About the Client
The company has been selling custom garage doors in the United States for many years, and they have had major difficulty managing quotes due to their complex products. For years they worked with different sheets, making the quoting process time-consuming and difficult to manage across the company until they decided to change the way of doing things by implementing its own quote application and moving everything in one place. Digital Artflow was selected as a partner in this endeavor due to extensive experience in quoting systems.
The Need
The products and services the company provides are complex: with many options, restrictions and a complex pricing structure. The company needed an app to replace much of the staff’s work. The app would allow sales staff to easily quote a product by using the built-in configurator, get the price in real-time, be able to generate a quote proposal in PDF and send it via email and eventually be able to create a Work Order for the inventory personnel. In the same application, but with different access permissions, inventory personnel are able to track the stock components required for the Work Order and have the project ready for installation.
Finally, the app will allow users to monitor projects through an integrated calendar, be able to manage payments, documents, customers and components, and be able to create and edit products. The company would need to control everything from one application.
The Solution
The application is built with Laravel, a web application framework. For the calendar we integrated FullCalendar, a React based event application. We started developing on top of the Laravel application all the necessary features starting with Users, Customers, Suppliers, Components, Products and Projects. Every section of the app was a challenge, but two of the most important and innovative features are found in: Products, where users can create their own configurable products, restrictions and prices with no code required, and Projects, where users can configure, price, quote and generate documents with a few clicks. Creating a project and generating documents triggers many algorithms from checking inventory to tracking purchase orders using specific nomenclature and automating the process of building garage door products using components and stock rules. To maintain good communication between suppliers and the company, we needed to integrate the system with third-party systems, using APIs to facilitate updating prices and product data.
Today, the application has become very complex with its own documentation and difficult to detail in a few words here. We also offer professional hosting using cloud servers, security and backup solutions, and regular updates to run the app in the safest and best possible conditions.
The Results
The web application based on Laravel is currently the backbone of the entire business, relying heavily on its capabilities. Once the application was integrated into the business, gradually the entire staff was reorganized and became significantly more efficient. Along with simplifying the ordering process, it allowed the company to grow its business more easily and expand throughout the United States market. The project started a few years back and it’s still undergoing constant improvements as the business evolves.
“They’re able to anticipate our needs, which allows us to take the program to a level that exceeds our original goals.
Jeff Kane – Executive, Kane Industries Inc.
