5 Secrets for Developing Software Like a Pro

By April 28, 2021 | LBi Dynasty | Leave a comment

How We Developed Software for a New Pro Sports League in 6 months

The Story

It was April 2020 and LBi Software was very happy to have landed a new client! Athletes Unlimited (AU) is the new sports league on the block. They describe themselves as, “A network of new professional sports leagues where athletes compete in fantasy-inspired games in softball, volleyball, and lacrosse.”

We are one of the leaders in the sports software field. We have done pivotal work for high-profile clients like MLB, NBA, NFL. We have also developed proprietary software for six different MLB teams as well as several teams from the NFL and NBA.

Creating software for a new sports league was something right up our alley. Little did we know, within one month of signing this new contract our office would be closed due to COVID-19. We had no idea if fans would be in the stands for games. Would fans want to tune in to a new sports league during a pandemic? With everything going on in the world there was a lot of uncertainty.

1. AWS

Amazon Web Services (AWS) is one of the leading cloud service platforms (CSP). We leverage their services for hosting a number of our applications. They offer fully managed services that allow teams to focus on building products rather than deploying and maintaining hardware.

AWS utilizes a shared responsibility model. This offloads many of the responsibilities involved in managing infrastructure for building web applications. AWS is responsible for the security “OF” the cloud. We are responsible for the security “IN” the cloud. AWS plays a pivotal role in our ability to develop highly available and reliable web applications.

2. Containerization

One thing that helped reduce our uncertainty was utilizing the powerful tools of AWS. We choose to go with AWS Elastic Container Service (ECS) to deploy a number of microservices. This was a seamless process. Many of our web applications had already been containerized using Docker. This allowed for zero-downtime deployments which were a real game-changer for us. This feature gives us the ability to deploy new software without having to notify all the users.

Containerization is something that has really improved the developer experience (DX) at LBi Software. Docker has significantly improved the onboarding process between projects. You can now switch between projects or microservices in a matter of minutes. This is especially useful for some of our older projects that require older versions of software such Angular, Node.js, or Gulp.

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Software Application Warranty vs. Maintenance/ Support

By October 20, 2020 | HR Technology | Leave a comment
warranty vs maintenance

What’s the Difference?

The purpose of a contract warranty is to ensure that the delivered software application conforms to the contract’s defined scope. This means, for example, that all the requested features, reports, and utilities are delivered. Maintenance/Support, however, delivers much more.

Maintenance Patches and Upgrades

Maintenance Patches – provided on an as needed basis, a patch resolves a critical application defect(s) or security flaw or browser compatibility issue which cannot wait for the next product upgrade. The vendor should install all Maintenance Releases as soon as practicable after receipt. Testing, implementation, and installation for Maintenance Patches should be included.

Upgrades – a new version of the application released by the vendor. Clients with continuous maintenance should be eligible for upgrades to new versions of applications as they are available. 

Application Security Monitoring

LBi Software, for example, makes use of an automated application vulnerability management tool, as well as a dynamic security testing tool, that test our apps against a large array of threats – including SQL injection, cross-site scripting, antiquated third party libraries, as well as other items found in the OWASP (Open Web Application Security Project) top 10. These static and dynamic tests are continuously updated to account for the latest vulnerabilities that are continuously being found. The end result is software that is as secure as possible. These tools are always updated with new flaws that hackers have discovered and exploited.  Not only does your application have to be secure from Day One of use, but every day afterwards.

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