QArea Inc.

Challenge

Providing QA services for Fintech and Banking solutions comes with extra responsibility, as we are operating with apps that will further process security-sensitive data. Here is the scope of work we were hired to do in this project:

• Establishing QA workflow and developing needed test-related documentation from scratch;
• Testing app’s security and high-performance level prior to the next round of work with sponsors;
• Support and continuous QA for new features and significant releases; 
• Ensuring correct operation of the KYC client identification service;
• Covering the testing load, freeing time for the product owners before the critical release.

Solutions

To guarantee client’s fintech product answers the audience’s expectations and high standards of the investment market, we’ve assembled an expert team consisting of a Team Lead, 3 manual and 1 auto QA engineers of Middle and Senior levels. All the team members had a strong background in testing multi-user mobile applications with sensitive data.

Overall, the project took more than 1 year. Work was done in several iterations, corresponding with new releases, and in total, took about 6 months of active testing time. Here is what our team has achieved so far in this project:

• Introduced essential metrics to monitor bug statistics;
• Contributed to testing workflow and provided necessary pieces of documentation necessary to ensure quality and uninterrupted QA process;
• Optimized tests’ architecture to ensure analysis is made much faster and determine where the bug or test requires re-runs;
• Organized security, performance, usability, and regression testing;
• Made sure clients’ key extra functionality — “​​recurring investments” — works as expected, charging the planned amount at the right time;
• Checked accuracy of the following functions: trackers (for a top dozen most popular stocks), instant funding, multiple income streams, etc.;
• Ensured correct operation of the KYC client identification service, overcoming challenges that came with various previously unchecked IDs provided by the client to pass the verification;
• Analyzed end-to-end user path to ensure every step is intuitive, self-explanatory, answers customers’ expectations, and performs as planned by the developers.

Automation

Automized performance and security testing:

• Automated scan of production servers, ensuring seamless deployment to live environment;
• Performance (Load) testing with SoapUI Pro. Using this commercial extension helped us to ease many recurring tasks and save time.

Technologies

MobSF and Kali Linux were employed for security testing: 

• MobSF was used in the early stage of new release development to ensure more efficient debugging and increased cost efficiency;
• Kali Linux helped us gather, analyze and report vital information about the app’s vulnerabilities. Considering the sensitive nature of investors’ financial information, we had to make sure no potential attackers could extract any critical data.

Localization-related aspects

It was not our first time working with a client from GCC, and we were ready to adjust to the local working environment and requests.

Schedule. Specialists on the client’s side were available from Sunday to Thursday, with Friday and Saturday off. We were not required to follow the same program, but planned sliding shifts to ensure one of our engineers was available for emergencies on Sundays. 

Islamic stock filter. The Gulf region is a predominantly Islamic domain shared by Sunni and Shia Muslims. Sharia law traditions are strong, and following them is vital for most of our client’s customers. In the scope of our work, we were tasked to test additional Sharia-compliant stocks functionality. We also made UI suggestions for an improved depiction of compliant stocks to attract more conservative customers. 

Results

Thanks to the systemic approach to testing, we have found and reported bugs critical for the system’s safety and performance. It allowed our clients to release the planned version on time and present a secure, user-friendly mobile investment bank to sponsors. We are proud to share some results highlights for this project:

• 3.9 to 4.2 rate for both iOS and Android apps;
• Compliance reports for sponsors;
• Over 150 test cases and 600+ bug reports;
• 100% of functionality is covered with relevant test cases.

Working closely with a support team on complex tickets, and incorporating customers’ feedback into our QA flow, allowed us to create more targeted test cases. This, along with other measures, helped to increase client satisfaction rate. 

Challenge

While the latest design trends often err on aesthetics compromising functionality and convenience, our goal was to unite purchase-inciting usability and a light, seamless outline. Among the primary responsibilities of our crew were:

• Create a responsive design, maintaining a minimalistic approach;
• Apply proven UI/UX principles for intuitive navigation;
• Ensure the accessibility of all needed information on each screen;
• Create a new style guide for the back-end part.  

Solutions

Marketing

Creating a design that increases conversions cannot be separated from market analysis and a deep understanding of client needs. Even a shade of color used for discounted product price matters. 

Forming a star team to execute this project, we chose a strong marketing background designer, which truly paid off. We launched brief on-point research and offered a solution that seamlessly united advanced Instagram functions with clients’ expectations of online fashion shopping.  

Design

• Designed Checkout, Shipping, Stripe Payments, and My Account functionality screens;
• Ensured that design complies with Shopify, Woocommerce, Stripe, and Instagram platforms;
• Designed user paths taking into account market research and UX/UI best practices;
• Designed a Style Guide (Front-end wireframe) including typeface, color modes, and various components;
• Created an engaging first page mimicking habitual Instagram-shopping experience;
• Designed Catalog and Product overview with advanced (compared to standard Instagram shopping) features aimed to minimize returns and refunds. The more detailed product view allows clients to make better decisions.

