Custom software to reach your vision.
We create custom software solutions that transform your process, empower your people, and help you reach your vision. Our team of experts partner with you in a radically transparent process to understand your unique needs, then build a powerful software solution that is scalable, efficient, and cost-effective.
We are a company powered by purpose and driven by talent.
We don't build Angry Birds. We focus on the hard stuff. We develop Custom Software Development, Web-Based Applications, Mobile Apps, PWAs, API’s and Databases...and make all the pieces work together.
Our team also supports Entrepreneurs, CTOs, CMOs, Product Owners, and managers of technology-first companies who want to build or scale up their development teams with reliable, competent, friendly, and proactive experts.
Clutch named Orases the most highly-recommended software development company in the USA from 2016-2021.
Over the past two decades, we have collaborated with start-up, mid-market, and large enterprises alike. A few big names include NFL, MLB, The Hershey Company, Walter Reed Hospital, NPR, American Kidney Fund, Long Fence, American Immigration Lawyers Association,Invisible Fence and Xerox.
WHY SHOULD YOU WORK WITH US?
❶ Top 1% of talented developers, dpms, QAs, and Designers in the USA
❷ 650+ projects completed with satisfaction since 2000
❸ We have a great culture that is measured by the lowest turnover for the past 10 years at 5% , industry average is 45%
❹ A boutique business that is Agile, family-owned and is driven by values
❺ 8 out of 10 of our projects come from referrals
To put it simply - we get it done, and we get it done with quality first
Company facts:
- 100+ active client accounts
- 70 Net Promoter Score
- 650+ end-to-end projects delivered In business since 2000
- Lowest employee turnover at 5% over 10 years
- Headquartered in Frederick, MD, we have offices in Chicago, Denver, Washington D.C., Florida, and Houston
1 Language
- English
1 Timezone
- EST

headquarters
other locations
Custom Software Development for Media & Entertainment Co
the project
''They were a top-notch partner.''
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 an executive at a media and entertainment company.
What challenges were you trying to address with Orases?
We were trying to integrate one of our custom apps for supplier management into our main financial record system. We were previously taking care of our financial tasks manually by our account receivable team and ourselves, and that was taking a significant amount of time.
What was the scope of their involvement?
Orases did custom software development for us. They focused on helping us integrate an existing custom app into our Oracle financial system of record from scratch. The main functionalities we asked for were the ability to incorporate and manage our existing and new suppliers within our organization, including their address information, tax statuses, invoice attachments, and any other tax forms.
In terms of technologies, they used API integrations, payload to pass and distribute data, and security encryptions.
What was the team composition?
We worked with two members of Orases’ team, including a project manager and a developer.
How did you come to work with Orases?
Orases was within our vendor ecosystem because they worked with another department ar our organization. It was natural to reach out to them because they were already a trusted supplier for us.
How much have you invested with them?
We spent $75,000–$100,000 with them.
What is the status of this engagement?
We worked together from June 2022–January 2023.
What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?
The product that Orases created will help us get huge cost savings and enable us to relocate resources to other tasks since the platform will now automate some of our data integration processes. The system will also help us improve the accuracy of data management and alert us whenever an issue arises. Moreover, Orases understood our design perspective, which they translated into the development efforts, and were good at testing the product. Overall they were a top-notch partner.
How did Orases perform from a project management standpoint?
Orases’ project management was outstanding. They led a communicative process, asked us questions whenever they didn’t understand something about the development process, and were always willing to help us whenever needed. In terms of tools and communication, we used emails, Zoom standing meetings, and phone calls.
What did you find most impressive about them?
Orases’ communication skills and turnaround times were great.
Are there any areas they could improve?
I didn’t think there was anything they could improve on.
Focus
Portfolio
NFL, MLB, AAMI, Next Day Dumpsters, Johns Hopkins University, Orthocare Solutions, Service Coordination Inc., Omniplex, Wright Manufacturing, Roy Jorgensen Associates, Inc., Xerox, Omniplex, NATSO, IEC, American Society of Interior Designers, Jose Andres - ThinkFood Group, Disability Quotes, FlexTrade, Tax Analysts, PTCB, Quinlan & Fabish, US Lacrosse, Construction Financial Management Association, Wireless Industry Association, Diversified Laboratory Repair, NFL Foundation, A2LA, Cumberland Valley Analytical Services

Service Coordination Inc - Case Management System
Service Coordination Inc.
Service Coordination Inc. (SCI) is a nonprofit organization providing quality case management services for people with disabilities, veterans, and other groups. SCI helps nearly 12,000 individuals in the state of Maryland understand their choices and connects them to resources within their communities in ways that respect their dignity and rights.
Solution
Orases introduced a Case Management System (CMS) to Service Coordination’s workflow. This system gave them their own database with total control to track information and improve care, instead of using the state’s system with basic functionality. The new system allows SCI to customize employee reports and treatment plans in a more robust manner than the state’s system would allow.
Most importantly, the new system integrates seamlessly with the state’s system, allowing SCI to send progress notes, individual plans, and employee time tracking directly to administrators at the state level. Orases also provided total data migration to the new program, which allowed SCI to bring all archived patient notes and employee files to the new system, with a data clean up that merged duplicate data. Along with the migration, Orases advised on more efficient data organization to streamline processes. With sensitive patient data, all information is HIPAA compliant, and with the new system, SCI can easily track employee efficiency, compliance, and success to better serve its patients.
New Features:
- Personalize individual treatment plans
- Collect more information about individuals to tailor care
- Report builder — allow users to build their own data reports by choosing their own fields for individual reports
- Time and attendance module — enter employee time-sheets and automatically checks against progress reports to ensure accuracy, connects to SCI’s payroll system
- Streamlined data, easier to use, faster, compatible with state using web services

