Development Timeline

As part of the preparation process for developing an application for Mercedes-Benz South Africa to standardize their photography processes we have started with the BETA development of the application. As a result we already have a proof of concept and have tested key fundamentals in line with the request and deliverable as per the Project Scope.

Milestone 1 – Mobile Car Capture App Prototype (alpha version)

  • We shall release the first prototype of the mobile Car Capture App that will be able to:
    • scan license disks,
    • take still photos,
    • take 360 interior photos (panorama),
    • take 360 exterior photos (spinner),
    • edit hotspots on the photos,
    • store car details locally on the mobile phone,
    • and export the photos to the mobile phone’s gallery which will allow dealers to retrieve the photos manually.
  • This version of the app will not able to upload the photos to the server yet, but this allow personnel to familiarize themselves with it and make improvement suggestions.
  • Estimated time: 4 Weeks

Milestone 2 – Basic Web App Prototype (alpha version)

  • We will update the mobile Car Capture App to:
    • enable dealers to upload car details and photos to the Web App (server)
    • and we will include any critical fixes based on user feedback and testing (if necessary)
  • We will publish the web app (website) that will receive and display the uploaded car details and photos from the mobile app.
  • The wep app will include a very simple approval/rejection system of captured cars. This will allow dealers to preview the cars online before making it visible to the public.
  • At this stage we will only support the Google Chrome browser. Note that other web browsers may work but will not be officially supported yet.
  • Estimated time: 4 Weeks

Milestone 3 – Public facing Web App (beta version)

  • Note that Milestone 3A or 3B can happen in any order based on MBSA’s feedback and requirements.

Milestone 3A – Online editing and email notifications

  • We shall extend the web app to include ability to add (via direct upload), edit and remove car photos online.
  • We shall implement an email notification system that will allow users to receive email notifications when a new car was published and is available for approval or a when a car was approved, rejected, modified, published or unpublished.
    • These email notifications will be configurable.
  • We shall also perform server load tests and make any necessary performance and stability improvements to the web app.
  • Estimated time: 2 Weeks

Milestone 3B – Web App theme and UX improvement (beta version)

  • We shall match the website theme to the Mercedes Benz corporate theme.
  • We shall support IE11, Edge, Firefox, Chrome, Opera, Safari, Samsung Mobile web browsers on both desktop and mobile devices.
  • We shall improve website user experience based on user feedback.
  • Estimated time: 2 Weeks

Milestone 4 – Fine tune Car Capture App (beta version)

  • We shall add a video capture and basic video editing facility in the mobile app.
  • We shall implement basic artificial intelligence to improve the capture experience and photo quality.
  • We shall improve the app’s UX, icons and layout (if necessary based on the user feedback).
  • We shall fine tune the license disk scanner and the mobile phone’s sensor data for optimal usability.
  • We shall optimize the mobile app for better performance, stability and lower system resource usage to maximize battery life.
  • Estimated time: 4 Weeks

Milestone 5 – Extras

Note Milestone 5A-5N are all optional and can happen in any order. MBSA may guide us in which direction they want to take the project and what the priorities are. We this stage we are open for any additional suggestion not listed below, but keep in mind that each added feature will increase the project time, complexity and cost.

Milestone 5A – Advance checklist

  • We shall create an online car capture checklist editor for each car model.
    • The checklist editor will enable users to set conditions based on business rules that will determine what must be captured from which car.
  • We shall update both the mobile and web apps to synchronize these checklists and to enforce the business rules.
  • We shall update the mobile capture app to force dealers to complete checklist before they can publishing a car to the public.
  • Estimated time: 2 Weeks

Milestone 5B – Capture and/or validate license disk details

  • We shall do the necessary integrations with a Mercedes-Benz’s IT infrastructure to enable the mobile app to pre-populate car details based on data that we receive from Mercedes-Benz.
  • Estimated time: 1 Week (depending on Mercedes-Benz IT department co-operation)

Milestone 5C – Download previous cars from mobile Car Capture app

  • We shall add the ability to download previously captured cars from the server onto the mobile app to enable a dealer to re-edit or re-capture the same car again.
  • Estimated time: 1 Week

