Spaceflight

Enterprise Application Design and Development

Background

Spaceflight is a premier launch services and mission management provider, offering routine, cost-effective access to space.

With the growing industry of smallsats, the demand for routine, cost-effective access to space has increased exponentially. Demand, coupled with the growing number of launch vehicle providers, created an opportunity for Spaceflight to assist in identifying, booking, and managing rideshare launches.

With a suite of products and services including satellite infrastructure, rideshare launch offerings, payload integration, and global communications networks, Spaceflight enables organizations to get launched, achieving their mission goals – on time and on budget.

Kopius has worked with Spaceflight since 2020 when we built Book My Launch and the first iteration of Mission Control, which is a task management and ticketing system that allows Spaceflight Mission Managers to manage the tasks such as testing, documentation, and communication. Mission Control also provides a Resource Center, giving customers access to reference documents, templates, and information about their Spaceflight team.

Challenge

Prior to Mission Control, Mission Managers had to patch together ad hoc management solutions, leaning heavily on decentralized documents, emails, texts, and endless phone calls.

Spaceflight needed a system to link the self-service model of Book My Launch to the backend systems used by Mission Managers. The company also needed to enable Mission Managers to support more customers as the business scaled and to provide customers with a single source to view all their mission information.

Spaceflight’s team had a strong vision for the end product and its business impact but had not previously worked on a software development effort of this nature. Spaceflight needed a partner that could guide them through the process.

Spaceflight continued its engagement with Kopius, building upon the knowledge and relationships built during the Book My Launch project.

“We could tell that Kopius* was excited about this project and was really engaged,” says Kristen Smithson, Spaceflight vice president of business operations, “When the whole team came to the office and gave a presentation, they spoke to all our needs, and we were impressed. Kopius was able to speak to the backend setup as well as how we would design it. The end-to-end capability made a difference.”

Solution

Mission Control was developed in a phased approach, with Phase 1 relying on out-of-the-box software for task management and Phase 2 relying on custom-built software for Spaceflight’s unique workflows. The phased approach enabled faster process improvement and provided user feedback that contributed to a more successful software solution in Phase 2.

“Our primary objective was to simplify the user experience to support the adoption of the tools,” said Alice Watkins, Kopius Technical Project Manager, “In addition to adding features to make the system easier to use, we were ruthlessly focused on streamlining the experience. We improved the ease-of-use, the booking process, and functionality for Mission Control.”

Because Mission Control’s intent is to digitize and streamline processes, understanding those processes was critical to success. As is the case with many fast-moving and young companies, processes had been defined at a high level but had not yet been documented at the level of granularity needed to design and develop the right software solution and user experience.

Kopius conducted dozens of research sessions, bringing designers and engineers together with Spaceflight users to explore processes and user needs. Q & A sessions were insightful and benefited from Kopius participants with strong user experience practices with deep engineering skills. Part of Kopius’ role was to capture ideas that were still forming among the Spaceflight teams and to advise Spaceflight about how to use those ideas to create a better solution. These working sessions revealed the “hidden steps” in Spaceflight’s processes, which are critical to achieving adoption by Mission Managers.

Kopius also conducted user experience research and provided UX design, interface design, software engineering, testing, and QA to Spaceflight. In addition to features that allow Mission Managers to manage customers, create tasks, and easily see what the customer can see, Kopius also built filtering functionality so Mission Managers can easily manage their work and assignments.

In Phase 2, Kopius restructured tasks and workflows, created task management systems, built a notification system that triggers emails when a customer submits a task, improved the user database, and implemented multifactor authentication via text messages to increase security.

Following the release of Phase 2, Kopius collected user feedback for future enhancements and conducted internal training and client onboarding.

“I appreciate that Kopius was good at guiding us through the technical aspects of the project while also always treating us as equals. We felt like engaged and respected partners,” said Tony Frego, vice president of mission management, “Kopius also got to know our business at a detailed level, which is not easy. It’s cool that Kopius can talk about orbits with us now.”

Results

With Book My Launch and Mission Control, Spaceflight is transforming its business and the aerospace commercial space flight industry.

The Mission Control tool is scalable, flexible, trackable, and provides better records, impressively advancing Spaceflight from its previous ad hoc systems. Further, the onboarding of new Mission Managers is more consistent, and Mission Managers can save time and effort compared to previous processes.

