Construction Project & Order Tracking System
IndustryIndustrial Construction
Timeline2021- Present
Number of Users250+
TechnologiesASP.NET Core, C#, Microsoft Azure, SQL Server
Client Summary
This project was commissioned by a leading organization within the industrial construction sector. At the request of the client, their identity remains confidential to protect proprietary strategies; however, they are recognized as a premier partner of ours at Pell Software.
“Great Experience!We have been working with Pell, upgrading a mission critical legacy software program. The programmers assigned to our project are very knowledgeable and quick to turn out work, and they arevery responsive when we need fixes. We expect to continue to upgrade and add to this software, and we plan to stick with Pell to do that.We highly recommend them.”
Anonymous, VP
20,000+
Managed Projects
7 Million+
Data Points Tracked
$500M+
Total Project Revenue Managed
250+
Daily Concurrent Users
Zero
Downtime During Upgrade
Our Solution
Pell Software partnered with our client to address the challenges their legacy software presented, implementing a “strangler pattern” development approach to upgrade the system to .NET Core C#, running on a fully-managed Microsoft Azure App Service instance. The development strategy allowed for a gradual modernization of the monolithic application into a more unified and efficient solution and the new hosting environment allowed for seamless scalability and enhanced security.
Features
The core components of the solution included:
- Phased Module Upgrades (v1 to v2): Our primary goal was to maintain the existing system while also upgrading the backend code to a more modern and future-proof framework to eliminate technical debt.
- Development of a Unified Business Management System: Pell Software focused on building a comprehensive system that would integrate functionalities from other disparate systems, tailored to our client’s unique business model. This included managing the entire project ordering lifecycle, from bidding to planning, resource management, and even internal processes like employee PTO requests.
- Ongoing Support and Enhancements: Pell Software is committed to providing continuous support, maintenance, and programming services, developing new functionalities as our client’s business evolves.
- Team Integration and Knowledge Transfer: A dedicated Pell Software team was selected, including a Senior Software Engineer/Lead Developer with over 20 years of experience developing custom software systems in .NET. Additional development experts were also assigned, including several software engineers and a project manager specializing in business software modernization projects.
- Introduction of New Modules: Beyond the V2 upgrade, the plan included developing entirely new modules, such as a “New Service Projects Module,” to bring smaller-value service projects into the unified system, eliminating the need for external spreadsheets and documents.
Backlog Management
Drawing backlogs consist of all the projects that must have drawings. Requests are submitted and then managed throughout the project lifecycle.
- Project requests are triaged and tracked from assignment, progress and approvals through to revisions, resubmissions, and completion.
- Includes a sophisticated communication interface used to follow each through to its final disposition.
- All information is securely logged and accessible within the system for future reporting & auditing purposes.
- A comprehensive notification system is used at each stage of the drawing’s lifecycle to the person(s) responsible for the request.
Project Planning Tool
The Project Planning Tool is a cornerstone of the system, dedicated to defining, documenting and protecting the complex intricacies of each project.
- Empowers estimators and managers to eliminate costly ambiguity throughout the lifecycle of the project.
- Safeguard profit margins by automatically calculating key performance indicators in real time.
- Integrates seamlessly with all other project and scheduling data in the system, ensuring consistent and cohesive project planning.
- Enables sales teams to quickly and easily modify and re-issue bids for projects, ensuring they remain profitable and achievable based on historical data within the system.
Project Scheduling Module
The Project Scheduling Module is the essential platform for project managers to precisely define and organize all necessary field activities, ensuring projects stay on track and meet deadlines.
- Easily manages and tracks deliveries, installation mobilization, phasing and punchouts.
- Includes a visualization of project progress and upcoming work via a customizable gantt chart.
- Allows managers to quickly document requirements, safety and compliance requirements, insurance regulations and certified payrolls.
- Enables operations managers to better and more effectively manage resources via a single screen for complete project planning at a high level.
ERP Data Integration
Powerful two-way integration to automatically sync customer and project data between our client’s 3rd-party ERP system and the custom project management system to ensure data remains current, consistent, secure and reliable.
