KFM24/7 Software Modernization

KFM24/7 is a prominent facility maintenance company in the US, providing comprehensive services nationwide.

With the client portfolio including such major brands as L. Brands (Victoria’s Secret and Bath & Body Works, etc.), they started to face operational challenges – all due to their extremely outdated PHP-based system, which had been in operation for over 15 years.

KFM24/7’s services cover multiple fields like:

• General facility maintenance,
• Plumbing,
• HVAC,
• Asset protection & locks,
• Remodels & refreshes,
• ADA compliance projects,
• Disaster preparedness & response, and many more.

It is important to mention that KFM acts as an intermediary in the implementation and valuation of the entire service. Each request in those fields, regardless of time or place, needs to be registered in their system and assigned to a dedicated account manager.

Just imagine how painful and costly the whole data management processes had to be – depleted from essential functionalities or basic automation of data flow.

It's worth noting that they also provided 24/7 client support that wasn’t integrated with the system.

Yeah – KFM24/7 needed an upgrade and needed it fast.

Fortunately, they decided to reach out to us for help.

Since we aren’t afraid of challenges at Milo Solutions, we had no choice but to take up the gauntlet. During this project, we rewrote the entire management system, modernized their tech stack, created a fully functional mobile app, and most importantly, accomplished a successful database migration over 1 night.

We began our preparations by conducting a detailed analysis of KFM24/7's existing system.

The initial stage was to create an estimation based on the existing functionalities of the original version of the application, as well as to reintegrate it with the client systems and plan new functionalities.

During the research phase, our team also tried to understand the specific operational needs and map all the essential services provided by our client.

Thanks to our thorough research, we quickly established why their outdated system required so much manual labor around it.

Main issues of old KFM24/7’s system encompassed:

• High learning curve,
• Difficult data implementation and management,
• Lack of efficient communication channels with the clients,
• No possibility of integration with external customer systems.
• Non-intuitive processes automation (occasionally complete lack of them),
• Zero integrity with modern devices like iPads or smartphones,
• Non-responsive and user-unfriendly design.

Simply put, the old version of KFM24/7's system was no longer usable.

Since their whole revenue relied purely on this rusty piece of software, we knew that we not only had to rewrite the entire system, but also be able to quickly migrate existing databases without risking the necessity of shutting down the whole KFM24/7 for weeks.

After all, “time is money” – as they say.

Bearing in mind the fact that this project required us to be fully prepared and ready to implement many changes in a relatively short period of time, we started to work on the app design quite early.

At the beginning of the development phase, we paved the project’s roadmap:

• UI/UX design,
• New system’s architecture set up,
• Frontend and backend development,
• Extensive testing for reliability and security,
• Fast data migration.

Our team created mockups for the mobile application, while the web application was designed on an ongoing basis, along with the demand for new functionalities.

The redevelopment of this project encompassed a complete overhaul of the system.

To ensure cross-platform compatibility and maximum performance optimization, our development team utilized:

• Python / Django / JavaScript for the web application,
• React Native (JavaScript / TypeScript) for the mobile app.

Integration of external reporting systems encompassing accounting through QuickBooks and payment gateways, and streamlined business processes.

After establishing the entire architecture and successful implementation of the necessary features, such as ticketing or dashboards – we began testing.

The new system had to be finished enough to handle the upcoming database migration – the pinnacle of this project.

Our programmers created more than 2000 units of tests launched after each change in the source code. Based on the functionalities available in the application, our QA team also prepared a set of test cases, the number of which has already exceeded 1500.

It allowed us to increase the effectiveness of the QA team, early and effective detection of potential threats in the application, and thus save time and ensure high quality of the application.

We take pride in our automated testing processes based on Python and Robot Framework.

Key achievements of this project?

Overnight database migration.

Our development team managed to seamlessly integrate the entire legacy database during 9 hours.

The implementation of the new system marked a significant improvement for KFM24/7.

KFM24/7's current system is a highly responsive mobile and web application – far more suitable for managing service requests than the previous version.

Today, each request, regardless of time and place, is seamlessly registered inside the application, and a dedicated account manager is swiftly assigned to the customer for the best solution estimation possible.

All of this happens automatically – speeding up internal processes and significantly cutting operational costs.

The new KFM24/7 management system combines:

• A web and mobile version,
• Various industries' compliance,
• Quick and easy reporting with automated notifications sent,
• Halved the time of request processing,
• Multiple platforms' integrity, including iOS and Android.

Additional deployment of the KFM24/7’s app on iOS and Android platforms also ensured accessibility and usability across different devices.

The application is constantly developed, and new versions are released regularly every two weeks. All the source code iterations are regularly checked every time subsequent versions of the application occur and updated with new functionalities as it develops.

It is also worth mentioning that we localized our software in English and Spanish, which supported KFM's future growth and operational needs.

The new system provides a solid foundation for future growth and development, ensuring continuity in service delivery – strongly supporting KFM24/7 's ongoing business objectives.

From rebuilding the entire system of a large company, through new features implementation, up to the successful databases legacy migration – this entry showcases that as a software house we pay great attention to our customers' needs.

By addressing technical challenges and delivering a scalable, modern solution, the project not only met but exceeded our client’s expectations – resulting in a new long-lasting business partnership.

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