Architecting a cloud-first mobile app
“Synerzip is definitely not a typical offshore company. Synerzip team is incredibly communicative, agile, and delivers on its commitments.”
Tim SandbergSenior Director of IT and Product Development, OrthoAccel
The Client
Founded in 2007, OrthoAccel Technologies, Inc. is a privately owned medical device company, based in Houston, Texas, engaged in the creation, manufacturing, marketing, and sales of innovative solutions that enhance dental care and orthodontic treatment.
Ranked on Deloitte’s Technology Fast 500 as one of the fastest-growing companies in North America, OrthoAccel operates globally in over 40 countries.
Among the company’s innovations is AcceleDent®, an FDA-cleared Class II medical device, with CE Mark approval, that increases the predictability of clinical outcomes, helping clinicians gain more control and deliver predictable results, even with challenging tooth movements.
AcceleDent® has been clinically shown to accelerate tooth movement by up to 50%, while also significantly reducing the pain and discomfort associated with treatment by up to 71%, helping patients to become more compliant.
The Challenge
OrthoAccel partnered with Synerzip in July 2019, where they wished to address usability and performance issues with their existing AcceleDent® application. This app is a companion mobile application to their orthodontist device.
The AcceleDent® app works by connecting to AcceleDent Optima™ (a state-of-the-art orthodontic device) via Bluetooth. Pairing with the mobile app unlocks excellent features to optimize the patient’s treatment experience.
These include features such as keeping track of usage and critical metrics with easily accessible dashboards and accessing cloud-based data from multiple locations and devices on demand. It also includes features such as programming daily reminder notifications to ensure timely usage and to secure personal information with HIPAA compliant encryption.
“Synerzip team asks the right questions and spends a lot of time investigating our needs.”
The Solution
The Synerzip team assessed their existing mobile application while simultaneously analyzing the backend and cloud-based systems. As it is associated with a medical device, the mobile application needed OrthoAccel’s customers (patients) to log in and re-login credentials every time they returned to the application.
This repetitive activity was time-consuming and not user friendly. Synerzip’s team devised a Biometric login solution.
The mobile application also had performance issues such as loss of sessions when a large number of users logged in simultaneously.
Synerzip team carried out the migration of their existing treatment records in the database to correct them and migrated their analytics from Google Analytics to Firebase.
The team worked with OrthoAccel to carry out the User Acceptance Testing (UAT) and perform a dry run of backend deployment and database migration.
The Outcome
Using biometric data stored in the phone, the user could now access the application seamlessly using Touch and Face ID without re-entering username or passwords! The team diagnosed and resolved performance issues by addressing the data loss issue at the backend in the Postgres database.
Throughout the project, the Synerzip team showcased authentic Agile best practices by frequently communicating with the OrthoAccel management team and keeping them abreast of significant developments such as demos and solutions briefs.
This communication kept the OrthoAccel management team at par with the development. Synerzip team was detailed in upfront planning and ensured that timelines were adhered to and that there were no surprises.
To work in a regulated environment like medical devices, the Synerzip team had to follow specific standards of Quality Management System and Rules & Regulations that are put up by regulatory authorities like FDA while adhering to specific ISO standards globally accepted.
OrthoAccel’s AcceleDent Optima™ is an FDA approved Class II medical device. FDA’s Center for Devices and Radiological Health (CDRH) is responsible for regulating firms that manufacture, repackage, relabel, and import medical devices in the United States.
Before working on the medical software, the Synerzip team completed the training program following the Regulatory compliances of OrthoAccel’s Account Management Systems and Test Procedures.
Post this training, and after understanding the rules and regulations, policies, and requirements by OrthoAccel, the Synerzip team documented its methodology for developing code and addressing various issues in the system.
The OrthoAccel medical software is available worldwide; hence, various regulatory compliances are mandatory as per global standards (EU directives and ISO 1345 specific to quality management systems).
Tech Stack
- Ionic/Cordova
- Frontend – JS/HTML/CSS
- Backend – Python/Django
- Cloud – Amazon Web Services
- Database – Postgres 9.6
- SCM – Surround SCM, Issue Tracking – Helix ALM
