Software Development
Software Development
Total Solutions knows that solving problems through technology can take on countless forms. Having the right software can be the difference between peak performance and hitting major roads.
Total Solutions builds custom software solutions that have helped our customers address all kinds of intricate challenges. Our user-first approach to building custom applications balances the power of technology with crafting the right solution for the types of obstacles your organization needs to navigate.
Custom Software meets Business Needs
If your business challenges go beyond the standard capabilities of industry software, you can count on us to help plan, develop and implement a custom solution.Designing Applications
Building custom applications requires substantial design time before development work can happen. Total Solutions understands the layers of design needed to ensure that your commitment to a custom application is worthwhile, and we can work with your team to make sense of that investment. This focus on design makes sure that your custom software solution is solving the right problems to begin with.
Data Management
Data management and expert programming are both essential to building any software solution. Our team is well-versed in balancing functionality with complex data needs and works to ensure that your solution has the best of both worlds. We have built a tool called KickApper that makes this work even easier, making it easy to build a basic application interface, database, and Data Access Layer.
Embracing Agile Delivery
Expectations can change quickly, and we lean into that fact by embracing agile delivery. Planning iterative sprints ensures that your solution is built in small pieces that add up to suit what you need. Our emphasis on continuous design and feedback ensures that your investment in custom software does not go to waste and meets your team’s highest priority needs.
Industry Experience
Our team of technology experts has experience building complex solutions across new and unknown industries. Our work has seen us work closely with organizations across a range of industries. We have built APQP solutions for automotive leaders, global supplier audit tracking software for Fortune 500 teams, integrated software platforms for government agencies, and more.
Considering Custom?
Building custom software can be a major investment for your organization. It takes time to understand the right problems to solve and how to address them through technology. The team at Total Solutions knows how to put your challenges first and build software solutions that tackle them head on. Whether you are looking to modernize an existing solution or build an application from scratch, Total Solutions can guide you through the steps to build software that helps your team work better.
Web-based Certification/Approval Provider Case Study
Background
The Transportation Authority of a G8 nation required a database and workflow solution to support their testing and certification services for vehicles and vehicle parts. The Authority had locations across Europe, North America, and Asia and required real-time, standardized workflows made available across all locations. Furthermore, the Authority required increased visibility into the testing and certification process for both customers and management.
Solution
Total Solutions first conducted discovery for all locations via interviews, source code review, and existing documentation review. Once the “as-is” environment was defined (using both existing and new best practices) and compared to the existing requirements, we developed a new process that could be implemented across the globe. We reviewed that process with relevant personnel to ensure the process met the operational needs at all levels and across all regions. Once the process was defined, we designed a relational database to store all the necessary data from all of the authority’s offices. Finally, once the process and database design were approved by the authority, we implemented the proposed solutions.
Benefit
Our database and workflow implementation at the Authority for Transport represented a move to a hub-satellite strategy. Thus, allowing the Authority to more effectively control, operate, and manage its core business operations. The standardized process and single database enables the Authority to compare operational data from office to office without having to account for process irregularities between regions. Standardized process realized savings in labor cost avoidance and process congruency assurance and allowed the Authority to execute its function in a more efficient manner, saving taxpayers money.
Web-based Compliance Management System Case Study
Background
The Transportation Authority of a G8 nation required a single global application to track, coordinate, and facilitate functions associated with industry-specific audits and financial reporting. The Authority had previously developed individual applications across offices in Europe, North America, and Asia. In order for the new system to be successful, it needed to ensure process management and control across all locations, reduce costs related to administrative labor and inter-departmental discrepancies, and improve the professional delivery of service to the Authority’s customers.
Solution
To provide the Transportation Authority with the solution it desired, Total Solutions first conducted an analysis of the current process and IT infrastructure. Once the “as-is” state was confirmed with Authority management, we created detailed specifications that met the aforementioned requirements. To meet the audit requirement, we developed an Audit dashboard, used to manage the storing and requesting of auditor documents. For the financial reporting requirement, we developed a weekly reporting module that could be manipulated to produce predefined reports based on Authority requirements. Both solutions were developed in concert with Authority personnel to ensure suitability for both the function and Authority employees. Once the suitability was confirmed, we developed and implemented the proposed solutions to ensure a smooth transition to the new state.
Benefit
Our application standardized audit and financial reporting processes across Authority offices, realizing cost savings (no need to account for separate processes), ensuring process control, and providing customers with a single location to access their information. Frequent contact with the client ensured our solution met customer requirements, and user acceptance testing ensured that the process met user specifications.
Custom Database Synchronization and Workflow Discovery & Design Case Study
Background
A major US utility sought a mechanism to reconcile vital diagnostic data managed by multiple business units and stored in two different databases (one managed by a third party and one in SharePoint), as well as a workflow solution to manage the editing and approval of that data. The firm had previously relied on dual input and manual reconciliation, resulting in in inaccurate and incomplete data that required a significant amount of hours to manage. Total Solutions was hired to analyze the possible interactions between the two databases, coordinate with client and third-party management to define business requirements for the system as a whole, and create a functional design and migration plan for the proposed synchronization and workflow mechanism.
Solution
Total Solutions first coordinated with the client to analyze source code and document the current business environment by producing detailed system and process diagrams and narratives. TSI then met with the third party database management firm to decipher the methods with which a custom synchronization mechanism could communicate with the database, through API or web service. Once the synchronization capabilities were defined, TSI coordinated with multiple client business lines to clearly outline functional requirements for the system as a whole. Finally, we coordinated with client IT personnel to establish a migration plan to ensure all existing data would exist in the new system.
Benefit
Total Solutions used information gathered from their meetings with client and third party personnel to develop detailed process and system diagrams of the proposed solution. These deliverables were general enough for the overarching business community to understand, but detailed enough for a software engineer to use them as the starting point for the system build. Discovery & Design engagements such as this one deliver tremendous value for TSI clients. Projects that begin without an understanding of the business process and IT environment or lack a clear functional design agreed upon by both prospective users and architects/developers carry a significant amount of financial and schedule risk. Features that clients believed to be simple may in fact be quite complicated. Unknown elements of the existing business environment can create the need for a different solution than originally envisioned. Reacting to these variables while building a system can carry significant costs. Utilizing TSI consultants to conduct a Discovery and Design engagements enables clients to isolate these variables and gain a clear understanding of the cost and time requirements for a project.
