OpenSense Labs

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Koshi Educational and welfare society is an NGO that aims to provide quality education to all, especially the underprivileged. I am the Additional Secretary.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire OpenSense Labs?

Website Support & Maintenance. OpenSense Labs helped us build our website on Drupal. Post-development, the website required support & maintenance to function properly. They helped us make our website mobile responsive, user friendly, & fix bugs.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

OpenSense Labs have an impressive ranking and their online reviews have become the deciding factor. They have some of the brightest minds in their development team who have solid Drupal design and development knowledge.

Describe the project in detail and walk through the stages of the project.

It was a support & maintenance engagement for our Drupal website. The primary goal was to improve the website interface making it engaging & relevant to users across devices. Their delivery process is simple & clear. The project started with a thorough audit. In this phase, their team shared the project roadmap and all the activities to be done in each sprint.

They helped us drive (more) donations with easy solutions and simplified the backend workflow so non-technical team members can also manage the admin interface easily. They improved our website performance and made it mobile-responsive which resulted in a better user experience and engagement across devices.

How many resources from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

There were three developers and a project manager aligned with this project.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

We have received new memberships through our newly designed donation page.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

The overall workflow was quite effective between our teams. OpenSense Labs shared weekly website updates with us on decided timelines. This kept us aware of all the updates done each week. They were approachable and understood our requirements well.

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

They engaged with us as technology partners more than vendors. Their client-driven approach makes them a reliable Drupal partner to work with. In one incident we were scheduled for an important meeting and faced some technical issues at the 11th hour. Despite the request coming on a weekend, the team quickly resolved our issues and saved us from embarrassment in an important investor meeting.

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

Their overall project process, coordination, and delivery is good.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Centre for Women’s Development Studies (CWDS) is a research and advocacy institution engaged with and committed to women’s rights and to the discipline of women’s and gender studies. CWDS houses a Library and Information centre (VMML) which is an integral and effective part of CWDS and has a vibrant collection of research materials related to gender and women studies. I’m the PI (Principal Investigator) of the Knowledge Gateway Project and the Library in Charge of CWDS, an autonomous research institute supported by ICCSR under Ministry of Education, GoI.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire OpenSense Labs, and what were your goals?

We hired OpenSense Labs to develop a portal website more specifically a Knowledge Gateway on Women’s Studies using Drupal CMS.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

We had put an advertisement inviting tender in our website from agencies registered in Drupal official website. After that we interviewed various Drupal agencies and OpenSense Labs stood out amongst the others for their competitive prices, excellent technical expertise, high level of responsiveness, professionalism, and the good position they hold in drupal.org.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

At first, we had a series of discovery meetings in which we clearly discussed our vision for the website and with the design layout. Then OpenSense Labs led us across all the phases of developing a new portal website. With the proper leadership and expertise within the stipulated time period, our project was successfully delivered by this agency.

How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

There were five team members from the OpenSense Labs that included Pradhuman (Software Developer), Sandeep (Software Developer), Aakash (Software Developer), Pritish (Technical Lead), and Trisha (Software Developer)

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

Even though OpenSense Labs didn’t have much scope to showcase creativity in regard to the design section since they had to work with a predefined theme, still they helped us in creating several pages on the basis of defined content types and defined pages along with providing the cost-effective facility.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.

We had a seamless collaboration with OpenSense Labs. The overall cooperation between the team members was quite smooth and easy. The OpenSense Labs team was responsive and were available for zoom and phone calls to discuss any concerns or queries.

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

We were happy with their final product, which had proper quality standards. Also, one of the impressive qualities which we found in this agency was adhering to the time commitment they provided us in regard to the project delivery and eventually delivering it at the stipulated time period.

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

Nothing as such.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the CEO of Edredo. Edredo (Formerly Techtud) is an Ed-Tech platform to connect students and early-stage professionals with academics, companies, and domain experts resulting in skill development.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire OpenSense Labs, and what were your goals?

We needed help in incremental development, and domain expertise in regards to education from an organisation for our existing platform. OpenSense Labs was the right fit for our requirements, and therefore we hired this agency.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

We selected a few of the organisations from Drupal.org, because this product was already built on Drupal, and then came in touch with OpenSense Labs. We selected them because of the cost-effective engagement proposal and also because of the their previous work record.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

Our motto was to build a platform for social learning and career transformation. We focused on establishing a platform, an all-inclusive, assimilated & engaging platform to stimulate learning for students and early-stage professionals.

