateway between the application suite notification queues and vendor message delivery web service gateways.
TDK initiated the effort by performing an in-depth analysis of the requirements, constraints and architectural expectations of the customer. A solution design was created that addressed all customer requirements and was consistent with architectural expectations and deployment environment constraints. The gateway developed by TDK was comprised of a self-scheduled and self-configured stand-alone service. Pending notifications were retrieved and delivered largely via web service invocations, and a public web service API was published for 3rd party message delivery vendors to report message delivery status. The technical environment was comprised of J2EE, WebSphere, Spring, and Web Services. The software was delivered to the customer with elaborate sets of unit tests and integration test suites.
The successful solution delivery and reliable performance of the Production deployment resulted in the client returning to TDK to enhance the capabilities of the component in support of new business requirements.
