ASSA Abloy

Assa Abloy got a reliable long term development partner in the ASSA APPs project for automatic doors

ASSA Abloy needed a reliable development partner for their Pedestrian Door Systems and hence a reliable delivery from Softhouse

ASSA Abloy needed a reliable partner for the development of their Pedestrian Door Systems and hence a reliable delivery from Softhouse, since 2016, the mission has grown from developing a stand-alone app for one door type to including all door types, sensors, and brands.

To stay relevant and up to date with new technology and trends in long term the need for a reliable development partner is needed

Assa Abloy has a vast legacy combined with the primary strategy of cost-efficiency within the company. To stay relevant and up to date with new technology and trends long term the need for a reliable development partner is needed. Considerations include long lead times with extensive security requirements and product certification periods, forecasting and planning are challenging. In this case, Assa Abloy were looking for a reliable long term development partner that could help out with their mobile App development for existing and new markets.

The Business challenges included:

• Doing the right thing: Prioritise an extensive roadmap for different door types, stakeholders, and brands with limited budgets and resources.
• Balancing development of User Apps vs Service Apps vs legacy maintenance, different door systems for Android and iOS, and other brands.
• For Softhouse to assist in additional areas, showing interest in Apps, e.g. new business segments, backend development discussions, and new sensors.

Success factors include, knowledge in a wide range of mobile application tools is needed as well as knowledge within product hardware, firmware, and automatic doors domain knowledge.

The collaboration with Softhouse has worked well where Softhouse, often with short-term planning, has supported and acted in a professional manner – Magnus Kåreby, R&D Manager, Assa Abloy Entrance Systems

We worked according to an agile process while meeting the time requirements for product launch

Softhouse has full delivery responsibility and maintains a variable-size-in-house team with a few permanent core members. The setup provides the required App solutions for Android and iOS platforms including UX design, Security experts, Software development, Testing, and Project Leader/Scrum Master.

We worked according to an agile process while meeting the time requirements for product launch. Assa and Softhouse held regular meetings with the teams to synchronize and plan present and future efforts.

The business setup has one unit price, disregarding seniority or role, which is combined with a monthly fixed amount fund injection. The fund injection level is agreed based on forecasting, to create a buffer for the variations in efforts needed.

While continuously looking at improvements in ways-of-working, we use different team collaborations and development tools.

Some are highlighted below:

The project is cloud-based, using Azure and Jira, enabling a distributed project, which was crucial when the pandemic was a fact. Softhouse manages the project’s environment but shares it with Assa for transparency and collaboration.

We use a common software architecture to support all door types and brands, which improves maintenance efficiency and creates building flexibility. Similarly, a localization and translation management platform, Lokalise is used. For iterating UX design proposals, Adobe XD is used.

The mission has grown from developing a stand-alone App for one door type to include all door types, sensors, and brands

Softhouse’s relationship with Assa has developed over the past decade. Replacing the previous supplier, Softhouse has since autumn 2016 been the App development partner for Assa Abloy Pedestrian Door Systems and related brands. The mission has grown from developing a stand-alone App for one door type to include all door types, sensors, and brands. At first, users were internal Assa service staff, distributed by USB/mail later via MDM. Google Play and App Store release channels have later been added for Assa partners, external end-users, and private door owners for global release in nearly 20 languages. Softhouse assists Assa in the deployment process up to publishing.

Examples:

Assa Abloy Swing door management

Assa Abloy Sliding doors management

With a peak of 8 simultaneous team members, 25 people have over time been participating in the different projects, providing wide-spread Assa project knowledge within Softhouse.

The business model has been a success in providing predictability in the expense and revenue stream

Softhouse has proven to be a reliable collaboration partner and has always supported Assa’s release plans and requests. The business model has been a success in providing predictability in the expense and revenue stream. A core team with a variety of additional members has also made it possible to meet the demands of urgent matters while being cost-effective. The business setup has, in reality, over the years, proven to be a win-win.