- Facilitates a “single source of truth” for all data, eliminating manual data entry and reconciliation and simultaneously creating a unified and consistent data environment across both systems.
- Tightly designed security protocols ensure data is only accessible to those with the proper permissions to view or edit each particular data point, bolstering overall operational confidence.
- Provides staff with immediate access to up-to-date project metrics and KPIs, minimizing delays and improving decision making across the organization.
Challenges
Our client, a specialist in designing, building, and installing custom industrial solutions, faced significant challenges with its legacy software system used for project management, sales and tracking new opportunities. They partnered with Pell Software to take over ongoing maintenance of their custom project management system, which was originally built in 2014 as a monolithic ASP.NET Webforms application. The older technologies were struggling to keep pace with the company’s evolving business processes and Pell Software was selected to help maintain, modernize and enhance the system on an ongoing basis. Key issues included:
- Outdated Technology: When Pell Software inherited the system in 2021, the custom-built work management system was based on an outdated VB.NET framework, running on a fully self-managed IIS instance on Windows Server, hosted on AWS.
- System Fragmentation: Employees were using multiple disparate software systems, leading to inefficiencies and difficulties in managing various aspects of projects. A unified system was needed to streamline operations.
- Inconsistent Development Practices: Previous developers had worked on the legacy system with differing coding methods, leading to inconsistencies and a lack of a cohesive development approach.
- Complex System Needing Comprehensive Solution: Our client’s projects are high-value construction jobs, with bids placed months or years in advance and subject to frequent changes. The existing system struggled to efficiently manage these dynamic project lifecycles, from quoting to engineering designs, material procurement, and installation contracting.
- Single Point of Failure Risk: Before coming to Pell Software, our client was using single developer contractors. Due to the system’s complexity and the use of single individual contract developers, the entire institutional knowledge and management of the project had largely fallen on one key person and one developer, creating a single point of failure and hindering scalability.
Results
Through the collaborative efforts of our client and Pell Software, the system underwent a significant transformation, yielding several key benefits:
- Enhanced System Efficiency and Unification: The successful upgrade resulted in a more complete, unified, and efficient business management system. This streamlined workflows, reduced the need for multiple external tools, and improved overall operational efficiency.
- Improved Business Management and Competitive Advantage: By tailoring the system to our client’s specific business processes, the upgraded system provided a competitive advantage, enabling our client to more efficiently and effectively bid, win, and service contracts and clients.
- Low-Risk Development and Smooth Transition: The strangler pattern allowed for the development of the new V2 system to run concurrently with the existing V1 software, minimizing disruption to ongoing operations. This phased approach provided ample time for development, stayed within budget, and facilitated better User Acceptance Testing (UAT) by allowing direct comparison between the old and new functionalities.
- Increased Functionality and Features: In addition to the V2 upgrades, Pell Software successfully developed and integrated new functionalities and features into the system, such as the upcoming Service Projects Module, further expanding the system’s capabilities.
- Scalability and Reduced Dependency: The ongoing effort to familiarize the Pell Software development team with the client’s workflows and business logic aimed to offload responsibilities from the product owner, ensuring better project maintainability and scalability in the long term as our client continues to grow.
Technology Utilized
The Project Management application is an enterprise-grade software solution built on a scalable, highly secure, modern tech stack:
Core Technology Stack:
- Backend & APIs: Developed using ASP.NET Core / C# for high-performance business logic
- Database: Microsoft SQL Server handles enterprise relational data, managing millions of order records
- Cloud Infrastructure: Hosted on Microsoft Azure, utilizing services like blob storage and Azure Functions for background job processing
Key Features & Integrations:
- Data Export & Reporting: Implemented robust data export pipelines using libraries (CsvHelper, Xceed, ExcelDataReader) to generate CSV, Word, & Excel files for accounting and bulk reporting
- PDF Generation: Custom PDF Generation from HTML templates powered by Puppeteer and Node.js
- Security: Enhanced web application security through Robust Content Security Policies configured with NWebsec
- Construction ERP Integration: Achieved Direct, bi-directional data sharing with the construction ERP system
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