When you get the opportunity to dig into a new and creative project that needs a really customized solution for there is always a mix of excitement and nerves. Once you get into the project you can see what lays ahead, including the research, prototyping and the hard work needed to make it come to life. Once the skeleton is there (and at every step along the way) it’s all about testing – and then testing some more.

Smile and Co. is a dental placement agency that needed a Web Application that would fit their need for having an automated system that would match dental professionals with clinics that needed temporary help, right away. Some of the features include placement fees, detailed sign-up profiles, application approvals, automatic matching and notifications including both text and email each time there was a match between a clinic and dental professional. Being able to create something like that, and making it totally custom to their needs, is what we do best.

The Business Concept and Challenge

Dental professionals looking for work, select temporary job parameters they want to be matched for including dates, times, location and skill set.  As a clinic they can dictate when and where they need a position filled and the web app will automatically find the professionals who match the criteria (that are also already pre-vetted, approved). It will then automatically send them notifications saying they have a match. The clinic can then choose the best fit candidate for them, automatically sending notifications to applicant of the acceptance, as well as subsequent reminder emails sent to everyone involved. This means quick and quality matches that pull from 100’s of users at any time. Each user can create their own profile, with availability and parameters they wished to be matched for, change it as their schedule changes. The web app makes all of this easy for them. Match making for business – at its best.

The Tech and Process

After a lot of UX user flow mapping and discovery into every touch-point as well as defining the process for specific users, we were ready to start design and development. The web app was built using React as the JavaScript library, with a full headless backend that works off of NodeJS. NodeJS is what controls the automated process of matching professionals with clinic booking requests.

The backend interface we used is called Strapi CMS. We choose it because of the easy-to-use interface for our clients to manage their app, and for the awesome development experience Strapi has for building a Node API. This backend is fully automated which is extremely helpful for matching the clinic with hundreds of users without having to do additional leg work. The front end of the website, explaining how everything works and Smile and Co. background is built with the React library and Gatsby JS framework for ease of use. It maximizes the modern out-of-the-box features. Fully integrated login and app like experience for users means less management and hands on work for the owners of this company, they can focus on the more important things.

The Look and Results

This was designed and built to look very native web app like, but with the flexibility and conveniences of a web application that can be used from anywhere without having to download the app, or go through the huge upfront cost of a native web app development. From the user’s standpoint it’s a great experience that doesn’t compromise on anything. From the owner’s side it’s cost effective and high quality, yet doesn’t skimp on effectiveness at all.

We always do one-on-one training with our websites their owners, to ensure the team managing the site knows all the details they need to know to run their business effectively. In this case the site was unrolled in phases, with training and updates done at each stage to ensure a smooth transition from one system to another. We are be a digital agency, but personal connection with our clients – education and training – are just as important as the technology itself.

If you are looking for an app solution for a challenge your business is having or your whole business is built around needing quality technology like a web application to manage it – let’s chat. We would love to learn about your business. People trust us to listen and recommend the best course of action for your challenge. A web app could be a great solution for tourism, professional services, golf courses and any business looking to level up and reinvent their business model in an interesting way.

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“We’ve worked closely with Suzy and Trevor to create a Web App that makes booking personnel simple and easy. Our personnel can choose their schedule and locations, while clinics can simply submit their booking request online. Once personnel apply to the bookings, clinics have the ability to view their wage, experience level and any additional skills, they can accept personnel directly. Our app communicates via text messages and email, so personnel and clinics will both see requests and bookings immediately. Suzy and Trevor have worked with us every step of the way to build the system that we envisioned, and are still there for us whenever we need. We can’t thank them enough!” – Morgan and Kayla, Smile and Co founders