Client is the leading integrated marketing services firm and part of one of the leading media conglomerates in the world. The client is a preferred vendor with advertisers for its portfolio of advertising and promotion programs for in-store, home-delivered and online media campaigns.

Client was seeking to replace its current field force management systems with a single in-house system. The new system needed to be robust, scalable, reliable and high-performing. The primary reason for moving to a new system was to provide better support for the business than was being done by the in-house built features of its proprietary software. Hence the system needed to be capable of handling existing functionalities as well as new extensions required by business users.

We began the engagement by conducting joint requirement sessions to gather existing requirements and enhancements desired by key business and IT stakeholders. This was followed by the development of a prototype to simulate the screen navigation and content for all modules, and documentation of detailed use cases capturing the business rules, actor actions and field details. Internal development standards and non-functional requirements were captured, which helped the development team in the latter stages of the project.

Our solution involved development of the application for field representatives, managers, business administrators, merchandising team members, etc. who would use it through hand-held devices or a portal. The users would be able to efficiently conduct their day-to-day activities such as store list and store visit tracking; merchandising; time and expense details; inventory details; messaging with colleagues; picture taking and posting; profile maintenance; and rescheduling of visits.

The system developed also collects and processes data from various other client applications like order management, production planning, retail information, etc. The application in the hand-held device needed to work in an offline mode and synchronize all changes in data when connected to a central server. This involved development of various conflict resolution rules based on the business requirements.

• Robust, scalable, reliable and high-performing system.
• System that addresses real business issues.
• More efficient way of working for field force.
• Introduction of hand-held devices and their synchronization with online portal.
• Integration with numerous other client systems with no effect on their operation.