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iOS development work for Schindler

Between 2012 and 2014 I worked on two different projects for the Schindler Elevator Corporation. The following is a summary of the projects and a description of my involvement.

Assist

I was the lead developer of Assist, an iPhone app used as a pilot project by about 50 field technicians. The app was created from scratch together with two other developers within 6 months from concept to active usage. It replaced and improved upon an existing tool.

Assist was used to look up and act upon service tasks for about 10’000 elevators. It also displayed information about the elevators and could be used to order replacement parts. Overall, it featured over 20 different screens. The main advantages over its predecessors were:

  • Offline functionality for places without cellphone reception (e.g. basements)
  • A map view for improved route planning
  • A more liberal workflow to provide more flexibility to the workers
  • The ability to save pictures (e.g. to document damages)

My responsibilities for the project included:

  • Evaluation of different hardware and platforms (iOS, web, Android, etc.)
  • Design and implementation of a data synchronization protocol and backend
  • Building the base features of the app, including login, automatic synchronization and most data structures
  • Improving responsiveness of the UI by using caches and fetching data asynchronously
  • Implementing a large part of the UI, including the map, pictures, filters and presets
  • Providing infrastructure to the other developers to create complex screens more efficiently

The app was a side project while also taking courses at the university. The 6 months also include the time I needed to teach myself iOS development. After the product release, I kept working on the app for a few more months to implement feature requests and port it to the then newly released iOS 7.

Assist Collection

Audit

Audit was an iPad app used to fill out checklists while inspecting elevators. It featured a web interface to manage and create the different forms and evaluate the results. Audit and the corresponding web interface was developed by myself while reusing some of the technologies I created for Assist. It was available in 3 different languages.

  • Responsive design, changing and rearranging UI elements depending on screen size and orientation
  • Collection of signatures using pen or finger on screen
  • Quick access to frequently used text fragments
  • Graphical representation of evaluation resulting from filled out forms using predefined conditions

Audit Side