Case Study: RUMM

A spinout of the University of Glamorgan, RUMM provides state of the art energy management for business customers. The company installs meters at the client's site which measure energy and production data and send this information to a central database ready for processing. Careful analysis and monitoring of this data allows RUMM to save some customers up to 20% on their total energy bills.

Central to RUMM's service is their website which allows each customer to log in and produce reports on their energy usage. The technology throughout was ASP.NET 1.1 (VB.net) with a SQL Server 2000 back-end. Propona was originally brought in to the RUMM Project to design and implement a slick and efficient upload mechanism, capable of processing tens of thousands of data records in seconds not minutes. RUMM turned to Propona and our bespoke-software development experience to turnaround the work in a tight three week timescale.

Within this time Propona was able to deliver the core requirements, build on some additional out of spec but required functionality, and deliver thorough documentation on the solution. This structured approach and tight project management, keeping the work within budget yet exceeding expectations led to Propona being chosen as the preferred software development supplier to RUMM as they grow their business.

Subsequently we have an ongoing involvement providing consultancy and development services as RUMM seek to strengthen and restructure the product offering. In this instance a part time onsite development resource is being provided by Propona. RUMM recognised that the expertise of Propona was going to be key in analysing the current system, identifying weaknesses of the architecture and refactoring the solution accordingly, while also continuing to support RUMM's existing customers.