And because Mission Managers can better manage customers, customers are expected to have a better experience with Spaceflight and demonstrate higher satisfaction – ultimately leading to future bookings and a stronger business.

*Kopius performed this work under it’s previously known business name, Valence.

Fortune 1000 Healthcare Company

Data Strategy, Web Application, and Recommendation Engine

Challenge

Hospital administrators and staff are under intense pressure to optimize performance within facilities while delivering best-in-class care to patients. This highly regulated industry has an abundance of data, but it’s often collected and managed in disparate systems by people with ranging levels of proficiency.

One opportunity to improve hospital efficiency is to optimize the scheduling of operating rooms, surgical procedures, and services.

We were approached by an advanced SaaS-based healthcare data analytics company that needed to use existing data feeds to improve the scheduling of operations for a hospital that used its systems. Because of the sensitive nature of EHR data, security was a priority.

Solution

Kopius delivered a web application including a scheduling recommendation engine. On the back-end, the web application relied on a Paas-based solution that analyzed trends using artificial intelligence.

First, we transformed and normalized the hospital’s robust pipeline of raw and structured EHR data. Using that data, we developed a recommendation engine that prompts hospital staff to take actions based on key data indicators.

Then we designed and developed a custom web-app to present and manipulate data, including the scheduling recommendations.

Results

The solution provided hospital staff with a decision support tool capable of improving room scheduling and revealed trends and opportunities for efficiency over time. These improvements resulted in improved patient care and hospital efficiency.

*Kopius performed this work under its previously known business name, Valence.

Healthcare Non-Profit

Clinical Trials Healthcare Research Accelerator

Background

Our client is a national not-for-profit healthcare system committed to improving the health of all people. The system includes hospitals, clinics, and a comprehensive range of services.

Among its services, the client’s organization offered a web portal where donors, patients, providers, and research scientists could look for clinical trials to improve patient health outcomes, called the Healthcare Research Accelerator.

The Healthcare Research Accelerator is a special project because it is used by doctors across the globe who are working with patients who are out of options. These doctors want to help their patients, and they have to be creative, so they seek out the latest trials in hopes they can enroll their patients and get them access to promising therapies. These doctors are often under a lot of pressure when they come to this tool, and they need a tool that is easy to use.

Challenge

The original search tool was designed and developed long ago by in-house resources, and because of considerable gaps in functionality and usability, platform support was going to end. Further, the design and development team that had originated the portal had disbanded and there was no documentation about its architecture or functionality. Our client needed to replace the Healthcare Research Accelerator with a new solution for this critical service.

The accelerator is incredibly important, but the search function had coding flaws and had reached a point where patients and providers didn’t like or trust the tool – because our client’s organization is on a mission to improve patient outcomes, it was urgent that we deliver a better way to connect people with clinical trial information.

Solution

Thanks to our significant experience working with this client on other digital projects, Kopius* had gained the client’s trust and was engaged to re-platform the clinical trials Healthcare Research Accelerator tool. Services included user experience design, user interface design, engineering, quality assurance, and deployment support.

Because of the loss of user confidence, change management practices were woven into our approach. From discovery to user experience design, and through user acceptance testing, we engaged a variety of users and provided visibility into our thinking and process. This rebuilt trust in the tool’s potential and helped to improve market sentiment.

“If you want a deployment to be adopted, you must invest time and energy in communication and collaboration with your users. The change management plan needs to address stakeholder communication and internal business processes.”
Glen Lewis, Kopius technical project manager

One of the first stages of the effort was to reverse engineer the structure of the previous iteration of the platform to identify data sources and reveal the cause of the failed search results. We conducted a four-week assessment to document how the platform was built.

Understanding why the previous platform was failing was an important step in rebuilding trust among users that this new iteration would perform as expected.

The assessment unearthed that the previous platform relied on a search function in what amounts to a continuous document. Kopius engineers built a new database according to industry best practices, which is more flexible and can scale and be managed over time.

Our data team also built custom logic for the clinical trial searches to address the unique and specific needs of users. The updated search function uses criteria to return highly relevant results without requiring an exact string of words.

We simplified the XML ingestion process by reducing and consolidating a three-step process that moved data across multiple servers to a single drag-and-drop interface.

The User Acceptance Testing period (UAT) included additional time and resources to engage users and build trust in the new tool. We prepared users for the UAT by explaining what they should expect and how we expect the tool to work before they tested it. The UAT process was divided into three testing events, and each event was followed by a detailed review of issues identified, including what happened, why it happened, and how it would be fixed, further building trust in the system.

