PLANEKS

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the managing principal of a company that designs, builds, and secure industrial control systems. We also help digitally transform those systems within industrial facilities.

What challenge were you trying to address with PLANEKS?

We hired them for iOS/Android mobile app development. 

What was the scope of their involvement? 

PLANEKS developed the MVP of our mobile app from scratch. It was a solution that relied on QR codes to search for and locate information within a database on industrial equipment pieces. I developed the requirements, and they supported me by handling the documentation and project planning. They also helped develop the database and did UI/UX work.

What is the team composition? 

We worked with an architect, a full stack developer, and a project manager.

How did you come to work with PLANEKS?

We found them through Upwork. Before we even signed the contract, PLANEKS wanted to understand the scope of the work very clearly rather than just accepting whatever we gave them. That helped me feel more confident with my decision to go with them.

How much have you invested with them?

The project cost was under $25,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project started in September 2020. We’ve recently ended the contract since we’ve completed the MVP, but I plan to bring them back on once we approve that the solution is a valid concept.

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

They were timely with our project schedule. We estimated that the project would take about 15 weeks, which did get pushed to 20 weeks once we added more items to the scope. They allotted us a projected number of hours weekly, which they stuck to, so it was a very good engagement all around.

How did PLANEKS perform from a project management standpoint?

Trello was our main project management tool, but we also communicated through Upwork and Skype.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They had a desire to understand our requirements first before moving forward.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, they did a good job. I would highly recommend them.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Have your requirements fully written down and spend time early in the project to go through those with PLANEKS. Don’t rush through that phase because it helps the project move along smoothly afterward.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the Head of Product at MusicTeam, a platform for a new era of artists to efficiently manage the metadata and splits of their musical works and sound recordings for distribution.

For what projects/services did your company hire PLANEKS, and what were your goals?

We hired Planeks for developing an MVP for managing music rights for the musical works and sound recordings of independent artists. We reached the MVP quite fast and we are now working on a second release of the app.

How did you select PLANEKS and what were the deciding factors?

The past experience and specialisation in the Django framework. Also, upon having a conversation with them, their professionalism was really put forward.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

Scope: Building an efficient and reliable way of handling splits and metadata on digital assets including, integrating multiple APIs.

Key deliverables:

• custom backend
• custom admin functionalities and user flow
• custom UI
• building an API
• integrating with multiple other APIs
• in-app notifications
• integrating a custom subscription management API
• building custom exports (XMLs).

Technologies included:

• Django framework (python-base code).

How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

4 people worked with us, including a project manager, IT director, 2 programmer

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

Our app needs quite specific knowledge and there is a big learning-curve, to which they have adapted quickly. Every deliverable has been finished in time and with great quality. All expectations were met and beyond. We are about to launch the MVP in the next few weeks.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timelines.

We use Jira for project management and Skype for communication.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

Their teamwork and ability to understand complex business problems, business logic and how to efficiently address those problems in our code.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

We don't have any suggestions for areas of improvement because we are very satisfied with all the work they have done.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO and founder of GMDY. We’re a real-time consumer and analytics engine for sports.

What challenge were you trying to address with PLANEKS?

We were seeking to introduce some new features into our platform.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Specifically, we were looking for a backend integration solution with Twitch. Using shared documents and communication platforms like Skype, we got on the same page about the backend design we wanted. Then, we partnered with them on the frontend design. Much of that step was already done, but they helped us establish how doable it would be.

What is the team composition?

I worked with two of their leaders, and I felt confident in their abilities.

How did you come to work with PLANEKS?

We posted the job description on UpWork, and they were one of the many agencies/individuals that reached back out. I got to know them and understand their philosophy. They offered their take on the solution and I was excited to see what they produced.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent less than $1,000 with them.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from April until May 2020.

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

They rolled out the service in the time they estimated it would take, as well as under budget. They were able to make a couple of adjustments to the UI very quickly based on initial feedback. It wasn’t just a release and move on; they continue to reach out and ask how things are going.

How did PLANEKS perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re a 5/5 or a 10/10. They’re fantastic. I would certainly work with them again.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They did some initial research to understand how successful they were going to be in the project. If they hadn’t felt comfortable, then they wouldn’t have accepted the project. Plenty of agencies will accept any project for the money, but PLANEKS did their due diligence to ensure that we, collectively, would be successful.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I don’t think so.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be perfectly clear as to what you’re trying to accomplish and what the end-results are expected to be.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the CTO at a company that provides automation services for eCommerce across multiple domains particularly in the US but also in Europe and the Far East.

For what projects/services did your company hire PLANEKS, and what were your goals?

We had a challenging software to develop that required smooth processing of tasks on a daily basis for thousands of users. All tasks have to be resilient - that is, must be completed and retried if failed.