How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

The recruitment process was pretty simple. We shortlisted some organisations from Drupal.org as this product was built already on Drupal. Then based on our requirement of expertise we started interviewing some of the organisations, of which OpenSense Labs proved to be the right choice.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

With their support, we were able to move to agile and also conduct sprint-wise proper planning for smooth deployment of our project. The OpenSense Labs team was good at the product discovery approach which helped in understanding the need of our users and rightfully develop the product for them.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.

The overall cooperation between all the team members were quite smooth. The Account Manager of OpenSense Labs played a very vital role in the effective workflow between ours and OpenSense Labs’ team. He ensured that all the work processes went smoothly and the coordination required for the project was met on the prescribed time.

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

IAmidst all the difficulties and hardships, they ensured to deliver on time and maintain good quality. They provided proficient developers at a very cost-effective price who rightfully proposed solutions to all the challenges that arose during the project.

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

None worth mentioning

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Global IT Manager for an education consultancy which provides free and impartial counselling and application services for international students.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire OpenSense Labs, and what were your goals?

Our website was very outdated and hand coded using PHP. We wanted to invest in a solid, reliable CMS that will support our rebranded business and meet the expectations of our clients.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

OSL were recommended to us because of their experience with Drupal and competitive pricing.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

We had a kick-off meeting to discuss our goals and objectives that was the proceeded by a deep dive session about the site architecture. From there, the team delivered formal schematic of the entire site along with a quotation for the entire project.

How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

Appox 8 people. The positions ranged from:

• Developer
• Architect
• Project Manager
• Quality Analyst
• Delivery Manager

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

The website was a complete re-build for us so seeing the final product was very exciting. It was great to be able to populate the CMS during production, this helped us deliver a completed site on time for launch.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.

Project management was a mix of Kanban and Agile methodology under Scrum framework, cross-functional teams. This proved flexible given our challenging timeline, which OSL managed to keep to very well. Communication was either done through a dedicated Microsoft Teams group or via email.

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

Their experience and problem-solving skills in Drupal implementation requirements were impressive. Also the ability to adapt to the occasional requirement change, but keep everything within the project timeline.

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

OSL are super eager to impress and they delivered everything we needed. The result was satisfaction from all senior management and investors. From the project management side I feel they took perhaps a little too much, but that was a result of our changing requirements. Going forwards I'd say it's best to be upfront about project scope and advise the client to re-arrange as part of a Phase 2 update.

Overall communication was excellent and we did get a lot of their time. I'd say there was only a slight room for improvement.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Marketing Manager

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Manufacturer of laser wire marking and stripping systems 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire OpenSense Labs to accomplish?

• Redesign website

SOLUTION

How did you find OpenSense Labs?

Drupal website

Why did you select OpenSense Labs over others?

• High ratings
• Pricing fit our budget
• Good value for cost

How many teammates from OpenSense Labs were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

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

They were an excellent company to work with. The project was quite complex and included redesigning the company website in 5 languages. Very dedicated team and excellent results, highly recommended. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

modern responsibe website 

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

Excellent project management, they were able to deliver on time. 

What was your primary form of communication with OpenSense Labs?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

Excellent drupal developer and reasonable cost 

Are there any areas for improvement or something OpenSense Labs could have done differently?

Because the project incuded 5 different languages the content entry was rather convoluted, it would be great to have a more standardized aproach to this. 

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I lead a marketing technology team at a marketing agency.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire OpenSense Labs, and what were your goals?

We have utilized OpenSense Labs for multiple website and application projects and their technical delivery has met our project goals.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

We conducted a through RFQ process and ultimately selected OpenSense Labs following our review process.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

We have utilized OpenSense Labs for project management, frontend development, Drupal backend development, systems architecture, devops and quality assurance.

How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

We have worked with OpenSense Labs associate who provide project management, frontend development, Drupal backend development, systems architecture, devops and quality assurance.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

We have been satisfied with the technical delivery from OpenSense Labs.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.

We collaborate using a number of cloud-based collaboration tools including Google Workspace, Slack, Confluence and Jira to name a few.

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

Their specialty in Drupal development is impressive.

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

If I had to name one thing, I would say quality assurance testing to reduce our need to spend additional time in this area.