Upon completion, we provided comprehensive and detailed documentation of the new platform and how it is built so it can be referenced, integrated, and updated more easily in the future.

Results

The new Healthcare Research Accelerator tool is easy to use, and users are excited to use it. The database has also become the primary source for clinical trial information across client websites. The design was seamless with the client’s updated brand strategy, and the platform nested within the larger brand strategy perfectly.

Through our collaborative process and open communication, we won over users who were skeptical that our project was merely to re-skin a dysfunctional tool.

Kopius’ efforts to build elegant mapping logic will help doctors and patients easily find the trials they need, which will hopefully enable patients to overcome their sickness and feel better.

“This project was not easy. You handled our requests with grace and with integrity, and we’re so thankful to you for this hard work.”
Client Project Director

*Kopius performed this work under its previously known business name, Valence.

Fortune 10 Company

Immersive Technology Showcase

This global technology business serves the public sector, with federal, state, and local governments relying on its services. The business had successfully established itself as a leading productivity technology provider.

Challenge

The public sector market represents a massive opportunity for this business. The worldwide emphasis on cloud services meant that this client needed to join its peers in pivoting its business model to promote cloud services, but public sector clients struggled to make the connection between the client’s productivity offerings and its cloud services.

Solution

Our client needed to demonstrate cloud capabilities and tell a clear and compelling story to its customers.

Kopius* was chosen to conceptualize, design, develop, and support a live demo facilitated by technology. Kopius was chosen thanks to the firm’s deep understanding of cloud technology. The demo tells the client’s story and helps to activate sales conversations between our client’s sales team and its customers.

Behind the scenes, Kopius provided project management, demo curation, and technical support for an immersive experience that was spearheaded in Washington, DC and then replicated across the United States. In our role as demo facilitators, we contributed a comprehensive understanding of cloud technologies, the competitive landscape, our client’s technology offerings, and market needs.

Tour sessions serve groups of 8-10 attendees, who engage in 90-minute tours through an immersive trade-show style booth with several rooms. Each room showcases real cloud solutions impacting organizations using our client’s technology.

Results

The first round of demos delivered 101 tours reaching 602 people from 200 organizations. The combination of demos and tour facilitation drove new cloud and artificial intelligence (AI) business opportunities for our client. The success of the effort resulted in a decision to repeat this model at additional locations for expanded services.

*Kopius performed this work under its previously known business name, Valence.

United Launch Alliance

Augmented Reality Application

United Launch Alliance (ULA) is an American spacecraft launch service provider that manufactures and operates rocket vehicles that are capable of launching spacecraft into orbits around Earth and to other bodies in the Solar System.

Challenge

With a new rocket in development, United Launch Alliance needed to engage its target audience at the largest and most influential event in the space industry. This event is sponsored by large, innovative, and competitive brands, so it was imperative to differentiate from the competition with an experience within the event.

Solution

The physical size of a rocket prevents it from being transported and shared for marketing and sales opportunities, but much like a car, there’s a certain impressiveness to a rocket’s physicality.

Kopius* conceptualized, designed, and built a fun and immersive end-to-end experience. The solution included a mobile augmented reality application called ULA Anywhere that created life-sized rockets in virtual showrooms, social media photo sharing, and a mission-based game employing light simulation-based physics to demonstrate the complex rocket trajectories and satellite orbits.

By using augmented reality on mobile devices, Kopius could help ULA engage a diverse audience for sales opportunities and to increase brand awareness and affinity.

Technologies used included augmented reality, iOS application development, and Android application development.

Results

The ULA Anywhere experience differentiated ULA from its competitors, expanded the brand’s reach beyond the event’s walls, and created IP that could be repurposed for future events, increasing total ROI.

*Kopius performed this work under its previously known business name, Valence.

Contact Us

Let’s Connect

The next step on your digital transformation starts with a conversation. Let us know how we can help you, and we’ll get back to you right away.

Spaceflight

Book My Flight Web Application

Spaceflight is a premier launch services and mission management provider, offering routine, cost-effective access to space, helping customers to explore beyond our planet.

