Dismantling legacy.
Redefining standard in Computer Aided Facilities Management.
The previous software wasn’t fit for purpose, it didn’t do what we wanted it to do, and we were paying loads of money a year in licence fees.
Louis Waldron
Associate Director, Tetra Group
Introducing Sentinel.
Sentinel is a custom facilities management application that has been designed to improve efficiency and reporting on all aspects of Facilities Management.
Over a thousand sites and hundreds of sub-contractors are managed via the application enabling full transparency for clients on the status of ongoing and historical works.
The application offers an end-to-end solution from new work requests and quotations through to completion and invoicing with customers able to view and communicate through the application at all key stages.
Alongside greatly improved service delivery,
Sentinel
features
powerful reporting tools that enable the use of data to showcase opportunities for customers to reduce costs when pitching for new contracts.
Breaking the frame.
The previous off-the-shelf Facilities Management software was initially, a marginal success. However, operational challenges became more visible over the life cycle of the software. The software was unable to meet the real world challenges inherent when managing several moving parts and started to become a block to delivering the level of service the team aspired to.
Coupled with poor performance and high annual fees the decision was made to investigate replacement options.
Many Facilities Management applications are available and the team went through due diligence when trying to find an option that matched operational processes. However, they struggled to find anything that could deliver on their vision for the application. At this point the decision to investigate a custom application was taken and suitable partners sought.
Discussing their initial plans with several developers, it was clear that bluebox and the Tetra team were a good fit.
Working together.
The Tetra team showcased the obstacles the outgoing application presented.
Restrictions around flexibility and transparency were key drivers for the new project. Ambitious plans to improve customer experience were not currently achievable.
Up-to-the-minute reporting was seen as a key differentiator for service delivery, alongside enhanced ability to provide comprehensive and competitive quotes for new enquiries.
Availability and Security were also key requirements.
Blank Canvases
Once we had been commissioned to get the project underway, we visited and received an overview of the current processes, successes and challenges.
We discussed as a group different scenarios that highlighted the flexibility required for the new application. Our role was to listen to the feedback and make recommendations around what was achievable with the development.
Having gone through the discovery session we went over the finer points with the wider development team and provided user flows and a specification document for sign off by the management team.
Mindful of the current challenges and obstacles, we were able to offer technical and usability suggestions that were far in advance of what the team had originally envisaged.
As well as offering insight into functionality we advised on best practice on Microsoft Azure infrastructure, managing cost effectiveness against the performance expected of a 24/7 solution.
In the old system – to log a new job, staff were on the phone for ages, it took about 5 or 6 minutes. Now it literally takes 20 seconds.
Louis Waldron
Associate Director, Tetra Group
Microsoft technologies used by Sentinel.
The application utilises several Microsoft technologies and we continue to research and develop enhancements utilising the Microsoft stack.
Cloud Based Infrastructure
We utilise the Microsoft Azure cloud computing platform to create, deploy, and manage our customers' infrastructure in a more efficient and cost-effective way.
On Demand Data
Azure SQL can easily scale up or down on demand enabling us to efficiently manage customers' workload and application performance.
Automated Failover
Built in disaster recovery features automatically replicate data to secondary geographical regions in the event of an outage to help maintain application availability.
Proactive Security
We implement automated cloud-native security solutions to detect and respond to potential threats to our customers' applications.
AI Technology
By utilising Azure AI technologies we can provide our customers with advanced capabilities for machine learning, cognitive services, and natural language processing to enhance automation and decision-making processes.
Data Protection
Our customers' critical data and workloads are protected through continual cloud based monitoring, backup and restoration.
Hello world.
Sentinel has seen marked success for both internal and external stakeholders and has enabled the aspirations of the team, providing a competitive edge.
From operational wins such as logging a new job, which has decreased from 5 minutes to around 30 seconds to improving accounts management; invoice processing and signing off on works completed.
The system’s powerful analytics has enabled clients to save hundreds of thousands of pounds on their maintenance spend.
As a modern application it is cloud based, utilising Microsoft Azure. Configured for optimal performance, security and availability.
Additionally, we've enabled the application to remotely cache inputted data if there is no mobile signal. This ensures remote users don't need to be concerned with lost data or changing behaviour due to no network availability.
Sentinel has provided a business changing platform for the team and delivered on the vision the team had when they first started to consider what an appropriate application should look like. We continue to work together to enhance the application and input with recommendations to improve further.
Further information: https://sentinel.fm/
Thinking outside with Louis Waldron.
Associate Director, Tetra Group.
What surprised you?
The cost. I had certain preconceptions coming into this about the cost of custom software but I was surprised. In a good way!
When you take into account we were spending tens of thousands on user licenses annually, what you've built for us actually saves us money!
What was fun?
The cameraderie you get when you get lot's of people working together on something. We sat around a 15 seater oak table - everybody saying 'should it do that?', 'can it do that?' and having you guys there saying 'it can actually do that instead!'.
That's awesome, that level of innovation. That was probably the most exciting part - I'm a great believer in you can't innovate over email.
What's next?
We've recently taken up a subscription with you guys. That gives us regular hours per month and flexibility to make enhancements quickly.
It's great as I can line up new features for development after speaking to clients and asking 'how do you want this to work?'.
We can continually improve customer experience through collaboration and have you guys on tap for input and suggestions.
Client Success.
We've worked with numerous partners, delivering scalable application development, technical insight and recommendations. We're confident we have previous experience that will add value to any challenge we're presented with.
We're proud to be a Certified Microsoft Partner.
This recognises customer excellence and Microsoft product expertise and puts us amongst the top 5% of Microsoft Partners worldwide.
Drop us a line.
We love hearing from like minds looking to challenge standard.
You can pick our brains on any number of related subjects from Proof-of-Concept and development of applications to infrastructure and security we'll happily discuss how we can help.
Email us:
hello@wearebluebox.com
Call us:
01684 362778
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