Web Application Development for APPCAN

About APPCAN

APPCAN is a software-as-a-service company working in the utility construction industry. The APPCAN platform is a web and mobile data collection and documentation distribution platform for field workers. Specifically, for businesses that require their field-force teams to either collate and submit relevant job-related data or to receive/access documentation pertinent to their field activities. 

The challenge

APPCAN created a simple, cost-effective product that could be easily customised to meet the needs of any business with field workers. The product had to be easy to use by non-technical people, whilst also being quick to implement and secure to protect.

Having completed the initial development, APPCAN was looking to change partners for long-term support, management and enhancement development of the system.

The system itself is a multitenant cloud-based Software as a Service (SaaS) system that hosts the customer websites used for:

• Uploading documents and assigning them to users
• Configuring custom app/forms to define what data columns are needed from a list of standard column types: such as Select, Text, Currency, Photo and Signature
• Managing users
• Reporting on data collected by mobile users
• Exporting data collected by mobile users

The solution

The technology behind the APPCAN solution is:

• NET Web applications on Azure App Services: For customer-specific web sites and the central administration web site
• NET Web API on Azure App Services: APIs used by mobile devices for sharing data
• Azure File Service: Cloud-based file system for storing documents and images
• SQL Azure: Cloud-based databases hold the master data for the system
• C#, T-SQL, JavaScript and XQuery programming languages for the central systems
• Objective C for the native IOS mobile applications

The system was designed as a serverless Azure application, so there is no need to patch or manage servers. It is designed to auto-scale out to multiple physical servers as load increases, with SQL Azure that can be scaled up and down as load dictates.

Phase one was taking over management of the system, following that, support began with hours purchased on account and called off as they are used. The support is flexible and uncomplicated, being used for fixes, as well as updates, routine maintenance and system health checks. DevOps was used as our DevOps engineers made fixes and enhancements to the live system using a very short test and release cycle.

The outcome

After successfully taking over the management of the system, many enhancement projects have been undertaken. The largest, a Xamarin mobile application to expand the reach and use of the web application. Read Xamarin Case Study

Since its launch, the APPCAN central hub and the mobile devices it supports have been deployed for use by thousands of users across many organisations. Now there is no need for field workers to take plans, job orders and other documents with them in paper form.

The app has proven itself in many situations including the following examples:

Making document management easier: No reason to take heavy manuals and drawings on site.

On-site timesheet management: A timesheet capture app/form was configured to allow workers to enter time spent on a job and verify by GPS that they were on site when they said they were.

Managing procedures and safety issues: Updates to procedures and known safety issues can be sent as documents or alerts to field workers. Confirmation that the worker has seen the information can be confirmed through read-receipts.

Site surveys: A survey data collector app was configured to allow field workers to complete on-site surveys complete electronically, including taking pictures of the site as well as completing data in the form. The survey results are then stored centrally for exporting to CSV and conversion to PDF format for use in the business.