Mantrax Software Solutions

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Executive Director of CIFFA

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

We are a national not-for-profit association that represents, educates and advocates for Canada's logistics, freight forwarding, customs brokers, drayage, freight brokers and warehouse industries.  

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Mantrax Software Solutions to accomplish?

• Improve portal UX by fixing performance bottlenecks. Rebuild CIFFA's portal to process data server-side instead of in-browser, cutting page load times and resolving the legacy LMS integration. Goals: faster loads, consistent performance across devices, fixed LMS integration, & scalable architecture

SOLUTION

How did you find Mantrax Software Solutions?

• Online Search
• Other

Why did you select Mantrax Software Solutions over others?

• Close to my geographic location
• Referred to me
• Company values aligned

How many teammates from Mantrax Software Solutions were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

The contract was to build a backend service between our existing portal and Dataverse. Using an agile work plan, the solution was delivered in incremantal stages, allowing phase testing and implementation. The backend solution only retrieves required or necessary information, which improved both speed and efficiency. This approach improved portal performance, enhanced security and made the system easier to maintain    

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Page load time cut from ~30 seconds to under 6 seconds for North American users, with similar gains internationally Consistent, reliable UI replacing a glitchy legacy front end

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

The Mantrax team were highly efficient and responsive. Daily communication kept the project on-track and on-budget. Issues were dealt with overnight and the solution was delivered without incident.  

What was your primary form of communication with Mantrax Software Solutions?

Virtual Meeting

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

They were clear communicators and extremely responsive to our needs. They had an excellent understanding about the initiative and the team were quick to address any obstacle that was identified. 

Are there any areas for improvement or something Mantrax Software Solutions could have done differently?

No. The team listened to the team and had a clear understanding of what was required. They made improvement suggestions throughout the process that enhanced the project further that initially anticipated.  

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Lawyer of ACIKGOZ LAW

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Legal Services.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Mantrax Solutions to accomplish?

• CRM Development

SOLUTION

How did you find Mantrax Solutions?

• Online Search

Why did you select Mantrax Solutions over others?

• Close to my geographic location
• Good value for cost

How many teammates from Mantrax Solutions were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

As a lawyer practising in Ontario, since 2016, I have been trying to develop a CRM for my practice and, if possible, to be used by other lawyers too. I have contacted several developers in and outside Canada and worked with three different developers (one of them was an American company).

My experience with all three previous developers was not good at all and I had given up as I came to the conclusion that there was no way for these people could complete and deploy my project within the time/budget constraints. As a last and final one, I tried Mantrax Solutions.

They have been working on my project since October 2021. Without any exaggeration, all of the work they so far completed has been to my complete satisfaction - all of the prints were completed on time as planned and deployed successfully one by one on time.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

• The goal we set for our software were achieved.

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

The project management with respect to time management was reasonable, and they completed the work as planned.

What was your primary form of communication with Mantrax Solutions?

• In-Person Meeting
• Virtual Meeting

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

They are quite good at responding to our needs and inquiries. They were also good with informing us about the challenges they were facing- particularly if something that was not achievable.

Are there any areas for improvement or something Mantrax Solutions could have done differently?

They may improve their performance by hiring more developers.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the president of Barrday. We are a raw materials provider for everything from commercial aviation products to ballistic armor materials.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Mantrax Solutions?

We needed some consultation and development done for a few projects.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Mantrax has been involved in three projects with us. For one project, they reorganized our IT groups and redefined our IT structure. The team helped make assessments, recruit and onboard resources, and lay out plans and needs. They also relocated people to different plans.

Another project they did was implementing a company-wide analytics system. They worked with our different teams to identify all of the KPIs. Then, they developed automated dashboards.

The most recent project was to update our ERP to the latest version. They managed upgrades without customization. The team also handled vendor selection and management, as well as internal management. They are currently in the implementation stage.

What is the team composition?

Chinkal (Co-Founder & Principal) is my direct contact. She oversees her team.

