AltexSoft for Scientific Games: Adding Value to the Product

Background

Scientific Games Corporation is a leading developer of technology-based products and services and associated content for worldwide gaming, lottery, and interactive markets. Looking to expand its global market penetration, scale existing product offerings and expand recurring revenues, the company acquired Bally Technologies Inc. in 2014. Thus, Scientific Games adopted a number of Bally’s products, along with a custom content management platform, developed in cooperation with AltexSoft.

The original product was a feature-rich content administration portal with a built-in notification system, geo-fencing and indoor navigation capabilities. It allowed for efficient and quick content distribution across all the integrated apps and websites, providing the company’s clients with powerful marketing and engagement tools.

After the company merger, a complex platform integration was performed by the engineering teams on both sides. Working in close cooperation with the Bally R&D staff, our team focused on adjusting the project management toolset and approach to comply with the new corporate requirements

Challenges

In order to reinforce the product’s value as part of Scientific Games Corporation offering and allow for more advanced administrative opportunities within the Bally Mobile platform, our team introduced a number of updates and improvements. Among them:

Advanced analytics engine with powerful customization features

Smart link generator to drive more installs and engagement among the users

Automated UI testing for improved product quality and reduced QA effort

Value Delivered

Expanding the Analytics Capabilities and Reporting

While the platform already used an out of the box analytic tool, Google Analytics, set-up and customization of the events and reports within it presented a significant hurdle for the users. With the implementation of the custom analytics engine, the company has significantly reduced the configuration hurdle and expanded beyond the capabilities provided by Google Analytics. Being able to consolidate user activity data on their side, Scientific Games can now make extensive use of it in order to gain deeper insights into the user behavior and adjust the product accordingly. Moreover, the feature could further develop into a standalone product.

Adding More Tools to Improve User Engagement

A separate module within the admin area of the platform is dedicated to creating smart links which can be used to improve user engagement through personalized experiences. The link, generated with the help of the tool, has a number of preset scenarios. For example, clicking on such link placed on a website or posted on a social network (e.g. Twitter) will automatically open the required app. In case the app is not pre-installed on the device, the link will redirect to the Google Play/AppStore in order to install it.

Improved Product Quality Through Complete QA Automation

By setting up an automated quality assurance with the help of Selenium platform, our team streamlined the testing process. Eliminating the manual work allowed for enhanced stability and on-time issue detection. With automated UI testing, our engineers were able to ensure the high quality and seamless operation of the product, while minimizing the risk of design flaws or engineering errors.

Approach and Technical Info

Being a part of the ongoing work, the project had a defined core technology stack. It included Microsoft.NET, C#, ASP.NET MVC 3, Windows Azure Cloud Services. Additionally, Selenium was involved in the process of QA automation.

A dedicated team of 5 employees, including project tech lead, software engineers, and QA automation engineer was assigned to the project. The team has been involved in the project for 16 months.

Services provided within the project framework: Engineering Services.

CloudMicrosoft.NET