Client
ShareNow
Industry
Automotive
Technologies
Java 7, Angular 14, Oracle, Payara, Apache Jersey
About the project
The customer is ShareNow, a German car-sharing company born from the merge of Car2Go and DriveNow. As a subsidiary of the Free2Move division of multinational automaker Stellantis, ShareNow provides car-sharing services in urban areas across Europe, boasting over four million registered members and a fleet of over 14,000 vehicles in 18 cities.
The company relies on the Car Sharing Backend System (CSBE) as the cornerstone of its innovative carsharing service. The CSBE serves as the foundation of the car-sharing service, providing essential features for user management, vehicle tracking, reservations, payments, and analytics for DriveNow car sharing service.
Operating and managing a car-sharing service like DriveNow, which later merged to form ShareNow, presents inherent complexities. Notably, this is not a singular product but a suite of services spanning various regions and models. The services include:
- DriveNow Europe
- ShareNow Europe
- ReachNow USA
- Ridehailing China
- Peer2Peer Spain
- Rent a Ride Germany
- Ridehailing South Africa
- AlphaCity Business
Each of these products has unique requirements and presents its own set of challenges, yet they all rely on the Car Sharing Backend System.
The service depends on a vast number of interlocking components and functionalities that must work together seamlessly. This includes user and vehicle management, reservations and bookings, payments and billing, GPS and telematics integration, reporting and analytics, and customer support and communication.
The CSBE, a comprehensive software solution serving as the core infrastructure, is needed to act as the backbone of the car-sharing service, facilitating all these crucial operations, managing data, and ensuring effective communication between different system components. The challenge was to develop and maintain a system capable of handling these complexities, with tens of services, 3rd party providers, and hundreds of components.
Furthermore, the system needed to have high pace incident and outage management capabilities to minimize service disruptions and maintain the high standard of customer service expected in this competitive market. Thorough problem investigations and efficient change management were also vital requirements for this comprehensive software solution.
Challenges
Integrating multiple car-sharing services across different regions and models presented a few challenges in terms of data synchronization, system compatibility, and ensuring a seamless user experience. Nevertheless, we diligently confronted this task through comprehensive planning, robust technical solutions, user-centric approach and collaborative efforts.
Solution
Our team initially developed the CSBE for DriveNow, which served as the core infrastructure behind their car-sharing service. CSBE acted as the backbone of the service, facilitating crucial operations, data management, and communication between different system components.
Following the merger of Car2Go and DriveNow to form ShareNow, we further demonstrated our capabilities by developing another backend system, Car Sharing Communication System, based on microservices architecture. This new system replaced the whole CSBE legacy automotive mobility infrastructure, while maintaining the effective management of the car-sharing platform.
Both the CSBE and the Car Sharing Communication System offered key features for user management, vehicle tracking, reservations, payments, and analytics.
How did we contribute?
Incident Management
Incident management is crucial for maintaining the reliability and performance of car-sharing services. When an incident occurred, our team swiftly assigned and prioritized it based on its impact. We employed advanced monitoring tools like Dynatrace, Kibana, and Grafana to identify patterns and anomalies, while also scanning logs for errors. Our thorough investigation process was meticulously documented in the ticket’s worklog. Additionally, our support team had access to tools for essential operations like rebooting or pinging components. If needed, our third-level support was engaged for modules that required their expertise.
Outage management – 24/7
When a customer impact was detected, our team contributed with a well-defined outage management procedure. We promptly communicated with the client, providing regular updates via email. The Supervisor on Duty (SOD) on the client’s side was also informed for smooth coordination. We set up a dedicated outage call, involving all relevant parties through platforms like Skype, Slack, or Teams. Throughout the process, we diligently created and updated an outage report, tracking progress, identifying root causes, and assessing customer impact. Once the system was recovered, we conducted
thorough smoke tests and analyzed the root cause, proposing preventive improvements.
Problem investigation
Problem management is a crucial process, aimed at enhancing service quality and stability. We diligently investigated and rectified the root causes of outages to minimize their impact and prevent future
disruptions. As part of the second level activity, our team conducted thorough problem investigations, addressing specific circumstances like recurring incidents, unresolved issues, or incidents with a significant customer impact. We prioritized these investigations to ensure sustainable resolutions, utilizing workarounds or uncovering unknown root causes.
Change management
Change management followed a well-defined and documented process. We began by creating a change, streamlining the process with templates and assessment checklists. The change underwent a two-step
verification and validation process to ensure accuracy and suitability. Verification involved reviewing documentation and code, while validation assessed the software’s functionality. During deployment, we took precautionary measures like deactivating monitors to prevent false alerts. After deployment, we conducted smoke tests and reactivated monitors. To keep stakeholders informed, we sent business emails announcing the start and completion of the deployment process.
Knowledge Management
Knowledge management helped capture, distribute, and effectively use the knowledge accumulated during incident handling, outage management, problem investigations, and change management. We
meticulously documented every incident, outage, and change process in Confluence, ensuring thorough reviews. This knowledge base served as a valuable resource for understanding system behavior, identifying patterns, and training new team members. By leveraging past experiences and insights, we continuously improved our response and resolution times, enabling more informed decisions regarding system enhancements.
High-level and Detailed Reporting
High-level and detailed reporting provides decisive insights into the system’s operation and performance. Our high-level reports provided a snapshot of the system’s health, showcasing key performance indicators (KPIs), while detailed reports delved into specific issues and components. These reports served multiple purposes, including identifying trends, highlighting areas of concern, tracking changes, and demonstrating the value of our IT services to stakeholders. Additionally, reporting played a critical role in meeting regulatory compliance requirements and ensuring transparency. We delivered reports on a weekly, monthly, and yearly basis, presenting the analyzed data in a clear and user-friendly format, empowering informed decision-making.
Technologies used
Results
Through collaboration with a multitude of third-party service providers, including industry leaders like Vodafone and Oracle, our team effectively guaranteed round-the-clock availability, diligent maintenance, and robust support for the system. As a testament to our efficient operations and diligent efforts, we significantly decreased system outages by 93%, thereby bolstering the reliability and user experience of car-sharing services.
Perspective
The development of the CSBE and the subsequent microservices-based backend system illustrate the crucial role that advanced software solutions play in the efficient operation of car-sharing services.
Ascendro remains committed to continuously improving its solutions to meet the evolving demands of the car-sharing market.
As a dedicated software development team with expertise in nearshore software development, software development outsourcing, IT staff augmentation and many more, we specialize in providing innovative solutions across industries, from custom manufacturing software development to business process optimization, ensuring that our clients remain competitive and efficient in their operations. Check out our software development projects here.
