Purpose Built Software

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m an insurance broker by trade, but I hired Purpose Built Software to do some software development for a client management system.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Purpose Built Software?

Some of the business challenges we were trying to address were streamline automation, data record keeping, and client management in the company’s cloud storage. Previously, there was no pre-existing database.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Purpose Built Software was able to take my current workflows and reduce that number to make everything more efficient. Now, I’m almost nearly paperless and can get more done. Because I’m self-employed, the new system helps me do what an employee would be hired to do. Purpose Built Software has also introduced me to programs that allow you to record things like catching bugs.

The system requested creates standardized form letters with current client information and rate calculations. There is also a client portal. When the client goes into the portal, they execute a function on the portal and the portal will record it and then the boss will be able to execute the admin function that they’re trying to do.

What is the team dynamic?

We have been working together for over a year. The number of developers depends on the intensity of the sprints that we do. It is anywhere from 1-4 people. It’s been great. I interacted mostly with the project lead. If I have any concerns or questions, I can communicate with the project leader or directly to the developer.

How did you come to work with Purpose Built Software?

I wanted to hire someone locally for the project. Purpose Built Software is from the same town and they were recommended.

How much have you invested with them?

I have invested over $100,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project started in September 2015 and it is still ongoing. The system is up and running. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Since they built the platform, I have increased in efficiency. My workload and my ability to get things done have increased by about 25-30%.

How did Purpose Built Software perform from a project management standpoint?

They’ve done everything that they said they were going to do. They did it quickly and they did it efficiently. There’s always support after the project is done. When there is an issue, they handle it and modify before moving on to the next design piece.

We communicated mainly through e-mail but also used Jing. Jing is a screen capture software program that let us be more specific about the changes we need to get done.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I found their flexibility and their knowledge base most impressive. It didn’t seem like there was anything that they couldn’t do. That made me feel like I made a good choice picking the right company to work with. Scott [CEO, Purpose Built Software] went over and above.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I’ve been really happy.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am Principal at Expense Consulting, a contingency based cost reduction consulting firm in the healthcare space.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Purpose Built Software?

We needed pharmaceutical cost containment evaluation, analytics, and recommendations. We wanted to propel our business to the next level.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They built a very complex SaaS solution for us from scratch. We’re using AWS, but I’m leaving technology decisions up to them. They’re very bright people, and I fully trust Scott Yewell [President, Purpose Built Software]. He has an MBA from Cornell, so he understands the business aspect of the software development as well.

Purpose Built Software provides highly sophisticated database development and refreshing from a Fortune 100 third party company that provides weekly data. The system manipulates different CSV files, and does recommendation generation as well as pricing verification with multiple specific formulas based off indices. We didn’t have a system like this before.

What is the team dynamic?

There were four resources from Purpose Built that were involved in the project. I’ve been in contact with the project lead.

How did you come to work with Purpose Built Software?

We were looking for highly qualified people, and I was referred to Purpose Built Software by a friend. I was considering five other companies. Scott [President, Purpose Built Software] is constantly evolving the product as they develop it, because he understands the end goal. We’ve had other experiences with overseas developers, and they were more like robots doing what they were told without considering aesthetics or process.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them four months ago, and the project is ongoing. We’re done with the first iteration, and are making additional enhancements.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I have nothing to share at this time. 

How did Purpose Built Software perform from a project management standpoint?

They were exceptional, ahead of schedule, and under budget. I’ve never said such kind things about a developer. Their communication was also incredible, and they would respond to me within hours, if not seconds, after contact. They use Slack in-house, but we used email and Google Docs to communicate.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Scott’s [President, Purpose Built Software] understanding of business is impressive. He still maintains the technical abilities and acumen to execute tasks while using his brain to think about the end goal.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I have no recommendations regarding improvement.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder and owner of RotatingRoom, a student-to-student subletting website designed primarily for medical students.