It also required synchronization between multiple technologies - a Chrome extension and web app on the user end, scheduled tasks running in the background, databases, and online queues to orchestrate this whole process.

How did you select PLANEKS and what were the deciding factors?

PLANEKS helped map out the challenges into smaller tasks, provided a top-notch developer who was a great fit for the job, and took care of the project from start to deployment. End-to-end. As good as it gets for a tech lead like myself who just had to outline the requirements and explain the technologies and APIs in play.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

We had a Trello board with all the tasks that needed to be completed. We knew all the technologies and APIs involved, but needed to design of the scheduled tasks in the project and implement correctly in a bare python-based SaaS software we already had. They completed the project in a few weeks and guided us all the way until successful deployment.

How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

3 people:

• a project manager
• a developer
• CTO

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

We were able to launch the Premium package of this project early, which was a major achievement for us. Project was just deployed, but I was very happy with the speed of work and already getting some SaaS users to convert to the paid Premium version to get the features that PLANEKS helped develop.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timelines.

Their project management was superb. PLANKES team was super-professional, understood tasks fast, showed up every morning and worked with us till late to meet deadlines. We communicated through Slack, Confluence and GitHub.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

It felt as if PLANEKS were the founders behind the software. They took it very seriously and showed up day in day out to take it all the way to deployment.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

Was very happy about their work style, no complaints.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the director of sales engineering for a boutique Robotic Process Automation provider.

For what projects/services did your company hire PLANEKS, and what were your goals?

Our team had created an application to transition code between automation services. Customers we talked to were interested in understanding exactly how the code much the code would translate in their environment.

We employed PLANEKS to build a tool we could forward deploy in customer environments who didn't want to give us the code.

How did you select PLANEKS and what were the deciding factors?

We had a quick turn around time, and PLANEKS was able to meet our timeline, understood the need that we had and were able to solution for what was needed given fairly vague requirements. This was really an MVP project. PLANEK was understanding and worked with us as we worked to define the project and process.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

We defined the scope of work, delivered mock ups, and then passed some implementation discussion. PLANEKS was an incredibly patient and understanding provider.

They delivered fully documented, clean Django code back, which we were able to leverage to extend our solution. This was a full web page solution. My company provided backend analysis code, and PLANEKS turned it into an application.

How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

We worked with the account executive, the CTO, and the developer to deliver this project.

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

Excellent turn around and materials. The team was able to create excellent results even given minimal directions.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timelines.

Daily touchpoints and discussion about work done. Extremely responsive. We used Microsoft Teams primarily to deliver the project

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

The quality of what we received is incredible! Full up documentation and materials! From a developer perspective, I was impressed by the extra mile the team went.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

The communication flow from the team was incredible. Any issues were in my hands as I knew exactly what the team wanted.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am founder of Game Boost Analytics. Game Boost Analytics is a company where we are helping gamers get better at video games through data and analytics.

For what projects/services did your company hire PLANEKS?

We needed web developers to help develop the minimum viable product website so that we can start to gather users.

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted to build something functional, but not perfect to determine quickly/cheaply if there was good product-market fit. We needed the team to use Python/React coding languages because we needed to build off of some of the work we had done already.

How did you select this vendor?

Planeks was recommended to us by Upwork.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

The Planeks team wrote all of the code, and helped us create the website at gameboostanalytics.com. They worked with us to define requirements, write the code needed for the website to function properly, and finally deploy the code to testing and production servers.

What was the team composition?

Primarily we worked with one engineer (Andrii) on the Planeks team. When needed, Anton (Founder of Planeks) got involved to support requirement scoping and provide input on more complicated concepts as it related to the GBA MVP.

Can you share any information that demonstrates the impact that this project has had on your business?

We wouldn't have been able to build our website/product without this team!

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

We used Trello to organize the project and handle most of our communication. It worked very well overall. At times, there were a lot of things happening in parallel and it was a little challenging to stay organized. That said, it's because the Planeks team was able to handle a lot of work all at once.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

I thought they found a really strong balance of communication and progress. They provided daily updates on everything that they worked on, and also made substantial progress in the 8 hours they invested every day.

Are there any areas for improvement?

n/a - I thought the project went very smoothly overall.

Please describe your company and your position there.

The company is manufacturing measuring devices that are used for high precision measurement tasks in industrial environment. I am working as an external software engineer that supports the company in developing software solutions to improve their production.

For what projects/services did your company hire PLANEKS?

We hired PLANEKS to implement a cloud based Processing System for customer orders. In order to keep track of the processing status for each order at any time.

What were your goals for this project?

The solution had to be cloud based with an intuitive user interface. Furthermore it shall provide an API with which order from 3rd party system can be synchronized with the Order Processing System. The manufacturing process shall be transparent at any time.

