HEContracts
Custom Tender Management System
H2O Publishing is one of the leading foodservice publishers in the UK, producing sixteen key titles covering a number of sectors in the industry.
Along with the main scope of their business, H2O deals with events organisation, marketing and other sales-oriented activities.
Problem
H2O Publishing needed to solve problems with their existing platform’s technical debt. They experienced a number of scalability issues, as system was not ready to handle required amount of data.
H2O Publishing discovered and pursued a major business opportunity within education sector. They got involved into tendering system management for British Universities consortia. Wide knowledge of the suppliers’ market opened for them a way to become an important middleman, making the whole process more accessible for everyone.
However, the platform used at the time by H2O Publishing was outdated and inefficient. They experienced a number of scalability issues, as system was not ready to handle required amount of data, systematically growing along with the service development. It was also difficult to use, which was especially problematic taking the amount of users on the both parties. At this point, H2O Publishing needed to solve problems with their platform’s technical debt.
Solution
We created a complex platform, where both suppliers and universities representatives can easily upload and download documents for the tenders they want to take part in, view extensive reports, and get notification whenever someone makes changes or offers that regard their cases.
The goal was to redesign the whole platform to adapt it to the heavy traffic. Our main challenge was to build a product that would bring together efficient processing of extremely huge amounts of data with friendly UX design. Not to mention the tender law compliance at every stage.
After the initial discovery meeting we carried the workshop and presented our development plan to the client. After that we proceeded with the UX process to define screens and main functionalities. Design and development of the initial MVP was scheduled for 6 months, which is a very short deadline for a project of this complexity.
We have enjoyed working with the Codeminded team. Their innovative approach to solving issues and coming up with solutions to our requirements has been valuable. They understand our systems and keep us on track with maintaining consistency when our requests have further actions and consequences in the system. This has kept our system robust and functioning normally through our updates and new developments
We created a complex platform, where both suppliers and universities representatives can easily upload and download documents for the tenders they want to take part in, view extensive reports, and get notification whenever someone makes changes or offers that regard their cases. Universities can use the API to publish notices about ongoing tenders on their websites.
Another well-received feature is Request For Quote function. Purchaser can indicate a specific supplier to submit an offer, especially when they already worked together successfully in the past.
Designed platform proved itself in the business environment, and allowed for the flexibility necessary to successfully pursue the new business opportunities. Based on this cooperation, H2O Publishing decided to continue the development with our team. We already finished three big rounds of development together, and we plan additional projects in the future.
