Schools order their meals online

Alongside events, Genecand delivers meals to people's homes, to the elderly, to individuals and to schools. Each has its own dates, diets and deadlines: a school doesn't order like an individual.

This business ran on software built for them years earlier.

This software was no longer maintained, and it only opened on the computer where it was installed: a breakdown could have been final.

Each school sent its quantities by email, every day, individuals replied to the menu they received the same way, and someone re-entered everything. [The time this represented has not been measured.]

The software became a web application, accessible from anywhere, with far fewer clicks for the same action. Its functions were carried over as they were.

A new part was added at the client's request: a portal where schools see the menus, place and adjust their orders, and the same for individuals. The order is entered by whoever places it.

When replacing ten-year-old software, the temptation is to rethink everything. Here, its functions were carried over almost as they were, because they were the fruit of years of use.

The effort went where the old tool was really weak, the number of clicks and readability, and nowhere else.

Taking over an existing system means seeing its screens, not everything it does silently: some business rules only emerged through use.

They were added without difficulty, because the structure was sound. But the list of an old software's rules is only complete after a season of operation: you have to plan for that time.