The Bartley Corporation - Employee Dashboard
The Bartley Corporation pioneered concrete foundation construction to the Maryland metropolitan area. Orases created a Operations Dashboard that motivates team members and increases overall employee engagement.

AFK - Grant Management System
The Challenge
Gaining higher efficiency and effectiveness through the cloud
AFK has an internal Grant Management System (GMS) system that became outdated, unreliable, and extremely slow for the support staff to use on a daily basis. The organization was also looking for a way to take advantage of cloud technology and move all compliance, security, and hosting offsite. The goal was to build GMS 2.0 in a modular architecture to allow for seamless integration with other core business processes and reduce the amount of time it takes to apply and process an individual grant request. The new system will service 94,000 patients a year and process 350 million dollars in grants.
Results
Efficiency Through Automation
The new GMS 2.0 Grants Management System powered by Orases’ Rapid Application Framework has enabled AKF to streamline their grant processing, increased efficiency of their staff, and opened up their grant process to provide more exposure to patients who receive funding. The open and configurable suite consists of solutions that allow AKF to manage a grant request throughout its entire lifecycle.
GMS 2.0 allows AKF to:
- build customizable and unique grants
- offer a secure applicant submission portal
- efficiently process submissions, batch and process payments using a third party integration for check, debit and ACH payments
- communicate and share updates with applicants throughout the process.
The resulting system is easier to use, faster, compatible with third-party systems, and provides streamlined data.

Therrien Waddell - Website Redesign
For more than three decades, the skilled Therrien Waddell team has not only built exceptional projects but has also built durable industry partnerships—the kind that are forged from shared experiences and tempered by the bond of persisting through the hard times and the good times.

MLB Pitch Hit & Run - Registration System
MLB Pitch Hit & Run presented by MLB Network is the Official Youth Skills Competition of MLB. This free program allows baseball and softball participants the opportunity to advance through three levels of competition culminating at the MLB World Series!

The EOD Warrior Foundation - Website Redesign
The EOD Warrior Foundation (EODWF) serves the EOD community by providing financial assistance and support to active-duty and veteran wounded, injured or ill EOD warriors, families of our wounded and fallen EOD warriors and by maintaining the EOD Memorial.

Case Management Progress Note Bulk Submission
Progress note bulk submission demonstrates the high level of success they now have submitting their billable notes to the state, as well as the API functionality with the "Submit all notes" button

Case Management Contact Module
Contacts shows how the database helped clean and organize data -- previously each Individual had separate entries for all of their contacts, leading to hundreds of duplicates for doctors and other providers. Shared contacts were cleaned up and are now assigned to Individuals, increasing organizational efficiency since there is one record for shared contacts.

Case Management QA Measures Module
QA measures module represents one of the many reporting tools we implemented to help SCI track their efficiency and success as a provider. This example shows how compliant SCI is with a goal set by DDA.

Long Fence - Website Redesign
Orases migrated the Drupal built site over to the 24Watch® Business Suite to increase the administrative functionality. Image and content uploads were simplified; relieving Long Fence’s staff of bothersome uploads to FTP sites. Intensive research was done to increase online form submissions from potential customers and Google Webmaster Tools was installed to achieve faster speeds, the ability to monitor engaging content and address important questions about the behavior of Long Fence users.

Orthocare Solutions - Case Management System
365 Ortho is a software solution used to administer orders for orthotic and prosthetic components and supplies, facilitating the process from start to finish. Everything is in one place and easy to find, with additional features for expedited billing. Our process enables you to track each individual item that composes the purchase order as well as invoices and governmental billing forms – automating, consolidating and centralizing this task.

AAMI - Custom Web Application
AAMI
AAMI leads global collaboration in the development, management, and use of safe and effective health technology.
The AAMI staff are committed to:
- Supporting the efforts of their members to improve patient care by advancing the safety and effectiveness of health technology.
- Sharing information openly and effectively, to value the multifaceted nature of their community.
- Serving their community with superior ethical and professional standards.
- Fostering a trusting and inclusive environment that respects each individual while encouraging collaborations.
- Providing the highest level of quality in everything they do.
Solution
Orases built a new web-based application scoring tool featuring a questionnaire divided into 11 categories. Each category contains three to five questions that contribute to the category’s overall score and an algorithm applicable to that category.
Upon completion of the assessment, there is a summary page with a score for each category with the lowest scored category highlighted. The overall score will be the lowest category score. The assessment is access-controlled to existing AAMI members and to non-members who opt to purchase the assessment.
The self-assessment also provides instructional content to help the users create a roadmap for future development and movement toward higher levels. Departments that score at Level 5 in all categories are programs that demonstrate best practices in HTM.
Process
This project was noted in the SOW as using Agile methodology to define and develop. However, AAMI had provided a thorough requirements document upfront, and we had a lean team (no BA on the project). We (DPM Trista, Developer Vlad, BD Ray) collaborated with AAMI on the remaining requirements and once signoff was received, we developed a more Hybrid method. We developed on a rolling basis, meeting with the client once a week to show and discuss progress.