Medical students spend a big part of their last year of training rotating between different institutions, hospitals, and universities around the country. One of the biggest challenges for those students is to find a place within their budget and also near the hospital due to intense hours. In doing so, they’re also leaving their own place vacant. The need was for an alternative to Craigslist that allowed an exchange of sublets within a secure, trusted community. This would allow medical students to share and use other student’s rooms while they’re away.

RotatingRoom was founded in 2009 and started with only a handful of schools in Boston and New York. It has grown organically to cover every medical school in the country, and we now have a partnership with the Association of American Medical Colleges, and over 1 million site views per year.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Purpose Built Software?

I had built the first version of the site myself in 2009 an updated it over the course of time, but there were many elements on it which had gotten dated. The infrastructure itself was brittle, and the product had many missing features, especially in the midst of competing with Airbnb and similar sites. There were related security challenges, as well as an aesthetic and experience component that needed addressed. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

I engaged Purpose Built Software with the objective of doing a total rebuild of the site from the ground up, while preserving some of the experience components which made it feel unique. We employed a new framework and architecture, significantly extended capabilities, improved experience, and migrated from a primarily server-side application to an increasingly client-side one. It became much more dynamic, responsive, and interactive, and also gained a bunch of feature enhancements.

Purpose Built used the Laravel PHP framework as the backend, and Vue.js as the frontend. There was a lot of custom JavaScript involved.

What is the team dynamic?

The whole project was built from scratch using a development team of 1-2 engineers, a QA resource, and project management.

We spent 8 weeks rebuilding the platform from the first line of code to the last. Purpose Built managed all the environments, the staging server, and the QA. I found the project management to be exceptional as they handled all issue-tracking and weekly planning. We also had weekly demos.

Scott Yewell [Owner, Purpose Built Software] pitched in on some of the project management, and I found him specifically exceptional. On one hand, Purpose Built is a contractor engaged to complete a project, but Scott took the project on as his own. He considered the improvements he would specifically want to have, and gave suggestions even if they equated to more work for him. He thought proactively, and gave lateral approaches, even for non-engineering components around our launch and the marketing effort. Scott is part of what makes Purpose Built exceptional.

How did you come to work with Purpose Built Software?

A trusted colleague who I’ve worked with in the past, who also happens to be one of the best engineers and technical leads I’ve known, recommended Purpose Built Software.

How much have you invested with them?

The total investment has been between $10,000-$50,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project was on-and-off, mostly because of some external events on my side. It took around 8 weeks to complete, and we’re hoping to wrap it up within the next 1-2 weeks. We started in April 2017.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We haven’t launched the new website yet, so I can’t provide any details. It currently has over 1 million views per year, and over 100,000 users.

How did Purpose Built Software perform from a project management standpoint?

We used a fair amount of email, and I had a weekly phone call using WebEx. We used Trello, which I set up before Purpose Built joined the project. At some point, we also used GitHub and some of its project management tools.

The communication was done primarily with the owner, who did a good job of managing the developers. I do a lot of product work in my other life, and I respect the importance of interfacing for making sure we are able to direct the team. For the rare occasions when it made more sense to engage the resources directly, we also had this approach.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I’ve worked with many different contractors in the past who were able to get the work done, but Scott [Owner, Purpose Built Software] has taken this to the next level. He has remained invested in the outcome of the project, rather than just in the components he was directly responsible for. He felt like a partner to me in the work we did, instead of a consultant or contractor. This partnership has yielded a much better product than if someone had just “built a stack.” A person who is this passionate about someone else’s project, and has this level of investment of their own energy and mind, is a rare thing to find. Scott deserves to be commended for it.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Purpose Built is a small shop, and I had to walk into working with them knowing this. It can have a lot of benefits, in terms of an intimate working relationship, but, if I need to double the speed of a project and add twice as many developers, it will be more difficult to do as opposed to a larger company. Rather than a negative, it’s a caveat which one should think about when engaging with Purpose Built. They offer the benefits of a more intimate relationship, but they don’t have the scale of a 200-person consultancy. They also don’t have the expense associated with this.