Development of a Corporate Application for a Major Oil Company

Сustomer

A large oil company with a multi-level hierarchical structure and a workforce of over 50,000 employees.

Task 

The SimbirSoft team was tasked with developing a software solution to improve employee efficiency and automate production processes with a unified interface.

The main challenge of this project was that the company was already using third-party services to automate part of its processes, such as document management, electronic signatures, and a bonus system. These services were developed separately by different contractors, and their integration could lead to numerous difficulties.

We needed to create a solution that could not only unify incompatible services but also provide employees with a convenient single interface for addressing various work tasks.

Solution

The decision to develop a mobile application was driven by the prevalence and accessibility of mobile devices, supported by various scientific research findings. According to Digital Strategy Consulting, 60% of employees use applications for various work-related tasks.

After selecting the product, the client's analyst outlined the main requirements for the application. First and foremost, security needed to be addressed since the application would be installed on employees' personal devices.

We proposed additional security measures, specifically: access code login, request for access code after prolonged inactivity, encryption of saved data on the device, and code obfuscation.

*Note: Obfuscation is a method of protecting an application from analysis and modification of its internal logic, where the code is deliberately compiled into a form that is difficult to understand while maintaining the functionality and logic of the application unchanged.*

Next, we discussed the application's functionality and detailed the main concept. Considering the API capabilities provided by third-party services for integration with the new application, we decided to develop the following features:

• Viewing pay slips and vacation schedules.

• Requesting certificates and notifications about order status changes.

• Reviewing and electronically signing documents.

• Accessing the bonus system.

• Viewing contact information for all company employees.

In addition to these features, we suggested that the client include articles from the corporate knowledge base and onboarding for new specialists in the feature list. Their development would not take much time but would significantly speed up the onboarding process for newcomers and provide convenient access to information about processes and instructions for current employees. The client approved our initiative, and all functions were added to the list.

How We Addressed the Task 

First, we assembled a development team, assessed the tasks, and prioritized them.

We carefully worked out the structure of the future application and identified modules for all features in accordance with clean architecture principles. This design approach makes the application scalable, more flexible to changes, and facilitates testing of individual components.

The process of creating a corporate application itself is not much different from any other mobile application: programming, testing functionality, fixing bugs, and demonstrating results. However, during development, we encountered some nuances that we will discuss in more detail.

How We Addressed the Task

First, we assembled the development team, conducted a task assessment, and prioritized them accordingly.

We carefully worked out the structure of the future application and identified modules for all features in accordance with clean architecture principles. This design approach makes the application scalable, more flexible to changes, and facilitates testing of individual components.

The process of creating a corporate application is not fundamentally different from that of any other mobile application: programming, testing functionality, fixing bugs, and demonstrating results. However, during development, we encountered some nuances that we will discuss in more detail.

First, we faced challenges while developing the authentication service. Using only the standard set of authentication data, such as login, email, and password, was not suitable for our case. Before adding a new user to the system, we needed to ensure that the provided data belonged to a real employee.

After examining this issue, we came up with two ideas: verify the employee using an identifier or set up authentication through the government services portal. The second option seemed simpler to implement and more convenient for users. Given that our client is a large company, we were confident that we would implement this verification method. Unfortunately, our application to use the service was rejected. Access to the service was limited to a select group of organizations, which did not include our client.

We had to resort to the first option. We needed to find a unique identifier available in the corporate accounting system that employees could easily locate themselves. We considered several options, ultimately deciding on the SNILS (Russian Pension Insurance Certificate number).

Second, numerous challenges arose during development due to interactions with third-party services. Poor API documentation, long response times, contractors' reluctance to implement improvements in the API for our application's features, and service outages were just some of the issues we faced.

While most of these problems could be tolerated since they primarily affected development time, the unstable performance of third-party services significantly impacted UX (User Experience) and could lead to dissatisfaction among future users. We informed the client about the situation and proposed adding a feedback feature to respond promptly to user issues and strive to resolve them quickly. The client approved our idea.

Results

A year after the release of the corporate application, over 70% of the company's employees had installed it on their devices, and 86% of users actively accessed company services exclusively through it.

Employees noted the speed and simplicity of working with documents, an attractive interface, and access to services around the clock.

After adding the capability for electronic document management and requesting certificates, the efficiency of HR staff increased by 1.5 times.