Traditionally, access to space has been limited to government entities due to cost. Sending satellites into orbit once required purchasing an entire rocket; however, with the growing industry of smallsats, the demand for routine, cost-effective access to space has increased exponentially. Demand, coupled with the growing number of launch vehicle providers, created an opportunity for Spaceflight to assist in identifying, booking, and managing rideshare launches.

With a straightforward and cost-effective suite of products and services including state-of-the-art satellite infrastructure, rideshare launch offerings, payload integration and global communications networks, Spaceflight enables commercial, non-profit organizations and government entities to get launched, achieving their mission goals – on time and on budget.

Challenge

Spaceflight’s services are delivered by using a network of launch providers, each with distinct booking and management processes. To be an industry leader, Spaceflight needed its customers to be able to reserve and manage satellite launches from its website. Spaceflight also needed to provide the industry with an aggregated launch schedule for all possible launches.

In addition to the website needing new functionality, the visual design of the website was not competitive and needed to be refreshed.

Further, Spaceflight was challenged by inefficiencies in its internal operations, and complicated customer communications.

Solution

Kopius* was engaged to design and develop a web application to address the booking process for Spaceflight customers. The solution allows users to make a payment, reserve their launch, and to manage all steps of the launch process through an integrated portal.

The process started with UX exercises to plot the ideal user experience and typical user requirements when incorporating this functionality into the existing site. Applying the UX and UI principles designated by Kopius’ design team, the engineering team build the web application, which enables customers to specify launch and satellite criteria, which is matched with an optimal reservation using a cloud-based serverless architecture and a React framework. Kopius used a complex launch capacity matching algorithm, coupled with multiple existing systems to speed time-to-market.

The design team re-skinned the website to deliver a cohesive and competitive visual identity along with enhanced functionality.

Technologies used include Amazon Web Services GovCloud Services, DynamoDB, API Gateway, S3, SES, Cognito, Lamda serverless-based architecture, CloudWatch, and Secrets Manager. Third-party connected services include Smartsheet, Box, Jira, and Strip.

Results

The client experienced the brand elevation that comes from a beautiful customer-centric web application, with a simple, easy-to-use experience. The web application was well-received upon introduction at a major industry conference, demonstrating how space launch services can be simplified. The effort advanced Spaceflight’s mission to offer best-in-class launch provider services.

React Framework

*Kopius performed this work under its previously known business name, Valence.

Fortune 10 Company

Experiential Marketing Application and Internet of Things (IoT)

Our client had established itself as a leader in enabling IoT technologies. The Internet of Things has grown increasingly complex as virtually any electronic device in any space can be used to collect and use data, resulting in a variety of services and experiences.

Challenge

As more smart home and office solutions enter the mainstream, it’s become difficult for the average, non-tech-evangelist to navigate the sea of hardware, software, and connected hub devices. Our client needed a retail experience that would allow its consumers to touch, feel, and demo smart devices to ensure they meet their needs.

Further the experience needs to showcase the tech company’s brand and showcase its leadership compared to other big brands.

The Solution

Kopius* was engaged to conceptualize, design, build, and deploy an in-person experiential retail experience showcases the connected life experience, which brings the smart home and office to life in a visually stunning, engaging way.

The in-person experience showcases technology and is supported by technology, including web applications and digital demos. The demos bridge the virtual world on screen with the environment around the consumer, showcasing a connected world by immersing the consumer in a connected world.

Customers interact with a mobile device, choosing from a variety of common “smart” scenarios. Once selected, a screen shows the scenario in action while smart light strips in retail cubbies light up the screen according to the products being used.

Technologies used include Microsoft Azure, Blog Storage, Application Insights, LifX Strip Lighting, UWP application development, and Android application development.

Results

The experience is an effective, scalable, and self-guided way for customers to understand how a variety of IoT products can integrate into and improve their day-to-day lives. The retailer sold more product to first- and third-party customers thanks to increased customer confidence and understanding from the demo and experience.

*Kopius performed this work under its previously known business name, Valence.

Leading Orthodontics Startup

Artificial Intelligence and Computer Vision

The intersection of healthcare, dentistry, and orthodontics with technology has revolutionized to the personal wellness industry. The direct-to-consumer orthodontics industry has been particularly transformed thanks to a convergence of digital advancements. Teledentistry uses electronic information, imaging, and communication technologies to provide and support dental care delivery, diagnosis, consultation, and treatment.

Challenge

A leading consumer-facing orthodontics disruptor needed to harness technology to deliver exciting, delightful experiences to engage and convert potential customers.

