Docker

Design and development of a blockchain-based crypto currency platform

admin — Tue, 10 Jan 2023 22:03:37 +0000

Design and development of a blockchain-based crypto currency platform admin Tue, 01/10/2023 - 22:03

Design and development of a blockchain-based crypto currency platform with sophisticated AML/KYC mechanism & an advanced translation interface

Fintech

Netherlands, UK, Germany

Deep blockchain integration

Complex banking integration

Automated AML/KYC verification

Backend development

Frontend development

Product strategy

UI/UX development

Drupal 8

Sum&Sum KYC

BUNQ Integration

ARDOR Blockchain

Docker

Digital Ocean Droplets

Browserstack

Bitbucket

We got introduced to this project right from the product innovation stage, when the client team was still brainstorming and finalizing the product concepts based on customer needs, concept testing, and market research. We started with a single page information website development, and gradually came on board as technical consultant team for the product. We were selected after several rounds of meetings, and after the client was convinced that we can not only execute the initial requirement, which was a simple task, but we shall be able to provide an in-depth technical consultation and can act as a technical expert during the upcoming complex development phases. And indeed, we perfectly fulfilled the expectation. Over next 2 years, we remained a steady technical partner, and oversaw the project from a simple one page site, to a fully funded growing startup in the blockchain space.

The client represents a group of real estate professionals and blockchain enthusiasts with multiple years of experience in real estate financing, real estate fund structuring and project development. The company was founded in 2016 in Netherlands, and they expanded from a 2 member team to a 36 member team in about 5 years. They have raised several rounds of funding and continue to scale up their business and have since then expanded to other geographies like US, UK, Germany, Australia and New Zealand.

The project is being developed as a advanced blockchain-based crypto currency platform. As the assets are created on the blockchain, they will of course be 100% transparent and liquid. The childchain decentralises the trade of assets and places rental agreements, purchase agreements, property management tasks and more on the blockchain. Through this website, a user can create his/her account and buy tokens and enter in to the world of Crypto currency market. The user can also earn referrals by introducing others to this platform, by providing them with his/her unique referral link. Moreover, product is underwritten by a portfolio of property assets generating an income and ensuring the future development and maintenance of the platform.

Phase I

The purpose of this phase was to get us a basic platform.The main site was to be designed and then followed by a dashboard. Following that basic registration and AML / KYC procedures needed to be set up.

Design of The Front-end Site and The Back-end Platform

The main challenge was to design an extremely impressive landing page. The client was concerned because they needed to put in and convey a lot of information, but they didn't want to make the design boring. He wanted to make it extremely appealing and trendy, while not losing out on the opportunity to display the necessary information. Our designing team did an excellent job on this, and after a lot of deliberation, discussion, and going back and forth, finally, we came up with a design that was appealing, interactive, and informative. Next began the dashboard design. This needed to be simple, easy flowing, and readable without too flashy elements and complications. Our designing team worked tirelessly on this and was able to come up with a great layout. This would be modified time and again in the coming days, as more and more sections would be built.

User Registration & Initial Steps

The main target at this point was to get people to start registering as soon as possible. We needed to have 2 registration types, company, and individual. Each of them will have a separate set of fields to fill out later on. As soon as users register, a verification link would be sent over through email. Once confirmed, they would log in and set a password. As soon as the password is set, they would be asked to do mobile verification (this would be changed later on in favor of 2FA). This was a mandatory step and users would not be allowed to navigate elsewhere without completing this. SMS code would be sent to their mobile number and the user needed to add the code and validate it. Once done, users would be redirected to their dashboard and asked to be AML/KYC.

Support Ticketing System

The next very important step was to make users submit their AML / KYC. But before that, we needed an in-depth support ticketing system, since the AML/ KYC submission and approval would be tied to this. We built this system from the ground up and implemented every single thing that was needed as per plan for this AML / KYC procedure, as well as for its general functioning. This included the admin tools like statistics on the ticket movement and an in-depth status system for easy manipulation of the submitted tickets. Once the registration was live, the client foresaw that this will be very crucial for his data team and we needed to make this absolutely flawless.

