Successfully delivered a COVID-19 diagnostic system under urgent deadlines, in an environment lacking defined norms and regulations
12 Months
$92,000
1 Project Lead, 2 Designers, 5 Developers
Project Overview
When COVID-19 happened, Green Analytics stepped up to use their analytics and management skills to help address the challenges faced by Canada’s Digital Technology Supercluster.
They were given the responsibility to develop an application that would help protect the staff of large businesses, while also safeguarding their sensitive health information.
We provided options for handling “unknowns”, scoped the project based on the limited budget available, and planned our development to mitigate against unexpected external challenges.
Tandem delivered a secure and scalable COVID-19 diagnostic system within 3 months.
System Highlights
Prevented a Covid outbreak on the first day of deployment, by detecting an asymptomatic person in the client’s administration staff
The successful delivery of the product helped raise additional funding from external stakeholders, allowing for continued project development
TestPoint onboarded multiple clients at launch, from industries such as Agriculture, Mining, Meat Packing, Film Production and more
Thousands of tests and surveys were recorded confidentially and anonymously
100% regulatory compliance, despite evolving circumstances regarding COVID-19
They’re more than just expert programmers, they worked to understand our needs and guided us through developing the solution.
Amy Taylor, CEO of Green Analytics
About the Client
Green Analytics is an environmentally focused consulting firm, which specializes in helping businesses understand and manage their natural resources.
Through research, analysis, and data and software systems development, Green Analytics supports policy analysis and management strategy for their clients in the public, private and non-profit sector.
Situation
Green Analytics came to us because they needed a reliable software development partner in order to accept a higher number of complex projects. Their development team’s limited capacity was preventing them from delivering larger projects on a competitive timeline.
One of these projects was a COVID-19 diagnostics app, which they had taken on as part of their involvement with Canada’s Digital Technology Supercluster. The urgent nature of the project as well as the uncertainty around implementation of the project required more attention than they had the means to provide.
Technical Lead Kevin Horrocks reached out to Tandem to see if we could accomplish the project’s unique requirements within the challenging timeline.
Project Requirements
Short on Time and Accountable
Green Analytics needed a team that could deliver a working solution in an extremely short time-frame, with limited oversight over development of the product.
Scalable and Flexible System
The initial system needed to serve as a foundation for future features and development. As the regulatory requirements were ever-changing, the product needed to be flexible in design.
Secure Data
The system needed to handle user data securely. The survey and test results needed to be both anonymized and verifiable to ensure integrity.
Discovery
Managing Director James Ritchie worked to understand the project’s scope with the Green Analytics team; Mike Kennedy (President) , Amy Taylor (CEO & TestPoint Project Manager), and Kevin Horrocks (Technical Lead).
The outcome of this exercise defined the system particulars, while providing options and recommendations for external factors. We used visual designs to confirm that any remaining assumptions about the system were correct.
Limitations on budget and timeline required that we accurately assess the key project requirements and convert them into core components for the initial development. Secondary objectives were put aside for development at a later point.
Clearly defined project requirements allowed Green Analytics and Tandem to identify and easily manage evolving project challenges. Part-way through the project, we identified the need for cross-organizational user accounts. The amount of effort required to revise the budget, timeline, and project requirements was greatly reduced thanks to the effort all parties made during the discovery phase.
Deliverables
4 months after agreements were signed, the TestPoint app was successfully submitted to the App store and was approved immediately.
The final TestPoint solution included a cross-platform (iOS and Android) mobile app as well as administration web app dashboard, used by workplaces to set up, record, and anonymously report Employee diagnostic health tests.
TestPoint provides management teams and employees with a safer work environment.
Result / Impact
Green Analytics received a product they could put their name on with confidence.
This successful launch laid the foundation for a strong partnership between Green Analytics and Tandem, helping them continue to scale their development capacity. As a result, Green Analytics has been able to grow both the number and size of projects they can undertake.
Since the conclusion of the initial contract, we have successfully developed and delivered 3 follow-up modules to the TestPoint project, and continue to meet all schedule, budget, security, and scope requirements.
Green Analytics continues to trust us with their business because of our consistent delivery, as well as our communication that focuses on business outcomes, not technical details.
