Custom Software Development
Standards and Technology
Software Development Methodology
At Attractor Software we know that a high-quality product is a result of a high-quality process and we are continuously working on the improvement of our internal standards for engineering and project management.
- Agile methodologies: SCRUM, Kanban, Extreme Programming
- Continuous improvement of company standards
- Risk assessment and risk management
- Quality assurance and quality control
- Enforcement of modern engineering practices
- Well trained personnel and respect for engineering practices
Engineering Standards
Attractor Software is constantly investing in the training of our people and in establishing methods to ensure the high-quality standards are followed by all our team members:
- SOLID principle in software design
- Test-driven development
- Clean coding (as defined by Uncle Bob)
- Continuous Integration and Continuous Delivery
- Test automation, deployment automation, and infrastructure as a code
- Using state of the art tools and techniques (i.e., git for scm, Docker for infrastructure, cloud services for hosting).
Technology profile
- Python (Django)
- Ruby (Ruby on Rails)
- PHP (Symfony, Laravel)
- Android (Java)
- iOS (Objective-C, Swift)
- JavaScript (ReactJS, Angular, Node.js)
- Docker
- TDD, BDD, Automated tests
- Agile (Scrum/Kanban)
Focus
Portfolio
G2C Interactive map of legal services development
Task: To create an interactive map of legal services providers for the Ministry of Justice of Kyrgyzstan to simplify the search process for the population. The user must be able to find the necessary information about legal services providers across the country: public (courts, prosecutor’s offices, police stations, bar associations, child and family protection agencies, notaries, etc.) and non-governmental (civil organizations, pro bono lawyers and attorneys, emergency response centers, courts of elders, women’s councils, private law firms, individual lawyers, etc.)
Outcome: We created a product that gives citizens of Kyrgyzstan a convenient search tool for law firms and legal practitioners. The list of legal services is plotted on a map, and users can add to the list. The existing filters sort search results based on a user’s location. All links include addresses and phone numbers of organizations and show their ratings. Tabs contain legal information, information about the project, free legal help providers, and more. The design is adapted for desktop computers and mobile devices.
HeartBeat
There are many implicit objective tools for gauging emotions. Although feelings are personal and subjective, human brain turns them into a standard code which renders emotions through various feelings, situations, and even people. The segmentation of emotions was developed based on the classification of emotions by W. Gerrod Parrott of Georgetown University and was implemented in the product. The system helps companies to do a precise thorough analysis of emotional factors of behavior and to understand their employees, clients, and patients better..
Outcome: The developed application allows for uploading data and obtaining various reports in a form of graphs and tables. To understand and analyze emotions, Heartbeat processes language (unstructured text) that people use to describe their conscious feelings. The algorithm takes this textual data and converts it into a binary code that represents primary and secondary emotions.
Intellectual text analytics Heartbeat is based on comprehensive taxonomy, a science of classification, of over 20,000 multigrams, or emotional words and phrases, professionally encoded into 100 secondary categories. Each word and phrase represent one or several secondary emotional categories.
At the moment the development of the product is ongoing.
GARDER
Task:To create a system for inspection of urban water pipes and sewers. It has to examine water quality in various facilities, register irregularities, send notifications to customers, and receive reports on previously found irregularities.
Outcome: The project was completed and successfully launched. It allows saving a client database for water and sewage services, manager personnel who has access to the system, keep record of the inspection results, send notifications to rulebreakers, integrate with PayPal to accept payments from customers. The application can be used on iPads to access the system on site.
Sametrica
Task: To create a secure tool for the government of Canada that would enable collection of trustworthy and comprehensive data on return of the social investments and compilation of reports based on that data.
Outcome: With the help of the data collection service SAMETRICA, beneficiaries of state funds can enter their data, collected via various methods e.g. surveys, interviews, focus groups, into a single repository. Instead of sending reports with data on the social impact via email, they will send it to the service. A convenient placement and storage of records and other functions will help save time that public servants and respondents could spend on data collection and reports preparation.