Results

Balancing marketing and design expertise, we have designed a top-notch fashion store with a flow mimicking the mainstream shopping Instagram experience. UX/UI optimized flow and design appealing to the target users were combined to maximize average checks and increase customer turnover. Once the project was fully approved, we handed all the layouts and user-flow schemes to a separate development team. 

Challenge

Shortly before requesting the help of our QA department, the client transferred the code to a new environment, so our ultimate goal was to make sure that the updated solution works as flawlessly as it did before the transfer. Specifically, our team had to do the following:

• Check the UI to determine how enjoyable the user experience is;
• Go through the complete customer journey, from selecting the product to finalizing the order;
• Test the payment functionality with different user scenarios;
• Investigate the way the product works on different platforms (web and mobile).

Moreover, the client reported some search engine optimization-related issues and asked us to perform an SEO audit.

The peculiarity of this project was the initial involvement of several contact points from the customer’s side, including the key stakeholders and specialists from their outsourced development team. The TestFort team has successfully overcome this challenge by using the best project management practices in our work and keeping quick and transparent communication with the client.

With a clear understanding of what needed to be done, we set out to work on the project.

Solutions

To complete the project and deliver everything expected of us, we did the following:

• Created a checklist for comprehensive testing.
• Wrote test cases for every possible user scenario in close collaboration with the stakeholders.
• Performed several types of testing, including UI/UX, functional, and exploratory, to test all the aspects of the product, even less obvious ones.
• To verify the correct operation of the website on various platforms, we used several different Windows and iOS devices for testing.
• Performed regression testing after bug fixes to make sure that the product was not impacted negatively by the code changes.
• Ran multiple tests with a scanner tool to find SEO-related flaws and possible areas of improvement on the website.

For this project, the team consisted of:

• 1 QA Lead (part-time),
• 1QA Engineer with SEO competencies (part-time),
• 3 to 4 Manual QA Engineers at different stages of the project.

Results

The work on the project was done over the period of two months, including the main QA round as well as regression QA rounds which included re-testing the bugs after they were fixed by the development team. We closely worked with the client and their team until all the discovered defects were fixed and the updated polished and shiny website was successfully launched.

Challenge

By the time we joined this project, the client had been working with a team of manual QA engineers for some time. This resulted in over 10,000 test cases, accumulated over several years, being stored in Google Spreadsheets. So this became our first big task on the project — to move the documentation to TestRail for more effective prioritization and maintenance. Other objectives included:

• Validating all 10,000+ test cases to select the most relevant ones
• Analyzing the existing user scenarios
• Choose around 700 test cases for future automation
• Take over smoke and regression testing from the manual QA team

Solutions

From the very beginning, we focused on developing an effective collaboration between our team and the team of manual QA engineers who worked on the project. We regularly consult with them about test cases, testing conditions, and other aspects of QA. Here is what else we did to meet the project objectives:

• Moved 10,000+ test cases to a single format and storage location
• Imported the cases into TestRail, 500 cases at a time
• Created custom fields in TestRail to prepare detailed reports
• Together with the client, selected 700+ cases that needed to be automated
• Selected and prioritized different types of functionality to be tested in the upcoming sprints
• Perform daily smoke tests and regular regression tests
• Created detailed documentation and manuals using Confluence
• Helped the client adjust the workflow and introduce TestRail milestones for maximum efficiency
• Incorporated our work into the Scrum methodology and delivered the results in two-week sprints

Moreover, we used automated testing to help make the work of the manual QA team more efficient and perform more tests in the same amount of time. We chose Java to automate UI testing because we have successfully used it on similar projects multiple times before.

Our team on this project consisted of:

• One Manual QA
• One to two Automation QAs (on different stages of the project)
• QA Team Lead

Results

The work on this project is ongoing: our team joined the project over seven months ago and will continue working for at least another five months. We are continuing to deliver QA according to the plan and are currently discussing the possibility of performing manual and automated testing for the mobile version of the site. We are regularly receiving positive feedback from the client and are hoping for a long-lasting and fruitful relationship.

Esportsale is an e-commerce platform tailored for distribution of sports-related goods and merchandise developed by experts from QArea.

Challenge

Our team had to develop a solid and secure e-commerce platform with a strong database connection, fast response rate, rich functionality for merchants and convenient payment functionality. The site had to be interactive, engaging and user-friendly in all aspects and steps of the purchasing process.

Solution

We have covered all following functionality and more to satisfy requirements in their full extent:

• Primarily we have chosen Magento as the main platform because it is literally tailored for e-commerce solutions of all shapes and sizes.
• The homepage features a section with beautiful banners tailored to raise sales by displaying relevant goods.
• There are also “Top Sellers” and “New Arrivals” blocks on the home page for further user comfort. These sections display content automatically by pulling data straight from the database.
• Pages with product categories may be filtered by attributes and sub-categories. We have chosen Ajax to implement this functionality.
• Product pages include reviews from customers and may be rated.
• Customers can write their reviews after ordering products.
• Customers can invite friends and are even encouraged to do so as they can gain points (discounts) for such actions.

