E-learning Platform Optimization

Versal is a simple, yet powerful cloud-based LMS and course authoring tool that’s used by companies of all sizes, including Kennametal, Teach for America, GAP, Osmow’s Inc., OpenSesame, Universal Wireless, and the University of Louisville.

As the company works on a global scale and is an award-winning service provider, they needed to not only keep up with the growing popularity of their platform but also to be one step ahead of their customers.

To avoid the problem of technical debt, they were on the lookout for a team of well-rounded professionals; which is when we stepped in.

It was essential to Versal that they retained complete control over the extended development team we provided, by incorporating it seamlessly into their own engineering processes and quality standards.

Taking the client’s roadmap as our foundation, we needed to clarify the requirements and map out the details of the project. Scalac supported Versal in the development process, adding new features and fixing bugs at the backend. We worked closely with the client to fully understand their technology platform and agile processes, identifying those elements that would fit ideally with our team extension, so we could work seamlessly with their own internal team.

Once we had the core idea in place, we needed to formulate all of the functional details. And so, our team needed to work on the following tasks:

• Research and development including rewriting the homegrown HTTP server implementation into Akka-HTTP 
• Provide an efficient way to interact with large amounts of structured data on  Versal’s data-driven platform
• Optimize the performance and speed of the products
• Set up a streamlined delivery process and largely improve the time to market for new updates

Build new features and fix existing ones using best practices and technologies, to develop reliable, stable, efficient and well-tested code

• Implement any improvements that were identified during the QA processes. Primarily too long response times and inefficient DB queries

Based on various business factors, we had to include the following functionalities: 

• User management 

• Course management

• Gadgets (elements used on courses such as text editor, image, etc)

The final released application turned out to be the perfect answer to all the business needs defined in the specifications.

The client expanded the development team in an established technology with a strong team of developers, alleviating the challenges and costs of recruiting at scale in a competitive market in San Francisco.

Versal’s collaborative approach combined with our experience brought about marked improvements in their core development processes and resulted in noticeable efficiency gains.