A logical model constructor allows users to create a structure for intervention or initiatives. This is a technical structure that allows for analysis of social impact from investments.
Intervention Example: House 30% of Toronto’s homeless population over a period of 5 years. Initiative Example: Significantly reduce the number of childhood deaths from malnutrition.
The system is currently in an operating environment and in development process. It is planned to integrate it with AI, machine learning, and additional services.
Baker Tilly Central Asia Advisor Support App
Task: The client needed a digital solution to share news and opportunities in Kyrgyzstan with investors around the world as well as a loan and tax calculator. In the first iteration we built a mobile application from scratch. After a while, the client asked us to adjust the application to specifications of other countries (Kazakhstan, Tajikistan)
Outcome: We spent a lot of time on studying tax regulations in each country in order to develop a calculator for property and income taxes. The application also has a loan calculator that helps to determine a repayment term of a loan and interest rates. The application includes a unit with legal information on doing business in a particular country, news of the company, and notifications. The application is available in Russian and English languages.
Elcard Mobile
Task: To build a frontend for an Android mobile application. The Interbank Processing Center developed the backend for its system independently.
The simultaneous development of API and the client-side of the application created some challenges. Occasionally, it led to miscommunication followed by unforeseen errors. As a result, the project took longer than it was initially planned.
Outcome: We built a mobile application in which a user can add their Elcard payment system cards and track them. They can find nearest ATMs and POS terminals, transfer money from one card to another, and check the transactions history. The app has a newsfeed and support. Every user has access to a personal account and can customize its settings.
Veeqo
Task: Veeqo is an electronic commerce tool that helps multi-platform retailers selling on Amazon, eBay, Shopify, WooCommerce, and Magento. Shipment of orders usually requires printing a variety of documents. Veeqo users had to click at least 10 times to have a necessary file printed to sell an item and send it to a buyer. Our task was to simplify the process with one-click printing. Each type of paperwork sends commands to different parts of the system and requires a particular type of printer (regular printer, thermal printer, etc.) as well as can vary depending on a task: print online or save and print later. Our additional task was the integration with USB scales that automatically send an item’s weight to the application.
Outcome: We integrated Veeqo app with PrintNode, a service that allows for managing printers and USB scales in warehouses. Now every Veeqo user can set up print of standard types of documents and custom templates and modify and save personal print settings. They can select a document, set a default printer for it, and remotely send it to print with a single click. We did the similar integration for USB scales.
HRM system
Task: To create a flexible and convenient tool for keeping track of employees’ workdays and vacations.
Outcome: Our team of developers prepared a project that will significantly simplify an employee’s work by tracking the number of their workdays. The application automatically calculates a number of workdays in each month and according to it tracks days off and vacations. The administrator can adjust this number for each employee depending on their work schedule and contract, for example, if a person works part-time. They can also close the reporting period, and a certain period of time will be unavailable for changes.
Tengri Wallet
Task: In this project, Attractor Software worked in a team of developers. From the beginning, Tengri Bank planned to create a web tool that would enable getting bank services through internet. This solution will help clients run their businesses more efficiently, and individuals won’t have to go to a bank branch, stand in line, and fill out excessive paperwork. The team of developers were tasked with creating an electronic wallet that would give clients an easy access to various payments from utilities bills to online shopping.
Outcome: The team of developers built a beta version of an application that meets all requirements of the bank. Since April 2017, the app has been available to all Tengi Bank clients. Tengri Wallet is a payment system of Tengri Bank integrated with:
- The internal bank system
- A processing company
- The national payment system
- SMS provider
Application users pay with electronic currency backed by the issuing bank. The system allows for tracking purchases and sales of electronic money by individuals, suppliers, and sellers of electronic money. One of the advantages of the system is its ability to respond to the questions such as how much electronic money is in the system and what amount of it should be kept in the account of the bank which issues real money. Interaction of the Tengri system with the national payment system is enabled through the use of electronic signature.
