The Need
Datahove AS, a Norwegian web development and hosting company, was looking for a partner to work with their existing Xamarin-based sports event application, Veko. Developed originally in 2014, Veko’s main functions include:
- Full festival schedule, available offline to make sure that any loss of connectivity does not affect the fan experience;
- Push notifications: Send directly to fans;
- Maps and geolocation;
- Social sharing.
A few months before a 2016 event, Veko needed to be updated, and as Datahove AS didn’t have the capacity to do that in-house, they looked for a partner with experience developing Xamarin apps for event management and ticketing companies.
The Solution
Fix the existing code or develop from scratch?
While discussing the project requirements, Datahove decided to leave it up to Softjourn to decide whether it would be better to start coding a new or go on with the existing app. After studying the code, our team suggested continuing with Datahove’s code, as most of the functions worked as they should and the few errors that we found could be fixed after updating the Xamarin libraries.
Start with a pilot project
As with most new customers, our work with Datahove started with a smaller pilot project that involved fixing the current versions of the Android and iOS apps, updating libraries, and making sure the functionality worked as intended. This was a good way to understand Veko’s features and structure, and to become familiar with the code. For Datahove, it was a test to see if working with Softjourn would be what they were looking for.
The next phase
After successful delivery, the Softjourn team started working on the next phase, adding some cool new features to the Veko apps:
- Implement search function
- Change design
- Change Home Screen and Event View functionality
- Tagged push notifications
- Offline mode
- Search in all event categories
Technologies&Tools
C#, .Net, Xamarin Android, Xamarin iOS, Azure SDK, SQLLite, Google API
The Benefits
- Updated iOS and Android apps published and ready for Veko festival fans
- Increased development capacity without expanding Datahove’s in-house team
- Better communication with customers—Veko users
- Delivery shows what might be offered to another customer base
“Splitting this project into two phases was great because we had a simple phase first that we broke up into tasks, making it easy to track progress and see how much time the tasks needed. When we planned Phase 2, it was very easy to prioritize and to plan subsequent phases.”
“It’s great that Softjourn developers and designers offer advice and suggestions for making the solutions better while respecting their client’s final decisions. It shows that they are concerned about what they are doing, not just doing a job they’ve been given.”
"A very professional company that always gives advice and feedback is good in project management and is flexible in time and very quick at fixing bugs." - Silje Skorve Paulsen, Co-Founder at Datahove
