EMKA: Medical Waste Management App for HealthTech

This case study takes you behind the scenes of the development process of medical waste management app, from initial challenges to final results, and shows you how GMI Software helped EMKA S.A to meet and exceed their goals. So, don’t wait any longer, dive into this case study and discover how GMI’s expertise can help you achieve success too!

With 14 weeks of sprints, over 1000 hours of work, and an impressive 5000 downloads in the first month alone, the EMKA Mobile app is a true testament to the power of the right team, the right technology, and the right approach.

Safe and Sustainable Solutions: Meet EMKA S.A

EMKA is a company that specializes in the disposal of medical and veterinary waste, including infectious, hazardous, and remaining waste. The company is driven by a passionate and dedicated team of over 100 employees who view EMKA not just as a workplace, but as a place to realize their ambitions, plans, and ideas. The company also plays an active role in promoting social and family activities, and participating in the local community.

Company offers their clients optimal collaboration options. Their long-term partnerships have resulted in the development of a package of services for the collection and disposal of medical and veterinary waste that not only meet the expectations of their clients, but also take into account Polish economic realities and specific local conditions. The company’s success is built on their openness to market signals, which leads to the constant evolution and optimization of their services.

EMKA History

EMKA has 30 years of business experience, which is a testament to the company’s commitment to their clients and their industry. The company has grown over the years, but they have always kept the same team of employees who have been developing and perfecting each functional aspect of the business for many years. As a result, EMKA S.A. is a leading player in the Polish market and an expert in their industry.

At EMKA there are no insignificant clients. The company continuously strives to meet the needs and expectations of all of its customers, regardless of their size or industry. The company’s approach is to provide customized solutions that take into account each client’s unique circumstances. EMKA is also committed to environmental responsibility and sustainability. They are constantly researching and implementing new technologies and processes to minimize their impact on the environment. Additionally, the company is fully licensed and compliant with all relevant regulations and standards for the disposal of medical and veterinary waste.

Vision for Providing High-Quality Medical Waste Management App for Business Clients

EMKA S.A.’s vision for the product is to offer a solution that simplifies the process of collecting medical waste for business clients such as hospitals, clinics, doctors, and veterinarians. The company recognizes the importance of efficient and reliable medical waste management for these businesses, and aims to provide a solution that addresses these needs.

The business goal of EMKA S.A. is to improve customer service by providing an easy-to-use tool for monitoring order and billing calendars. This will enable business clients to have a clear and transparent view of their schedule, and also make it easy for them to track their payments. Additionally, the company aims to automate customer service by reducing manual handling of scheduling pickups and rescheduling.

This will save time and reduce errors for both the client and EMKA S.A. Furthermore, EMKA S.A. aims to digitize the market by providing integration with business data via a mobile application. This will allow business clients to access all the necessary information related to their medical waste management from their mobile device. This will also enable them to communicate easily with the EMKA S.A. team in case of any issue.The ultimate goal of EMKA S.A. is to increase customer satisfaction. The company understands that customer satisfaction is the key to long-term success, and thus, they are committed to providing high-quality services that meet the needs of their clients.

EMKA Mobile & GMI Software

EMKA S.A. has partnered with GMI Software to develop the EMKA Mobile app, an innovative solution that simplifies the process of collecting and disposing of medical and veterinary waste. This app is designed to provide all the necessary information about waste collection, making it easy to check and change schedules. With the app, you can easily cancel or request additional pickups with just a few clicks. It also sends automatic reminders before the scheduled pickup date.

The EMKA Mobile app also allows for full, automatic management of waste record-keeping and reporting in BDO, thanks to the free integration with the BDO account. Additionally, you can easily issue waste transfer cards on your behalf, regardless of the collector.

The Beginning of EMKA and GMI’s Collaboration

When EMKA S.A, a company specializing in the disposal of medical and veterinary waste, sought out to improve their customer service and streamline their processes, they turned to GMI Software for help. The collaboration between the two companies began with a request for proposal, in which GMI impressed EMKA with their experience, working culture, and technologies supported. The next step was the Discovery & Design stage, where the team at GMI compared React Native and Ionic and decided to proceed with Ionic in its latest version in conjunction with Angular. This choice was made based on the specific needs and requirements of EMKA and the future potential for development of the product.

Management App

Design & Development Stage of Medical Waste Management App

The development process was divided into weekly sprints, with a team consisting of representatives from EMKA and GMI, including a graphic designer (EMKA) , backend developers (EMKA), a proxy product owner (GMI) and javascript developers (GMI). This collaborative approach ensured that the needs and ideas of both companies were taken into consideration throughout the development process.

The result of this partnership was the creation of the EMKA Mobile application, which streamlines the process of medical waste management for EMKA’s clients. The app allows for easy monitoring of order and billing schedules, eliminates the need for manual scheduling and rescheduling, and allows for automated BDO integration. Additionally, the app offers easy integration with other waste management providers, making the process of generating waste transfer cards simpler than ever before.

Overall, the collaboration between EMKA and GMI was a success, resulting in an improved customer experience and more efficient processes for EMKA. With the help of GMI’s expertise and experience, EMKA was able to bring their vision to life and stay ahead of the competition in the medical waste management industry.

The Key to Successful Mobile Medical Waste Management

The development of the EMKA mobile app was a collaborative effort between EMKA S.A. and GMI Software. The team was composed of individuals with different skill sets and expertise, each playing a crucial role in the success of the project.