These actions have resulted in a great sports goods e-commerce platform.

About project

QArea was asked to update and add new functionality to the Angelinos coffee & tea online store. The platform was released in 2015, and since then has been updated many times. It provides a wide range of tea and coffee products. Visitors can select items based on product characteristics, cost limitations, origin countries, etc.

Challenges

The online store had a readymade backend, but with limited usability and lack of functionality related to external user operations (user invitations, gifts for invited users, etc). Thus, we had to improve the UI/UX of the site and add a set of new features to simplify the shopping process. In addition, we had to implement an updated payment system, as the old one did not have the ability to change the future delivery date for activated subscriptions.

Since the user activities played a huge role for our client, we also had to provide services related to user expectations. We needed to implement an effective newsletter subscription and set up its capabilities in accordance with the requirements of the client. Furthermore, to ensure uninterrupted operation of the site and smooth transitions between pages, we had to provide QA support at every stage of project development.

Solutions

Our team provided both development and testing services as well as ensured comprehensive management support for our client. We used Drupal 7, PHP, and jQuery to complete Angelinos with the needed functionality. We have implemented recurring order subscriptions (Activate/Cancel/Pause/Skip next delivery) and refreshed payment system with the new version of Braintree.

To ensure the stable operation of the online store without unforeseen problems and security leaks, we used both manual and automated testing approaches. We focused on security testing and paid great attention to the compatibility of Angelinos with different web browsers, operating systems, and devices. We have made the interface quite intuitive, convenient, and simple.

Results

Actually, the project is at the release stage and has visitors from all over the world. The required functionalities have been successfully completed and thoroughly tested. Now, we provide support services and monitor the correct operation of the online store. Our client is satisfied with the final results, while all user expectations were met. Users can easily buy the necessary products, receive gifts for recommendations, and more.

Challenge

The client approached QArea looking for a dedicated testing and QA team for their print on demand mobile application. The company was gearing up for rapid growth and a significant expansion of their product line, and it was important that the same, high level of product quality was maintained even during the faster release cycle.

The service is constantly rolling out new items to its print shop, allowing users to print on well over 1k different physical products with over 1m different design and layout options.

Moreover, since the client’s service was available as a web, iOS, and Android application, the team had to conduct testing across multiple platforms.

Solution

QArea provided the client with a dedicated manual and automated testing team, complete with a Project Manager. The team integrated seamlessly with the client’s in-house and remote developers. The team and PM participated in daily stands, weekly Scrum meetings, and completed their testing and QA tasks in tandem with the client’s 2-week sprint schedule.

Over the course of the project, the team completed functionality, smoke, stress, regression, and cross-platform testing.

For cross-platform testing our team used physical phones, tablets, and desktop computers of various makes and models. Over 30 iOS and Android devices were used for testing to ensure the application’s flawless performance on both flagship and older devices.

Results

Our work with the client continues and has been ongoing for several years. The client’s dedicated team consists of 10 people and is led by a dedicated project manager. Automated testing with the client began 1.5 years ago, and the extent of testing automation for the project is set to expand over the next 6 months.

Requirements

The key objective of the project was verifying that the app would ensure top-notch quality of the features with the release of new mobile devices, updates of OS, browsers.

The key challenges:

• Maintaining the security level;
• Testing full redesign of the app on all the platforms;
• Testing of enhancements: new languages have been added to the app (English, French, Spanish, Italian, German, Portuguese, Japanese), and this led to a wider array for test coverage.
• Implementation and stabilization of the password changer feature which makes Dashlane different from other password managers.

Solution

At the very beginning of the project, the most suitable solution was found – Agile methodology.

We used Redmine, Jira, Kanban, and Scrum to meet specific and flexible demands of the project and achieve comprehensive results.

Zephyr was used to create test suites and test cycles. We used HockeyApp (Android and iOS), SharedBox, TestFlight (iOS) to deploy builds for testing.

Custom tools were created to work specifically on the project, maximize productivity, and meet demands of the project.

Responsibilities

We have performed Functional testing; Compatibility testing; Regression testing; Ad-hoc testing; UI/UX testing; Validation testing; Smoke testing; Cross-platform (iOS, Android, MAC&PC, web application) and cross-browser (Chrome, Safari, Mozilla Firefox, Internet Explorer) testing. Bug reporting; Bug rechecking for this project.

A lot can go wrong in operations between suppliers and customers in the manufacturing business as there are so many things to follow. This makes good communication and chain management essential to the business. QArea helped a global audit and assurance services company develop a proprietary application that would simplify order and shipment management for their clients.

Challenge

An international company that provides global audit and assurance services to businesses worldwide, including value chain analysis, compliance assessments, etc., requested QArea to help them with the development of their proprietary system for the manufacturing business—a B2B application that would enable suppliers and their customers to effectively manage orders, track time, monitor shipments, and analyze past activities.

