Services on the conveyor. How is the WebCanape information infrastructure arranged?



    We often hear the phrase from the client: "You do not rush, do it qualitatively." Why does everyone think that the longer a project takes, the better it is? Yes, it’s just not done! If fast - it means quality, if for a long time - there will be no result.

    In this article I will talk about the systems on which the site development pipeline is built. Today, only technical details and no water. For those who treat the conveyor as stamping, I’ll say right away that “stamping” has nothing to do with it. But to save hundreds and hundreds of hours - yes. Another bonus is improving quality and speed. Come under the cat and try on yourself.

    All WebCanape work takes place on several systems that are responsible for management, production, and analytics. In this article, we will only consider what the management team works with.

    Work with applications


    An application from a client always falls into CRM. Like most of our systems, CRM is self-written. We affectionately call it a “calculator," because It began from a system of automated calculation of the cost of projects. Now, of course, this is much more than CRM and, moreover, a calculator, but the name has been preserved.

    After filling out the order form on our website, the client is automatically sent a link to the online application form (brief). All the documents we use are online documents. Brief, respectively, too. After filling in the brief with the client, the manager receives a notification, and he calls up with the client.



    At this moment, our most experienced manager is involved in the work. His task is to choose the right solution with the client and refuse what we cannot quickly do.

    After agreeing on all the nuances of the project, the application goes into the transaction. Before a transaction turns into a project, it must go through 4 stages: calculating the cost, forming an offer, contract and payment.



    Work with deals


    At each stage, a separate electronic document is generated (settlement, commercial proposal, contract, invoice), a link to which is sent to the client. The duration of the project’s stay at each stage and status is logged so that later you can see the project’s life cycle.

    At the stage of calculating the value, we form a team, select the composition of work and modules. The modules have a standard rating (it can be adjusted if the work or module is non-standard) and a description. Everything is done automatically using the calculator mentioned above.



    At the touch of a button, we have a commercial offer with terms and a detailed description of the scope of work. In the introduction, the manager gives comments on the proposal and his contact details.

    This is what our standard gearbox looks likewhich we send to the customer. According to the same principle, a contract is formed.

    When the transaction is brought to the contract and everything is agreed, the manager issues the client a link to the invoice. If the client is willing to pay with electronic money or a credit card, we have provided integration with Robokassa and Yandex.Kassa (for insurance).



    After paying the bill, an account manager will automatically receive a notification. The bill is paid - the transaction turns into a project. The project is assigned an executive manager, who then leads the project until launch.

    In order to quickly decide which of the managers to put the new project on, we are now developing a module that helps us quickly make the decision on choosing the most free manager.


    An example of the presentation of information on the manager on the dashboard

    For managers, this is an element of gamification, and for a traffic manager it is an opportunity to quickly understand the situation and choose the most suitable manager for this project.

    Important. A lot of time is spent on providing business processes that can be freed up for other useful work. This time is difficult to notice in the constant flow of cases, but with a summary of statistics, we see delays and can think about how to reduce them. I assure you that they account for the bulk of the loss of time, freeing up which, you get the key to efficiency.

    Work with projects


    On this part of the conveyor, there are several stages that the project goes through: collecting materials, developing, testing, launching, commissioning the project. At each stage, time is considered in hours and in days. This is required for statistics (more on this below).



    In addition to the stages, the project has statuses: “In progress”, “Approval”, “Finish”, “Suspended”. The transition of the project from status to status is accompanied by an e-mail notification to the client. This allows you to avoid correspondence and additional customer calls + disciplines the manager (you just can’t stop the project).

    It is worth noting that for all steps (including those that I have already described) we have a clear schedule of work. It is described in the corporate Canape cooking book. Even if the manager is not yet experienced enough, he can always see the stages of the work and do everything without errors. Now all the steps are described in the regulations, but in the plans most of them are performed by pressing a button.
    So far, we have simplified the presentation of layouts to clients by sending a link to clients ( see example )

    Looking ahead, I’ll say that during the course of the project we measure some important indicators: the hours spent at the work stage (we control profitability), the project time in standard days (we control the terms of the contract), the project time in calendar days (we monitor the fulfillment of the client’s expectations by the deadlines ) It is these indicators, or rather their performance + feedback from the client, that are the basis of the bonus system for managerial staff.



    Gathering information and putting a project into work. Until we collect all the information to make the project for the dates specified in the contract, it will not be allowed to work. And let our customers forgive us for this, but it is to everyone’s benefit. First of all, this guarantees the delivery of the project on a contractual basis. All information from the client is collected on a check list.

    Putting into work is the deployment and setup of a site on a test domain, which will subsequently become a site for the client. We will talk about this in detail in one of the following articles.

    Development, testing and launch. These are the work stages that the project goes through before we put it on the hosting and transfer it to the client. At all these stages, we measure the time and deadlines worked out by specialists. It is very important to understand that you are late or exceed the budget, not at the end of development, but in advance. This allows you to see the problem in advance, adjust priorities and release projects on time.

    At the stage of completion of the project, it is published in the portfolio, the client is asked for feedback on the work, information is collected about the specialists involved, etc. Without these works, the manager cannot complete the project.

    Summarizing and evaluating results


    How much are unsuccessful projects for the studio, I wrote earlier . Therefore, we are so attentive to the "success" of production. At the end of each month, we hold a meeting of group leaders at which we analyze and evaluate the results of work. Above, I described how we collect this data. Below I show how we evaluate them.

    First of all, we are interested in meeting the deadlines and standards for projects. This is the report our system builds:



    If everything is okay on average, then production is working fine and you can deal with individual projects where indicators have gone beyond the norm. We discuss the reason and action.

    Of the indicators, we are interested in how we met the allotted hours (profitability), days (terms under the contract) and how much the standard days differ from calendar ones. See the total plate.

    Further, we consider the same statistics by managers. Statistics tell us which of the managers and in which direction we need to work in order to increase its effectiveness. This is followed by the team leader.



    In case of disputes, when the reason for the delay is not obvious, we can always look in the project log and figure out how the project was conducted. For each project, you can see the event log.



    What happens at the factory at this time?


    At the moment when I am writing this material, there are 54 projects and 426 tasks in work. All this needs to be processed and done on time. There is a special production system for this. She keeps everything under control. She sets the priorities of the projects depending on the contractual deadlines and in accordance with this: 1) displays them on TV, tinting depending on the proximity of the deadline; 2) prioritizes (sequence of execution) tasks for developers. Accordingly, the system itself resolves what to do, so that the deadlines are met. We will talk about this in the next note. Subscribe to our blog so as not to miss the sequel.

    PS And do not think that automation will save the business. Call the customer :)

    Vasily Churanov and the WebCanape team

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