Case study/Education
Scaling an online test-prep platform for a growing user base (Sterling Test Prep)
A three-person unicrew team implemented website features and payment processing in PHP for a test-prep platform gaining users every day.
Sterling Test Prep's online practice platform for standardized aptitude tests was attracting more users every day, so issues had to be eliminated before they turned into bad user experiences. unicrew won the work after a round of interviews and proposals, then implemented a range of website features and payment processing, all in PHP. The engagement began under our former Artelogic brand.
- Client
- Sterling Test Prep
- Focus
- Education
- Market
United States- Engagement
- PHP platform development
- Stack
PHP
Outcome at a glance
What this project delivered.
- 01The COO reported a greatly improved customer experience, and enjoyed the way the platform worked
- 02A range of website features shipped, payment processing included, all developed in PHP
- 03Project management ran clear and predictable, with no problems raised across the engagement
- 04Confidence in the technical solutions left the COO free to focus more on the business
The challenge
Sterling Test Prep (Boston, USA) is an educational publishing and test-preparation company, and it runs an online practice platform for standardized academic aptitude tests. That platform was attracting more and more users every day, which meant issues had to be eliminated before they turned into bad user experiences. The company went looking for a reliable software development partner to replace its previous vendor, with four goals: add more features, improve the UX, optimize the management of test assets, and ensure compliance with credit-card payment security requirements.
Our approach
unicrew came in as Sterling Test Prep’s software development partner after a round of interviews and proposals. The team implemented a range of website features, including payment processing, and developed everything in PHP. Improving the user experience ran alongside that build, one of the four things the company had set out to get from a new partner.
The working arrangement was deliberately small. The COO’s day-to-day contact was a project manager, who worked with one developer and one QA engineer, and every one of them was reachable over Slack. The COO described the project management that followed as clear and predictable, with no problems raised.
Results
The COO’s account of the outcome is short and consistent. The customer experience was greatly improved.
Test prep is one corner of a wider education practice; LMS and learning platforms cover the rest of it. Other clients describe their own engagements in their own words on the client reviews page.
“Working with Artelogic gave me confidence in our technical solutions.”
COO, Sterling Test Prep (USA)
What the client says
They implemented a range of website features, including a specific payment processing functionality. They developed everything in PHP. They greatly improved our customer experience. I enjoy the way our platform works now. Working with Artelogic gave me confidence in our technical solutions and allowed me to focus more on business.
04/Technologies
Technologies on this project
Backend
- PHP
05/Quick answers
The questions behind the project
What did unicrew do for Sterling Test Prep?
unicrew became Sterling Test Prep's development partner and implemented a range of website features, including payment processing, developing everything in PHP. Improving the user experience was one of four goals the company set at the outset, alongside adding features, optimizing how test assets were managed, and ensuring compliance with credit-card payment security requirements. The platform, run from Boston, was attracting more users every day, so issues had to be eliminated before they turned into bad user experiences. The engagement began under the former Artelogic brand.
How does unicrew take over a platform another team has been building?
Here it started with a round of interviews and proposals, and ended with a team small enough to reach: the COO's day-to-day contact was a project manager, who worked with one developer and one QA engineer, and all of them were available over Slack. The COO described the project management that followed as clear and predictable, with no problems raised. When someone is picking up a codebase they did not write, being reachable is worth more than being large.
Does unicrew work on other education and learning platforms?
Yes. Education is a standing part of the practice, from LMS and learning platforms to test-prep products like this one, where the engineering is unglamorous and the pressure comes from the user count: features, payments, QA, and an experience that has to hold up as more people arrive every day. What carries from one of those projects to the next is the team's domain experience, never a client's product.