Q&F - Custom Web Portal & Website Redesign
Quinlan & Fabish Music Company
In 1959, fellow music educators George Quinlan and Tom Fabish joined forces and launched Quinlan & Fabish Music Company. The goal was to assist and guide Chicago area school music programs and students. Nearly 60 years later, the Quinlan family remains dedicated to honoring their father’s guiding principles and legacy.
Now with nine stores throughout three Midwest states, Quinlan & Fabish Music Company remains focused on making it easier for students to participate in Band and Orchestra through outstanding service and community partnerships.
Solution
Orases worked with Q&F to create a modern, cleanly designed website that can be managed in their existing Megatool. The new website is able to accommodate web sales, rentals, rental payments and invoice payments, and provides the client with multiple site templates to manage their specialty shops. Customers can sign in to their accounts to view open invoices and make payments.
The new site is integrated into the client’s inventory systems to keep all of their systems aligned and up to date. The site utilizes a simple PHP back end with a JavaScript front end and is hosted on an Elastic Computing instance EC2 on AWS.
Process
This project was developed through an Agile process in which Orases utilized a Critical Path approach. By knowing the critical path, we were able to keep the scope of the project focused on the items that needed to be done to deliver the site as soon as possible and to keep the client's goals at the center of the development approach.

Community Products - Application Modernization
Community Products
Community Playthings manufactures quality maple furniture, toys, and equipment for early childhood settings. Manufacturing shops are in Farmington, PA, Walden, NY, Ulster Park, NY and Chester, NY. Headquarters is at the Ulster Park, NY facility. Community Playthings UK is a branch located in the United Kingdom.
Solution
Orases worked with CP to develop a proof of concept (POC), building out the initial framework and architecture for the new CP systems. The POC included: Single Sign On (SSO; Infrastructure as code; Data in/Data out from existing CP systems; and, Pass CP Internal Security requirements.
As part of the POC, Orases and CP worked together to create an initial roadmap and project plan for the overall modernization of CP’s systems and specifically narrowed down the recommendation(s) for Year 1 (2022) development. Included were: System Diagramming; Finalizing proposed Technical Architecture; Creating a Project Plan for 2022 with estimated costs, timeline and team size; Meetings, Interviews and Collaboration with CP internal stakeholders; and, Meetings, Interviews and Collaboration with 3rd party vendors.
Through the POC process, CP determined they would like to partner with Orases for their long term vision for the CP systems. The next stage was to enter a Pilot together. Orases assigned a discovery, development, quality assurance, and project management team to define, design, and release work requested by CP as it relates to the release 1.0 of the MEM module.

