We were approached by Hayley Group Limited, a UK engineering inventory supplier, to take on two projects. The company provides speedy delivery on engineering components and consumables, creating the potential for a direct path between supplier and customer. They had two platforms in mind; the Hayley Hub and the Pricing Engine.
The Hayley Hub is designed to be a middleware layer that interfaces between existing and new company applications. It also allows access for all users through a single, secure log-in user interface. The Pricing Engine is an intelligent system that takes existing pricing data and uses it to generate SXE import spreadsheets ready for publishing.
A Centre Point For Users and Automating Processes
There were two main aims when working with Hayley Group; the first was to create a single point for all applications, which we achieved with Hayley Hub. By doing this, the IT department could then offer high-value shared services to all Hayley Group business areas with ease. The second aim was to automate the price update process for the company, which was done through the Pricing Engine. Previously, one person in the company created a spreadsheet and MS Access database from the price spreadsheets, which was a lengthy and time-consuming process. The Pricing Engine could remove the need for that labour altogether, saving a lot of time for the person responsible for the task.
Overall, the two projects overarching purpose was to create a more responsive development model by enhancing the digital availability of their information and services. This would help everyone involved with Hayley Group, from the customers and partners to the employees.
Hayley Hub Capabilities
A Single Dashboard to Improve Functionality
The entire purpose of Hayley Hub was to create a single place where everyone could see the applications they use with Hayley Group. To fulfil that and ensure the platform was fully functioning, we created a dashboard where everything was aggregated through one view. This keeps all of the tools provided by Hayley Group in one, easy to navigate place, helping users save time and improve the company's user experience.
A Secure API Environment
We created a secure API (defined rules that dictate how a computer and application communicate) for Hayley Hub. By doing this, Hayley Group can now secure third-party IT help without any hassle. It creates a stable, safe environment for them to work with, which is exactly what was required.
Access and Share Applications
The Hayley Hub will allow Hayley Group to upload all company-wide applications, ready for access by employees and customers. The Hub also has advanced sharing capabilities, allowing for relevant applications to be shared across the whole group with ease. This maintains a consistent central interface and makes it easy for customers to access the tools and services they need.
The Pricing Engine Capabilities
A Smart System to Update Pricing
The Pricing Engine is an automated system that calculates pricing adjustments that need to be imported into SXE. Based on a set of pre-programmed rules, the engine can calculate the price increase on an ad-hoc basis, based on the supplier, and allows the user to see price variations easily. Updated spreadsheets are imported automatically, and partially or fully adjusted versions that will be imported into the SXE can also be exported.
View, Update and Synchronise
Users of the Pricing Engine can view an event log of actions taken within the platform, allowing them a quick overview of all updates. They can update and synchronise data types via Secure File Transfer Protocol (SFTP) and set tolerance levels for SL Groups, so any changes that surpass them will be flagged by the engine and alert the user. We also programmed the engine to track processed price lists. If a duplicate is entered, it won't be processed, and the system can maintain only the needed information.
The Technology Stack
To create both the Hayley Hub and the Pricing Engine, we used React and Yii2.