The IT Head and Project Manager from EMKA S.A. provided the business perspective and ensured that the app met the specific needs of the company and its customers. The Graphic Designer from EMKA S.A. was responsible for creating a visually appealing and user-friendly interface.

On the technical side, the Backend Developers from EMKA’s IT Partner worked on integrating the app with the company’s existing systems and ensuring data security. The Proxy Product Owner from GMI Software acted as the liaison between the development team and the client, ensuring that the final product met the client’s expectations.

The development team from GMI Software was responsible for building the app using the latest technologies and best practices. They used Ionic in conjunction with Angular to create a high-performance and scalable app. The team used a Agile development approach and followed a weekly sprint schedule to ensure timely delivery and progress of the project.

Overall, the combination of different skill sets, expertise and technologies allowed the team to create a mobile app that not only met the client’s needs but also exceeded their expectations.

Technologies & Tools

• Ionic for building cross-platform mobile apps
• Angular for building robust and scalable front-end
• Capacitor for running web apps natively on mobile devices
• CI/CD Gitlab + Codemagic for automating the build, test, and deployment process
• AWS for hosting the app and providing other cloud services such as storage, databases, and serverless functions.
• JIRA for facilitating the organization and tracking of tasks and progress within the team
• Slack for  facilitating real-time communication and discussions among team members and allowing for easy sharing and access to project-related documents and files
• Miro – for team to connect, collaborate and create together project.

Challenges To Overcome

As with any project, the development of the EMKA Mobile app presented its own set of unique challenges. However, with a dedicated team and a can-do attitude, we were able to overcome them and deliver a top-notch product to our client. One of the biggest challenges we faced was working with an external backend team. Initially, building trust and rapport with a new team was difficult, but with open and transparent communication, we were able to establish a smooth working relationship. 

The external team was incredibly helpful in introducing us to the intricacies of their systems, which allowed us to quickly navigate the existing infrastructure and implement new solutions.Another challenge was the integration of BDO, or the Waste Data Base, into the app. This process turned out to be much more complex than we anticipated, and required breaking down the business process into smaller user stories. However, through collaboration and many conversations, we were able to create a fully stable solution .These challenges were not easy to overcome, but with a combination of teamwork and determination, we were able to deliver a product that exceeded the client’s expectations.

Solving the Puzzle of Keyboard Interaction in Hybrid Apps – Dev Story

The challenge of the virtual keyboard in web/hybrid apps was a problem that our developer faced during the project. In the application, we encountered an issue with the keyboard that was interfering with our views. On both platforms, the default behavior of the keyboard is to reduce the height of the app screen by the height of the keyboard. This causes the entire view code to be “pushed” upwards with a much smaller height, not fitting with normal mobile app views.

Both platforms have additional configuration options for the keyboard behavior, but it mainly ends up with the keyboard covering the view instead of pushing it up. Additionally, in Capacitor.js, it is not possible to control the keyboard on the Android platform. The options for Android can only be changed in the configuration file and are fixed for a given build. Covering the view is an even worse alternative, as it can cover the input elements themselves, preventing the user from viewing their own input. It also does not allow us to detect exactly how large an area is covered by the keyboard.

Since the views in the EMKA app were mainly divided into a lower and upper part, our solution was to dynamically hide and show the lower part (navigation), eliminating the entire “pushing” effect on the view. Capacitor.js allows detection of showing/hiding the virtual keyboard by the device, so our first solution was to use these signals and dynamically hide based on them.

However, these signals only allow code to be executed after the keyboard state changes, which introduced a strange flicker effect on the navigation view (because the view was first “pushed” and then hidden later). The final solution required the use of “focus” signals (from the Web API) and the “KeyboardWillHide” signal (from Capacitor.js). The “focus” signal is executed before the virtual keyboard is displayed in web engines on both platforms, so it was the only one that allowed changes to be made to the navigation view before the keyboard was displayed, effectively solving the problem.

Numbers Don’t Lie

“Journey to Success” – that’s how we like to call the development process of EMKA Mobile. From the first steps of conceptualization to the final launch, we’ve been committed to creating a user-friendly, efficient and reliable mobile solution for EMKA S.A. customers. And let us tell you, it wasn’t an easy feat. But with a solid team, cutting-edge technology, and a customer-centric approach, we’ve managed to overcome every obstacle that came our way.

The first phase of the project was the creation of a mobile app for both iOS and Android platforms, version 1.0. It was a massive undertaking, but with 14 sprints and over 1000 hours of work, we’ve managed to deliver a product that exceeded our client’s expectations. And the results speak for themselves – within the first months after the launch, EMKA Mobile was downloaded over 5000 times.

But we weren’t satisfied with just that. The second phase of the project was to expand the functionality of the app by creating a web panel for our customers. This was a natural progression and a logical next step in improving the overall user experience.

And the journey doesn’t end here. We continue to work closely with EMKA S.A. to deliver new features, bug fixes, and improvements to the app. It’s a true partnership and we’re proud of what we’ve achieved so far, and excited to see what’s yet to come.

To Be Continued…

Are you ready to take your business to the next level? With over 16 months of successful collaboration under our belt and a track record of 5000 app downloads in the first month alone, we have the expertise and experience to bring your project to fruition.

Don’t just take our word for it, check out our app for yourself on the Google Play or App Store. And for other companies looking to join the ranks of our satisfied clients, don’t hesitate to reach out to us. We’re ready to help you reach new heights.