Freeport Metrics

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a researcher and a professor at a university. I do research on the ecology and management of weeds in organic farming systems. I have four graduate students, a post-doc and I collaborate with people all over the US and Europe.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Freeport Metrics?

This particular project involved a grant that we received from another university. We are the co-principal investigators of the US Department of Agriculture MISA Grant from the Organic Agricultural Research and Extension Initiative.

It's a two-million-dollar grant that aims to improve weed management in diversified organic vegetable systems. In particular, we're doing research with farmers in both the Midwestern US and in northern New England. We're getting farmers to evaluate alternative weed management tools and strategies.

We were looking for help developing the website for the project, which we termed a data dashboard. This dashboard allowed participating farmers to upload data and in real-time see how their weed management was performing on their own farm, as well as how it performed relative to other participating farms.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Freeport Metrics developed and designed our website and dashboard. First, I described conceptually what I wanted to happen with Andrew (CEO, Co-Founder, Freeport Metrics). He convinced me that it was possible with our budget.

Then, I mocked up what I imagined a data dashboard to look like, first in pencil sketched and then using PowerPoint. They took those sketches, brought in designers, and refine my very crude sketches into something that looked quite attractive.

I gave them some mock data sets and some examples from some statistical outputs that I had made in terms of what I wanted the data to look like. I wanted more than just numbers in a box. Instead, I wanted what we call box and whisker plots, something that shows both means as well as ranges, mediums, some more statistical ways of presenting the data.

That was a little different than what they had done before, but they took that and came back with some examples. We brought in my colleagues to review it and see if it was going to actually present all the data we wanted.

Freeport Metrics also came up with some really clever ways to add mapping to the site so that we can put a pin where the participating farm is located. It was important to present the data in both an appealing and informative way. Their team also utilized internet tools and available code to build the website without scope-creep.

What is the team composition?

It varied a little bit over the course of the project. I had one main point of contact but I also worked with around three tech people and one designer. There was usually a team of 4–5 that I would be dealing with.

How did you come to work with Freeport Metrics?

I have a neighbor who's in the IT business. He couldn't do the work so he recommended Andrew and Freeport Metrics. It helped that they were based in Freeport, Maine, and I'm at the University of Maine. I always try to work with companies within our state. It was a little surprising when, in our first conference call, I found out that their entire team was in Warsaw, Poland, but it didn't affect our ability to get the work done.

How much have you invested with them?

We have invested $75,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve worked with Freeport Metrics from October 2018–June 2019. They’ve been in touch several times over the past years to let me know when I’m missing certain updates.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I really couldn't be happier with the design and functionality of the site that they made. Freeport Metrics made something that exceeded my own vision for what I had hoped for because they just knew more about both aesthetics of design, aesthetics of how to present data in engaging ways.

They came up with ideas for turning on and off data in a particular frame so you could compare one data set to another. It was demonstrative of their passion for the project that they came up with ideas for presenting our own data that I hadn’t even thought of.

How did Freeport Metrics perform from a project management standpoint?

Freeport Metrics excels at communication and project management. I was impressed with just how on top of managing this they were. I actually learned some things that I applied to how I managed my own graduate students. Freeport Metrics was really clear with scheduling and what they want to happen.

They were incredibly organized and articulate in both what they were working on, who is working on it, how they were going to work on it, and how they were going to report their progress. It was interesting that they wanted to make sure that I understood sort of how their team worked in addition to reviewing the content that they were delivering. It was very confidence-inspiring.

There was never a meeting where they couldn't answer a particular question. Things were finished on time, so they were able to launch on time. We were working with a bit of a deadline because we were going to have farmers doing their part in the field. They had to go from a concept at the turn of the year to launching by the time planting season came around.

What did you find most impressive about them?

There's a niche for accepting, aggregating, and presenting data to help people that are interested in data-driven decision making. I ended up being very happy with their ability to work with me to process the data that I was interested in showing. Freeport Metrics also ensured that farmers could use their phones to upload data, processed it in their database, and then presented it in real-time. They were great at this data-focused presentation of information.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Freeport Metrics has been great. We're very happy with their work.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Bring them a mock-up or give them as clear a picture of your vision as possible right from the beginning. Let them know how you envision it and who the users really are that you expect to be either contributing to the site or using the site. I had a particular vision for how I wanted the product to look, and Freeport Metrics helped me achieve that. We were also able to make progress quickly because of this.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I was the director of data management, in charge of databases and data reporting for a fintech company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Freeport Metrics?

