We were approached by TMT First to create a Web API to enable them to receive orders digitally from their customers. We were recommended to TMT First by another one of our clients. A Web API was developed to meet their requirements and utilised the following technologies:
- .NET Core 5 Web API
- EntityFramework Core – Code First Migrations to MySQL
- Hosted on Azure using App Services
- MySQL hosted on Azure
- Fully unit tested along with in-memory integration testing to cover the API boundaries
- CI/CD Pipelines setup on Azure DevOps
We provided software developers to the VMD to provide resource on a new project to rewrite many legacy internal systems.
Some key technologies used on this project were:
- .NET Core Web Services
- MongoDb
- Redis Cache
- Angular/Ionic
- HapiJs & Nunjucks
- GOV.UK Design System
- Docker & Kubernetes
- Jenkins & Azure DevOps
- Azure & AWS
- Terraform
We undertook a contract with Microtest to modernise and develop a new web based application to replace the appointments module of their GP Practice software.
Some key deliverables of this project were:
- Review current implementation and suggest suitable technologies to modernise the software.
- Implementation of a “blue print” application for use by their existing developers to familiarise themselves with the new technology.
- Architect the software using Angular version 8, ngRx and Karma/Jasmine.
- Train and support the existing team to get up to speed with the new technologies.
- Support and provide guidance to assist the business in their journey from Waterfall to Agile.
We undertook a contract with Landmark to modernize and develop a web site for Sport England
Some key deliverables of this project were:
- Implementation of a new calculation engine for the Sport England Active Places website. The calculator is used to analyse the number of new sports pitches required when the population of a given area is due to increase.
- Upgrade server architecture for the Sport England Active Places website. The platform was upgraded from Windows Server 2008 to Windows Server 2016 and SQL Server 2008 to SQL Server 2017.
- Installation and configuration of the latest versions of TeamCity and Octopus Deploy. A full CI/CD pipeline was implemented to deliver the software to a new development environment running the latest technology. Octopus Deploy was then used to promote builds to environments further down the release pipeline.
- Large refactor of the Sport England Active Places website. The site comprises of two web front ends and a single database. There were many different mechanisms for connecting to and querying the database and this code was duplicated across both web projects. We split all data access code into a separate project using NHibernate. This project is built, tested and packaged using NuGet on TeamCity. The shared library can then be used across both web projects.
- Increase of test coverage across all projects. Most of the projects had some integration tests written with SpecFlow, but no valuable unit tests. As we refactored the projects, we introduced a substantial amount of unit tests in a standard Given, When, Then format. These tests mean that the developer can make future changes to the system with confidence.
First Databank contracted DCSE Limited to assist with the re-architecting of their prescription web service. This web service is used by approximately three quarters of the doctors surgeries in the UK and, as a result, receives millions of calls per day.
Some key deliverables of this project were to:
- Re-architect the company’s single, cumbersome web service into several smaller micro services.
- Implement an MSMQ architecture using NServiceBus to allow data to be harvested to a data warehouse environment. This was later expanded to allow key data to be replicated out to database farms in real time to replace bulky, manual data scripts.
- To revise the company’s TeamCity build process to perform a more component based build.
- Implement Octopus Deploy for automated deploy to the UAT, staging and production environments. This was combined with the TeamCity build process.
- Develop the company’s customer facing web portal using ASP.NET MVC. Subsequent areas of the portal were developed using KnockoutJs.
Allparts Automotive Solutions are a long standing client of ours. We have provided various bespoke software solutions for them including:
- Design and implementation of the Repairable and Dismantling vehicle sections of their website using PHP and MySQL.
- Bespoke utility to automate the upload of photos to their web site from their internal network.
- Ad-hoc support on their back end systems.
- Network design and workstation support of their internal network.