How did you select this vendor?

PLANEKS had a great rating and other customers highly recommended PLANEKS in terms of technical skills and customer communication. In total we interviewed 3 vendors for this projects. We choosed PLANEKS since they quickly understood the task and made very good recommendations on how to improve the software. Overall PLANEKS was the most professional vendor we interviewed for this project.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

After choosing the architecture and the cloud platfrom, based on the recommendations of PLANEKS, we separated the whole projects into single tasks which where then realized by PLANEKS in several sprints. PLANEKS provided great tools to always keep the status for each task transparent. After one task was finished, we could test the solution directly. Furthermore PLANEKS provided a great documentation of the code itself and the deployment process. Questions has been answered by PLANEKS in very high detail.

What was the team composition?

We had one main contact during the project, that was always available and he communicated our requests to his team. Which was for us very convenient. In case we had some more detailed questions an expert of the team was available.

Can you share any information that demonstrates the impact that this project has had on your business?

The manufacturing process is more transparent and therefore saves more time and improves quality. The manufacturing process is now transparent for everyone at any time, less clarification is needed.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

The project management by PLANEKS was as best as it could be. The status of the development was clear at any time. PLANEKS always anwered in short periode of time. They made clear statements and keept the time plan perfectly. Besides that it is worth mentioning that PLANEKS also gave us recommendations on how to improve our internal software development processes, which we highly appreciated and which helped us as well.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

PLANEKS is very well organized, and they have a very professional way of working. The communication with PLANEKS was perfect at any time. One can tell that PLANEKS has a lot of experence in what they are doing.

Are there any areas for improvement?

I cannot think any improvements, working with PLANEKS was very good at any time.

Please describe your company and your position there.

We are a tech startup and have created an app for restaurants/hotels. I'm the CTO of the company.

For what projects/services did your company hire PLANEKS?

We needed more functionality in our app which ourselves didn't have time to create.

What were your goals for this project?

To add more functionality without having to spend too much time ourselves since we're very busy and are in the starting stage. The platform was built on Python/Django.

How did you select this vendor?

We received over 30 offers on Upwork and selected three of them for a Skype call, Planeks was overall the best to work with, great communication skills, very good estimations (almost exact of the end amount).

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

We had mockups of the features we wanted and some overall guidelines, besides that Planeks did everything by their own, the code quality was great.

What was the team composition?

The vendor had three roles involved (CEO, CTO and Developer). The developer did most of it but we also had some discussion with the CEO and CTO regarding the overall infrastructure and received great recommendations.

Can you share any information that demonstrates the impact that this project has had on your business?

We're not launched yet, but the result overall of the work done was great.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

Communications was done through Skype. Project management was done through Trello. Overall very satisfied and it was very effective!

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Their communications and speed were impressive. They were also very easy to work with.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Nothing to improve, will hire again for sure.

Please describe your company and your position there.

Business Partner

For what projects/services did your company hire PLANEKS, and what were your goals?

We have hired PlANEKS to finish the existing project that another IT company had started. The project was to create an online multilingual both B2B and B2C e-commerce platform for the UK market

How did you select PLANEKS and what were the deciding factors?

Communication, professional approach, clear strategy

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

Key deliverables were:

1. To develop a delivery system for multiple international courier services for food products ( weight, c category, country restrictive )
2. Create a number of reports to facilitate daily operations i.e.tarrif codes for importation purposes, summary order report, integration with courier service)
3. To develop and improve e-commerce for a much better user-friendly experience for international customers

How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

We had a team of 4 people.

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

Admin system reports that helped us to save on time and costs.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timelines.

Lean, efficient...I could not fault their communication and their approach to any issues we have raised throughout the project

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

PLANEKS was certainly professional in their field. Personally, I valued a guided and based on previous experience approach I was given specific advice at different stages of the website development which helped me then to navigate better through certain milestones of the project.

Are there any areas for improvement?

No

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the Director of a software development company. We solve business and technology problems by blending technical expertise with best-in-class cloud applications

For what projects/services did your company hire PLANEKS, and what were your goals?

Ongoing development of web applications

How did you select PLANEKS and what were the deciding factors?

We found them through a free lancing agency. They had excellent reviews and appears to be very active. I had an initial video conference and felt they were an excellent fit for our needs.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

They have designed and built a number of web applications. Both backend API's and frontend web apps. Technologies include Python, Flask, JS, HTML.

How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

We work with 2 people. A project manager and senior developer

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

The projects have been completed on time and within budget. PLANEKS made sure that everything goes smoothly.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timelines.

Communication is excellent. Planeks are happy to integrate with our existing tools and processes to communicate on projects.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

They are open and honest about their capacity and capabilities.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

No not really.