ASID - Association Website & AMS Integration
Project Goal
Create a refreshed website that allows members a single portal to get access to member only content and have full access to membership information.
Using the ASID website members can:
- Get access to private content
- Update all profile information in one area and sync with AMS
- Find information quickly
- Members can create profiles that drive business to them
Reviews
the project
E-Commerce Store for Immigration Lawyers Association
"The entire team at Orases is really easy to work with."
the reviewer
the review
The client submitted this review online.
Please describe your company and your position there.
I'm the Director of Technology for an association of immigration attorneys.
For what projects/services did your company hire Orases, and what were your goals?
It was time for us to update our custom e-commerce store which was about 10 years old. The goal was to develop something within our custom AMS and not continue to have an outside product that connected.
We also had new products we wanted to sell that wasn't easily handled by the previous system. We also needed to be mobile friendly and give users a better experience with digital files.
How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?
Orases is our primary technology vendor. We are in a multi-year project plan with them to integrate all of our separate systems into one larger system. Key to continuing to work with them has been the work they have done on prior projects
Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.
The project went through a detailed discovery and then a development process. The platform is built in cakePHP. It integrates with our custom AMS and accounting system plus two external vendors for e-learning and a warehouse for physical products.
Key deliverables included a back-end product management system, a front-end store for users and an administrative checkout for our internal customer service teams
How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?
A project manager, a UX person for requirements gathering, a lead developer, 2 additional developers and a QA person.
Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?
Final deliverable was excellent and both staff and users were very pleased with the product. Ongoing support and adjustments have also been very smooth. Our staff is happy with the easier product creation interface and access to better sales data.
As part of this process we did learn that our own organization needs to work in a more waterfall environment and to complete all discovery before beginning development. Orases has been accomodating and future projects are following that structure
Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.
For this project we used Basecamp and Redmine as our project tools. During the discovery phase we met 2-3 times per week over Zoom and during development once every 2 weeks. Redmine tickets were used to track individual elements and their status.
What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?
The entire team at Orases is really easy to work with. They're also very prepared for meetings and take excellent documentation
Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?
Bringing new team members up to speed in our complex custom environment can be time consuming. But Orases seems to have developed a good plan for onboarding and we haven't had many issues.
the project
Mobile App’s Algorithm Dev for Sports Rating Platform
"Orases’ development team has met the project’s goals and release dates."
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 a DevOps engineer and web application developer at a company that offers a sports rating platform. Users can upload videos of their sports highlights on our platform and have their peers rank them.
What challenge were you trying to address with Orases?
We needed help to develop our mobile app’s algorithm feed, which is the algorithm that displays videos on the app’s home feed.
What was the scope of their involvement?
Orases has designed, developed, and implemented our mobile app’s home algorithm using Node.js as an environmental tool. Orases has also used AWS Lambda functions, Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2) to host the code, and Amazon MQ for pipeline communication.
At the beginning of our engagement, we had several meetings with Orases’ team to discuss the project’s technical requirements and objectives. We then moved on to the development phase, where Orases worked on the algorithm’s main functionalities and fixed any errors within the development cycle. After this, Orases enhanced the algorithm, implemented it in the app, and resolved any live production bugs that didn’t come up during testing.
Orases conducted straight-up user testing, where live and beta users gave us feedback that we used to progress in the development. During the final phase, Orases enhanced the algorithm to cater to our users better.
The algorithm's main functionality is it suggests content for users to keep watching based on their content consumption within our app. For instance, if a user watches a lot of hockey videos, the algorithm sources similar videos from our database that the user may like.
Moreover, Orases has also offered us key insights to design our suggested followers algorithm, which is the one that displays suggested accounts for users to follow. Additionally, Orases has helped with the app’s architecture and figured out how we could communicate two servers with each other.
We still have a technical support agreement with Orases, where they offer us maintenance and troubleshooting services for any bugs that come up. Orases also assist us with the app’s hosting since they have access to our hosting environment.
What is the team composition?
I’ve worked mainly with three teammates from Orases: a project manager, a lead developer, and a lead business analyst. During the development phase, Orases had a bigger team of developers working on our project, although I didn’t talk to them directly.
How did you come to work with Orases?
I believe we found Orases through a referral. However, I wasn’t part of Orases' hiring process.
What is the status of this engagement?
We started working with Orases in March 2022, and they launched the app’s MVP in April 2022. The project's development phase has finished, and we currently have a consultancy agreement with Orases.
What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?
Our main metrics for this project have been the integration and unit tests that Orases ran during the development phase. In software development projects, we test individual functionalities of the algorithm by using other code.
Overall, Orases’ development team has met the project’s goals and release dates.
How did Orases perform from a project management standpoint?
Orases meets deadlines and stays on budget. We use Jira and Confluence for project management.
We communicate with Orases through Slack and Google Meet. We’ve had different frequencies for meetings throughout the project: in the early stage of the development process, we had weekly meetings. Then, during the production phase, we had biweekly meetings and then just monthly meetings to enhance the app’s algorithm.
What did you find most impressive about them?
I’m most impressed with Orases’ knowledge of software development. They’re very communicative and open to discussions. Overall, Orases has done a great job.
Are there any areas they could improve?
I can’t think of anything for Orases to improve.
Do you have any advice for potential customers?
I recommend customers start the engagement with Orases having a business requirement to expedite the process. If they’re looking to build five-star software, they need to have their business requirements before going into development. This will help the development team to have a clear understanding of the work they need to perform on their end.