We did small engagements over the years, but the two major ones were building a data warehouse and researching a SQL Server technology called Always Encrypted.

For the data warehouse, our team was receiving many different raw format data files in Microsoft SQL Server technologies. We laid out a plan to load that data and process it into a data warehouse. However, we didn’t have enough people or time to build it ourselves, so we engaged Freeport Metrics.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We explained to Freeport Metrics what we wanted to do. They came up with a comprehensive plan and executed it on time and within budget.

This was an internal-facing project. In terms of the size of the dataset, it was very large; I believe it was multi-millions of rows.

What is the team composition?

Our point of contact was a project manager. We also worked with a developer. I believe they also had about three people supporting them, although I didn’t really deal with them directly. I dealt with a leader from their side who created an SOW and managed the project.

How did you come to work with Freeport Metrics?

I was aware of them through my local contacts. We had used them for smaller projects over many years. They did some consulting and installation for us on SugarCRM many years prior to the data server project.

How much have you invested with them?

The data warehouse project was $20,000, and the Always Encrypted research project under $5,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The data warehouse project was from July–August 2018. That was a very busy two months of work. Then, the Always Encrypted project was more part-time, and it was for a couple of weeks in June 2019.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We were extremely satisfied with their work and the people we dealt with at Freeport. The data warehouse is still in operation today. 

How did Freeport Metrics perform from a project management standpoint?

They did a great job of communicating with me and the team. The team was thorough, and in some cases, too thorough; we had to ask them not to go down a rabbit hole, as the priorities shifted a little bit on our company’s side. We had stand-up meetings to check in with everybody, which was extremely helpful. They gave us prototypes and feedback to guide things. They also had portals set up where we could check the progress of their work.

I felt comfortable letting them talk directly to my staff, which I normally am not, because I’ve had negative experiences with other contractors. It was completely night and day with Freeport. I felt like they were trying to actually get the job done and not just drum up more business for themselves — I trusted them to deal with my people directly. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

It was a very positive engagement from start to finish.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No. I was very satisfied with their work. In general, I think communication was key, as were the stand-ups, because they were operating in a different timezone.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Do the check-ins with them and communicate, because it takes both sides. They’re totally willing to do it. I’ve worked on a lot of projects with Freeport and other contractors, and the key to success is always communication.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’ve worked with Freeport Metrics in a couple of companies, the latest one being MagNet Analytics. I’m the CEO, and we have a retail technology platform for a network of micro-stores in the US.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Freeport Metrics?

Freeport Metrics developed our software technology platform.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Our entire platform was developed by Freeport Metrics. They made it modular and used open-source platforms like MySQL, along with HTML for the user interfaces, and Java, as well. 

Freeport Metrics completes certain milestones and objectives, and we’ll come back with other needs. We’ve had 6–7 engagements so far, working on different parts of the same system.

What is the team composition?

On this project, our direct interaction has been with about five people from Freeport Metrics, but I’m not sure who else supports the work on their side. 

How did you come to work with Freeport Metrics?

We followed a personal referral from a former employee — I started using Freeport Metrics’ services 15 years ago. 

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent $150,000–$170,000 with Freeport Metrics on this platform.

What is the status of this engagement?

The relationship started around March 2014 in the current company — it’s been a continuous on-and-off process.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The technologies they use are easily maintainable, accessible, and don’t have high costs for additional development. The platform is easy to understand and modify by new developers.

Freeport Metrics created an architecture that’s essentially timeless. These technologies aren’t closed environments, and they won’t go out of favor and become obsolete in the way other ones have. 

The best outcome is that the system has worked reliably over the past 4–5 years, with no issues. We encountered and fixed several problems as we were developing it, but the system worked with zero issues once it was finished, with very little maintenance.

How did Freeport Metrics perform from a project management standpoint?

They’ve performed well. The only drawback is that they work on a different time schedule to us, but that’s common. It’s rare to find developers within the same US time slot for us. 

