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POS software code audit for Palmers Textil

  • 5

    5 audit areas for the POS system

  • 24

    24 issues identified, solutions proposed

  • 50%

    50% of potential saving due to migration to AWS

  • New

    software suggested for migration

Project overview

Palmers Textil AG, the Austrian fashion & clothing brand, actively uses point of sale (POS) solutions. In 2017, the company had a legacy POS system called Pcash based on unoptimized language – Groovy. DICEUS analyzed the code, identified problems with the current solution, and proposed improvements.

Client information

Palmers Textil AG is an international clothing brand that originated in Austria. Ludwig Palmers started it as a laundry back in 1914. In 2000, the company opened its first online shop. Since 2015, Palmers is owned by P Tex Holding GmbH. Today, the brand sells underwear, clothes, and accessories in more than 300 stores in 17 countries.

  • Team composition
    5 members

    IT project coordinator
    Java architect/Team lead
    Business analysts
    QA engineer
    UI/UX designer

  • Client name

    Palmers Textil AG

  • Expertise used

    BI and reporting

  • Duration

    2 months

  • Services provided

    Software audit

  • Country

    Austria

  • Industry

    Retail, Payments

Business challenge

Palmers Textil started building its digital infrastructure in 2000. The company integrated SAP, launched the website, added POS and payment providers. Nevertheless, by 2017, all these modules became outdated. Particularly, the legacy POS solution was slowing down the sales process, worsening customer experience. It was required to review the code and help the company to improve its sales.

Technical challenges

The existing POS system was built on Groovy. Overall, this code is hard to maintain or refactor. There are a few reasons, including the naming convention violation, much abbreviation, and code instability. By analyzing Pcash, we divided issues by their severity: major, middle, and minor.

Audit areas

Back end

The main issue with the system was the lack of the system requirements list. The POS app needed a lot of specific Groovy modules that couldn’t be accessed directly. Other issues included explicit app builders and missing guides. As for security, we found one bad practice: passwords were stored without hashing. In total, there were 8 issues with the main system and 6 problems with custom modules.
Suggested improvements:
  • Add the logging module and transfer the related logic
  • Hash passwords for better security of the system
  • Structure the code according to Java packaging best practices
pos software code audit for palmers textil 1

Front end

The front part of the system was implemented using Vaadin with UI components described in Groovy classes. The project had the main component for the main app page. Only one middle issue was identified because the solution featured too many small ungrouped files.
Suggested improvements:
  • Group small components to optimize the structure
  • Make another module for Vaadin classes to separate UI from logic
pos software code audit for palmers textil 2

Database

The problem with databases was that the tables didn’t feature unique or foreign constraints. Thus, data was stored without consistency, there were issues with broken data. The overall setup was too complicated, as well. There were only 2 problems, but both of them were classified as major.
Suggested improvements:
  • Add the required indexes for key queries
  • Keep the SQL scripts in the main project repository
  • Setup the constraints properly
pos software code audit for palmers textil 1

Version control system

The version control was based on Mercurial. It featured only one issue – inefficient branching without observing. It was necessary to fix this thing to enable multi-development and make the version management more structured.
Suggested improvement:
  • Distinguish branches, make the version control system structured
pos software code audit for palmers textil 1

Infrastructure

Although the work inside the environment was established and integrated, there was no documentation related to infrastructure and Pcash services. The database system wasn’t ideal, and the disaster recovery procedures were absent at all. As well, performance and stability could be much better. We found 5 issues, including 3 major ones. Suggested improvements:
  • Add load, network, total process, system default, and PostgreSQL metrics
  • Change legacy services and tools to more efficient solutions: Mercurial to Bitbucket; Redmine to Jira; FTP server to storageBucket; Zimbra to SendGrid; Postgre to AWS RDS
  • Develop disaster recovery procedures for separate elements and the whole system
  • Install a more flexible environment for better monitoring
  • Migrate database servers to cloud, optimize them
  • Prepare the detailed documentation, description of services, deployment
pos software code audit for palmers textil 5

Audit results

In total, we found 24 issues divided by their urgency and severity. For each problem, we proposed the relevant solution, including development updates, infrastructure optimization, and tool migration. After implementation, these suggested changes could make the POS solution much more efficient, profitable, and reliable.