Once they achieve this with Orases, the process should be smooth after.
the project
Custom Software Development for Media & Entertainment Co
''They were a top-notch partner.''
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 an executive at a media and entertainment company.
What challenges were you trying to address with Orases?
We were trying to integrate one of our custom apps for supplier management into our main financial record system. We were previously taking care of our financial tasks manually by our account receivable team and ourselves, and that was taking a significant amount of time.
What was the scope of their involvement?
Orases did custom software development for us. They focused on helping us integrate an existing custom app into our Oracle financial system of record from scratch. The main functionalities we asked for were the ability to incorporate and manage our existing and new suppliers within our organization, including their address information, tax statuses, invoice attachments, and any other tax forms.
In terms of technologies, they used API integrations, payload to pass and distribute data, and security encryptions.
What was the team composition?
We worked with two members of Orases’ team, including a project manager and a developer.
How did you come to work with Orases?
Orases was within our vendor ecosystem because they worked with another department ar our organization. It was natural to reach out to them because they were already a trusted supplier for us.
How much have you invested with them?
We spent $75,000–$100,000 with them.
What is the status of this engagement?
We worked together from June 2022–January 2023.
What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?
The product that Orases created will help us get huge cost savings and enable us to relocate resources to other tasks since the platform will now automate some of our data integration processes. The system will also help us improve the accuracy of data management and alert us whenever an issue arises. Moreover, Orases understood our design perspective, which they translated into the development efforts, and were good at testing the product. Overall they were a top-notch partner.
How did Orases perform from a project management standpoint?
Orases’ project management was outstanding. They led a communicative process, asked us questions whenever they didn’t understand something about the development process, and were always willing to help us whenever needed. In terms of tools and communication, we used emails, Zoom standing meetings, and phone calls.
What did you find most impressive about them?
Orases’ communication skills and turnaround times were great.
Are there any areas they could improve?
I didn’t think there was anything they could improve on.
the project
Custom Software Dev for Agricultural Nutrition Lab
"The transition in turnover is always smooth with no delay due to staffing changes."
the reviewer
the review
The client submitted this review online.
Please describe your company and your position there.
I am the Systems Control Manager for an agricultural nutrition lab with 3 additional branded locations and an additional 40 contracted locations.
For what projects/services did your company hire Orases, and what were your goals?
Orases was hired to provided a new, innovative Laboratory Information Management System and Client Ordering system to replace our current outdated system. Our goal is to have an innovative, technologically up-to-date and client friendly system that is dynamic and allows in house management.
How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?
We had previously contacted Orases (many years ago) and came back to them due to their reputation and adaptability to our needs.
Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.
Orases designed and delivered a complete LIMS system that allows our company and clients to work with a web based, secure system. We worked with a discovery period as well as discovery meetings weekly throughout the course of the project.
We also worked in 2 weeks sprints with sprint review meetings at the end of each sprint. The key deliverables are a fully functioning, web based, laboratory information management system that is a SAAS capable product, yet fully dynamic to our needs.
How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?
There have been from 3 to 5 core people at a time on the project. Typically 2-3 developers, a senior developer and a project manager.
Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?
We're continuing to outline feature requests and updates so we are not live at this time although the product is delivered.
Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.
Although we have changed many development team member and project managers, we've maintained the same senior developer and the transition in staff is always smooth with no delay due to staffing changes. We used Basecamp and Slack for communication and file sharing as well as RedMine for sprint planning and review.
What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?
The most impressive thing about working with Orases has been their ability to adapt to our changing needs throughout the course of the project.
Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?
The quality of work, the promptness with communication and the ability to come up with innovative solutions has been amazing with this team. We could have done a deeper dive on discovery, but having started in January of 2020, the closing of companies made this difficult.
the project
Custom Software Dev for Nonprofit Organization
“Orases’ consistency, experience, knowledge, and skill sets are very solid.”
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.
In American Kidney Fund, we provide grants to low-income patients, do research around kidney disease, and provide kidney education. We’ve also partnered with a number of organizations for clinical trials and research regarding emerging opportunities for assisting our patients. As director of IT project management and enterprise application, I manage a lot of our IT products and business initiatives.
What challenge were you trying to address with Orases?
We wanted to find a partner to help us implement an off-the-shelf solution for our grant management process, as well as a payment merchant service so that our payments could go out automatically.
What was the scope of their involvement?
Throughout our engagement, Orases has become a strategic partner for us. They’re responsible for developing and implementing our grant management application, one of the most important applications for our company. We adopted using their platform as part of our application, which got us an 80% off-the-shelf and 20% customized solution as a result.
Currently, Orases acts as our management and support team. They manage our application, support it, host it on AWS, and make changes and enhancements to it as needed.
On this application, users can create a profile and go through the process of submitting a grant application. Based on the financial and insurance information they fill in, we evaluate them and decide if they’re eligible for the benefit or not, according to our internal rules and requirements.
What is the team composition?
We’ve worked with 1–3 people from Orases. We generally work with the same individuals, so the tenure at Orases has been very solid, preventing a lot of turnover situations and providing us with high expertise team members.
How did you come to work with Orases?
We went through an RFP process, looking for a vendor that could help us with our project. The companies to which we launched the RFP, including Orases, were a mixture of companies we found on Google, my own contacts, and referrals.
We shortlisted 6–8 vendors from the RFP process, narrowed them down to three, and ultimately selected Orases due to their great bid. From the moment we met, we really liked how they worked.
