Softensity Tackles Complex Data Import and Presentation to Build Golf Recruiting App
Overview
The subscription-based Junior Golf Recruit application was designed to connect young golfers that want to play golf in college with coaches looking for the right players for their program. The long-time dream of a golf enthusiast, the start-up fills a void to help connect coaches and players that are not immediately signed by the top golf programs.
Challenge
The Softensity team was tasked with creating an application from scratch based on one man’s vision and a tight budget. The volume and complexity of data associated with thousands of golfers and coaches posed a challenge, as the data came from numerous sources and was not clean. Complexities included importing the data, avoiding duplicate profiles and presenting the information in the most useful and accessible way possible.
The application required the import and management of public data and roster statistics that include everything from a player’s personal details to their performance — scoring differential, wins, strength of tournament, etc. — along with data on coaches, schools and tournaments.
The Solution
Softensity dedicated a team that included multiple developers along with a Project Manager / Business Analyst / Quality Assurance lead (PM/BM/QA) and UI/UX designer. The team worked closely with the client to achieve his vision for the app, talking through all of the functionality he wanted and how everything was going to work. Softensity’s team provided extensive business analysis, and project management following the Scrum model.
To tackle the data challenges on a tight budget, Softensity recommended manual data import. In order to make this process manageable, the team built multiple manual data import tools to streamline data upload for players, coaches and tournaments. The team also built a user match algorithm to prevent duplicate profiles; the algorithm can recognize data to prevent players or coaches that are already in the system from creating a duplicate profile.
Softensity’s team also built in credit card integration for the annual subscription user fee. The team built the app over a three-month period using technologies that included .Net, Azure and Jira.
The Results
Softensity worked closely with the client to build a sleek, user-friendly application that exceeded the client’s expectations. Currently in beta testing, the app will include data from around 10,000 players and 1,000 coaches upon launch.
Once players create an account and log into the system, they will be able to search for coaches, colleges and tournaments in order to chart a path to play golf at a collegiate level. Registered coaches will be able to search for players and easily review their scores and stats. If they think a player may be a match for their program, they can reach out to them through contact information included within the app.
In rising to the data challenge presented by this complex application, Softensity’s team helped turn one entrepreneur’s long-time dream into a reality that gives thousands of young golfers a path forward to follow their passion.