Project Industry: Education

NDA Project for E-learning platform

Development of an educational application that allows users to take certified business courses in an e-learning format

WEB APP

ABOUT THE PROJECT

About the company

Our client this time is a company that deals with conducting training courses and various business workshops on a daily basis and now looks to increase revenue and scalability with a proprietary e-learning platform.

OUR WORK

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Project Management

front_end-7bac045de2839c1d78e6d7c759e912b252431466d529df8cfe105072a7350e9a

Frontend

Backend

QA

PURPOSE OF COOPERATION

Developing a clear and easy-to-use educational platform for creating and participating in business education courses.

THE CHALLENGE

It was a challenge to develop a solution that would allow users to comfortably acquire the knowledge they are interested in without having to leave home. At the same time, to design features that would give the application a competitive edge.

1. PROCESS

The main premise of this project was to develop a platform that would serve as a repository for business courses and all kinds of online learning materials. The role of the application was to enable users to use the available resources and learn the posted content. People using the application could purchase materials of interest by purchasing specific courses or using a subscription model.

 

We engaged 5 people to work on the course: 1 x Product Manager 1 x Frontend Developer, 2 x Backend Developers and 1 QA Specialist. Due to the provisions in the contract with the client, the project is NDA in scope.

1x Product
Manager

1x Frontend
Developer

2x Backend
Developer

1x QA
Specialist

Bartosz, Product Manager

Collaborating on this project made me realize how much potential there is in capturing knowledge online. Thanks to the work of the whole team we created an application that encouraged users to redeem content in their area of interest. The described solution allows not only simple consumption of educational materials, but also gives a wide range of possibilities when it comes to designing them.

 

2. THE FEATURES

ONE-TIME PAYMENT AND SUBSCRIPTION MODEL

The application’s business model was based on the ability to purchase individual courses or join them as part of a subscription, both through an integration with the Dotpay platform which supports a variety of payment methods.

dotpay payments
billing model

ADVANCED BILLING MODEL

For the subscription model, we used an advanced billing model. Revenue was to be split between the platform and the content creator based on the watch time of posted lessons. The distribution of profits was based on how many subscription-paying users viewed content on the platform. Railwaymen’s role was to develop a solution that analyzed which pieces of educational material were viewed most often. Based on this information, appropriate remuneration was assigned to the creators. Thanks to time tracking, we had information about users’ engagement in course usage. We also introduced an option that indicated the percentage completion of each course.

COURSE EDITOR

Another feature included in the application was a simple course editor that allowed quick creation of educational materials based on available templates. Creators can upload custom descriptions, graphics, as well as visuals streamed through an integrated Vimeo player. This feature allowed creators to personalize content according to their preferences.

course editor

3. TECHNOLOGIES & INTEGRATIONS

bootstrap
ruby on rails framework
postgresql
sidekiq

FINAL PRODUCT

nda final app

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Joanna Brzezińska-Wajda - Head of Sales

Joanna Brzezińska-Wajda

Head of Sales

Apple Seeds

All-in-one play spaces
for families and kids

WEB APP

ABOUT PROJECT

appleseeds logo

The idea of Apple Seeds was born from a need of this kind of activities that allows kids run and play with others in a friendly scenery. Apple Seeds operates all-in-one play spaces for families with children newborn to five, located in New York City (3 locations in the city) as well as many classes of virtually any kind – from music classes to art, cooking, gym and language.

OUR WORK

Frontend

Backend

1. PROCESS

Our team constantly develops the company’s software and provides full support and maintenance services including system administration.

Łukasz Młynek, CEO

“We have been working with the Apple Seeds over 10 years, starting with a very basic, online classes booking system, on the advanced, fully manageable custom CRM ending. Together with Apple Seeds team we have built an online system for franchising program called ‘Songs for seeds’. It’s an interactive, music class that educates and encourages children through a live, three-piece band. There are ~30 locations at the moment.”

2. THE FEATURES

LOCATIONS MANAGEMENT

As the company expanded from a single location to multiple places’ network, so did our software.