Outside of that, Freeport Metrics is focused on the objectives we ask them to handle. From my experience with other developers, other people just want to run the time and get distracted. In our case, we agreed on goal-based objectives, and they achieve what we’re looking for. It’s been pretty impressive.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The bottom line is the system they built works and functions very well — it’s reliable, efficient, and timeless. Although we set up the architecture many years ago, it’s still a current, modern system.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They can improve their documentation process significantly. Freeport Metrics has switched version control and documentation platforms since we started using them, and that’s been a bit hard.

We’re pretty happy outside of that, and I wouldn’t be recommending them, otherwise.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

With any software development company, I recommend working on objective-based and fixed-price projects. The model has worked well for us. It’s allowed us to focus on the solution as opposed to running the time.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We are a software consulting firm and I’m the managing consultant. We do a lot of technology implementations to make people's user experiences better.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Freeport Metrics?

We're a fairly small company and we work on a subcontracting model where we bring in resources for specific projects. On this occasion, we needed someone who could provide mobile app development.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We requested them to develop mobile banking applications on both the iOS and Android platforms.

The typical scenario is the customer would come up with the requirement and then we would come up with a solution. Freeport Metrics was integral in developing the wireframes for this.

What is the team composition?

They had UX/UI designers, a project manager as our main point of contact, and developers and architects. We dealt with them all.

I was the only point of contact with report metrics to the multiple projects that we did. I had the majority of my interactions with the project manager on their team. If we were doing a UX/UI design, I would deal with those designers. Very often we had interactions with the developers, as well.

How did you come to work with Freeport Metrics?

The company was already working with Freeport Metrics when I started back in 2016. They'd already completed one project and the customer wanted to do a similar application in a different area. That's the project that I started working with them on. 

How much have you invested with them?

For many of the projects, we spent around $1,000,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

I worked with them from October 2016–April 2019.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The quality of the app development was top-notch in terms of the number of bugs, performance, responsiveness, taking care of issues, and production-level support for apps that were live in the field.

How did Freeport Metrics perform from a project management standpoint?

They were very good about meeting deadlines because they work very fast, and generally came in ahead of the timelines.

One of the challenges that we had was trying to get a realistic answer on when features could be available. But when it comes to how well they performed, they worked really fast and provided high-quality work.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their applications were tight. They thought in terms of not just the customer requested features but on providing the best experience of that feature. The quality of the work was just top-notch.

Are there any areas they could improve?

The best working arrangement for them would be a managed time and material set-up as opposed to lump-sum, because lump-sum projects in general are very hard to quantify up front.

We faced a lot of challenges with how that was scoped, but it was a requirement from our customers and it was always a pain. My feedback would be that it's better to organize the engagement as time and material instead.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

If you haven't really thought through the requirements, they will help you think through them so you can properly scope it. If you have thought of the requirements with a lot of detail, they're going to give feedback about how to dial it in better. It’s along the lines of just start working with them and you're going to see a positive impact.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the co-founder of a software and services company for renewable energy developers. Our platform helps clients find and qualify customers looking to purchase the offtakes from these renewable energy assets. It also facilitates billing and customer care. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Freeport Metrics?

We needed a development resource as we were starting up our business.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We built a Ruby on Rails platform. The database was MySQL. The interface was Bootstrap. There were different custom CSS, HTML, and JavaScript in various other places. They built the foundation of our platform today. They built the entire foundational system and architected the database; a lot of which has evolved over the years. A lot of the original foundation is still in place today, even after we’ve taken the projects in-house and hired our own development team.

What is the team composition?

At our peak, we were working with 7–8 developers, QA people, and design staff. After the bulk of the work was completed, we held onto a couple of additional resources.

How did you come to work with Freeport Metrics?

My other co-founded received a recommendation for them. They’re another Maine-based business and felt like a good fit. 

How much have you invested with them?

We spent between $500,000–$1 million.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from June 2015–August 2016.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We didn’t have any experience at all walking into this engagement. To walk away from the engagement after a year with an MVP that was fully functional is a huge success. Working with them was always a pleasure. 

How did Freeport Metrics perform from a project management standpoint?