How much have you invested with them?
We’ve spent around $500,000–$1 million.
What is the status of this engagement?
We started working together in January 2018, and our engagement is ongoing. We’ve had a tremendous partnership with Orases, and we’ve been using our new application since 2018.
What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?
The application we used before was extremely slow. However, the one implemented by Orases has improved speed, response time, usability, and interaction capabilities, making it very user-friendly and intuitive. Thanks to our new app, our internal staff also has more flexibility for handling certain procedures, such as sending things back to patients and providing them with responses to their questions. Overall, Orases’ work has increased our productivity and efficiency across the board, being very helpful for both our internal staff and outside parties accessing and submitting grants.
How did Orases perform from a project management standpoint?
Orases uses a mixture of agile and waterfall processes. Every year, we have a scheduled discovery time, where we do a discovery process on a number of enhancements that our business requires. Additionally, we schedule our launch plans. Thanks to their great work, all of our projects are usually on time.
We use Basecamp to manage the project, and we have Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and Google Meet team meetings. Additionally, we use a tool to submit issues and requests.
What did you find most impressive about them?
Orases’ consistency, experience, knowledge, and skill sets are very solid. As I said, they’ve been a key strategic partner for us, both to take us where we are at and where we want to be in the long term. They’re very dependable and more than capable of handling our requests.
Are there any areas they could improve?
Orases can further improve their offering and become more than a custom software development company. It would be a great opportunity for them to expand on project management methodologies, showcasing best-in-class training offerings to their customers and adding value to their services.
the project
Highway Maintenance App for IT Leadership & Advisory Firm
“I rank Orases in the top 10 organizations that I’ve worked with in my career.”
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 work for an IT leadership and advisory firm that offers fractional CIO services.
What challenge were you trying to address with Orases?
I work with Orases for our client in the highway transportation and maintenance service industry business.
What was the scope of their involvement?
Our client needed a customized app that could help them identify issues in highway maintenance, such as broken guardrails, lines that needed to be paved, potholes that needed to be fixed, and others. Orases helped create an app where the client could enter those details — with pictures — into a database. Through it, the client could schedule services, personnel resources, and equipment to address problems. Upon completion, the client could then send everything to the Department of Transportation through the app. Ultimately, the team’s deliverables were a desktop app for the management team and a mobile app for the field people.
When I came on board, we revamped the product development process, which was a little looser than what I would describe as best practice. We met with Orases and talked about the process we’d use going forward. At that time, Orases was in phase two of the development lifecycle. We then defined requirements, built a product roadmap, and broke the requirements into a release schedule. Based on the prioritized roadmap we built, we had four releases a year.
Orases also did integrations with our back-office systems. Since the app had to run for mobile devices, we integrated it with Samsung devices in the field. On top of that, the team also did performance testing. The app software was also connected to the weather app for us to know when the weather was good or bad. The app also had account upload and download functionality for invoices, documents, and pictures. It could categorize captured metadata into pictures so the client could be searched easily. For equipment management, the app lets us know through geo-location services where equipment was in the field at any given time.
At present, Orases hosts the app and is responsible for database administration. They also handle the care and maintenance of the app.
What is the team composition?
We work with an account manager, who has been with us from the start of the development phase. Meanwhile, the team is composed of one architect and an average of three developers depending on the size of the release. The architect is responsible for the overall app design, while the developers write code and test the app.
How did you come to work with Orases?
Orases was already selected by my client before I came on board. They went through a standard RFP process, and the client vetted a couple of other vendors while looking for a partner. Orases had the willingness to change and adapt to new processes. They were also collaborative and flexible, plus the quality of their work was excellent. Those were the reasons the client continued working with them.
How much have you invested with them?
Our client has invested over $1.25 million dollars in this initiative.
What is the status of this engagement?
I started working with them in June 2017, and the partnership is ongoing.
What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?
The digitization of the work process has made a tremendous impact on our client’s business in terms of the size of staff it takes to run the initiative. The efficiency, quality, and timeliness of our customer’s work also improved.
Moreover, we haven’t had any catastrophic outages. For context, we’ve picked a scenario that benefited both the client and Orases in terms of bug fixes. Specifically, we’ve agreed that if we discover a bug within 60 days of release, Orases will fix it for free. As a result, they’re incentivized to improve the quality of the release so bugs don’t emerge and we get a better product.
Qualitatively, Orases is highly collaborative in their approach in that they integrate and fashion their solutions to the platforms that we already use. They’re mindful of such things and work with us in architecting solutions to ensure that the client’s requirements are met from a platform and testing perspective.
How did Orases perform from a project management standpoint?
Orases has managed the project well. We have weekly scrum and check-in meetings where we get information on our progress, budget, and target completion dates. Simply put, we get everything we need for project management on a regular basis. Apart from that, our team has great communication with project managers, and we know what’s going on in our process. We also know what issues are being addressed and what obstacles we’re running into so that the team can address them quickly. Overall, I’m truly pleased with the project management processes.
In terms of tools, Orases uses Redmine as their project tracking tool, requirements gathering solution, and bug notification system. Then, they give us access to their Jira board so that we can enter tickets and check on project status. Overall, we approach the project as a team composed of both Orases staff and our internal IT staff. Redmine is our primary communication channel. We also use video meetings and occasional emails back and forth to clarify things if they have questions.
What did you find most impressive about them?
From a technical perspective, they’re great. On top of that, they’re willing to adapt and work with clients to modify financial arrangements to meet those clients’ specific needs. Overall, I’ve been in the software development industry for about 30 years, and I rank Orases in the top 10 organizations that I’ve worked with in my career.