Solution

The client provided us with their vision for the app, documentation from their legacy project, and the general description of features they expect to see in the new app. The requirements provided were pretty basic, so we first had to conduct thorough research to avoid any possible misinterpretations. After we clarified the requirements, established efficient workflows, and had all the gaps covered, we moved on to the development. Since the legacy project was already using the Goa framework, our tech stack comprised Go, Goa, and Angular. First, we equipped the app with an admin panel, added two types of users: Suppliers and Customers. Then, we developed a communication system that also enabled users to log their work hours. After that, we added a system for order management and shipment tracking. Among the many other features the app included were:

• Businesses can invite people to the app, add new users
• Businesses can assign users different roles in their company profile (managers, employees, supervisors, etc.)
• Businesses can set automated shipments
• Businesses can check their activity history: see their orders and shipments from a certain period of time
• Businesses can share reports

Result

The project was successfully completed in eight months. Our client was very pleased with the way we organized our workflows on the project and the results we delivered—a high-performing and flexible B2B application to effectively run operations, supervise orders, and track shipments. We built them a robust proprietary system that simplifies communication and chain management between suppliers and their customers in the manufacturing business.

About the project:

QArea was asked to build a social platform for people who love food and would like to create a positive relationship with their body. This should allow people to draw up a nutrition plan, helping them to organize a rational and profitable diet. In addition, the application should allow users to share their preferences with other members of the community, allowing them to sell/buy any selected item from the proposed dishes. Items can be selected taking recommendations from other users or from their personal choice. 

Challenges:

QArea team had been actively involved in every stage of the project development. It includes the building of the server side of the application, UI/UX, and QA maintenance within all stages of the development. We also had to realize the overall app logic along the user-friendly and intuitive UX/UI which were crucial for the social aspect of the platform. Also, special attention was paid to the transparency and a robust management support.

Solutions:

The development team included a project manager, a tech lead and solution architect, two frontend developers, an IOS developer, and a QA engineer. As the general business requirements were defined by our client, we have applied management and business solutions based on our own experience and tech expertise. The development process had taken four months.

We have used Golang and React Native programming languages for the server-side of the application. To make it fast and ensure its seamless user experience, we have chose the powerful capabilities of React.js. GitLab and Jenkins hosting services have been used to provide management assistance and to automate the development processes. Agile flexibility along with efficient management tools have given us the clear and transparent communication between the development team and our clients. We have used Skype for daily basis calls, and the e-mails for files and the project data transferring.

Results:

Due to cohesive work both the development team and the client, the project was realized in a short period of time and within the budget limits. Now the project is at the commercial stage that allows us to get feedback from real users. The client is satisfied with a solution delivered.

Requirement 

User-friendliness has never been among the strengths of enterprise software, and ERPs are not an exception. While Odoo is one of the most popular ERP solutions in the world, it is quite hard for its users to access, use, or navigate the system. To change that, we implemented significant improvements to the ERP that made it more attractive, user-friendly, and easy to use.

Challenge

Our main task was to improve the Odoo system usability to meet the highest requirements of the technology industries and ensure the best user experience possible. Our goal was to redesign the ERP system in a way so it can align more precisely with the specific, complex, and fast-changing needs of the IT field. As Odoo is a big and complex software solution, it runs very slowly. Therefore, the biggest challenge of this project was to deal with system speed.

Solution

Our team worked with Javascript programming language and the Gitlab tool to meet the goals of the project most effectively. We used the best design practices that allowed us to create a much more intuitive user interface. We chose Agile methodology as the most relevant one and used Skype and Odoo as primary communication channels to ensure smooth delivery of the project.

Result

We have successfully completed all the tasks and came up with several unique solutions (which were approved). The result of our work is an updated, customer-centric, and user-friendly ERP system that can keep up with modern business needs. It is an ongoing project, and we continue to make changes to the system so it can become even more effective, which is crucial in turbulent economic times.

Requirement 

For every business, having an online presence has become a necessity. We helped our client, a globally respected Japanese manufacturer, to upgrade their existing site and develop three amazing portals for the company’s subsidiaries to help them grow their business and showcase their brand.

Challenge

QArea’s goal was to build websites for four regional branches of our client’s industrial machinery business. The websites had to be functional, well designed, and informative. Visitors must be able to understand what the company does, browse a catalog of available machinery, and be able to easily get in touch with our client’s representatives to place an order or request a consultation. The client also provided an expansive list of technical requirements to the website’s functionality, back-end, content management, and search engine optimization. 

All the websites should have had a unique and appealing look while professionally presenting the company as an industry leader with high-quality machinery products. 

Our goal was to create a design that both matched the main ideas of the client’s business and followed the latest B2B trends. We had to ensure the responsiveness and compatibility of all sites so that they could reach the widest audience possible. 

Another important task was to migrate the existing legacy website of the client’s subsidiaries to an Umbraco and .NET content management system. As our client had gone through the rebranding process, it wasn’t clear what content should be published on the new site. One of the biggest challenges with this part was to create the website layout that ensures consistency and a similar design. Once the content parameters were determined, we were able to use all the benefits of the Umbraco platform and build websites most effectively.