I enjoyed working with their account manager. She was great. I’d send emails with walls of texts and she’d return emails covering everything that I pointed out. They were very thorough. The lead architect was also really knowledgeable. 

We flew them out to Boston from Poland, and we got to meet them face-to-face which was awesome and really helped the engagement. The individuals there are awesome people. I really enjoyed working with them.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They were very committed to our success. It never felt like it was just business, it always felt like a partnership. Even after we decided that we were moving in-house, they reached out and offered to help if anything ever went down. They continued to check in to see where we were at. It always felt like they were really committed to us and our success.

Are there any areas they could improve?

There were times that some of the logic that they built was very literally implemented. I think they assumed that I had more experience in software development than I did.

We decided to move our efforts in-house instead of continuing to work with Freeport Metrics because of the time that it took to get certain features developed. Speaking from my experience now, I understand why it takes so much time to implement certain features. I definitely understand the care that you should be putting into designing a platform when architecting it from the beginning. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Communication is key. I sent emails every single morning. We always tested features as soon as they were deployed. Getting that real-time feedback as soon as possible is helpful to make sure you get the most out of that situation.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Forager is a digital B2B procurement platform for local food, designed to simplify the sourcing process for wholesale buyers and local food suppliers. I currently lead product at Forager.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Freeport Metrics, and what were your goals?

We needed to update our core product with new features in order to accommodate larger enterprise customers.

SOLUTION

How did you select Freeport Metrics and what were the deciding factors?

Freeport Metrics has always been a key development partner for us as we've grown our business and we have worked on multiple projects with them over the last few years.

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

The project was broken down into 2 sprints.

1. Adding a new super user functionality
2. Adding new billing mechanism Although they offer project management and design support we decided to keep this in-house for this project.

Their management team was actively involved in defining the architecture and dev strategy at the beginning of the project after which we worked closely with their engineering and QA team. Our platform is built on Ruby on Rails and Javascript (AngularJS framework).

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

- CEO - Director of Software development - Senior Engineer - Engineer - PM/QA

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

- We were able to launch the project on time and within budget. - The developers were very proactive when it came to thinking ahead and identifying potential issues as early as possible.

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

Project management was good and the team was always very responsive. - We used JIRA for most of the PM and QA work - We had multiple calls per week for status updates - Slack was the main tool used for smaller questions

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

The teams willingness to help was always appreciated and you could tell that the developers cared about building a robust product and not just doing thee bare minimum.

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

Nothing to note for this point.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the founder and CEO of a food app about oysters.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Freeport Metrics?

We needed Freeport Metrics to develop our food app for us. At the time, it wasn’t as easy to develop a mobile app as it is today, so we had to navigate a complicated set of requirements.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement? 

Freeport Metrics developed a mobile food app that showcased oysters. It was a complex project that required them to build a database of oysters with a flavor taste profile for each. Users could access this database to educate themselves about the different oysters. We would eventually expand the database to include all seafood.

From there, we added a restaurant locator to show where to find these oysters. Restaurants could register on our platform, update their menus, and list oyster happy hours via geolocation. 

The UX design on both the frontend and on the admin side was the real key to our success. Freeport Metrics needed to come up with a rating system for oysters, which was not easy. They figured out how to best display information to the user and divided the oysters into three categories.

On the admin side, Freeport Metrics used Parse (later discontinued by Facebook) to build our backend. Their team realized that I wanted to be able to modify my app’s process by myself, so they created a way for me to change restaurants and write content independently through Parse. That way, I didn’t have to go to them for every single edit.

What is the team composition? 

It was around 5–6 people, which was the entire team at the time. I worked with Andrew and Dan (Co-Founders), a few developers, and some UX designers. 

How did you come to work with Freeport Metrics?

I found Freeport Metrics through a referral and interviewed them along with about 50 developers. Out of everyone, they were the most honest, flexible, and upfront. 

They were also unique in that they had an office in Poland along with developers overseas, but Andrew was educated in America. Knowing that he was there made me feel comfortable because I could lean on him to resolve any problems that might come up.

Finally, I got the feeling that they were genuinely interested in our project because of how different it was. In that sense, they were investing in me while I was investing in them. That level of involvement stayed true the entire time. Even if we weren’t in a sprint, I could call them to change something, and they would just do it.

