Electronic Contract Online Auction System for a Construction Association

Client Overview
The Client is a large construction association in local which plays an important role as a connecter between government and construction companies in construction industry. Meanwhile, the client provides design and construction news, project information, people, analytics and building product information to his customer.

The Challenge
The client wanted to transform its traditional auction business processes to online auction system which can facilitate forwarding auction, fair bidding, open verification and services for its corporate clients. The current auction process is subject to several limitations, such as:

• Auction information management is complicated and overloaded in paperwork storing
• Disparate systems for claims, client profiles management and bidding history
• Staffs spent too much time on holding an auction meeting, assembling bidders, organizing whole activities
• Process is hard to control and costly.

The key challenges of the client to develop the system included:

• Developing a dynamic online bidding system for construction contract
• Developing formulation rules to verify bidder’s qualification and bidding action
• Integrating with current web application and client profile management system to achieve productivity benefits
• Understanding and implementing the security infrastructure requirements
• Meeting critical dead-lines for each milestone.

The Solution
As one of largest offshore outsourcing services provider, UFIDA Software Engineering partnered with the client to re-engineer the application which had been deployed online in it's offshore development center. Both on business process outsourcing and software outsourcing, the company provides details and feasible solutions which make software developed smoothly and successfully. As core coding language, PHP based re-engineering technologies can make the application working well in different platforms, such as the Unix-Like, Linux and Windows operation systems.

Key features of the application included:

• Designing and implementing a web based system where companies can describe the services that they wish to contract
• Developing searching module for relevant contract offers search to compete with other companies
• Developing a system component that provides statistic and other useful administration tasks to monitor and manage during the auction process
• Establishing security control system to support functions like online payment, online contract signing etc.
• Elaborating an ontology for particular business application, adjusting the description and search for contracts
• The system can handle multiple auctions simultaneously

Moreover, UFIDA Software Engineering’s solution fulfilled the client’s business requirements through a scheduled approach. In software development aspect, the company follows CMMI 5 which it had gain the certification few years ago, which included:

• Two weeks quick assessment: UFIDA Software Engineering first investigated the current web application, related system and traditional auction process on customer site by interviewing the top management and bidders.

• Designing a new online auction flow: As one of the most important part of development, UFIDA Software Engineering made solutions on both system architecture and database architecture to ensure the online auction application could be expanded easily and flexibly.

• Implementation of the online auction system: UFIDA Software Engineering’s PHP experts adopted the latest technology to code the application to improve the system reliability and efficiency.

• Customization: UFIDA Software Engineering provided special offer to clients for their IT services customization. It added functionalities in online auction system as customer’s requirements, by which the customer could perform them freely and immediately.

• Training users: Effective online auction system training was given to clients to ensure the minimum hindrance of the system use.

The Technology
1. PHP
2. MySQL
3. Web Services

The Benefits
UFIDA Software Engineering’s planned approach ensured that there is no downtime in switching to the new online auction system. And the way of developing software in outsourcing also proves it is successful and mature in this case. Other significant benefits included:

• Managing inventory and adjusting customer demand speedy and efficiently
• Reducing the paperwork storing cost
• Providing more information and faster updating
• Helping the client reduced its excessive manpower by 10%
• Ability to enhance and add new features in a faster manner.