We connected volunteers with the people who needed them most during COVID-19
Over the past 40 years, McCarthy Stone have built more than 56,000 apartments nationwide. All apartments are built to help their residents keep their independence.
Challenge
The company identified a valuable opportunity during the COVID-19 crisis in early 2020 to further support their homeowners, both now and post pandemic, through the generosity of volunteers and a buddy programme.
The buddy programme allows individuals to support homeowners with tasks from checking in on them to shopping and bringing medical and food supplies, if needed.
To enable the opportunity to develop into a longer term offering and reduce the administrative burden, a software solution was required to support the end to end process, enabling volunteers internally and externally to register online easily and manage their profile and developments, and provide useful reporting.
After approaching the human tech agency in 2020, we discussed the requirements, future plans and varying user groups and decided on a Progressive Web Application (PWA) as the best platform for the project for a few reasons. Users wanted the option to use the application on whichever device they wanted without compromising on design or functionality, the project needed to be delivered in a very short period of time & security of data was paramount.
Subhash Sreedharan
McCarthy and Stone Technology Directors
"I just wanted to say how impressed we are with the human tech agency. You should be proud. The team has been exceptional and have impressed us with their professionalism and focus last week at the kick off. I look forward to working with them and looking forward to a quality delivery from your team."
What we did
We started the project by carrying out in depth workshop sessions with all key stakeholders from both organisations. Because of the pandemic and lockdown rules, all discovery meetings were carried out remotely using Zoom & Miro boards. During the meetings, we captured exactly what the app needed to do, the user journeys, future ideas as well as discussing the look and feel.
Once wireframes were completed, our creative team created a modern, friendly and fresh design for each page of the app using the existing design language from the company website and brand guidelines.
The app included functionality such as user log in, my profile, ID upload and verification, auto matching volunteers to developments based on select criteria and managing volunteering opportunities with homeowners.
Progressive Web App
The frontend part of the application is built in Vue.js (JavaScript framework) and it serves the database data through a custom built REST API. The frontend relies on Single Page Application architecture, and using PWA features, can be installed on mobile devices offering the experience of a native app. It uses other popular libraries and APIs like Axios and Google Maps API to translate addresses to geographic locations.
The Backend of the PWA has been built in the latest Microsoft .NET core with login and registration using Identity management and Database Microsoft SQL.
We managed the project over a six week period using agile methodologies - splitting the project into weekly sprints with regular ‘show and tell’ sessions between McCarthy and Stone and our project team.
Result
Within the first three months of launching Rockstars, over 600 tasks between homeowners and volunteers were completed. As a newly launched platform, we’re excited to see new volunteers using the app and will share more engagement results soon.
Charlie Heaford
Project Manager - McCarthy and Stone (Developments) Limited
"We have been involved in many similar projects and this has been one of the smoothest experiences we have had. We are very excited to have launched this app! A HUGE thank you from me for all your hard work, you’ve certainly made my job that bit easier by how responsive and open you’ve all been with me."