Value to our client

  • Code refactoring tasks

    After analysis of the POS solution, we concluded the list of refactoring ideas. There were 20 tasks that could be completed with the representatives of Palmers or other experts.

  • Resource plan

    Based on the audit, we proposed the upgrade plan for Pcash. It was divided into improvements and feature developments. It also included the required number of hours, as well as the DICEUS experts to complete these tasks.

  • New tools for migration

    For infrastructure improvements, we emphasized the importance of migration to more efficient solutions. For example, it was possible to move to RDS on AWS and save up to 50% of the total cost of the environment.

Our tech stack

  • aws-1 AWS
  • bit bucket Bitbucket
  • graddle Gradle
  • groovy Groovy
  • jira-1 Jira
  • 1200px-Mercurial no border logo.svg Mercurial
  • PostgreSQL PostgreSQL
  • Redmine-Logo-CyberSprocket-Composite-300x300-png8 Redmine
  • sap SAP
  • SendGrid SendGrid
  • VaadinLogomark RGB 1000x1000 Vaadin
  • Zabbix Zabbix

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    Case study
    POS software code audit for Palmers Textil
    diceus.com
    Case study
    POS software code audit for Palmers Textil
    Project overview
    Palmers Textil AG, the Austrian fashion & clothing brand, actively uses point of sale (POS) solutions. In 2017, the company had a legacy POS system called Pcash based on unoptimized language – Groovy. DICEUS analyzed the code, identified problems with the current solution, and proposed improvements.
    Client information

    Palmers Textil AG is an international clothing brand that originated in Austria. Ludwig Palmers started it as a laundry back in 1914. In 2000, the company opened its first online shop. Since 2015, Palmers is owned by P Tex Holding GmbH. Today, the brand sells underwear, clothes, and accessories in more than 300 stores in 17 countries.

    Information

    • Team composition: 5 members

      IT project coordinator; Java architect/Team lead; Business analysts; QA engineer; UI/UX designer

    • Client name:

      Palmers Textil AG

    • Expertise used:

      BI and reporting

    • Duration:

      2 months

    • Services provided:

      Software audit

    • Country:

      Austria

    • Industry:

      Retail, Payments

    Business challenge

    Palmers Textil started building its digital infrastructure in 2000. The company integrated SAP, launched the website, added POS and payment providers. Nevertheless, by 2017, all these modules became outdated. Particularly, the legacy POS solution was slowing down the sales process, worsening customer experience. It was required to review the code and help the company to improve its sales.

    Technical challenges

    The existing POS system was built on Groovy. Overall, this code is hard to maintain or refactor. There are a few reasons, including the naming convention violation, much abbreviation, and code instability. By analyzing Pcash, we divided issues by their severity: major, middle, and minor.

    Value to our client
    • Code refactoring tasks

      After analysis of the POS solution, we concluded the list of refactoring ideas. There were 20 tasks that could be completed with the representatives of Palmers or other experts.

    • Resource plan

      Based on the audit, we proposed the upgrade plan for Pcash. It was divided into improvements and feature developments. It also included the required number of hours, as well as the DICEUS experts to complete these tasks.

    • New tools for migration

      For infrastructure improvements, we emphasized the importance of migration to more efficient solutions. For example, it was possible to move to RDS on AWS and save up to 50% of the total cost of the environment.

    Tech stack used in project
    • AWS
    • Bitbucket
    • Gradle
    • Groovy
    • Jira
    • Mercurial
    • PostgreSQL
    • Redmine
    • SAP
    • SendGrid
    • Vaadin
    • Zabbix
    diceus.com