The customer chose to protect their confidential information
An Engine Management Platform Upgraded by Andersen
About the client
Andersen's customer in this business case was a company that designs, manufactures, and supports engine amplification solutions, as well as some other digital engine-related products. As such, they seek to make motors consume less energy while generating more power with fewer emissions. The resulting advanced engine management offerings are used in a wide range of sectors – not only energy itself but also logistics.
![[object Object] on the map](https://static.andersenlab.com/andersenlab/new-andersensite/bg-for-blocks/about-the-client/switzerland-tablet-2x.png)
About the project
Andersen's team successfully addressed two distinct challenges. The first involved an analytics and advisory software suite tailored for marine and power plant operators. This suite, comprised of locally installed desktop apps, guides operators in optimizing equipment efficiency.
The second initiative focused on a web-based platform interconnecting various digital products and services. This portal, facilitating access to personalized content based on subscriptions, incorporates a custom API that aggregates data from diverse sources.
Within the core platform team, efforts were directed at developing and maintaining essential functionalities for both APIs and the back-office app. From a front-end perspective, the team aimed to create a Motor section offering a comprehensive range of monitoring and analytics capabilities related to turbochargers and generating recommendations for their maintenance.
Additionally, the team undertook the task of crafting the Amplifier Reporting section which provides in-depth data on turbochargers.
Other:
Sass, DevExtreme React, i18next, Leaflet, Moment.js, TypeScript, webpack, ESLint, Prettier, Husky, Lint-staged, Storybook, .NET, WPF, Ionic
Business Context
Before approaching us for assistance, the customer's business had demerged from the main parent group. Consequently, they established a new dedicated software development team to continue their digital journey. In order to maintain momentum and achieve the best results after the reorganization, our company, in the capacity of a matching candidate vendor (the expertise of which exceeds standard limits and covers such domains as, for instance, both marine engine software and power plant software) was entrusted with two key initiatives.
Challenges
Andersen took on the responsibility for extending the customer's team and, in seamless cooperation with them, helping to achieve business aims, including tackling platform bugs, resolving a range of other issues, and developing brand-new functionalities. All these activities had to be carried out in the framework of the existing platform architecture at a high professional level.
App functionality
As we have already mentioned, our efforts were dedicated to the Motor and Amplifier Reporting sections. The key deliverables included:
- Refactoring the solution code. Here, we used the "formatDate" function instead of "moment.format" across the entire customer portal;
- "Motor" section, where we added the capability to display Delayed Reports via tables. Also, we refactored the "PerformanceTable" component by moving the code to separate components;
- "Motor" section, where we added the "Recommended actions" tab. Andersen's experts refactored the code, splitting the "ReadingTableRow" component into smaller components, creating reusable components for both "History" and "Recommended actions" tabs;
- "Motor" section, where we added a button and a modal window for setting engine maintenance schedules and showing that a particular engine is under maintenance/scheduled for maintenance, an installation has engine(s) under maintenance/scheduled for maintenance, and fleets have an installation with engine(s) under maintenance/scheduled for maintenance;
- "Amplifier Reporting" section with the "Influencing Factors" and "Optimization Potential" charts. In this respect, we added the possibility to view details of "Installation" in a modal window;
- "Amplifier Reporting" section, where we implemented a table with compressors' KPIs. The table displays compressor maps with compressors' data points. Andersen's specialists also implemented graceful handling of error messages to ensure that, depending on different error types, users would have a meaningful and clear message about what has happened.
During the period of our engagement, Andersen's team worked on the part of the product specifically assigned to us: the core time-series implementation, configuration, dockerization, and continuous evaluation of this project.
Solution
- Developed a custom solution leveraging existing functionalities for a client of the current customer. The primary goal was to build an MVP, showcase it to the customer's end-client, and prepare it for billing after thorough development and polishing;
- Restructured the current functionality for handling various entities, transforming them into a constructible tree of elements. This comprehensive effort involved not only engineering the back-end/logic part but also creating a UI for the desktop WPF app. The resulting structure enables leaves to inherit attributes from parent leaves;
- Overhauled the logging approach in one of the core projects within the solution. This extensive venture, taking weeks to grasp, involved rebuilding a substantial portion of the code to ensure it was production-ready;
- Investigated LINQ-generated database queries, identifying areas for improvement. The optimizations we implemented have resulted in a notable 3-time enhancement in query execution speed.
Project results
In practical terms, the contributions we – as an IT partner possessing a solid track record in such challenging and regulated domains as power plant management software, rail management software, marine engine diagnostic software, etc. – made to the platform have resulted in significant tangible improvements:
- The code refactoring we implemented has enhanced the code's understandability and maintainability;
- Users can now seamlessly access a modal window with necessary information via a single button click, eliminating the need to switch to another section;
- Andersen's experts have empowered users to access information about delays related to engine statuses, enhancing convenience, providing clarity on critical areas, and offering relevant data for more accurate analytics;
- Also, we introduced a display of recommendations for improving vessel performance, reducing fuel consumption, and minimizing harmful emissions. This, in turn, leads to substantial cost savings for the customer’s end-clients.
Let's talk about your IT needs
What happens next?
An expert contacts you after having analyzed your requirements;
If needed, we sign an NDA to ensure the highest privacy level;
We submit a comprehensive project proposal with estimates, timelines, CVs, etc.
Customers who trust us
