Challenge
Having the right software tools in place can make a huge difference in today’s economy. But those tools can also become a hindrance if they are built in outdated technology that can slow a business’ productivity or adaptability.
A U.S.-based financial services company was looking to future-proof the application that its finance professionals use by building new features using adaptable, open-source technologies and moving it to the cloud; however, the company’s developers didn’t have any experience with the technologies in question — Python and Django.
Knowing they needed help both with implementation and staff education, and having heard of Six Feet Up’s expertise in Python and Django projects, the company reached out to Six Feet Up to:
- construct a new business dashboard application for finance professionals that uses Django and Wagtail CMS,
- set up SSO capability that ties together the new app with their existing platform,
- deploy the new application to the cloud; and
- train company developers on how to use the new technologies to both maintain and update the app created by Six Feet Up’s experts.
Implementation Details
The existing platform uses an on-premise server and operates as the umbrella application for a suite of sub-applications that allow finance professionals to track and perform tasks for their clients, such as transfer of assets.
Over time, the company’s developers have added features to the application using the existing tech stack, which is being aged out by modern technologies. The existing app is built using a .NET framework and written in C#. While this application will remain, the finance company is now requiring any new features or applications built off of the existing app to be built using Python and Django, and deployed on the cloud.
Project requirements and specifications
Six Feet Up’s experts started by sitting down with the company’s tech decision-makers to get a detailed list of specifications for the project. Prior to engaging with Six Feet Up, the finance company had a vision for the tech stack that would operate its applications going forward. This vision included:
- using Python as the primary programming language,
- a CMS that would allow editors and moderators to easily change copy without having to redeploy the app for every change,
- Django frameworks; and
- cloud deployment using AWS tooling.
After some research, Six Feet Up’s experts landed on using Wagtail as the CMS for the project. Wagtail’s snippets feature in particular would give the finance company’s moderators the ability to quickly create and update copy in the app while also establishing a content publication workflow for editors.
Building the new app
Six Feet Up’s developers used Docker as a packaging tool for development and started building out the framework in a test environment using the Six Feet Up Django template. This template contains a host of best practices compiled by Six Feet Up developers who have worked on Django projects over the years, and gave Six Feet Up’s developers a strong launch pad from which to build the project.
“At Six Feet Up, we have learned a lot and incorporated these best practices into our Django template. Years of Django projects are baked into this.” — Noel Llevares, developer, Six Feet Up
This framework was then paired with a Wagtail CMS and linked to the finance company’s PostgreSQL database, where all of the existing data for workflows, tasks, and copy existed.
In order for the new application to link up with the existing parent app, Six Feet Up’s experts integrated SSO capability via Okta and created a demo version of the parent application to test the integration. Because financial professionals need to log into the parent application in order to access the new Business Dashboard app, this was crucial to the success of the project.
Training developers
As Six Feet Up’s experts worked on developing the application, the finance company hired a number of new developers specifically to learn from Six Feet Up’s experts and take over development of the company’s future app development.
As development continued and the finance company’s new staff became more familiar with the new tech stack, Six Feet Up’s developers were able to bring them into the fold and help them develop further features and enhancements to the new app as the Six Feet Up team shifted focus to a role more focused on support, big picture development, and solving particularly challenging issues that crop up.
Results
As of this writing, the new application has been in production with early adopters for a couple of months for testing and feedback. While the app is close to completion, the project has already brought results to the finance company in the form of a productive development staff that is versed in future-ready technologies that will underpin the company’s applications going forward.
