SaaS based solution to systematize building construction trials

Problem:

A typical building construction requires a series of recursive procedures and processes.

• Property registration with licensing authority of the state.
• Construction documentation by architects encompassing drawings and specifications to set forth the detailed requirements of the building project.
• Ensuring design intent is adequately interpreted within construction documentation.
• Review of construction documents by the licensed specialists/inspectors to determine accessible design.
• Recursive process of incorporating the missing links/deficiencies in the drawings.
• Handing over the approved drawings to the contractors to build the same.
• Subsequent inspection of finished buildings to verify accessible constructions by the licensed inspector.
• Notify the issues observed to the property owner.

The client wanted a one stop portal to manage and track these recursive cumbersome events.

Solution:

Sveltoz, then built a strategic web application hosted on cloud (SaaS) model to manage all the required registry, reviews, approvals, defect documentations in a controlled manner.

single instance of application with single configuration (hardware, network, operating system) was deployed on client’s server to be used by all the users (tenants) of the application, thus achieving multi tenant architecture.

Inimitable features involving:

• Extraction of Project registry details from the licensing authority.
• Feature to add / edit various elements / requirements of the project - Project description, Construction timelines, lease no., Flooring, elevators, plumbing elements, boilers information, recreation facilities, and accessible routes, operable parts etc.
• Option to conduct plan reviews and inspections with updating of the deficiency description, defects in the system against the project.
• An audit facility to track the various actions / reviews conducted on the project as record of transactions
• A status update reporting feature to report the project status to the licensed govt. authority after every milestone.
• An additional facet was introduced to allow independent reviews by additional inspectors by having an option to request for the project details from reviewed personnel.

Key Business impact:

• Simplified the management of all the recursive events during building constructions.
• Eased the tracking of project artifacts / approvals with a tag of legality.
• The licensing authorities got the project status updates in an impromptu way.
• The record of transactions helped the inspectors to analyze / inspect all the previous records / deficiencies reported which served a vital factor for their subsequent inspections.
• The SaaS model provided a capability of “pay per use” and hence scale up or down application resources to only consume or pay for the resources that are required at that point of time.
• The cost effectiveness of using SaaS model was increased by the use of multi tenant environment which increases the resource utilization by allowing load balancing among tenants
• Dramatic reduction in operational cost and complexity over the product lifecycle.

Key Implementation Challenges:

• Architectural complexity - Application required multi tenant architecture for each client
• Browser compatibility.
• Complex Report generation.

Key success factors:

• The application was developed in multi tenant architecture.
• A flavor of CRM was added to the application.
• Single configuration of the application made the development and testing faster.
• With multi-tenant architecture the various factors such as utilization, speed, and response times across the platform were precisely assessed which helped in efficient fine tuning of the technology stack.
• Upgrading the software version or elements in the technology stack (such as databases, servers, and the operating system) is easier since there is a single, centralized place to go to make adjustments, install patches, etc.
• Multi-tenant SaaS provider could deliver more efficient and effective service and support, including troubleshooting and problem resolution

Technologies used:

• Microsoft .Net Framework 3.5
• Microsoft SQL Server 2008.
• VB.net, Jquery, Mutli Tentant Architecture, Entity Framework