AML / KYC Procedure

Finally, it’s the last main bit for Phase I - AML / KYC Procedure. First of all, this would have 3 stages - Clearance Level I, II, and III. Each has an extensive number of fields. The users would submit for one Clearance Level and then the admin would be able to review, approve, reject or request a change, based on what they have submitted. If any change was requested, then users would be notified and they would have to re-submit the documentation. Once approved of one clearance level, users can apply for the next clearance and so on. This entire process was tied to the support ticketing system and the entire system was a pain to build and test. But we were really amazed how good it turned out to be, once this was all completed, and people started to use it.

Phase II

The purpose of this phase was to build ourselves some very necessary tools before actually starting to implement ITO and Pre ITO features which were next in line. The three main extensive requirements for this were an in-depth translation system, a solid notification system, and an extensive referral system.

Translation Mechanism Enhancement

With registrations flowing in from all over the world, thanks to the client's ambitious marketing efforts, we soon had users from almost 120 countries. With this, came the need to be able to translate the site into all possible languages. And this was not one man's job. The client wanted to appoint translators from various countries who would translate everything in the site to that language - website content, document links like pitch deck and white paper, email contents, etc. Going forward this needs to be extended to other things that are built like a newsletter, order form, etc. We looked at Drupal's core translation system. Though it was an excellent base, it was nothing compared to what was needed in order to achieve this. We understood that we need to come up with an extremely creative and robust solution by using what was available and then building the remaining on top of it. After months of work, we did it, and it was really a proud moment for the entire team. We have been using that system everywhere for the last 8 months and it's functioning perfectly. With almost 110 translators using the system every day, it is capable of translating each new content into hundreds of different languages.

Newsletter & Notification System

Next in the line was the development of an in-depth notification and newsletter system. The client wanted to build this system from the grounds up in order to be able to send newsletter notifications to all its registered users, which by now, in just a span of a few months has grown to over 40,000. He wanted to send almost 2 batches of newsletters daily which means almost 80,000 emails going out. He wanted to also achieve a send-out rate of 20,000 per hour. After due research, we agreed to use the Amazon SES service as SMTP. We were already using AWS for hosting and this served as a perfect fit. We did extensive coding for the entire newsletter system ensuring seamless use by the client's data team. We also had to make sure that they could create newsletters and easily choose through the interface the target recipient groups based on the wizard and then send the newsletter out. We used the concept of a multi concurrency queue in this case and used it as a Drush command. Another mission well accomplished!

Referral Programme

The next and last bit, before we could move ahead with the ITO and pre ITO sale set up was the implementation of an in-depth referral program. Even though the client's marketing campaigns have been super successful, he really wanted to push the pedal and wanted to spread out as much as possible. One great way of doing this was an extensive referral program. The referral program would work by giving a unique referral link to potential users and once other users registered using that link, certain tokens would be awarded as a referral bonus. Once the blockchain would go live, users would be able to withdraw these tokens. The referral program though looks simple outwardly. However, behind the scene, we coded two other major aspects of it. One was an in-depth statistics report which would show which referrer referred how many users and then charts showing per country and per timeframe divisions, so that client's backend team would be able to track the progress and take various corrective measures. And last but not the least, we needed to devise an in-depth mechanism of withdrawal mechanism for the amount that users got. We did solid foundation work for this but postponed it for later as we realized this would be used more only after Pre ITO and ITO sales.

Phase III

Pre ITO and ITO sales mechanisms needed to be coded, so users could actually purchase tokens.

Asset Creation and Sub-account Creation

We detailed out the entire flow and then started with the asset creation steps. Though initially, only asset needed to be created, but for later, this would be used by others to create their own assets. Hence it was important to get this foundation right. We also needed to set up the approval process of this. Finally through the implemented mechanism we created. With asset creation, we needed to create concept for sub accounts. So in a nutshell, the total coin offering would be broken down into sub accounts, like Pre ITO, ITO etc and then a price would be attached to it. Some sub accounts were created which was not sellable, and only admin could transfer tokes from and to that sub account. These were all accompanied by detailed logs , support tickets and email integration.