Kopius* was engaged to design and develop a pilot marketing experience that would help potential customers to envision their smile after receiving treatment. Kopius’ experience in digital retail experiences made the firm uniquely positioned to address this business need.

Solution

Kopius designed and built a mobile application that allows customers to See Their New Selfie to anticipate what was possible through teledentistry. The experience included options to share their future selfie to expand the brand’s reach.

The services to deliver this highly personalized and technology-driven experience included web application design and development, and computer vision with artificial intelligence application development. Technologies included Amazon Web Services (AWS) Lambda, API Gateway, and S3.

Results

The pilot informed the startup’s digital roadmap and received high marks from test users.

*Kopius performed this work under its previously known business name, Valence.

B2B Healthcare Data and Research Company

Digital Brand and Website Development

The healthcare industry is in a transformative period, with leading organizations gaining a competitive edge through M&A activity and technology investments. Each merger is accompanied by a fast-paced initiative to align brands, communicate competitive advantages, and increase market share.

Challenge

A large non-profit healthcare system had purchased a next-generation B2B data and research company, which needed its digital identity to be updated and aligned to its new ownership’s brand. Due to the complexity of the services and organizational structure, it was critical to get the message and strategy right.

The client also did not have a website to reflect its new organization and present its story to the market.

The Solution

Kopius* was chosen to deliver a brand guideline and messaging strategy. The scope of services included a visual brand guideline, web interface designs, a messaging strategy, a content calendar, and supporting collateral templates. Kopius was also tasked with the design and development of a new corporate website.

Kopius started with brand and identity exercises that would inform the visual design for the acquired business unit. Partnering with the in-house marketing and communications teams ensured that the visual concepts were in harmony with the values and goals established for the company.

Those exercises resulted in mood boards that became the foundation for decisions regarding the visual identity and digital style guide.

The design team then provided design concepts that were translated into specific deliverables, managed by our internal project managers to ensure maximum efficiency and quality output with minimal pressure on the client’s internal teams.

As the mood boards and design concepts took shape, the Kopius design team collected brand requirements into a style guide. The style guide included logo treatments, color palettes, font treatments, design requirements for web pages and collateral, presentation templates, and guidance for the tone of voice and communication.

Simultaneously, Kopius designed, developed, launched, and populated a new SEO-friendly corporate website, built using a flexible content management system so the client could manage updates and take ownership of content as it evolved. The website emphasized partnership opportunities and was up and running on the day of the business’s launch at a large health conference, which the business sponsored.

Results

The refreshed brand communicates professional capabilities, tells the B2B business’s story, and breaks its complex solutions into easy-to-understand concepts. The client was empowered to establish itself in the market and quickly get busy growing its market share.

The website is the foundation of the company’s digital marketing strategy and supports communication, lead generation, and sales engagement efforts.

*Kopius performed this work under its previously known business name, Valence.

Healthcare Startup

Website Design and Development

This healthcare technology startup was established in 2020 and has an ambitious goal of transforming the healthcare industry by accelerating technological, clinical, and operational advances.

The company was preparing to launch at a major healthcare industry event, and needed to declare itself as an important brand in the industry’s tech sector. It is imperative for a technology brand to have a top-notch digital presence.

Challenge

The timing between the company forming and this industry event was tight. This client had to quickly develop its key message and brand platform while designing and developing its website.

The Solution

Kopius* was engaged to design and build the website, working closely with the marketing and branding teams to craft a user experience and content strategy that told the company’s story and delivered an excellent user experience.

Thanks to the firm’s background in healthcare combined with its industry-leading staff of designers and developers, Kopius was able to move quickly. The effort began with low- and high-fidelity wireframes, and included a digital style guide that addressed voice principles, color palettes, typography, photography, and digital styling elements.

The website was published and bug-free in time for the event and the company’s launch. Technologies used include WordPress, Gutenberg blocks, CI/CD pipeline for code, and Docker with build scripts.

Results

The website design showed brand maturity and leadership, and the site structure attracted partners and customers to the client’s powerful message about transforming healthcare with technology.

Our client used press momentum and marquee sponsorship of the large health conference to drive traffic to the website, and to capture interest from prospective customers and industry contacts.

In the first 4 weeks, the website had 3,879 Sessions and 9,445 page views.

*Kopius performed this work under its previously known business name, Valence.