Solution Architecture & Operational Workflow
Technical Overview
The Client
Singer is the market leader in Sri Lanka's consumer durables industry, with an unmatched reach of over 5.7 million customers and a penetration of nearly 30% of the country's population. Through partnerships with over 60 international brands, Singer has been instrumental in offering Sri Lankan consumers the best solutions in electronic items and home appliances. It also has a manufacturing arm through its subsidiaries which manufacture a range of high-quality refrigerators, washing machines, sewing machines, furniture and other components.
Requirement
The Client required the development and implementation of multiple mobile-based applications to address the diverse and urgent operational requirements of individual business units. The applications were intended to enhance sales management, field collections, service operations, agent management, and real-time operational monitoring, while seamlessly integrating with the Client's centralized ERP system.
A key requirement was to ensure business continuity and uninterrupted field operations, even in challenging operational environments where reliable mobile network connectivity could not always be guaranteed.
The Challenge
- Privacy-Aware Location Tracking — Balancing real-time field personnel location tracking against user privacy concerns, battery drain, and continuous background GPS usage.
- Unreliable Network Connectivity — Field operations conducted in remote areas with poor mobile network coverage, intermittent connectivity, or complete signal loss.
- Uninterrupted Field Operations — Field officers needed to complete essential activities, such as customer collections, even when offline.
- Risk of Local Data Loss — Potential data loss if users cleared app cache, reset, or reinstalled before synchronization with ERP.
- Transaction Recovery — Ensuring collection and financial transactions captured offline could be reliably recovered and verified.
Our Approach
Following an extensive requirements analysis and operational assessment, DMS designed, developed, and implemented three purpose-built mobile applications:
- DMSN (Digital Media Sales Network): Sales management platform for mobile phones and smart accessories distribution and sales lifecycle.
- MFCS (Mobile Field Collection System): Field collection application for hire-purchase and rental collections at customer premises.
- SFAS (Service Franchised Agent System): Service management platform to monitor and coordinate field service operations for home appliances.
Technical Architecture Principles:
- Privacy-Aware Location Management: Location captured on-demand based on business actions, eliminating needless background tracking and saving battery.
- Offline-First Architecture: Full offline operation for field agents without requiring constant connectivity.
- Reliable Two-Way Synchronization: Automatic queued sync when internet connection is re-established.
- Data Resilience & Recovery: Robust local SQLite database with rollback capabilities and cryptographic transaction integrity.
- User-Centric Design: Clean, low-complexity UI tailored for fast field operations.
Bottom Line, The Solution & Benefits
Overall, the solutions enabled Singer to maintain critical field operations, improve operational efficiency, protect user privacy, and ensure the reliability and integrity of business transactions despite challenging field connectivity conditions.
Key Business & Operational Benefits:
- Business Continuity: Field operations continue uninterrupted during network blackouts.
- Data Reliability: Field transactions securely retained until confirmed sync with ERP.
- User Privacy & Battery Savings: Minimized background GPS, extending mobile battery runtime throughout the workday.
- Transaction Integrity: Zero duplicate or lost financial records.
- Enhanced Field Productivity & Visibility: Streamlined workflows with real-time management visibility upon connection.
Client Profile