Solution

We set issue identification and documentation as an essential part of our development process. This would guarantee that all errors are captured, prioritized, and resolved efficiently. Considering all requirements were specified and explicit, we chose Waterfall as a development methodology for the project. 

We used .NET to build four fast, efficient, and secure websites. Our flexible and adaptable UI/UX process allowed us to ensure the website is easy to use, the content is accessible and presented clearly, and the overall layout and color scheme of the website is pleasing to the eye.

We built an effective workflow within the team by making regular communication with the client a priority. Skype, Google Hangouts, and daily email reports were a core part of our work with the client. This effective workflow resulted in four great websites being delivered to the client within the defined time frame and budget. 

Result

After six months of dedicated work, our team has developed four attractive, cohesive, and visually engaging websites that allow users to easily navigate and communicate with our client.

For the American department of our client’s firm, we created a site that informs the visitors about machine installation, sales and distribution, start-up services, repair, service maintenance, engineering, and technical support, and more. It also includes the chats for communicating with support/finance specialists. 

We also built the portals for the Canadian, South American markets that both take into account the peculiarities of the regions and reflect the massive scale of our client’s global business. Our customer is completely satisfied with the results of our work, and we look forward to new challenging tasks from them in the future.

Mission

DueFocus is a task-tracking tool for developers. Every single short or long activity can only start after the planning phase. Planning, in turn, should have such attributes as the List of actions, Budget, Time Period and Results. DueFocus allows everyone to define those parameters for every activity seamlessly.

Challenge

The very first and most challenging issue was to solve future performance issues while connecting thousands concurrent request per each second.

The ability to deliver new versions using one code base DB is almost always a bottleneck in each high loaded system. With an app on Golang, we allow users to save and store ~50 screenshots of daily activities. Integration with more than 20 project management tools was ensured as well.

Solution

Usage of microservice architecture was our first and strategically strong solution. Thus every microservice is an independent and self-autonomous piece of functionality.

We have chosen Golang as our main platform for backend development. We use various types of Databases for each microservice (from OS file systems to SQL solutions). We used Electron, AngularJS, and JavaScript as our main development platforms for the client application. A strictly defined Continuous Integration process delivered new microservices to the server, as well as to the new client version.

Result

We now have a stable client application compatible with *nix, win and mac os platforms, powered by a solid backend microservice infrastructure. DueFocus is able to handle up to 10000 concurrent requests per second. The app can store screenshot and productivity history. DueFocus is compatible with more than 20 project management tools that include Jira, Redmine, Odoo and many others.

About Project

Duecode is an all-in-one toolkit for Jira/Jira Cloud that helps developers and managers to control the quality of written code at every stage of project development. This allows managers and business owners to systematically track the personal results of developers or the whole team and contributes to the evolution of trust relationships within the project members. The Duecode toolkit allows software development team, companies, and clients to:

• Control the property of written code and eliminate problems related to its quality;
• Automate and improve the working workflow;
• Make a software product viable in the long term;
• Reduce legal risks by eliminating uncertainty from contracts;
• Build trusting and transparent relationships with vendors, etc.

The product provides easy-to-use management features and allows users to boost their productivity in order to achieve stable development & testing processes.

Challenges

The main responsibility of the development team was to create an effective toolkit for code analysis. It should have been easy to use and understandable as it was increasingly designed for team members without a technical background. This would have to provide low latency and fast page load times while rendering time on the interface should have been limited.

The core Duecode functionality supposed to have:

• Analysis of the progress and quality of the code at all stages of development;
• Graphic visualization of the received data;
• 13 technologies are supported: Python, Java, JavaScript, Typescript, C#, C++, Erlang, PHP, Puppet, Flex, PL/SQL, VB (.Net), and Go.

• Metrics per developer or a whole team;
• The possibility of daily commitment for smooth operational management.

Solution

The project implementation took 12 months and included the development of MVP (4 months) and the implementation of version 3.0 of the product. We used Golang programming languages as the main stack because of its scalability and powerful performance features. For the frontend part of the Duecode, we selected React as one of the most progressive and fast JavaScript frameworks. For data storage, we used MongoDB. Since we had to pay great attention to the management processes within the development team, we adapted the Scrum approach.

Results

At the moment, the 3.0 version of Duecode is freely available to a wide audience. The latest 4.3 version is in the development stage and will be available soon with many useful improvements and additional task management features. Many companies use the Duecode for Jira to get complete information about project progress. Now, it is widely used by users from the USA, Latvia, Ukraine, Hungary, the UK, Spain, and other countries.

About Project

Our client owns a large construction company that provides building assistance for hotels, office buildings, residential complexes, etc. QArea was asked to create a comprehensive booking platform that should help trades simplify booking processes while reserving the company elevators, cranes, loading docks, staging areas, etc. So, the main purpose of the application is to organize terms of using certain resources. It allows construction companies to schedule resources flawlessly, helping them to avoid different misunderstandings.