How much have you invested with them?

It cost between $70,000–$120,000. The money came from our investors, so we had to be careful with how we spent it.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project lasted from May 2015–May 2017. The first development phase lasted about 4–5 months, and we had others throughout those two years.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Freeport Metrics created a gorgeous consumer-facing app that was aesthetically-pleasing and user-friendly. It was such a complicated project at the time because geolocation was still a challenge to figure out, and we had so much information we needed to convey. But, their team managed to pull through with their focus on the UX.

I’d say their UX design was one of the reasons we saw such wild success. We ended up getting featured in periodicals like Forbes and the New York Times, securing over 500 restaurants across the country. Later, we even expanded into the Chinese market, and they were there with us translating everything into Mandarin.

How did Freeport Metrics perform from a project management standpoint?

The project management was as good as it could be when working with an overseas partner. There was a project manager who handled the day-to-day, and Andrew and Dan were also heavily involved. If I had a serious problem, I could call or text them whenever and know that they’d respond.

What did you find most impressive about them?

You generally want the founders of a development firm to care about their work, and that’s the sense that I got with Andrew and Dan. Because seafood was not their expertise, they came over to attend a seafood conference because they wanted to learn about our industry. The hope was that this knowledge would enable them to build a better product. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

There are always things that people can improve, but I don’t think there’s anything that stood out to me.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

If you’re looking for a partner to get involved and develop a relationship with as you go through the process, Freeport Metrics is great. Any company can go in a build a one-off project, but it takes a special partner to go in and invest the time to learn about your subject matter. It’s a unique trait that makes them versatile.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CIO of Community Health Options, one of the three remaining healthcare co-ops formed under the Affordable Care Act in 2012. We provide healthcare coverage to individuals and commercial groups in Maine, where we’re based. We currently cover more than 30,000 lives.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Freeport Metrics?

We initially engaged them to rebuild our website. They’ve since developed our member portal and provider directory, as well.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They designed and developed a new, public-facing website for us. They then took on the member portal, which serves the people who are covered by our service. Members can log in to access their claims information and ID cards, along with all the other resources we provide.

Additionally, they built our provider directory, which is essentially a yellow pages of providers that are in our network. The team has worked with us to abide by the many requirements that pertain to our regulations, marketing, and member engagement.

Since this multi-component development project, we’ve moved into a staff augmentation model with them. They’ve taken on many other initiatives since.

What is the team composition?

Their team size has fluctuated depending on the project. For the website, it hovered between 5–10 people. It’s been a mix of developers, designers, project managers, and QA teammates. Right now, we’ve got a senior technical architect on the team.

How did you come to work with Freeport Metrics?

We issued an RFP and saw how appealing their bid was. We were also impressed when we met with their team, which seemed skilled and versatile. They seemed particularly strong in their account management, and it turned out that one of our developers had worked with them in the past. He advocated very strongly for them, which completely sealed the deal.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent somewhere around 3.5 million dollars.

What is the status of this engagement?

The work began in June of 2018 and have been working with them steadily ever since.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We were very pleased with the website, and the speed with which they deployed it. We were trying to beat our open enrollment period, which runs October through December.

We wanted to get the new site out before open enrollment, and they made that happen. The other projects have gone pretty well, too. While most of the development projects take longer than we want them to, they’ve proved to be a solid and reliable partner.

They skillfully utilize the scrum methodology for maximum output. In addition to their output, the team has also been exceptional in helping us establish a development methodology — a consistent process that we can stick to. Our developers have had no problem working with them as they offer a pretty straightforward partnership.

How did Freeport Metrics perform from a project management standpoint?

Their account management is stellar.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re very proactive and thoughtful about constraints and potential roadblocks. We’ve appreciated their valuable insights surrounding a mitigation strategy.

Are there any areas they could improve?

The core parts of their organization that I’ve worked with have been relatively stable. That being said, they have a fairly high turnover rate with their developers. While they provide high-quality resources, that sort of frequent transition can be disruptive.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

It helps to have internal capacity and knowledge. I would ensure that you’ve got your own ability to support and enhance whatever system you’re working on with them.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the director of technology for Smile Train. We’re a charity that’s dedicated to helping children who were born with cleft lip and palate. Our team mostly works with treatment centers in lower- and middle-income countries, collaborating with and collecting funds for local facilities to build them up.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Freeport Metrics?

