Web Platform For Processes Automation In Due Diligence
Background
Our client is a large international company engaged in audit and due diligence – complex, multi-stage, and highly responsible processes requiring significant data accuracy and large document flow.
All routine processes (creating and verifying documents, updating and visualizing data, etc.) required a lot of staff effort and time, not to mention high risks of human error. In addition, operating in the international field requires a reliable communication system.
| Client | Professional services company |
| Product | Web platform for business processes automation in due diligence |
| Vertical | Professional services |
| Buyer persona | Client's employees |
| GEO | USA |
| Technology | ASP.NET Core, Angular, SQL, Entity Framework Core, CosmosDb, Microsoft Graph, Azure, Devextreme |
| Provided services | Application development and maintenance, professional counselling during the development |
Task
Our task was to develop a web platform for automating business processes that would be tailored to the client's specific needs and could significantly speed up the employees' work. In other words, the client needed a solution that would simplify service creation, management, detailed business analysis, and making correct financial decisions during mergers and acquisitions processes, etc.
As a result, the product was supposed to reduce due diligence costs, help unify communications and automate routine processes related to document flow and data processing. In addition, the application had to support work with various document types and provide flexible configurations depending on a specific agreement. Such a system should simplify and automate the process of buying and selling companies or business assets.
Challenges
Our client's scope of activity is quite challenging and requires great accuracy in data analysis and processing. In addition, the documents' correctness and the document flow's efficiency are critical, and the entire company's success depends on it.
We studied the client's business processes, analyzed the routine tasks faced by employees, and met the following key challenges.
- The company's international activities required a unique solution for dealing with cases from different regions. We needed to develop a web platform that would use cloud storage to store documents and configuration elements depending on the country or region where the purchase-sale agreement is being audited.
- At the same time, the system should work globally around the world with the possibility of simultaneous collaboration in several countries or regions.
- We needed to develop a system that could support the analysis of subsidiaries' transactions within the parent one.
- The solution should help centralize working communications and provide functionality for careful planning and analysis throughout the audit process.
In addition, it was critical to design a flexible, rich client interface and offer various tools for identifying and analyzing potential risks. This would not only simplify the staff's work but also encourage them to actively use the web platform and optimize work processes with its help.
Solution
We picked the most optimal tech stack, considering that full-stack .NET developers were involved in the project. Azure was chosen for its comprehensive functionality and flexibility of configuration. Also, Microsoft technologies have proven themselves well on other projects.
Global scale and communication
One of the main requirements for the project was its global scale. The web platform had to be available in different regions of the world, and users from different territories had to be able to collaborate.
We created three global instances of the application for this purpose; each of them is deployed in Azure in its own region. Thanks to this, the relevant instance was relatively close to users no matter where they were.
These three independent instances can communicate with each other, meaning users from the US can work together with users from Europe, for example, and the app provides the ability to synchronize their data.
Document storage and management
In order to solve the challenge of convenient and safe storage of documents, as well as configurations depending on the region, we integrated the web platform with the Microsoft Azure infrastructure, Microsoft Teams, SharePoint, and document processing and analysis services. This allowed us to create a powerful administrative part for flexible situational configuration.
Since employees also actively use Excel and PowerPoint, at a certain stage, it became necessary to synchronize their work on these platforms with the data in the application itself. For this, we designed and implemented client Office Add-in apps, as they work inside Excel or PowerPoint and can communicate with the application itself.
For example, suppose you change something in an Excel table. In that case, the user automatically sends this data to the application server, and if something is changed on the server, the application updates the Excel automatically.
Proper interface
We also developed a flexible, rich client interface built on the SPA principle. It provides the company's employees with a wide range of functionality in the most convenient and accessible form. In addition, this approach allowed us to create an interface that encourages staff to use the system more.
Thus, our solution simplifies document flow and significantly improves the management process. This, in turn, helps to make quick and informed decisions, reduce risks, including those related to human errors, and quickly conduct due diligence.
Advanced security measures
As with any other project, we paid special attention to data protection during the development process. The level of access and user rights are checked for almost every end-user action. We also implemented a flexible mechanism for controlling access to various project parts. Access can be configured for specific people, groups (roles), or entire territories (USA, Canada, etc.)
In addition, we have developed a server API that performs basic and business logic and is responsible for integration with other services, and ensures system stability.
Results
The web platform has helped to spend significantly less time and resources on routine processes, working more on the areas that matter most.
At the beginning of the development, it was planned that the application would be used only on the territory of the USA. But after the successful launch and high efficiency, the project became interested in other regions of the planet. So far, the infrastructure has been built and is operating successfully in three main regions:
- South and North America;
- Europe, the Middle East, and Africa;
- Asia and Oceania.
The web platform also allows for making informed, intelligent decisions, which is incredibly important for due diligence.
Tech Stack
What our clients say
Will Strohl
СEO & Founder, Upendo Ventures
Before starting Upendo Ventures, I led the team at Hotcakes Commerce. At the time, it was a thriving commercial e-commerce platform built on top of the most popular ASP.NET CMS known as DNN. Hotcakes Commerce was rarely not seen in the top 3 selling extensions overall for DNN throughout its entirety as a commercial product. While it’s since been re-released as an open-source e-commerce solution, its popularity has not faded. This popularity is primarily due to the stability and high-quality features it’s boasted over the years. Many of these features were either built or started by the team at devspiration. With Hotcakes Commerce being at the core of what started Upendo Ventures and its continued success as one of our specialties, I can confidently say that the devspiration team has been a cornerstone of what sparked it all. I’d recommend them for all of your custom software needs. You can trust their attention to detail and expertise for all of your mission-critical software projects.
Artem Ruzak
Covizmo Partner
devspiration team helped us to develop a PDF parsing framework for our cloud based image inspection platform Azenzus. They accomplished this goal quickly and professionally. We enjoyed their proactivity, dedication and detail-oriented approach to software development. Highly recommend devspiration as a reliable technology partner for other businesses.
Robert Wells
CEO Allocable
devspiration partnered with our core development team and became an integral part of our engineering efforts on the first release of our SaaS product. They quickly adopted our in-house standards and culture, and provided cutting-edge development on new technologies that our team did not have expertise using at the time.
We are truly grateful how quickly they assimilated into our team and for the high level of attention and professionalism every team member provided.
