redburn / softwire - financial research site case study

2
Financial news and research portal AngularJS single page front-end application Custom OAuth authentication solution Integrations with external XML feeds, databases, and emails as data sources ASP.NET MVC/ Web API, C#, EntityFramework, SQL Server back-end At A Glance Softwire built a sophisticated financial news and research site for Redburn, a leading equity broker, with a high degree of UI quality. The Challenge Softwire built a financial news and research site for Redburn, a leading equity broker and research provider. Redburn were looking for a fresh direction for their online investment research offering and needed a company able to implement their desired graphic design to a high degree of fidelity and technical quality. The project posed a number of challenges for our team including high fidelity implementation of designs without compromise on functionality. It was vital that the site was responsively designed for mobile, tablet and desktop, as well as having a high-quality appearance when printed. The team were also required to ensure the smooth integration of multiple data sources (APIs, databases, emails) from a variety of organisations, in a live update manner. We delivered the project in an Agile manner, and in close collaboration with the Redburn product owners and stakeholders. We also worked with end users to elicit feedback about releases prior to go-live, which was incorporated into the product backlog, and ultimately resulted in a positively received live launch.

Upload: james-dessin

Post on 14-Apr-2017

22 views

Category:

Software


2 download

TRANSCRIPT

• Financialnewsandresearchportal

• AngularJSsinglepagefront-endapplication

• CustomOAuthauthenticationsolution

• IntegrationswithexternalXMLfeeds,databases,andemailsasdatasources

• ASP.NETMVC/WebAPI,C#,EntityFramework,SQLServerback-end

At A Glance

Softwire built a sophisticated financial news and research site for Redburn, a leading equity broker, with a high degree of UI quality.

The Challenge

SoftwirebuiltafinancialnewsandresearchsiteforRedburn,aleadingequitybrokerandresearchprovider.Redburnwere looking fora freshdirectionfortheironlineinvestmentresearchofferingandneededacompanyabletoimplementtheirdesiredgraphicdesigntoahighdegreeoffidelityandtechnicalquality.

Theprojectposedanumberofchallengesforourteamincludinghighfidelityimplementationofdesignswithoutcompromiseonfunctionality.Itwasvitalthatthesitewasresponsivelydesignedformobile,tabletanddesktop,aswellashavingahigh-qualityappearancewhenprinted.Theteamwerealsorequiredtoensurethesmoothintegrationofmultipledatasources(APIs,databases,emails)fromavarietyoforganisations,inaliveupdatemanner.

We delivered the project in anAgilemanner, and in close collaborationwiththeRedburnproductownersandstakeholders.Wealsoworkedwithend users to elicit feedback about releases prior to go-live, which wasincorporatedintotheproductbacklog,andultimatelyresultedinapositivelyreceivedlivelaunch.

The Outcome

Ourinvestmentintestingandtoolingdeliveredsignificantvalueoverthecourseofdevelopment,andcontributedtohigherqualityandlowercostofownership.Ourin-houseUXanddesigncapability,andourstrongfrontenddevelopersmeantwecouldquicklydeliverthehighqualityUIrequired,whilstusingourmanagementandconsultancyexpertisetorefineRedburn’sbusinessrequirements.

WearecontinuingtosupportandextendtheresearchplatformforRedburn’sinternalusers,anditwillberolledoutgloballytocustomersinthenearfuture.RedburnhaveadditionallycommissionedSoftwiretocarryoutfurtherphasesofworkonthisprojectafterhavingreceivedverypositivefeedbackfromitsinternaluserssincerelease.

The SolutionWearchitectedandbuilttheplatformasaresponsivewebsiteusingaMicrosofttechstack,withourdesignteamprovidingiterativeupdatestotheoriginaldesignsfollowinginitialuserfeedback.Forthefront-end,wechosethemodernframeworkAngularJStoprovidethelookandfeelRedburnwerelookingfor.Asignificantamountofsystemlogicwasimplementedclient-side,improvingresponsivenessanduserexperience.

Whenfacedwithareasoftechnicalrisk,weundertookatechnical‘spike’earlyonintheproject,ashortburstoffocusseddevelopmentwiththesoleintentionofreducingoreliminatingtherisk.Onesuchexamplewastheriskaroundthirdpartydependencies:integratingthirdpartyAPIs,variousRedburndatabases,andinparticularparsinghuman-writtenemailstointegratecontentintothesystem.

Inkeepingwithourcultureofautomation,wedeliveredafullsuiteofautomatedtestsatalllevelsofthesystem,includingcode-leveltests(JavaScriptandC#),integrationtests,smoketestsandbrowsertests(viaSelenium).

ThesystemishostedinthecloudonMicrosoftAzure,anddeployedautomaticallytothreeenvironments(UAT,stage,live)withablue/greenproductionsetup(runningidenticalenvironmentswhichtrafficcanbeswitchedbetween,providingzero-downtimeupdatesandanimmediaterollbackpathincaseofissues).WetackledriskyareasearlyandcommunicatedfrequentlywithRedburnstakeholderstoachieveasuccessfulresult.