To plan ahead

Funeral services are a way to say goodbye to our loved ones with dignity and respect. At this moment, an intimate, family atmosphere prevails, and it is necessary to ensure the necessary time for decisions. Taking the time to choose a suitable funeral service is often very difficult, if it is a situation for which we are not prepared and it is necessary to resolve the entire ceremony on an express basis. We are fully aware that there is huge competition in the market for funeral services and tombstone accessories, and costs are becoming more difficult to handle year after year due to inflation. When choosing a company for funeral services, it is necessary to maintain a certain stamp of solidity, but also to be aware of the fact that it is a profitable business and that the market is bursting at the seams.

Get to know the company

For a quick overview, our esteemed customer AMV Slovakia is a family company with more than thirty years of tradition in funeral services. The company is based in Nové Zámky and is engaged in the production and distribution of grave accessories. Its exceptionality lies in its flexibility to adapt to modern trends and the inclusion of new modern technologies in funeral services. AMV Slovakia is the largest distributor in Eastern Europe, with its own sales representative in the Slovak Republic, Czech Republic and Hungary. They have their own technological, manufacturing and especially human potential.

The development strategy

After meeting with the customer and discussing his ideas and expectations, we started developing the solution from the very beginning. The main product of the project is the designer based on the model of the previous solution used by the customer. The project was created in the JavaScript language. The subject of the agreed solution for the information system Elegant Studio 2 was divided into two main modules. In the first module, smooth communication with the e-shop plugin and the third-party system was ensured. The second module provides an administrator portal and finally a client-user portal.

Background on the system beyond the scope of the client

On the way to the solution, design and testing of the future application, it was necessary to conduct research. After determining the design, during the journey to concrete steps, we added some of our suggestions and ideas to improve the smoothness of the application to the client’s requirements. All suggestions that arose during the initial design and programming phase were properly discussed and approved with the client – nothing was handled outside of the client’s awareness. Among these minimum, solved requirements from our side for the final solution were, for example:

  • Templates – custom-made designs are supplemented with ready-made templates, fonts and design.
  • Dimensions of the working space – the working space was limited to 800x600mm – the goal of this limit is to optimize the final result during the firing itself as much as possible.
  • Intuitive interface – Word-style application style (reduce, enlarge, align…)
  • Application – e-shop – final adjustments can be made from the e-shop, the system returns to the application interface.
  • Price – the price is calculated continuously after each change in the bar above the workspace.

DistEditor – a product beyond the scope of the client

On the way to the result, our effort was to optimize the system so much that the client would be able to edit his program if necessary. This point was related to the admin tool. An end client in a downloaded program on a computer could manipulate the size of the workspace and the offset of letter combinations. Each letter can be individually configured in distance, in case the relationship does not exist for a certain combination, or it does not meet the requirement. The loading of the text file with information takes place with the system supplied by us for the given font. After loading the data, the font type is selected and the field called Character Spacing is worked with, where the character spacing can be manually selected. After editing, the output data is exported (the user clicks on the intuitive Export button). The given font is either automatically saved or a dialog box pops up asking where and under what name the file should be saved.

Example:

The user adds a new letter, he wants to configure the letter H. This letter should be configured at the same height as all other letters in the alphabet, such as the combination of letters AH, BH and CH.

From the template to the physical result

In addition to the Elegant Studio 2 application, the subject of the assignment was also a functional e-shop, which was connected directly on a client-order basis. The presented technical solutions were:

  • HTTP REST API interface.
  • upload to the cloud (data backup, availability…).
  • resolved scaling issue – number of users does not affect performance.

Process, outputs and solutions

The outputs include the Elegant Studio 2 information system itself, functional specification (High Level architecture, description of components, description of API interfaces and list of used technologies), installation guide, user manual and diagram.

We offered the program concept proposed by us, including its solution in the field of IT and digital marketing. Our company covered all requests from the customer.

Customer satisfaction with the implemented solution is our top priority. We were very pleased with the customer’s evaluation and supported our desire to participate in the work on such great challenges as the realization of Elegant Studio 2. Elegant Studio 2 is a program that can be used at the time of purchase or during the design process. on the website of AMV Slovakia (http://www.amvslovakia.sk/sk). Elegant Studio 2 is a web service that can be used from anywhere, or it can be handled at the branch in Nové Zámky with the help of an employee. The software is made in a design similar to Microsoft® Word – for intuitive and smooth control from anywhere, for users regardless of experience with computers.

A customer review was published on clutch.io.

Despite the fact that the customer expressed satisfaction with the service, the end user stands at the very end. Customer reviews say no less about the quality of the software designed and implemented by us.