Technology consulting and software development to improve company’s products
Executive Summary
Challenge: Improvement of a web-based platform for airport operations. The goal was to audit the product and propose a plan for further development to enable its users to make more accurate and faster decisions.
Approach: Following an audit, it was recommended that there was a need of a software makeover, starting with a redesign of its architecture. Our team organised discovery workshops to gather key insights that later fed into the development stage.
Result: We have established a robust partnership and are actively collaborating with ADB SAFEGATE branches throughout Europe. We focus on development of relevant modules and features, aligning technology with our client’s needs
Table of Contents
About the client
With more than 1,200 employees, ADB SAFEGATE serves more than 2,500 airports in more than 175 countries.
ADB SAFEGATE provides integrated solutions that raise efficiency, improve safety, boost environmental sustainability and reduce operational costs at airports around the globe, from the busiest and largest to fast-growing airports across Asia and Africa.
Solutions encompass airfield lighting, power and control systems, smart terminal and tower software solutions, intelligent docking automation and aftermarket services.
Business challenge
CONSTANT IMPROVEMENT OF AIRPORT OPERATIONS
ADB SAFEGATE’s core values revolve around customer-centricity, innovation, excellence, stepping up and setting the bar high.
To continue to deliver superior performance, the company aims to constantly improve automation and data collection to support decision making and the management of airport operations.
The client had commenced on a journey to refresh their technology stack and modernise the applications, They approached us with a need of improvement of a web-based platform for airport operations.
The goal was to audit the products, review the roadmap and propose a plan for further development to enable their customers to make more accurate and faster decisions.
Solutions we delivered
Results of the audit conducted by our Solution Architects showed that the chosen path of MicroServices / MonoRepos would be the best way forward and would be the optimal approach to modernising the software.
We recommended that starting with a redesign of the architecture to introduce containerisation would also be of benefit.
In collaboration with ADB Technology leaders, we proposed a new solution architecture and ran discovery workshops which provided insights that later fed into the development stage. Upon successful design the client approached us to support with additional development resources to bring the changes to market quicker.
Our project teams engaged on the new platform, encompassing a range of management systems that brings a holistic, intelligent approach to managing operational activities from landing to take-off.
The platform includes multiple software modules based on cutting-edge technologies to enhance the efficiency and flexibility of operations as a whole.
The teams have developed two modules of the platform and helped build several others. The modules we worked on from the beginning are:
- Module 1 – Turn activities
A smart solution to manage aircraft turnaround activities from landing to take off - Module 2 – Management of resources around the aircraft
We were also heavily involved in developing modules related to managing Check-in Desks and Gates and KPI analytics.
Technology consulting with software delivery
We have a fully-formed partnership and currently work with ADB’s branches across Europe (Sweden, UK, Austria).
We act as a technology consultant and collaborate with the Product Department to find optimal solutions from the perspectives of technical complexity, delivery time, and value for the end customer.
In addition to backend and frontend development of the products, we are acting as consultancy for business analysis, system architecture, quality assurance and user experience design and ensuring these are maintained and updated with latest changes and have assisted with consultancy on DevOps best practices.
Having started from a modest team, ADB has been continually extending the collaboration with us to encompass a diverse range of expertise and use it in an increasing number of projects.
Transforming software delivery with DevOps
At the beginning of ADB SAFEGATEs journey, we also worked on making the software delivery processes more seamless with DevOps. We provided DevOps consultancy in the form of a DevOps Assessment.
Following the analysis, our team alongside the customer DevOps engineers implemented a number of DevOps practices, including:
- Improved Continuous Integration and Continuous Deployment (CI/CD)
- Infrastructure as Code (IaC)
- High Availability
We act as the client’s DevOps consultant on new initiatives and are closely aligning and providing advice when requested to them on decisions around continuously improving the software delivery process.
In this partnership the DevOps practices have reduced software delivery times.
By setting development process with Kubernetes-based platforms from day one of the project, the overall quality and stability has improved greatly.
What’s more, increased observability also means that the customers development teams can monitor how new features affect system performance & health.
Analysis and Design consultancy
During the entire partnership, our Analysis & Design team of Business Analysts and User Experience Designers have been consulting the client on different areas of the product lifecycle.
As we follow the Continuous Discovery methodology, we organised discovery workshops with the client at the beginning and before each major project milestone.
Our Business Analyst supports the Product Owner in transforming the requirements, creating the product backlog, and communicating project requirements to the development team.
They also take care of accessibility and consistency across all set of products against global standards
As part of our continuing relationship the client has also asked us to support ADB SAFEGATE further by creating the interactive prototypes and running usability testing sessions to validate concepts before the development phase, where potential changes are usually much more expensive.
Through our partnership with Future Processing, ADB SAFEGATE has benefited throughout the full delivery lifecycle. Choosing a partner that brings together UI/UX design as well as technology expertise in the latest technology stacks has enabled us to improve time to market capabilities as well as adherence to global regulations on web based application standards.
Benefits of our partnership
ADB SAFEGATE found a partner who can deliver much more than lines of code. Specifically, the value we provide includes:
- technical consultancy and leadership – proposing solutions that better support client’s business strategy and bring more value
- comprehensive service – from analysis through design to development and implementation
- the uplifting of modern and forward-thinking technologies, including microservices and monorepo architecture
- strong focus on the usability of the products
As a result, ADB Safegate provides better service with enhanced efficiency and flexibility of operations thanks to the newly developed solutions.