Order Forms

The next step was to set up order forms where users could purchase the tokens. This needed an in depth currency conversion mechanism we we implemented a 3rd party API for this. This also needed a dynamic price switcher, as the sell was on, from pre ITO to ITO Phase I to ITO Phase II and so on, the prices of the tokens would change and the pay out needed to be calculated dynamically. This involved huge amount of complexity and an extensive handling of cub cases that branched out as we were going forward with the flow. Finally, after quite a few months of extensive effort all were sotted, and we finally made Pre ITO live, which was a huge success. Son ITO phases were launched and they were success as well.

Phase IV (ongoing)

This is the most important phase. Now that people have purchased tokens and all going well, we are in the process of connecting the system to the blockchain. The client entered into an agreement with ARDOR and we would be implementing the ARDOR API. Starting from waller creation to node handlers all will he handled through the API. Extensive work is in progress regarding this, and we are hopeful in coming days this will be released out to public.

We have overseen the project right from its inception days when this was just a pen and paper concept. And today, the portal has almost 85,000 users and has sold exceptionally well, for its pre-ITO phases and ongoing ITO phases. Needless to say, this has been a very strong bond with the client and their team and we are still growing strong. Just like any big task, we have had our share of challenges, but together, with hard work, dedication, talent, and clear communication, we have kept moving forward. We continue to develop the upcoming phases and maintain the portal.

The project was concluded with staggering success. As of now, we shall be in charge of maintaining the site. We are already developing the next big plan for this project, which is an extensive fundraising & investing platform. This crowdfunding platform will be used to raise funds for property investment and all the complex will be handled on the platform. The development roadmap is approximately 2 years but will include phased releases.

Maxcrowdfund Testimonial

From the initial days of the project, the client relied deeply on our knowledge of the blockchain and technical competence in general, and we participated in the product conceptualization and creation of an effective development roadmap. We oversaw this project from a simple one page information website, to an advance portal with deep blockchain integration. Our technical expertise, in-depth blockchain knowledge and rational planning resulted in accelerated user registration, smooth backend operation & effective translation interface for global market penetration.

2.5 years, ongoing

Maxcrowdfund Testimonial II

This project was not a simple one-dimensional project. It had multiple layers and staged rollout plans. The initial goal of the project was to set up a basic platform for people to register and put in all their details, complete and submit KYC, and then be able to browse some data like properties, charities, etc. They also get access to the dashboard where they show them the key matrices. At this point, the client planned to start in-depth and extensive advertising campaigns reaching out to as many users as possible across the globe and get them on board. For this, they needed an email newsletter campaign builder, capable of sending 20,000 emails per day, based on customized templates and selecting recipients based on certain criteria. Also, they needed an extensive translation system, which was simply not possible with Drupal's native translation interface, though it definitely was a good base. Next in line was an in-depth referral system. The client wanted to further reach out and lure users to refer others who would then join the platform using the referral.

Referral benefits were provided in the form of tokens that users were able to withdraw when the currency went live. While these things were happening and the user registering and referral program was becoming more and more successful day by day, we started to work on the main aspect of the site - the token order sell. The Pre ITO and ITO phases were upcoming and we allocated a section of the team to dedicatedly work on these aspects. We devised a well-thought-out sell procedure based on extremely complicated conditions and restrictions. Pre ITO arrived and ITO arrived, both a huge hit. Next up, was the blockchain integration which is at present underway. We are discussing the architecture and integrating the ARDOR API for this and making steady progress day by day. In addition, there is constant monitoring work going on behind the scene and a section of our team is steadily working on making small fixes and maintenance polish-ups, ensuring the site remains perfect and performant.

Heading

85,000 registered users

Outcome

In a very short time, the number of registered users reached it's peak, and that to with a very less marketing budget allocation.

Heading

ITO phases subscribed in days

Outcome

The pre-ITO and ITO phases were subscribed in days, much faster than the planned stipulated timeline for each subscription phase.

Heading

High Customer Engagement

Outcome

Overall, the portal has shown high customer engagement and positive feedbacks from the users aollected through surveys and feedbacks.