Are there any areas they could improve?
Orases was the one that convinced our client that they needed firms like ours to help them with product management; they didn’t have one when I came on board. In retrospect, Orases could have done that sooner.
At the same time, I understood that they were in a tough spot as they tried to help the client, especially when the COVID-19 pandemic happened. They knew the client had to bring in a product manager, though it took a while for the client to realize that.
Do you have any advice for potential customers?
Be open and honest, and tell Orases what you’re trying to solve. Think about and agree around KPIs that will benefit both your companies. They’re in the business of writing software, and they want to do it as efficiently and effectively as possible. Meanwhile, you want quality code that is extensible. There’s a middle ground between those things, and you should have an agreement with Orases in terms of how you’re going to measure success as a team. They’re highly adaptable and open to those kinds of conversations.
the project
Staff Augmentation for Nonprofit Media Organization
"There wasn’t any point where we felt that we weren’t getting what we needed from Orases."
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.
National Public Radio (NPR) is the head-end of the public radio system for the US. We provide nationally broadcasted content and support a thousand or so public radio stations. I am the director of content production systems.
What challenge were you trying to address with Orases?
We have a news production system called NewsFlex. It is used by producers and editors to write and collaborate on stories as well as work across divisional teams for editing, preparing, and planning these stories. On that platform, they could also link to our audio playout system.
We’d recently extended NewsFlex to a number of stations as a web platform working off of our on-premise server infrastructure. However, we decided that we wanted to build a version of it that could provide better support and scalability as we expand over time. It was going to take 2–3 years for our internal software development team to build it out, so we hired Orases to speed up that process of moving NewsFlex to the cloud.
What was the scope of their involvement?
Our goal was to make the story creation going on in these hub stations transparent and visible to other stations. We mostly worked in Node.js and Orases took on some modular work that our internal development team handed to them week after week.
Orases tended to what we call “tenancy”, which allows multiple stations to be live at the same time on the same software platform. Their team helped us build a custom set of permissions that let users either see or not see what other stations are doing, depending on their contractual relationship with those other stations. These permissions also defined what they could see from NPR’s headquarters team and what ours can see from theirs.
What is the team composition?
All of the developers that were brought on were senior developers. For the bulk of the time, we were working with three people but that number varied throughout the project. We also had a QA early on in the engagement whom we swapped out for a software engineer midway through.
How did you come to work with Orases?
This predates me, but we contracted them for a similar project years earlier. Orases helped us build an enterprise-level asset management system that currently runs live in the background and is connected to all of this work.
How much have you invested with them?
Our budget was $375,000.
What is the status of this engagement?
This project lasted from January–September 2021. We completed everything in that very fixed, focused timeline.
What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?
Orases consistently hit their targets, helping accelerate the pace of our internal software developers. They integrated well with our team, our Slack channel, and our daily stand-up meetings.
How did Orases perform from a project management standpoint?
Apart from Slack, we used Jira and Confluence. Orases worked in our ticketing system.
Their project manager and I would connect multiple times a week to check in on how things were going. We also held a formal meeting every two weeks to do budget burn rate and project check-in. That sequence helped us feel that we had enough eyes on the project
What did you find most impressive about them?
Their flexibility was the biggest thing for us. They weren’t super comfortable with embedding their staff into ours at first since it would cause them to lose a bit of visibility into what their contractors are doing. However, after working closely with Larissa (Director of Client Engagement) and Kat (Director of Operations Logistics) to define how we would need to work, they came around eventually. In the end, all of us could say it was a really successful model.
Are there any areas they could improve?
No, everyone was super happy with how this project turned out. There wasn’t any point where we felt that we weren’t getting what we needed from Orases.
Do you have any advice for potential customers?
Understand what you want as an organization and state it clearly before going into the project. As it was in our situation, agreeing to a certain work model beforehand will help you avoid communication missteps and frustrations.
the project
Website Redesign for Nonprofit Organization
"Having worked with them in the past, it was nice to see that their dedication to customer service was still top-notch."
the reviewer
the review
The client submitted this review online.
Please describe your company and your position there.
A2LA is dedicated to the formal recognition of competent testing and calibration laboratories (including medical laboratories), biobanking facilities, inspection bodies, product certification bodies, proficiency testing providers, and reference material producers. I am the Director of Marketing and Communications.
For what projects/services did your company hire Orases?
Our website was outdated and we did not have the skillset internally to redesign the site.
How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?
Orases was the original designer of our site and were the natural choice for the redesign.
Describe the project in detail and walk through the stages of the project.
Following a series of discovery conversations and meetings, the SOW was developed and weekly meetings ensued. We met with the front and back-end designers to thoroughly discuss our must haves and wish list which would help us stay on budget.
The graphic designer walked us through many different styles/themes to hone in on the final look and feel we wanted to achieve. They were spot on every step of the way and walked us through any possible limitations that might come from our choices. Being able to consistently see the test site made it easier for us to tell if they were on the right path.
How many resources from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?
We worked with 4-5 Orases team members throughout the process retaining the same project manager, artistic designer, programmer and SEO specialist, WordPress programmer and developer, and development project coordinator.
Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?
The Orases team documented everything every step of the way utilizing a project management platform. The final look is much more on-trend and simplified for visitors (and staff!) to more easily find what they are looking for.
How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?
The Orases team is well trained in communicating with clients which made the workflow seamless. Every milestone was delivered early or right on time. If there was concern that our changes would impact delivery, they were very clear in communicating it.