The application works within all web browsers and mobile operating systems (IOS and Android) and provides 3 levels of access to the platform: administrator, user, and read-only access. The platform has an easy-to-use and intuitive interface that allows users to easily book the necessary resources. In addition, the application contains a calendar that displays orders according to the dates, times and selected resources.

Challenges

The main scope of our work consisted of the frontend part of the application and its unimpeded interaction with the Rest API of the platform. Thus, we had to develop the platform Admin Panel and User Web Client along with the common application logic and architecture. We were also responsible for creating the overall concept of the application, as well as for an attractive design and intuitive UI. In addition, in-depth QA services were included at each stage of the development life-cycle.

Since the platform was designed specifically to simplify the booking process, we also had to explore industry-specific features in order to make the platform user-friendly and reliable for business in the long term.

Solutions

Our team has provided complete development and testing services, taking into account all the particularities of the building industry. To make the platform logical and intuitive, we used the user-priority approach. The admin and user panels have quick access to personal profiles, which allows users to book the necessary resources in just a few clicks. We used JavaScript and React to allow it reacts quickly to every user action. To make frontend even more compatible with the backend and the code clear, we adopted Redux features. Bootstrap helped us create the pixel-perfect platform that runs smoothly on every device it needs to be used.

Since the application should work both in web browsers and on mobile devices, we focused on the application responsibility and its perfect displaying on all the required devices. We also used security testing to make the admin panel and web user client safe and protected from user data leakage.

Results  

The application has been successfully developed and tested. Currently, users can visit the official website of DockMasters and personally check all its capabilities. Our client is completely satisfied with the final result.

“Guys at QArea did a fantastic job. The attention to details, the quality of the code, the communication were all on the highest level. Very professional service. For the duration of this project, we not only had great freelancers, but also very valuable teammates. Guys at QArea showed great care about our project, and they did an outstanding job helping us to build our platform. I highly recommend this agency. Testing for our project was done top notch. All issues and bugs were meticulously and clearly documented on our project’s Jira. Guys showed great attention to details, and rigorously stuck project requirements. Communication and work were done on a very professional level. We highly recommend QArea.”

— Interfaced Labs Inc., Naghiyev Kamran

The platform has excellent speed performance and user-friendly interface. It can be easily scaled or improved thanks to clean code and the best frontend practice we used when working on a project.

About project

Duelearn was designed for developers to help them create good programming habits and as a result, improve their overall productivity. This is a web interface application so it easily integrates into the development process. The main idea of the project was to help developers analyze their output and enhance their working expertise. With Duelearn, developers can get a list of violations with details about the errors they made. In addition, developers can get top 3 errors by severity, type, occurrence, etc.

Developers also can comment a problem on relevance and/or ways to solve it, set goals and terms for their achievement. One of the most important features of Duelearn is real-time bug status updating. This allows developers to monitor their work and quickly respond to errors. To motivate developers for better results, the application provides a final score for each individual developer or for the entire team.

Challenges

Our main responsibility was to develop an effective web application that will help developers improve their work awareness and form useful coding habits. The application should be easy-to-use, but at the same time provide a complete set of functions, such as data analysis, real-time statistics, errors by priority, etc. The program interface should be intuitive and convenient, offering quick access to needed features.

Since Duelearn provides real-time data, its performance should be top-notch, while the interactive design should not affect the smooth operation of the extension. Our team also paid great attention to Duelearn compatibility with all popular desktop and mobile devices.

Solutions

The project implementation got 5 months and included all the development stages from idea to release. Working on the application idea, we took into account all the peculiarities of development processes. We implemented UI/UX with a focus on the intuitiveness and flawless switching within the application features. Duelearn logic is easy, but do not slow down the overall development workflow.

To make the app fast and perfectly compatible with all the operation systems, we used Golang and Node.js for backend. To make interface smooth with excellent performance capabilities, we choose React. Management support has also played a large role in the overall development life-cycle. We adopted the best of Scrum’s management approach, which made the process transparent and fruitful. Scrum allowed us to be flexible and communicate profitable between the testing and development teams. All the identified bugs were immediately documented and then fixed.

Results

The company's main goal was achieved. We have created an efficient web application that helps developers create useful habits and easily detect their weaknesses while coding. It encourages them to write semantically correct code and contributes to project success.  Developers can analyze their faults within the workflow, and then transform them into a great experience. This improves the performance capabilities of development teams and provides benefits for software development companies represented by qualified employees.

Stemkfas is an Arabic e-learning catalog storing free educational games categorized according to grade and course. A user plays + studies online in fields of maths, physics, chemistry, etc. Experts state that such a mix is the most potent way to deliver knowledge to our children.

CHALLENGE

Since the client requested lavish interaction and entertainment, we got to launch gifted custom animations, fast navigation, and responsive design as an organic whole. To arrange animated work seamlessly - that was the challenge.

RESULT

We applied robust animations, making maximum use of cutting-edge Drupal features.

