Loyalty system of National transportation operator

First Line Software was commissioned by a system integrator to participate in a substantial IT transformation program for a leading transportation operator. This initiative aimed to develop an expansive passenger loyalty system, in line with the client’s objective to enhance customer engagement and loyalty in the fiercely competitive transportation sector.

Business Challenge

In today’s challenging economic landscape, customer loyalty is a crucial consideration in any business strategy. An effective customer loyalty program is essential for cultivating lasting customer relationships and bolstering revenue and profitability. The client required a loyalty software platform that could integrate seamlessly with various backend applications, payment systems, marketing channels, and third-party systems.

Faced with economic pressures and increasing competition, the client opted to create a customized solution rather than purchasing an off-the-shelf product. First Line was chosen as the primary development partner for this project.

Technological Challenge

The business challenges posed a series of technological hurdles, including:

• Integration with existing proprietary legacy systems.
• Implementating IMB MQ WebSphere to ensure data integrity and prevent data loss.
• Addressing data duplication and the need for horizontal scaling.
• Ensuring guaranteed 24/7 operational reliability.
• The ability to process data for 25 million passengers.

Customer Expectations

The client had specific expectations, which included:

• Maintaining service availability above 99%.
• Reducing Incidents to two or fewer.
• Ensuring 24/7 Service Level Agreement (SLA) availability at 100%.
• Achieving 100% resolution of SLA tickets.
• Maintaining proactive performance.

Project Accomplishments

The project achieved several milestones:

• Average of 61 support requests per month.
• Monthly outages reduced to 2 or fewer.
• Consistently maintained at 99.9% service availability.
• Achieved 100% SLA fulfillment.
• Effectively addressed Improvement Requests.

Solution

First Line Software’s team played a pivotal role in the development of the loyalty platform, overseeing requirements elaboration, design, development, testing, integration, and deployment of the core engine. The system incorporated a range of functionalities: 

• Online account management for passengers.
• Mechanisms for miles accrual and redemption.
• A bonus engine and a rule-based decision-making framework.
• Seamless integration with multiple internal and external systems, including ticketing and payment systems, customer support call centers, customer intelligence software, and marketing channels.

Technologies

Java, JSP, Spring, Hibernate, SOAP, Junit, Mockito, SSL, HTTP/HTTPs, XML, HTML, CSS, JavaScript, ExtJs, JQuery, MS SQL, Oracle, MySQL, Tomcat, Nginx, Memcached, IBM WebSphere MQ, iOS, Android, and Windows Mobile.

Outcomes

The project yielded several progressive outcomes:

• Streamlined Incident and Problem Management processesby transitioning from the inner development tracker to Atlassian’s Jira platform, enhancing client accessibility, transparency, control, and reporting.
• Implementated of comprehensive monitoring settings for better control of resource utilization and quality indicators, particularly in intersystem interactions.
• Introduced a change management process to facilitate development, coordination, and implementation procedures during testing and software delivery to production.
• Achieved significant improvements in system and process documentation.
• Conducted thorough testing to identify and resolve any issues or bugs in the software, ensuring its reliability and performance.
• Successfully integrated the loyalty platform with various backend applications, payment systems, marketing channels, and third-party systems as specified in the project.
• Managedthe deployment process, ensuring that the loyalty platform was successfully implemented and ready for use.
• Handled and resolved incidents and problems as they arose, including transferring these processes to Atlassian’s Jira platform for better client accessibility and reporting.
• Implemented robust monitoring, change management, and documentation for seamless system operation and maintenance.
• Continuously optimized the platform’s performance to meet or exceed customer expectations, including service availability and proactive performance.
• Met and exceeded the Service Level Agreements (SLAs) set by the client, including availability and SLA ticket resolution.

The loyalty platform successfully served nearly 500,000 passengers within its first month of operation.

First Line Software’s collaboration with a leading transportation operator in developing a passenger loyalty system not only addressed critical business and technological challenges but also exceeded customer expectations. The custom solution integrated seamlessly with various systems and achieved remarkable results, streamlining operations, enhancing reliability, and ultimately serving a significant number of passengers within its first month of operation. Through a combination of advanced technologies and meticulous attention to detail, this loyalty platform has proven to be a vital asset for enhancing customer engagement and loyalty in the fiercely competitive transportation sector.

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The project at a glance