The architecture of the project is based on asynchronously interacting services which are broken down and packed into Docker containers. The process of uninterrupted delivery was set up. The bank employees received the product as a set of Docker containers with an instruction for deployment of the system and launched it in the production mode.
Stom Service
Task: To develop as Saas-service, an application that the client can transfer to other companies as a ready-to-use software that allows for keeping record of patients, run payroll calculations for non-staff employees who are registered as individual entrepreneurs with tax certificates.
Outcome: We made an application that lists an hierarchy of managers and employees. The application allows managers to calculate employees’ salaries based on tax payable and an interest rate paid to the employer. We also built in a convenient calendar to register doctor appointments and patient files. The application is a CRM system that allows keeping record of patients.
Digital Student Book
Task: Shortage of textbooks is one of the major issues in Kyrgyz education that’s why the client decided to develop an application that would make up for this shortfall online. Our team was tasked with creating a website with electronic books where anyone can add a textbook or find one. This implied an open source project whose source code would be available on GitHub for further development and use.
Outcome: We developed a platform where school textbooks can be downloaded or read online. During the online session, the program allows users to mark pages and take tests in the textbook. Registered users can also add their own textbook.
The World Nomad Games website
Task: In September 2016, Kyrgyzstan hosted the II World Nomad Games on the shores of Issyk-Kul Lake that attracted teams from 19 countries. For this large-scale project, the organizers built a massive site for competitions in 23 kinds of ethnic sports as well as cultural events and exhibition performances.
Our team was assigned to create a visually impactful wow-website that would tell about ethnic sports and cover the events of the II World Nomad Games.
Design: The main page takes us to the world of the nomadic sports showing the competition schedule, news, the tournament results, eye-catching photos and videos. Simple user interface and accessibility of information were our priority tasks. We tried to interconnect all website pages so that users could get information barely using navigation.
The design features traditional ornaments linking sports with the culture of the nomadic people. We didn’t forget about mountains. Parallax-bloc displays Rukh Ordo, one of the four sites for competitions, and gives users a chance to see the beauty of the Kyrgyzstan’s mountains firsthand.
Outcome: The eye-catching website of the II World Nomad Games makes users want to view it, to read and explore it. It is available in three languages - Kyrgyz, Russian, and English, and has got an adaptive design for various screen resolutions and a mobile version.
Reviews
the project
Web Dev for Alumni Reunion Platform
"Despite some technical issues on the day of the event the overall platform is great and all goals were achieved."
the reviewer
the review
The client submitted this review online.
Please describe your company and your position there.
Project coordinator at American Councils for International Education ACTR/ACCELS - non-government organization
For what projects/services did your company hire Attractor Software LLC, and what were your goals?
We hired IT Attractor to develop an online platform with Zoom integration into the website to hold simultaneous Zoom webinar sessions on the website.
How did you select Attractor Software LLC and what were the deciding factors?
the selection process was done in three phases:
- looking for IT Vendors in the local market through High Technology Park;
- 10 IT companies were selected for review by Country director (each company was rated with pro/cons; experience; similar project completion; cost, etc.)
- 3 companies were selected to be contacted and provide their commercial offers. According to the selection results IT Attractor was not on a leading position, but they were very responsive, open, and ready to take the project. Two other companies were not responsive enough, or it took them at least a week to respond which was not acceptable according to the tight schedule.
Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.
