Modernization of the functionality and UI/UX design of a POS system

Description

Our team cooperated with our long-term customer, a Denmark-based software company that delivers POS systems to clients across various domains. One of its core solutions is intended for retail businesses and is widely used in Denmark and abroad.

Previously, we had assisted this company with software development and migration tasks. Therefore, when they approached Softacom with this project, they were already familiar with our level of proficiency and skills.

Our task was to modernize the functionality and UI/UX of their POS system, which was built more than 13 years ago. The software was developed in Delphi and had become quite obsolete. Additionally, the design was outdated and not very user-friendly.

The users of this system had already started complaining about software glitches and errors. As a result, one of the key tasks for the Softacom team was to understand what was wrong with the system and find the best approach to its modernization.

Client's pain points and concerns

Our POS system, which is currently being used by hundreds of our customers in the retail industry, looks quite obsolete. This has a negative impact on the overall user experience. We are concerned that this could lead to a serious user outflow in the near future.
Since this solution was built more than 13 years ago, we fully understand that it no longer meets modern standards. However, we do not have sufficient in-house resources to address these issues on our own.
It has become quite expensive for us to support this software. We want to reduce these maintenance costs and allocate our budget for innovation.
We have rather limited timeframes for this project. Nevertheless, we have already worked with Softacom before, and we are confident that we can fully rely on the team, even when the tasks are rather challenging.

Project Team size

Project manager
Business analyst
3 Delphi developers
QA engineer
1 UI/UX designer

Solutions

We began our work on the project with a deep analysis of the business requirements and the current state of the system. We identified the key sub-tasks necessary to achieve the set goals:

Code review
UI/UX business analysis
Prototyping and redesign
System modernization and bug fixing
New UI/UX design implementation
Deployment of the updated software version

All these steps required thorough planning and close cooperation among all team members. Some of the tasks were performed in parallel to save time and accelerate project completion.

The key challenges our team faced were related to the poorly written legacy code. Firstly, it didn’t align with modern development principles. Secondly, it contained numerous bugs that had not been properly addressed for many years. Nevertheless, thanks to the high expertise of our Delphi developers, we successfully overcame these challenges.

We fixed the bugs and significantly improved the maintainability of the code. Now, if other developers need to work with this software, it will be significantly easier to understand how to interact with it.

The software modernization allowed us to enhance performance and minimize the risk of glitches under high loads.

To increase the security of the solution, it was necessary to change the approach to storing and transferring information, so we eliminated local data storage.

Regarding the UI/UX modernization, there were no strict requirements. However, the customer provided real feedback and stories from existing users. We analyzed this feedback and based our design on the insights we gained. Now, the system aligns with modern users’ expectations. Want to learn more about UI/UX modernization? We offer you to read our practical recommendations.

Migration:

From older version of Delphi to up-to-date version

From Delphi to C# (NET)

Cloud migration/replatforming

Modernization:

Feature enhancement

UX/UI modernization

Software development:

Desktop

Web

Cloud

Mobile

In the framework of this project, we worked with our long term-customer and helped to modernize the existing Point of Sales (POS) system written in Delphi.

Serge Pilko

Softacom Co-Founder Embarcadero MVP LinkedIn

The use of legacy software for POS systems without timely modernization can lead to a row of issues, including security risks, incompatibility with newer hardware, and cost inefficiencies, as well as compliance and regulatory risks.

Technologies

Used in the project

Delphi

Outcome

The modernized version of the software looks and feels completely up-to-date. A number of critical bugs have been fixed, and the performance has been stabilized. Now, it can handle high loads and demonstrates the desired level of stability.
Since some parts of the code have been fully rewritten in accordance with modern standards and approaches, it has become easier to work with. Such processes as introducing new features or executing maintenance tasks now require less time and effort.
With the change in the approach to storing and transferring information, most of the data is now received through endpoints. This has simplified the development process for the future.
This was not the first project successfully implemented with this client, and our cooperation is ongoing. At the moment, the company is continuously enhancing its solution based on feedback from real users. The team is also preparing for the development of a new version of the software. According to the customer’s plans, our specialists will be involved in creating the next version of the POS system.

If you have a legacy system and want to find out whether it’s worth modernizing it now, contact us and book a free consultation. Our experts will analyze your case and offer the best solution.