API & Microservices

Cloud & DevOps

Continuous Monitoring

Enterprise Drupal Development

Incident Management

Minor Enhancements & Bug Fixes

MVP Development

Performance Optimization

Product Design Strategy

Product Scaling

Product-Market Fit

Support & Maintenance

Team Augmentation

UI Design & Implementation

UX Consulting & Audit

Web Development

Apache SOLR

Browserstack

CSS

Docker

Drupal 9

GIT

Headless Drupal

HTML

JIRA

JMeter

jQuery

Kubernetes

MySQL

Postman

Selenium

Vue.js

Fintech & BFSI

Digital product scaling and team augmentation of a reputed online publishing company

admin — Tue, 10 Jan 2023 21:33:44 +0000

Digital product scaling and team augmentation of a reputed online publishing company admin Tue, 01/10/2023 - 21:33

Digital product scaling and team augmentation of a reputed online publishing company through effective DXP strategy & consulting

Online Publishing

USA, Canada

In depth CMS implementation, content moderation flow, advertisement module

Drupal 8

Domain Access Suite

Elasticsuite

Docker

Digital Ocean

Github

Confluence

The client is a reputed online publishing and business listing company. They were running sites with primitive proprietary CMSs and was facing increasing difficulty to maintain these websites. Particularly the three above mentioned websites were different versions of the same website as these are affiliate sites of the same parent company. There were three major focuses on the development - Ease of content editing, a very advanced advertising management feature and an impressive look and feel with interactive elements.

The website was running with primitive proprietary CMS and content editors were facing difficulty to maintain the content publishing to individual sub-sites. Particularly those websites were different versions of the same website (multisite) and were affiliated sites of the parent company.

Advance Content Management Features

The client wanted to have advanced content management features which shall be able to publish content in one or different sites (we call domains) by simply selecting while creating the content.

Detailed Content Flow

Also, there was supposed to be a detailed content flow wherein editors were able to create contents and submit for approval. Then an approver can go in make recommendations to the editors and this process can go on back and forth till all is good and the the publisher can go forward and publish the content to the site, at this point the content becomes actually visible to the end users.

Content Storage

Also each and every change made to a piece of content was to be stored as revisions. When required, publishers could revert back to an old revision.

Advanced Advertisement Module

There was an advanced advertisement module we created. The client had different 3rd party paid ads from various categories. Each of those ads had various tags. We needed to pull those ads which belongs to the ads in the present page being viewed and being able to be dynamically pulled in. So at a particular page, only the most relevant ads were supposed to be displayed.

We built a CMS with features like publishing content in different domains and implemented the facility where content can be stored as a revision and can be reverted back to old revision, advertising management feature, advanced advertisement module and an elegant look and feel with interactive elements. The website had different 3rd party paid ads from various categories where every ad had various tags. We required to pull those ads which belonged to the ads in the present page being viewed and being able to be dynamically pulled in. So at a particular page, only the most relevant ads were supposed to be displayed.

Storebrand Testimonial

Once you have found the product-market fit, it's time to scale up your product. By virtue of our team's extensive knowledge in digital product scaling, we were able to effectively assist the client to grow their online publishing platform into a mature product. Their team lacked technical expertise and knowledge and we were able to commission a dedicated development team for them in a matter of days, which helped them to achieve significant organic traffic growth, increase in customer retention and growth in advertisement revenues through our consulting & digital strategy.

2+ years of continuous development, ongoing support & maintenance

Storebrand Testimonial II

Cloud & DevOps

Continuous Monitoring

Digital Design & Branding

Enterprise Drupal Development

Incident Management

Minor Enhancements & Bug Fixes

Performance Optimization

Product Scaling

Support & Maintenance

Team Augmentation

UX Consulting & Audit

Web Development

Angular

Apache SOLR

Browserstack

Confluence

Docker

Drupal 8

Elasticsearch

GIT

Headless Drupal

JIRA

MySQL

Postman

Media, Entertainment & Publishing

Implementation of an edtech platform for online tutor scheduling

admin — Mon, 02 Jan 2023 11:47:12 +0000

Implementation of an edtech platform for online tutor scheduling admin Mon, 01/02/2023 - 11:47

Implementation of an edtech platform for online tutor scheduling with in-depth live class mechanism

Edtech

Belgium, Netherlands

Ideation & project roadmap development

Drupal custom module development

Drupal site building & frontend

Support & AMC

Performance optimization

Drupal 8

Apache SOLR

Acquia Cloud

GITLabs

JIRA

Confluence

Browserstack

The client's team had several discussions with us where we interpreted the the market feedbacks we had received into feature set, and they engaged us as a technical consultant to their project. Once the requirement set as hardened, and then development roadmap was clearly laid down, we were obviously the first choice as a development team, considering our contribution to the project so far.