Creation of online platform for the USG Alumni Reunion 2020
- Create a website one-pager “business card” for USG Alumni Reunion 2020;
- Platform’s language should include English/Russian/Kyrgyz language navigations;
- Utilize existing domain https://www.usg-alumni.kg/en/ but create new website
- The Platform design and layout should be both mobile, tablet and laptop friendly;
- The main page of the website should include the following bar menu:
- Home page - Logos (American Councils and U.S. Embassy – will be provided) and the information about the event;
- Program of the Event (The program of the Event consists of the Agenda);
- Speakers – includes short bio, photo of the speaker when navigating and clicking on the photo of the speaker – redirecting to the Event Room entrance where participant enters unique key-code that generated after participant submitted the registration form;
- Registration form that will generate a unique key-code for the applicant that he will use later on during the Event to enter the Room;
- Registration form should include the following information:
- (Required) First/Last name;
- (Required) Name of the program (Alumni of which program to choose from drop-down list);
- (Required) Year of participation;
- (Required) Email address;
- (Required) Contact cell number;
- (optional) current place of Employment;
1.1. Event Room – any of the platforms presented to maintain a large-scale (approximately 600-1200 persons total) online video-conference meeting is suitable (i.g. Zoom; ClickMeeting; etc.)
- Total number of Speaker Rooms : 3 Breakout Speaker Rooms
- Each Event Room is linked to a set of Speakers who will be speaking for a session in length from 30-45 minutes
- 4 sessions total per room
- Each Speaker’s Room should be able to fit 250-300 people at a time;
- Will also need a Main Room for Keynote Opening and Closing sessions – this will be disabled during the 3 Event Room breakout sessions
1.2. Navigation within the Event Room should include the following:
- Speakers should be the only one with video capability (only Speakers are seen)
- Participants can view who else is in the room in the Chat area and send messages to the Speaker (Q&A) and to each other
- Only admin staff of the room should be able to unmute participants; Speakers are unmuted for the whole session.
- To interact with Speaker participants are allowed to either “Raise hand” to be unmuted, or leave a comment in the Chat / Q&A box that everyone can see or either send private messages to the participants of the Room;
- Participants are allowed to leave the session and join other Rooms;
2. Design of the platform and the website should be developed from scratch with American Councils and U.S. Embassy branding and marketing guidelines as priority.
3. Launch – Ideal timeline is mid-November (week of November 16)
How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?
A total of 4 people:
- 1 - project manager
- 1 - backend specialist
- 1 - frontend specialist
- 1 - devop specialist
Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?
since the online platform was developed from scratch without previous data to compare, we had about the same number of registered users for the event as offline events in the past. (about 250 people)
Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timelines.
Jira; emails;
What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?
The project manager involved into our project was taking the project very seriously and as personal project; she kept everything on track and responded on every quire from our side. Her activeness and detailed orientation was impressive as well as her ability to work under the pressure. I really enjoyed working with her.
Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?
Yes, even though the whole team involved into the project were able to meet our goals and requirements we still faced several technical issues during the event. As a team of developers, they could have evaluated how Zoom updates would work with the website backend, and the button response. Because of that we had 20 minutes delay in the beginning with high officials waiting this period online. Luckily, the team was able to resolve the issue right away.
the project
Ride-Hailing Software Development for Taxi Company
"They have true interest in the project and they are hungry for success."
the reviewer
the review
The client submitted this review online.
Please describe your company and your position there.
I'm an project manager for the IT at Bi Taxi (formerly NambaTaxi) - second largest taxi company in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. Our company serves 10,000 customers daily.
For what projects/services did your company hire Attractor Software LLC, and what were your goals?
We have been developing our own ride hailing software for the past 5 years. It's been outsourced to local software development company. After bitter breakup with them due to unstable software, lots of bugs and poor customer support we started looking for reliable software development partner.
Biggest issue was that due to the nature of the project - it was too big, too complicated and demanding for a lot of companies - they were afraid to work for a project that has realtime heavy usage with demands for 100% uptime.
How did you select Attractor Software LLC and what were the deciding factors?
We had selection process between local and International outsourcing companies. Besides having all the necessary competencies in required technologies, Attractor was:
- not afraid to work with production-level project (10,000+ daily rides, complex infrastructure, etc) which had a lot of bugs and poor documentation. They were ready to take a responsibility for their work and legacy project (left from the previous team) - unlike most of the teams, who like to work on "startup" projects with no real loads.