How did you come to work with Mantrax Solutions?

We have had a long-standing relationship with Chinkal. The skillset she and her team bring regarding project management and manufacturing made it obvious that they were the right fit for us.

How much have you invested with them?

My company has spent $150,000¬–$175,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working together around November 2019, and it’s ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? 

For our projects with Mantrax, we have milestones. We also compare the actual timelines to the initial assessments. While we are slightly behind in one project, it is nothing worrisome. The team does a great job. They have been exceptionally helpful with the analytics project.

How did Mantrax Solutions perform from a project management standpoint?

Their project management skills are great. Without them, we would be way off track. The Mantrax team does charting and handles meetings. They keep everything flowing smoothly.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I believe their project management sets them apart from their competitors.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can’t think of anything.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Get on the same page from the start, and set milestones to keep the project on track.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Project Manager of a manufacturing company 

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Our company currently manufactures approximately 50% of the ceramic coloured granules consumed by the Canadian roofing industry at its plant in Quebec.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Mantrax Software Solutions to accomplish?

• Update custom legacy software used for plant operations

SOLUTION

How did you find Mantrax Software Solutions?

Online Search

Why did you select Mantrax Software Solutions over others?

• Good value for cost
• Experience with migrating legacy software

How many teammates from Mantrax Software Solutions were assigned to this project?

6-10 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

The intended use of the app is to allow our employees to track production of colored granule products, maintaining information on sales orders, production batches, client and supplier information, and lab quality control reports.

POur previous system was outdated from the user interface perspective and technology stack, as it was developed using an old version of Visual Basics. Furthermore, the system was only accessible via VM login, which limited accessibility. The previous system was unable to support reporting, integration with other systems, scalability and lacked flexibility required by us.

The scope of this project was to develop a new Progressive Web application that allowed our employees to login with their passwords to perform their obligations with respect to the production of coloured granule products.

• Examine the existing application to establish functional requirements.
• Specify alterations to the current functionality (removals, modifications, additions) and assess potential improvements.
• Begin collecting input from the Accounting team at the project's inception to ensure the extraction of necessary data from the New Application in a suitable format (e.g., CSV file) for uploading to Sage (accounting software). Finance's input may involve incorporating new fields or calculations to support reporting.
• Key Objectives in High-Level Design: 
  • Implement an improved user interface.
  • Develop the application to be bilingual (French/English) with a translation file for maintaining descriptions. User interface will be in French.
  • Enable offline access.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Daily and then bi-weekly meetings were held to review work accomplished, next steps, and approvals for UI and functionality. This consistent communication was key for transparent tracking of progress over the course of this complex project.

The new software has thus far been well-accepted and praised by users for the more intuitive interfaces, expanded reporting capabilities, and enhanced management tools which we believe will improve plant efficiency and production tracking. In comparison to the egacy software, we hope to see fewer errors in data and greater efficiencies in production as the new program is implemented fully in upcoming months.

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

Project managers were involved and very responsive. Working across mutiple languages can be challenging when discussing specific, complex, and unusual manufacturing requirements however I feel teams worked well together to address issues and develop solutions. 

What was your primary form of communication with Mantrax Software Solutions?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

Their transparency was refreshing. Mantrax Software Solutions was clearly committed to delivering value for us and to ensuring the final product met requirements. Halfway through the project, it bacame apparent that a budget adjustment would be necessary to ensure completion of all required modules of the program. This challenge was handled professionally and with a renewed commitment by Mantrax to ensure no other adjustments would be required for the duration of the project. As a small company, we appreciated the concessions and commitments they were willing to make to ensure our success. 

Are there any areas for improvement or something Mantrax Software Solutions could have done differently?

It might have smoothed the development process to ensure elements being cleared for testing by our team were always fully funtional. Sometimes it could be a bit unclear which pieces could be expected to work and which were stlll in development, which could occasionally lead to some frustration from testers, who did not have extensive experience with software development.