 

All franchisee owners get their own, a highly customizable website with a selectable business model (one time payments vs monthly subscriptions) and integrated set of common features.

 

We implemented a multiple access levels’ system, which allows to managing content & resources in a single location’s scope as well as on the global level.

appleseeds map
appleseeds cms

CMS

To achieve a highly customizable website, we integrated and extended tool named „Comfortable Mexican Sofa”. This allows to managing single pieces as well as an overall layout of pages. Those can be built from simple blocks of text (visual editor included), the system also supports creating and using picture & video galleries, audio playlists, banners and more…
Even without technical knowledge, any page’s edit can be done with ease.

SCHEDULER

The core functionality of the platform. It is dedicated to our client’s needs, internal panel, which enables managers to create schedules, allocate facilities, assign staff to classes and support the whole booking process, pricing policy etc.

appleseeds scheduler

REPORTING

We created a system which enables to review and analyze almost every aspect of the business. Dedicated reports can be used for accounting purpose, to measure KPI’s, track the classes’ usage, view the demographic data or just to print the history of payments.

Maciek, Senior RoR Developer

“From a technical perspective, the AppleSeeds is a very interesting project. At the bottom, it is a nice mix of well known (at least for engineers) tools and custom modules, which were built from scratch. I have gained much experience due to the application complexity, large variety of business cases that we handle and also special attention for keeping the data consistency, which is necessary for such long lasting projects.”

appleseeds crm

CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP

Another important part of the application is the internal CRM module. It integrates client account’s related management with an internal POS (Point of Sale) functionality as well as Reporting system. It is also a „front office” software, which supports handling access to play spaces, keeping track of client’s payments’ history and more…

 

It is worth to mention, that we integrated our software with dedicated to pick and measure customer experience and satisfaction service – Listen360. Thanks to those 3rd party services, the AppleSeeds staff can get detailed insight and feedback from their customers of what is great and what could be improved in their daily operation.

E-COMMERCE

The front-end layer made for clients – parents and their kids. It allows to register and purchase online the company’s services. Those are not only the aforementioned classes, but also membership, which gives an unlimited access to playground spaces and birthdays’ packages.


We implemented two separate models of online payment (using credit cards). The first one is a typical one time fee. It is used for purchasing birthday events and semester mode’s classes (classes which are operated between certain dates). The second option of payment is a monthly subscription. It is designed to handle billing of memberships and those classes which are scheduled to be „continues”.


The system comes with a rich module of discounts. First and last minute options, multiple classes’ or kids’ registrations combined with continues or limited time promos, give high flexibility of creating pricing policy. The loyalty system is also available in the application. Some part of the money (the rates are customizable) spent by clients, can be gained and reused for the next purchases, which leads to the better customer experience.

appleseeds e-commerce

3. TECHNOLOGIES & INTEGRATIONS

ruby on rails framework
redis storage
amazon service

FINAL PRODUCT

appleseeds final application

RESULTS & FURTHER DEVELOPMENT

The Apple Seeds application is a big online platform, developed by our team for several years.
During this period, it evolved from simple classes’ scheduling & booking system into an enterprise solution that organizes the entire business, all aspects, from presentation layer to payments & accounting.

appleseeds rewards

REWARDS

Apple Seeds is awarded from the very beginning and distinguished every year for their achievements and involvement in child’s education.

THEY ARE TALKING ABOUT THEM

Apple Seeds company has been recognized in many prestigious rankings like Parents’ Choice, NYC Parent’s Choice award: Best Playspace, International Operations Program of the Year and many more. The system for franchising program called Songs for seeds has been also widely identified as one of the best kids’ music programs in the USA

application ranks

Testimonial:

“Railwaymen not only executed professionally but also delivered in a very timely matter, as promised. Furthermore the founders of Railwaymen where always there when I needed them. They become your extended family and treat your project as if it was of their own.”

 

Allison & Alison,

Apple Seeds Co-founders
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Check interview and review

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Joanna Brzezińska-Wajda - Head of Sales

Joanna Brzezińska-Wajda

Head of Sales