- They showed true interest in the project
- They found necessary developers, unlike other teams - who said that it's hard to find developers with knowledge of required languages and frameworks
Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.
We are fully outsourcing our software development to them. They were able to take over the project and deep dive into the development in couple of months.
Here's our technology stack:
Frontend: React, HTML, CSS, JQuery + Bootstrap 3 - 4 JavaScript + React with Flux Sipjs
Backend: Python + Django
Other: Celery, Django REST(DRF) Python(2.7/3.6), Django, GoLang, Bash, Ruby, SQL Storage MySql, Redis, ElasticSearch, postgres, minio
Web servers: tileserver, http2, nginx, nghttp2, haproxy, uWSGI
Other: gRPC, OSRM, MapBox, geocoding, socket.io, keepalived, Linux (Debian), SIP (Voip), SMPP Maps OSM, OSRM
Networking protocols: HTTP, WebSockets, gRPC, TCP Administration
OS: Linux (Debian) Virtualization in Linux
Networking: TCP\IP Mikrotik и Cisco Vlan, Bonding, Bridge, Virtual Interfaces, Firewall (Shorewall\Iptables), VPN DNS (bind server)
Hardware Networking equipment knowledge: (Supermicro) Cisco APC
System monitoring: Sentry, Grafana, Graylog, Kibana, Phoenix, Prometheus, Graphite, Filebeat, Fsqueuemon Storage MySql, Redis, ElasticSearch, Postgresql, Minio
Web servers: tileserver, http2, nginx, nghttp2, haproxy, uWSGI
Networking: HTTP1\2, WebSockets, gRPC, TCP
Deployment: Docker, Docker-compose, gitlab-ci, Jenkins, gitlab-ci-runner Telephony SIP (Voip), SMPP (SMS), Freeswitch (ATC), Goip, Sipjs
Other: gRPC, OSRM, MapBox, geocoding, socket.io, keepalived, Debian, SIP (Voip), SMPP, qemu\kvm, Libvirt
How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?
There are 4 people in the core team including PM: 2 backend developers, 1 devops with 3 more part time member: 1 mobile, 1 devops and 1 frontend.
Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?
- taking over the development process from previous team despite lack of documentation
- stabilizing the system prone to failures
- restoring development processes (pipelines, management processes etc)
Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timelines.
We use agile development with weekly sprints. We use: Slack for team communication, daily Zoom calls with PM, Jira for planning and tracking, telegram bots to receive daily updates on tickets.
What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?
- They have true interest in the project and they are hungry for success
- open for communication with anybody in the team
- willingness to go over and beyond to meet customers needs and wishes
- top managements close involvement in the process - whenever I need a support to convince our shareholders or whenever there's and issues with software (legacy) - top management personally involves in the communication and takes the blame if necessary
- honesty
Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?
I wish they could help us more is in the development of Product Roadmap. We as a business know our needs, but we don't have much experience in laying that knowledge into roadmaps, tickets etc.
There's also an issue with how they work in Jira and track their tickets - there are sometimes issues with Jira being our of sync with current development status. That's why I had to ask for daily zoom calls with PM to be able to check for progress status.
the project
Testing Application for Data & Analytics Strategy Consulting Firm
“They don’t just do whatever you tell them; they proactively provide solutions and make your product better.”
the reviewer
the review
A Clutch analyst personally interviewed this client over the phone. Below is an edited transcript.
Introduce your business and what you do there.
I'm the analytics lead at a consulting firm that focuses on data cleansing and consolidation. We provide insights and analytics to help clients build business industry tools, custom web apps, and simulations.
What challenge were you trying to address with Attractor Software LLC?
We needed a partner to help add a feature to a client’s web app.
What was the scope of their involvement?