Our master-level at multiple JavaScript libraries was the main reason to choose and build up the right support for our coding. Despite the actual tech difficulty, we launched a heavily animated website as a fast and firmly tied unit. Interactive images and built-in apps (i.e. painting board) involve schoolchildren into action, offering swift access to a handy catalog of educational games.

Cute visual appeal combined with rapidness ends in a decent e-learning website, and it’s a key factor of success for the project.

We have developed а website that provides artists a possibility to publish and sell their arts. Third And Wall also allows registered visitors to choose from different works and group them into projects with the ability to buy all arts in each project at once.

Pictures can have size, substrate and border variations. We’ve also implemented search functionality to boost up user experience as well as overall convenience of the solution.

In addition, site’s functionality allows to import all products, users and projects from the previous site.

WooCommerce was chosen as a tool for this site. A custom plugin was written to implement project functionality.

Variations of pictures are implemented with another custom plugin to improve performance. That data can also be saved in the projects.

WooCommerce search functionality was improved to filter images by additional fields (e.g. artist name) and to work with the standard WordPress search system.

Additional features

• Ability to export projects as PDF
• Watermark full-size images
• PayPal payment system
• Complex price matrix

RESULT

Both our client and end-users are enjoying the product. Artists are granted with a chance to make a decent living with their work. Art fans have a plethora or visuals to choose from. All in all, everyone’s happy.

Allwomenstalk is a highly popular blog created and designed specifically for women. ALL women. The blog is highly popular, has a wide target audience of ladies from all corners of the world as tips provided on the resource are always valuable, precious and glamorous.

THE CHALLENGE

We were to create a mobile client for the blog. Primarily the task was difficult as the blog was already an established brand. It is popular and beloved, with a unique stile and format. Quite a pack of expectations we had to surpass.

OUR SOLUTION

We created a multilingual iOS application available in English, French, Dutch, Italian and Traditional Chinese. Additionally Twitter was integrated for deeper engagement of visitors. All their favorite posts are now easily shared with but a tap of a finger.

Allwomenstalk app is very like the blog itself, however is more comfortable, runs faster and is simpler in use.

Additionally, we have implemented an astonishing design, transforming the app into something even more lovable and widely accessible than the blog itself.

Strategic Quadrant is an app designed exactly for product managers and product owners. These specialists always may offer million ideas, however it’s hard to gather them all into structured and, what’s more important, easily comprehensible unity.

CHALLENGE

There are many solutions for team work organization, management, and analytics. Nevertheless, there was no proposition adapted exactly for the project managers. Surprisingly, since these specialists are responsible for product growth and decide what features to select and implement.

Our task was to embody the idea of such solution into software. It should have been customized for the PM’s needs, especially for those who deal with tech activity. Our application should assist to make comprehensive decisions on how to develop the product and plan the whole workflow.

RESULT

The mix of React, Redux, NodeJS, and MongoDB suits the architecture of the app seamlessly. The consistent coherence of the tools we used allowed us to build up an exquisite design and smooth back-end independently, but to consolidate them into the database flawlessly, avoiding complicated joints.

That is to say, we spent almost two times less hours comparing with usual ~1200h schedule (according to Ruby Garage). Besides, just 3 professionals, instead of regular 6-member team, scored such record launching the Strategic Quadrant startup. So, we saved the client’s budget, implementing hype solution in shorter terms and with less resources

This site is a sweet portal created sourly for search, purchase, and deployment as well as marketing purposes of goods from Spain (such as designer clothing, accessories, etc.). These goods are sorted by groups in specialized stores. You will pretty much have a shopping mall right inside your browser.

The site is based on Drupal 6 and Ubercart. The Sphinx is the pages search engine. That ensures a massive searching speed-up. As if that was not enough the Sphinx will also decrease the pressure caused on servers.

The original task was to create a platform that would be allowing users to create their own online shops. In those shops the user may create and manage and sell new goods. The products status and condition as well as orders from customers are manageable as well.

The user is capable of creating and designing his store by his bidding in order for the store to match all the goals as well as marketing strategies.

The Beakun project is a website and mobile applications for Android and iOS that were designed as a tool connecting various businesses with their customers in a simple yet classy manner.

Solutions

• The portal is based on the Drupal 6 platform and main layout is based on custom pages and blocks
• Java Script with advanced and complex logic was written to ensure effective operations with Google Maps
• An API system was developed for efficient connections and cooperation between Android, iOS applications and the mobile site.
• An application designed and powered with PhoneGap technology.

Result

QArea has developed a site for everybody who is a business granting a great marketing platform for event arrangement, thus granting common users the ability to stay in the flow of events 24/7. Users will not be missing activities they wish to be a part of, and they will have access to the system from any device.

Distractify is a leading entertainment company in the mobile era. This fascinating portal follows the trend (among Buzzfeed and Upworthy) for inspiring, funny and eye-catching post titles, often in list form, with video, image and GIF-heavy content.