What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?
Having worked with them in the past, it was nice to see that their dedication to customer service was still top-notch.
Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?
There are always things any company can improve upon. However, with our experience specifically, there was nothing we would change...especially since we finalized the project early!
the project
Web App Dev & Design for Business Consulting Firm
"Their experience and expertise were highly evident during our partnership."
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 founder and executive director at The Hatch Project, a business consulting company. We help entrepreneurs and business leaders with new products and businesses.
What challenge were you trying to address with Orases?
We needed their help in developing our web application.
What was the scope of their involvement?
I’m currently working on my doctoral dissertation, and there’s an intersection between my studies and what I need for my company. My methodology requires a data collection tool, which aims to help entrepreneurs who are eager to start a new business.
Orases fully developed a mobile-friendly web app to address my data gathering needs. I relayed my project requirements to their team, and they implemented development and design solutions based on those. We haven’t launched our app yet, but Orases completed all their tasks according to our project scope.
What is the team composition?
I worked with one project manager and a business analyst from Orases.
How did you come to work with Orases?
I found them online while looking for potential local agencies to work with.
How much have you invested with them?
I spent $10,000.
What is the status of this engagement?
The development project ran from June–July 2021. We have another project underway, but we haven’t officially started that yet.
What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?
I don’t have any quantitative metrics to share yet since we haven’t reached the go-live period. However, I could confirm that Orases was a knowledgeable team that delivered a well-curated and sophisticated platform. Their understanding of my requirements was highly evident in the quality of the work they produced.
How did Orases perform from a project management standpoint?
We used Basecamp as our main communication and project management channel. Orases had commendable project management skills — they asked the right questions and brought productive insights to the table.
Additionally, we were kept in the loop throughout the process. They were a professional team committed to delivering on-time and on-budget solutions.
What did you find most impressive about them?
Their experience and expertise were highly evident during our partnership. Orases consistently followed a streamlined approach, and they allocated their resources well to maximize their team’s productivity.
Are there any areas they could improve?
I personally prefer in-person meetings, but I know that times are different now because of the pandemic. After all, Orases did their best to meet me halfway on this matter.
Do you have any advice for potential customers?
Orases is a responsive and professional team, so you only have to prepare a clear outline and be straightforward in identifying your needs. They’ll surely take it from there.
the project
SaaS Platform Backend Development for Software Startup
"They prioritize development skills and communication skills equally to ensure their solution meets your needs."
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 CEO and one of the co-founders of a software startup. We combine advances in machine learning with materials science.
What challenge were you trying to address with Orases?
We needed to build a backend platform that would allow clients to interface with our hosted neural network.
What was the scope of their involvement?
In general, most of the project involved building a standard SaaS platform. We needed to be able to create different organizations and users within those organizations and allow the users and organizations to have different levels of access to our products. On our end, we needed our team to be able to perform administrative functions on the platform and to be able to access all the machine learning data from our clients to help us continue to optimize our solution. One of the more nuanced parts of the project was enabling users to interact with our neural network through the platform. This network was built in Python, while the platform was built in PHP.
What is the team composition?
We worked directly with one project manager, two software developers, two scrum masters, and one quality assurance professional. They also helped us build a WordPress website. For this end of the project, I worked with another member of their team.
How did you come to work with Orases?
I did extensive research on potential companies for this project, combing through reviews and reaching out to several firms. When I spoke directly with Nick (President), he clearly understood exactly what we needed. His team was happy to work within our tight timeline and budget, acknowledging the future value of the project.
How much have you invested with them?
We’ve spent $50,000 with them to date.
What is the status of this engagement?
We’ve been working together since December 2020. We just finished this project and now have a monthly contract with them to make any software improvements we need.
What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?
We needed them to deliver a product that works properly and interacts easily with our neural network. They did this with relative ease. We also wanted to see some of the other functionality of the platform built out to our liking. They kept us in the loop for the entirety of the project so that the end product would meet our exact specifications. Thanks to them, our clients can upload files to pass information to our neural network and then get a response displayed in a user-friendly format. I really enjoyed working with their team, which is why we chose to continue to work with them.
How did Orases perform from a project management standpoint?
They’re very clear and put together timelines well in advance. Their team is proactive in flagging any potential delays, even if they end up overcoming them. Communication was really important to us as well, and they’ve been extremely responsive. They provide instant feedback at all important junctures. During the initial project, we had meetings twice a week with their entire team, which kept the engagement on track. We used Redmine and Basecamp as project management tools.
What did you find most impressive about them?
They prioritize development skills and communication skills equally to ensure their solution meets your needs. Right when I submitted an inquiry on their website, Nick reached out to me. Their project managers maintained constant communication with us as well to make sure we stayed on track.
Are there any areas they could improve?
Within the confines of our project, they had difficulty providing a clearly defined scope early on in the engagement. We went through the master service agreement and statement of work at the beginning, but more clarity in this stage would have helped us.
Do you have any advice for potential customers?
Be clear about exactly what you want to be delivered from early on in the engagement. You’ll probably be working with Nick at that point, but make sure the message is translated to the project manager you end up working with. With their communication skills, this clarity should help you avoid any budget-related headaches later on.
The product that Orases created will help the client save costs and working resources. In terms of project management, Orases used Zoom, phone calls, and emails to keep a communicative and punctual process. The client also praised their quick turnaround times.