Our client already had an existing web application, and they wanted a feature that would verify that new information was being aggregated and consolidated correctly into their dataset. We tasked Attractor Software with building the additional tool. The app collects long-term existing consumption data across different brewers, which is then used in various ways by other companies and vendors. Attractor Software built the product using JavaScript.
What is the team composition?
We had two main points of contact.
How did you come to work with Attractor Software LLC?
We found them through a mutual colleague. They understood what we wanted and added to the project, so we didn’t look at any other vendors.
How much have you invested with them?
We spent between $13,000–$15,000.
What is the status of this engagement?
The engagement lasted from October 2016–January 2017.
What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?
They did a great job, and the end client was happy with the product. They still use it to this day whenever a data refresh is required.
How did Attractor Software LLC perform from a project management standpoint?
They managed the timeline well and delivered high-quality work. We had weekly calls to go over status updates and discuss next steps for the upcoming week. They were always prepared for those conversations and would immediately let us know if something was wrong. We sent regular updates to the end client, and Attractor Software always made sure to send us a status update deck I could forward to them. It covered any blockers or dependencies that we were dealing with, giving our client exactly what they asked for.
What did you find most impressive about them?
The entire team is easy to talk to and get in contact with. They don’t just do whatever you tell them; they proactively provide solutions and make your product better.
Are there any areas they could improve?
No, I’m happy with the work they did.
Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?
Have a clear set of requirements and framework that they can use to generate ideas. If you provide a solid foundation, they’ll be able to inject their ideas to make it even better.
the project
Code Analysis Platform for Consulting Agency
"I’ve never encountered such a professional approach and devotion."
the reviewer
the review
A Clutch analyst personally interviewed this client over the phone. Below is an edited transcript.
Introduce your business and what you do there.
I’m the project manager for a consulting agency. I’m responsible for many products, which are mostly analytical tools.
What challenge were you trying to address with Attractor Software LLC?
I needed a talented team of full-stack engineers who could work with servers, PHP, Java, and Python. We wanted a team that could perform quickly and deliver high-quality work for our analysis platform.
What was the scope of their involvement?
Attractor Software provides end-to-end development for a code analysis platform. In addition to front- and backend support, the team uses an in-depth tool within Jupyter Notebook to research new technologies. This allows them to perform proof-of-concept work on areas that have never been explored before.
Our platform analyzes the repository history and calculates the change rate for development projects. It can review any source code at different levels to expertly assess its development. This ranges from identifying dependencies to determining how much of the code was organic versus how much was included from libraries.
Furthermore, the platform can identify the service in which a product was developed, by whom, when, and how. For the final iteration of this project, we hope that even a non-technologically advanced person will be able to analyze code.
What is the team composition?
The core team consists of about five people, but we're able to add resources as needed.
How did you come to work with Attractor Software LLC?
They were recommended to us by a project manager that once worked with me. I interviewed Attractor Software and gave them a small project. After I saw great results, we assigned them more work.
How much have you invested in them?
We’ve spent around $10,000 per month.
What is the status of this engagement?
We started working together in May 2018, and the collaboration is still ongoing.
What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?
At this point, we’ve created an MVP. It’s solid enough to actually apply it to real clients, and the results have been great. Overall, they’re a group of talented and professional people that deliver on time.
How did Attractor Software LLC perform from a project management standpoint?
There are a few project managers involved, but their CEO is always on top of things. She deeply understands project needs and knows how to manage it. She continuously finds the right person for a task and is always available to help. It’s really the most outstanding project management that I have ever encountered. We use Slack, Jira, and Confluence.
What did you find most impressive about them?
Attractor Software doesn’t just develop what you ask for, they actually think out of the box and come up with creative solutions. They do independent research on different tools to help us to decide which path to choose. I’ve never encountered such a professional approach and devotion with any other team. Compared to other outsourced development firms, Attractor Software’s team actually thinks about future steps, which is a rare quality.
Are there any areas they could improve?