Milestone 5D – Large screen display support

  • We shall optimize the mobile app for tablets and large screen display Android devices.
  • We shall only officially support our prescribed phones for car capturing, but dealers will be able to use any compatible device for reviews and editing of exiting car captures
  • Estimated time: 1 Week

Milestone 5E – Photo stabilizer

  • We shall attempt to implement an experimental photo stabilizer that will aim to align the image of the captured car to the center of the picture for smooth high quality spinners.
  • Estimated time: 4 Weeks

Milestone 5F – Hotspots in hotspots

  • We shall add the ability to have nested photos with hotspots.  In other words, a photo may contain one ore more hotspots. Each of these hotspots will open a new photo (close up of particular car feature) which in turn will contain its own hotspots which will allow the user to navigate to those sub-features of the main feature.
  • Estimated time: 2 Weeks

Milestone 5G – Voice over

  • We shall add the ability to record the dealer’s voice where he/she comment on the car being sold (without video).
  • The web app may automatically play the comments when the user land on a particular car’s page in a web browser. This is useful as the client will be able to list to the dealer’s comments while browsing through the photo’s of the particular car.
  • Estimated time: 1 Week

Milestone 5H – Usage statistics & reports

  • We shall enable the web app to display online the usage statistics of the system by both the car dealers and clients.
  • The usage statistics will restricted by account roles.
  • The web app will also be upgraded with an automated scheduler to send periodic reports to certain email addresses.
  • Estimated time: 1 Week

Milestone 5I – Bulk import and export

  • We shall add a bulk car info import and export option to the Web App. This will allow dealers to download car details for offline viewing or editing.
  • Estimated time: 1 week

Milestone 5J – Web VR player

  • We shall create a Virtual Reality widget for the web app that will allow clients to view car’s interior in Virtual Reality.
  • Estimated time: 2 Week

Milestone 5K – 3rd party integration

  • We shall enable authorized devices to pull information for our system.
  • We shall integrate with authorized 3rd parties to publish car details, photo’s or video’s their systems.
  • Estimated time: ~1 week per party (depending on the party’s cooperation and infrastructure)

Milestone 5L – Client facing mobile app

  • We shall create a separate mobile app for clients that will:
    • pull its data from the web app,
    • cache photo’s & video’s of the client’s favorite cars for offline viewing and
    • allow the client to communicate with the dealer
  • Depending on MBSA’s requirements we could could port this client mobile app to Android, iOS, Windows Mobile.
  • We can optionally publish the app on to relevant public app stores.
  • Estimated time: 4 weeks for the first version and platform, there after 1 week for each platform

Milestone 5M – Fail-over

  • Periodic offline backups are included regardless, however if we buy or hire a fail-over (backup) server, it will significantly reduce the downtime in the event of a system failure.
  • We shall create the necessary replication scripts to keep the servers up to date with minimal impact on the production server.
  • Please note additional costs will apply for the back server & data center. If interested a quote will be provided.
  • Estimated time: 1 Week

Milestone 5N – Load-balancing (scaling)

  • This is usually not necessary but may be useful in the following cases:
    • we run into physical hardware limitation on the server, or
    • we want to spread load during peak periods for a more consistent response time, or
    • we want to combined it with a fail-over solution, or
    • we want to install a separate local server at a remote location to improve response time for that region.
  • We shall run multiple web servers and/or databases simultaneously in the cloud depending on where the bottleneck was detected.
  • Please note additional costs will apply for extra servers. If interested a quote will be provided.
  • Estimated time: 2 Weeks

Milestone 6 – Final version

  • We shall implement any fixes or improvements on either mobile or web apps based on user feedback since the above mentioned extra features was added.
  • At this stage we shall officially release the final version. This will become the standard for documentation, training, backward compatibility and support.
  • Estimated time: Depending on Feedback

Milestone 7 – Training material

  • At the stage the official version will be released (Milestone 6) and we do not expect any significant changes the system anymore. This will allow us to create training material with step-by-step instructions for car details on how to use the system.
  • Optionally training material could be created earlier, but these would need to be updated as the system changes and that might delay future deliverables and increase the project completion time.
  • Estimated time: 3 Weeks