We’d built our database 20 years ago and felt that it was time for an upgrade. The main goal was to bring our technology to the latest standards so that we could continue using our database for another 20 years.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement? 

They’re building a custom database from scratch using our workflow processes and updated technologies. It’s mostly front- and backend development, though they also did some UX optimizations. Our program is based in 90 countries, so they included language support to make it easier to use.

Currently, they're migrating our data into the new database while also creating an offline version for our clients. In the next round, they’ll start on a mobile app.

What is the team composition? 

I’ve worked directly with about 15–20 people, but the team changes depending on the process at hand. This includes a business analyst, project managers, UX designers, and even the owner. Occasionally, I’ll talk to the developers directly to streamline our preparation. 

How did you come to work with Freeport Metrics?

We’d actually worked with Freeport Metrics before for maintenance and support, so we already knew about their capabilities. When we did a formal RFP for this project, they won because of their strong business management and processes. This was particularly important because we’re a relatively small organization, so we needed a team that could manage the project well.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them for this project in September 2019, and are still working with them. We expect to complete Phase 1 in early 2021 before moving on to more ambitious phases.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

So far, the process is going as expected. They’re mindful of our time and ask the correct questions to get what they need from us. There have been budget increases, but that’s to be expected with these kinds of projects. We’ve built that into the overall project, anyway, so I’m satisfied with it.

How did Freeport Metrics perform from a project management standpoint?

We communicate through emails and have scheduled meetings after every two-week sprint. That’s when they update us on how well we did and discuss priority changes. Now, it’s daily meetings to keep up with our business requirements. As for project management tools, we Azure DevOps to track our progress and report any bugs.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I’m very happy with the quality of their work. Their performance was a decisive factor for us during the RFP process. They were in close competition with another candidate, but we ultimately chose Freeport Metrics because we were comfortable with the quality of their deliverables.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, they’re fine for what we need.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

If you have similar needs to ours, then hire them! It’s great that we don’t have to manage the project and will still get a good product at the end of the day. Having said that, I don’t know how they’d perform in a time crunch because we’re not on a strict schedule.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the product manager at Zipline. We’re an organization in the private-label debit payment space. Basically, we work with automated clearing house (ACH) transactions that come out of a consumer’s bank account, specializing in the convenience store space. 

Our merchants are convenience stores that use our program behind the scenes. We process those payments by pulling money from the consumers’ bank account and writing them to the merchants’ bank account.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Freeport Metrics?

We had an existing member portal where our consumer base could log in to see their ACH transactions, change their demographic data, and update their banking information. Our goal was to create a modernized version of that portal.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement? 

Freeport Metrics was in charge of revamping our member portal. They changed the look and feel as well as redesigning some of the architecture.

What is the team composition? 

It was around 10–12 people. I worked directly with everyone, from the developers and project managers to Andrew (CEO) and Artur (Director of Software). 

How did you come to work with Freeport Metrics?

We’d done projects with them while at a different payment company, so I was already familiar with their style. They had a good background of the payment space, too. I decided to give them a chance to earn our business again, and, obviously, I liked the work that they did.

How much have you invested with them?

For this project, we spent between $160,000–$200,000. We had the option to either pay a one-time fee upfront based on the estimated price or pay by time and material.

What is the status of this engagement?

This project lasted from July–December 2019. We haven’t gone live with the portal yet because we’ve had other priorities to tackle first. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

From what they’ve demonstrated to me in their environments, the end product looks great. It was exactly what we’d asked for.

How did Freeport Metrics perform from a project management standpoint?

Their project management skills and ability to stick to deadlines were big assets. They were very professional along the way, creating project plans and sticking to our milestones. If something was going to slip up due to a dependency, they were good about communicating it to us over email or phone.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I’m impressed by their attention to detail.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, nothing comes to mind. They’re a results-driven team that will strive to get you what you need to solve your business problem.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

The team can take on any aspect of a software development project. To do that, they have a wide variety of resources to help you out, almost like an a la carte option. Let them know what resources you have on your side, and they’ll fill in the gaps to make sure you’re successful.