Apart from the few engineers that are developing this project, the rest have come and gone. I would appreciate a more stable group of people.
Do you have any advice for potential customers?
Define the necessary technologies before starting to work with them. This will help them prepare themselves to serve the project better.
the project
Ruby on Rails Dev for Banking Payment System
"They understood what the customer wanted and knew how to make the system secure and efficient."
the reviewer
the review
A Clutch analyst personally interviewed this client over the phone. Below is an edited transcript.
Introduce your business and what you do there.
I’m the CTO at Tengri Bank.
What challenge were you trying to address with Attractor Software LLC?
We needed a modern and secure payment platform—which we didn't have previously—to provide digital bank services to our clients.
What was the scope of their involvement?
Attractor Software LLC developed a payment platform with a Ruby on Rails frontend. To control our infrastructure, the team built the backend on other programs in addition to Rails. They also built databases with PostgreSQL and created a payment system using a smart contract.
What is the team composition?
They had two project managers and a team of 12 developers, several of whom were senior level.
How did you come to work with Attractor Software LLC?
We chose them because they could handle large projects and had experience in payment infrastructures and processes. The price was also good.
What is the status of this engagement?
We started working together in June 2016, and the partnership ended in March 2017.
What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?
The platform was functional, and an increasing number of people are using the technology. The mobile app's functionality has been increasing, too. Our teams worked together well.
How did Attractor Software LLC perform from a project management standpoint?
They were very experienced in this respect. The team even traveled to Almaty to understand our business requirements. We communicated via Slack and Skype without any issues.
What did you find most impressive about them?
The team used a modern process in development. They understood what the customer wanted and knew how to make the system secure and efficient.
Are there any areas they could improve?
No, I liked working with them.
Do you have any advice for potential customers?
Don’t be afraid to tell them about your issues and what you want.
the project
Custom Software Dev for SaaS Social Investment Firm
"After 25 years of industry experience, I have never seen a vendor’s testing perform so well."
the reviewer
the review
A Clutch analyst personally interviewed this client over the phone. Below is an edited transcript.
Introduce your business and what you do there.
I’m the Design Director of SAMETRICA. We provide social return on investment calculation and the tools people need to measure the contribution impact of their government program or nonprofit organization. Our organization has different apps and I work in the area of design thinking.
What challenge were you trying to address with Attractor Software LLC?
We needed to write a lot of code, but and couldn’t afford a North American development partner. We wanted to transition to a strict agile experience because it's more effective for our workflows.
What was the scope of their involvement?
Our surveys didn’t have the capacity to assign a form to another data collector and then parse answers. Attractor Software LLC built the functionality that enabled collectors to see only questions they had added to the form. The team used React.
The partnership is still ongoing. They continue to recommend optimal libraries and code for us. The team researches the pros and cons of these options to help us reach a decision.
What is the team composition?
We’ve divided the engagement into separate projects, each with its own team. Every team has a project manager and executive oversight from Veronica (CEO, Attractor Software LLC). For a government uniform project, we worked with a senior developer and three or four other developers. They eventually hired interns for our account.
How did you come to work with Attractor Software LLC?
I was not at the firm when SAMETRICA selected Attractor Software LLC. I onboarded at the pivot point of the partnership during the first sprint.
What is the status of this engagement?
We started working together in April 2017 and the partnership is ongoing.
What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?
We have a large contract with the Canadian government because we provide innovative AI solutions, and the Attractor Software LLC team’s code has played a significant role in securing and maintaining that relationship. During development, the team gives us insightful feedback to help us work through functionality behaviors.
How did Attractor Software LLC perform from a project management standpoint?
The team is always frank and upfront about their workflows. They use different code bases depending on which developer is on the project. To maximize effectiveness, they won’t pull a story unless they completely understand it. For incomplete stories, we collaborate on the various points and listen to their feedback. From a staffing perspective, the interns were a cost-effective addition. Overall, Attractor Software LLC excels at explaining staffing decisions to the client.