We are most happy QArea had a chance to assist them and here’s what we did for Distractify:

Development

• Integrating Service-oriented architecture.
• Android API
• IOS API

Testing

• Functional testing;
• Compatibility testing;
• Regression testing;
• Ad-hoc testing;
• UI / UX testing;
• Validation testing;
• Smoke testing;
• Bug reporting;
• Bug rechecking;
• Documentation creating.

Results were astonishing: Official stats have their unique visitor count at 43 million since its launch in October 2013, and the site has inspired 10 million Facebook shares in that short space of time.

Requirements

Implementation of as stable, reliable CRM (customer relationship manager) mobile client that is, besides all expandable and, most importantly, it has to be easy tunable.

Solutions

Few easy steps that have proven to be the most convenient and user-friendly application workflow. Accumulating the required number of stamps allows users to claim their loyalty-program reward from the retail outlet. Once this is done, users get a fresh slate to accumulate more stamps.

As a handy addition the application is supported with a map feature, showing users all the nearby locations of retail outlets that are accepting loyalty cards.

Result

Ever since launched in October, 2011 Perx applications have proven to be Singapore’s leading mobile loyalty platform. The amount of users satisfied with application’s convenience and appearance extend 200.000 which is to be just the thing to be expected from a number 1 app in its domain, right?

More

Avaaz is a global community of citizens, designed to transfer politics to the community! People are empowered to take action on some of the largest issues that take place in the world.

REQUIREMENTS

Specialists from QArea had to deliver a secure platform that would withstand huge loads. Avaaz was destined to become a stable platform for millions of people. It had to be used on a daily basis by people from all over the globe and at the same time. Special attention was given to functional testing to ensure all vital aspects are 100% verified. We have used the entire stack of all available and accurate web technologies.

RESULT

Such an approach has resulted with millions of dollars in donations raised within 2 days of several campaigns and hundreds of thousands emails were sent and delivered to governmental officials, political leaders and organizations.

More

Challenge - making definite entries appear among the results of running search engines queries, SEO optimization, simultaneous maintaining of a large number of users, quick generation of pages.

SOLUTION

The portal is based on the MovableType platform, which has been modified to minimize the number of database queries and to improve performance. To load a server in order to process pictures, CSS and other statistic content, Amazon S3 is used. To ensure stable and efficient work under heavy and peak loads we have used the memcache technology.

Also QArea responsibilities included:

• Black-box testing
• Manual testing
• Automated functional testing based on Selenium
• Regression testing
• Documentation creating

RESULT

The site has been featured on the main page of Yahoo several times. The site lives perfectly with 200+k visitors per hour. Also, we have created an iOS client for The Huffington Post news system.

More

REQUIREMENTS

The task was to develop a social media aggregator that allows to create user accounts, to connect different social media accounts and conveniently manage the information from them on one single platform.

SOLUTION

RebelMouse is an aggregator for social media and looks like a digital newspaper that represents user’s social media events.

Basic registration allows users to connect their accounts on Twitter and Facebook. The updates from the connected accounts are represented in the collage-styled information flow that shows user’s presence within social media. The RebelMouse platform also works on the mobile application for iOS.

RESULT

Social media aggregator for managing social media information and a flexible iOS application that allows constant presence in the stream of news and current events. The feed of messages may be placed on the home page of your own site as well, or users can share it with friends.

More

What if there was a support network that helped people affected by chronic disease live longer and have a better quality of life?

In the US alone, over 1.6 million people are diagnosed with cancer each year. For 85% of them, the causes are not genetic. Electronic Health Records provide clinical data, however, data on lifestyle, diet, socioeconomic stressors, workplace and environmental exposure is missing.

The Open Cancer Network is not simply a support app. We empower patients to take better care of themselves and to make data-supported decisions about their treatment and their lifestyle and we enable better cancer research and treatment. Users log and analyze their diet, activity and other basic metrics, which helps them make more informed daily choices to support a higher quality of life, and, by relaying the data to their physicians and caregivers, enable close monitoring and support.

Knozen is a fun, interactive social network application designed for colleagues, friends and other people who are either related or wish to find out more about each other. Considering the purpose, Knozen was designed as a social game application.

Requirements

QArea was tasked to develop a fine, secure, user-centric application that needed to allow easy, user-friendly communication interfaces, vast functionality with social gamification capabilities and solid client-server architecture that explores and exploits social media potential.

Solutions

• First of all Knozen’s architecture was planned with respect to future flawless integration with already popular social media solutions such as Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn and Twitter to embrace full might of internet’s social aspects into reality with but one solution.
• Secondly through-game communications were carefully considered and developed with respect to solid client-server data exchange architecture with implementation of REST API.
• Local storage is brought to life via CoreData technology. And, as an addition, combination of CoreData with the file system stood as solid basis for a rich network cache layer.
• Simple, yet addictive and user-friendly UI/UX designs were created after careful analysis of both market and target audience preferences thus Knozen turned out to be both extremely likable and easy in play-&-share.
• Mixpanel and Google Analytics were used to create safe logging functionality secure from malicious inputs; heavy on personal data protection and capable of delivering clear analysis for the stakeholders.