The client is a young and dynamic edtech startup that originated from a varied group of tutors and academics who offer tutoring, both online and in-classroom setup. Headquartered in Ghent, they are active throughout Belgium and the Netherlands. Since 2013, this platform brings students and tutors together. More than 16,000 students have already found a private tutor through their platform.

The portal is an online platform for students to book classes from various tutors of diverse backgrounds. Students can search for tutors and classes based on various filters and criteria. These classes can be both online via web conference, or home tutoring.

This project was meant to be a website for students to book classes from various tutors online. The tutors would register online and fill up various information and their resume. They would then go through an approval process and once verified, their listing would start to appear on the site. Students can search based on different criteria using an extensive filtering mechanism. They can then book the two modes of classes - either online or offline (if a tutor has added this option to his profile).

Then the student makes a payment deposit as per selected tutor as per selected time slot and per hour rate of the tutor. And once done, the payment is escrowed to the tutor, after he enters his bank details, IBAN and BIC details. Another great functionality which we implemented here is the group class feature. Any tutor can start the group class and can mention how many students can be accommodated in one group class. And then students start to register for the class till it is full. There are various complex discount calculations which a student is entitled to if refers another student to the group as there is a feature to get referral discounts for referring other students to the group class. Some of the processes, especially referral discount calculation, were very complex, and our team of experienced backend developers successfully handled those challenges and went above and beyond every expectation.

Here's a gist of some of the functionalities we built grounds up, as per market feedback and analysis, and discussion with the client's product team.

Group Class Mechanism - The client wanted to implement a new feature called group class. So instead of an one on one session, a tutor can create a class at some future date, and allow multiple students to sign up for the same class. This was supposed to be an extension of the existing class system, but would need a special wage and fees calculation mechanism in place.
Referral Credits & Discounts - Client also wanted to start a referral mechanism programme. Here, one student can refer another student to join the site. Such users who join in, become the referral of the invitee, and any subsequent classes they purchase will entitle invitee for some discounts on the class the invitee purchases. Also, this referral mechanism was supposed to be multi level, instead of one level. So if a referred student further refers to another one, the invitee of this referred student also gains a referral credit/discount.
Online Video Conferencing for Online Tutoring Classes - Also, the client needed some enhancements to the online video conferencing feature on top of the existing system.
Design Improvements - There were quite a few pages, which were pretty basic and did not uphold the spirit of the site. The client discussed this matter with our designing team and engaged us to revamp and improve the design elements across the site to make it look more attractive.

The series of features we implemented not only helped the client gain more customers, but it also allowed them to expand to new markets, with considerable revenue boost. We forged a strong professional alliance and continue to support them for all their technical needs,

Bijleshuis Testimonial

While the client already had a MVP launched and they had gained considerable market insights, they needed a technical partner co-work with them to translate these into a solid phased development plan. Our team was able to evaluate the market feedbacks and design robust solutions that transformed customer journey and user experience. The features we implemented led to an overall increase in customer retention by 20%, paid customer conversion by 30% and led to an overall improvement in backend efficiency.

1.5+ years, phased development

Bijleshuis Testimonial II

Heading

Increase in customer retention by 20%

Outcome

With more user friendly process design, the portal became easier to use and the customer retention increased considerably.

Heading

Paid customer conversion by 30%

Outcome

The market analysis revealed some must have features, and once these were implemented, the site saw a surge in paid customer number and overall improved conversion rate.

Heading

Overall improvement in backend efficiency

Outcome

Through the feature optimizations we did, the backend efficiency increases and led to increase in profit.

API & Microservices

Cloud & DevOps

Digital Design & Branding

Digital Prototyping

Performance Optimization

Product Scaling

Support & Maintenance

Team Augmentation

UI Design & Implementation

Web Development

Browserstack

Confluence

Docker

Drupal 9

Elasticsearch

GIT

Google Cloud

Headless Drupal

JIRA

JMeter

MySQL

Postman

React

Selenium

Edtech