What did you find most impressive about them?
They code at an incredibly efficient pace, which helps us target release dates for our existing customers. Furthermore, the releases benefit from the team’s reliable QA testing. I don’t have to worry about sprint reviews with their level of consistency and reliability; we immediately integrate the code into production. After 25 years of industry experience, I have never seen a vendor’s testing perform so well.
Are there any areas they could improve?
Currently, we have a slight communication problem due to the nearly 12-hour time difference. We use Jira, which is great for some things, but we lack verbal communication. If we were in Europe, we could get at least a few overlapping hours where everyone is in the office. However, the team doesn’t let this obstacle stand in their way.
Any advice for potential customers?
We let them into confluence to show them requirements early on because they oftentimes have good feedback. The lead developers and project managers give us advice before it proceeds into the story hopper. Their code runs better if we keep them in the loop—contextually—of what we’re building and how it contributes to our larger vision for the project.
the project
CRM Dev for Drinking Water Consulting & Training Company
"The application has allowed us to dramatically increase the efficiency of data collection and management."
the reviewer
the review
A Clutch analyst personally interviewed this client over the phone. Below is an edited transcript.
Introduce your business and what you do there.
I am the president of Backflow Prevention Services, a consulting and training company that specializes in protecting our drinking water from contamination.
What challenge were you trying to address with Attractor Software?
We needed a more usable and efficient format for our record keeping and data management.
What was the scope of their involvement?
We visit commercial establishments and document hazards associated with drinking water. Once hazards are documented, we determine risks associated with them and make recommendations to protect the drinking water. Our recommendations typically lead to the installation of a mechanical device, which needs to be tested upon installation and annually thereafter.
Attractor Software created a CRM web application to accurately and efficiently track the device, the customer, the individuals who were installing and testing these devices, and the test results. We provided them with design concepts and how the application needed to integrate into our operations, and then verified their final product for accuracy.
What is the team composition?
We worked directly with five to eight individuals.
How did you come to work with Attractor Software?
I initially found them through one of their colleagues in the U.S. who was working with a family member. Based on their recommendation, we made contact with Attractor Software.
In our first project together, I had written a software application using a Microsoft product, and while I was satisfied with its functionality, it was too slow. I met with them, and they took my original concept and created a cloud-based application that I was very pleased with.
How much have you invested with them?
Since we first began working together, we’ve spent about $47,500.
What is the status of this engagement?
We’ve worked together since September 2014, but this project lasted from December 2015–May 2018.
What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?
The application has allowed us to dramatically increase the efficiency of data collection and management. Before implementing the application, test results would have to pass through several channels and people would manually input the data. That resulted in a lot of extra man-hours and increased the potential for human error. This software application allows testers to input the data directly, which means fewer hours worked and fewer opportunities for mistakes.
How did Attractor Software perform from a project management standpoint?
They are headquartered abroad, so all of our communication was via either email or Skype. We were impressed that there was no language barrier and that the 12-hour time differential wasn’t a problem.
We coordinated meetings that aligned with both of our schedules, and as they grew it became apparent to us that their hours of operation were expanding to accommodate customers in different sections of the world. We typically heard back from them within a few hours and frequently in the middle of the night.
What did you find most impressive about them?
They’re first and foremost problem solvers. They were thorough in their asking of questions to grasp the full concept of what we wanted to achieve. They made sure we got what we wanted and what we paid for.
Are there any areas they could improve?
No, not especially. Working with them was a good experience.
Do you have any advice for potential customers?
My advice would be to thoroughly go through every detail of what you want and the process Attractor Software will take. When there are a clear scope and firm understanding, Attractor Software's developers are extremely successful.
Attractor Software LLC showed active involvement with the project. The team was able to work under pressure and respond quickly to technical issues. They were commended for the detailed orientation on the use of the webinar platform.