Software

Public Safety Software Enables Web and Mobile Reporting for Non-emergency Crimes

Our client, a leading source of law enforcement and public safety software provides products, training support, and services to agencies and public safety professionals nationwide. The client sets the standard in reliable software solutions for police departments, sheriff’s offices, communication centers, fire departments, and correctional facilities.

Business Challenge

The client wanted to extend its product portfolio to new target audiences, such as the public sector, by developing a competitive citizen mobile and web reporting application in a short timeframe. This would give citizens the ability to submit tips images, and videos – either named or anonymous – related to non-emergency crimes or suspicious activities to law enforcement from mobile devices, tablets, and desktops. In order to differentiate from competitors, a web tool for PD officers needed to be developed that would track non-emergency citizen reports, process them, take appropriate actions (e.g., dispatch units), and update the citizens by sending real-time push and email notifications about the incident processing status. Another business challenge was the need to integrate two existing client products and deliver data to different platforms. One of the products was 30-years old and not flexible to trending components in the market — additionally, this required solid technical knowledge, and creativity from the team.

Project Description

During the project, the SoftServe business analyst (BA) worked closely with the client’s technical product manager to

  • Develop a future solution concept to satisfy the client’s business needs
  • Compile and document business workflows and functional requirements
  • Prioritize and agree on the functionality that will form the scope of the minimum viable product (MVP)
  • Identify feature dependencies and risks and plan further iterations

After the initial solution analysis, SoftServe delivered the following services to the client:

  • System Architecture - a conceptual model that defines the structure, technology stack, components behavior, interfaces, and deployment diagram.
  • Business Analysis - full-time BA worked with PO on the client side and followed best practices for business analysis. Also, the BA worked as a communication bridge between two audiences and fulfilled the role of a Scrum Master following Scrum methodology.
  • UX Design - designing a visual concept of the product, user flows, and user-facing screens.

Due to the strict time limitations, it was determined that the Scrum methodology was the most suitable for this project, and developments were arranged into multiple 2-week long sprints. The requirements were presented in the form of prioritized backlog with detailed user stories and design mockups.

The MVP was implemented in one release with a team of 15 people. Team members demonstrated the deliverables to the client on a regular basis during demos in order to receive timely feedback.

Value Delivered

The delivered solution significantly reinforced the client’s competitive position in the market by providing a quantifiably better and simpler way for end users to report non-emergency incidents compared to other existing solutions. The new product stands out from its competitors due to the cross-platform and intuitive user experience. Finally, it brought a new source of income.

The results also strengthened the 3-year partnership and SoftServe continues to work with the client on current and future roadmap.

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