Fast Food Franchise Mobile Sales App

Technologies Used

Introduction

This mobile application is deployed to a fleet of managed Apple iPad devices and serves as a CRM platform that tracks store locations, product orders, and support internal sales and marketing staff. The app also manages a video training program that supports end users.

Problem Set

Our challenge was to integrate all of our client’s franchise and business data into an app that could serve sales staff on location, even without a live connection to the internet. Since franchises are located all over the country, some areas did not have cell service that would allow the app to access the central database during sales visits.

Training was also an area that was consuming a large amount of staff effort. Staff turnover requires a constant attention to make sure all locations meet the corporate standards. To streamline this process the testing materials needed to be adapted to an online system that could serve the video content and administer a test afterwards.

Solution

To serve data to devices that were out of cell service areas the app holds a replicated copy of the database fetched earlier. Changes made by sales staff are held in this copy and then merged back into the master records when the app regains its connection to the internet. The app operates normally whether it is connected to the internet or running on cached data.

The education system was adapted into an online curriculum that serves videos encoded once for Apple devices and into a second format for desktop computers. Each video must be watched in its entirety and a series of questions must be answered correctly before a module is considered complete. The user interface and test questions are displayed in English and Spanish depending on the candidate’s preferred language. Employees can take the tests from any mobile device or desktop at their own pace. All results are centrally recorded and instantly available to store owners automatically and can be reviewed at any time.

Final Result

The final product consists of a backend system written with PHP, data stored in a MySQL database, and several third party services integrated via API calls. The end user must login with their credentials before they have access to the system, and can begin working. If they are an employee, they only have access to the test materials.

Sales staff use their credentials to login to an iOS App written with Cordova and loaded on to iPad devices, managed with Miradore, that they bring with them to meetings. During these visits, they can create a new store, place new orders for food and marketing material. If the device is lost, it can be remotely wiped to keep data secure.