100-Year-Old Freight Carrier Overcomes Crisis to Transform Into a Freight And Logistics Technology Leader
A Surge In User Demand Crashes The Distribution Center Application, Causing A 3-Day Disruption
In 2020, the client experienced significant growth due to changing customer behaviors during the COVID-19 pandemic. This growth had a direct impact on the operations of its distribution centers across the United States, which relied on its Distribution Center Operations Application that was used by over 3000 operators across 250+ distribution centers. This application was responsible for managing essential tasks such as tracking items, loading and unloading trucks, configuring truck routes, and weighing items.
To the leadership team’s dismay, a nightmarish scenario actually happened. A surge in demand resulted in an influx of users accessing the application simultaneously, which led to its failure and a three-day disruption in operations. As a consequence, the distribution center operators could not carry out their tasks, causing delays in loading freight onto trucks and getting the trucks to their intended destinations.
Legacy Application Architecture Identified As The Cause Of Complex Application Failure.
Step 1. Triage The Problem
Troubleshooting a complex application failure is not for the faint of heart. The client worked with Shadow-Soft to assess its environment and determined that its architecture design was causing the application to fail over when more than 300 users were using it simultaneously.
Step 2. Fix The Application Scalability Issue
The client rewrote its front-end application by utilizing Angular and Ionic for the front-end development while implementing Java and Spring Boot for the backend. By using microservices, the client could decouple its critical components so it could scale independently to handle increased user traffic. The client upgraded from JBoss Enterprise Application Server to OpenShift so that it could optimize its infrastructure to support the growing number of users.
Step 3. Fix the Slow Application Deployment Process
In order to support a faster and more agile application deployment process, the client implemented a standardized deployment workflow. This was achieved by leveraging OpenShift to build, modernize, and deploy applications, GitLab CI for building pipelines and continuous integration, Artifactory as a container registry, and Dynatrace for monitoring. This implementation allowed for improved consistency and control over the development and deployment process, increasing the reliability and speed of application deployments.
Legacy Application Architecture Identified As The Cause Of Complex Application Failure.
Step 1. Triage The Problem
Troubleshooting a complex application failure is not for the faint of heart. The client worked with Shadow-Soft to assess its environment and determined that its architecture design was causing the application to fail over when more than 300 users were using it simultaneously.
Step 2. Fix The Application Scalability Issue
The client rewrote its front-end application by utilizing Angular and Ionic for the front-end development while implementing Java and Spring Boot for the backend. By using microservices, the client could decouple its critical components so it could scale independently to handle increased user traffic. The client upgraded from JBoss Enterprise Application Server to OpenShift so that it could optimize its infrastructure to support the growing number of users.
Step 3. Fix the Slow Application Deployment Process
In order to support a faster and more agile application deployment process, the client implemented a standardized deployment workflow. This was achieved by leveraging OpenShift to build, modernize, and deploy applications, GitLab CI for building pipelines and continuous integration, Artifactory as a container registry, and Dynatrace for monitoring. This implementation allowed for improved consistency and control over the development and deployment process, increasing the reliability and speed of application deployments.
Client Solves Application Failure Crisis And Transforms Into A Freight And Logistics Technology Leader.
Quickly Solved Application Failure Crisis
The client quickly identified the root cause of application failure. The team solved the immediate crisis and then developed a plan to design a new architecture, transforming the client into a technology leader with a modern platform.
Modernized Application Can Scale 10x To Support 3000+ Users Simultaneously With No Drop In Performance
By designing the new Distribution Center Operations Application to make use of microservice architecture, the application can seamlessly scale alongside the business. It is no longer a hindrance or bottleneck. The application has been purpose-built to handle increases in users as the client adds new distribution centers. By moving to OpenShift, the client can use automation to confidently scale its infrastructure to ensure optimal application performance during peak times when 3000+ users are making requests to the application simultaneously.
The Client has Transformed into a Freight And Logistics Technology Leader
Thanks to the well-architected application and infrastructure, and a standardized application deployment process, the client now has the capability to seamlessly and regularly deploy updates and improvements to its application. This increased agility empowers the business to drive innovation and explore new ideas, ultimately leading to improved efficiency and the potential for revenue growth. With the ability to quickly implement changes, the client can stay ahead of the competition, adapt to market trends, and continuously optimize its operations for better performance and profitability.
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