Singlethread Responsive Web App

Singlethread

Singlethread is revolutionizing car repair customer service with quick, painless communication.

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MESSA and its design logo are marks owned by Michigan Education Special Services Association, registered in the U.S.
Singlethread’s mobile-friendly web app uses text messaging to manage communication between car dealership service departments and their customers.

Singlethread is a communication dashboard where car dealership Service Advisors can track and manage all of their ongoing projects, integrated with the overall dealership management system (DMS). Service Advisors text message customers and receive replies via Singlethread, which keeps the whole conversation together in one place.

By clicking on URLs included in the texts they receive, customers access Singlethread via the Web to see real-time vehicle status reports. They can even pay online, which streamlines the vehicle pickup process. Once the service order is closed, Singlethread asks customers about their experience, allowing the dealership to address problems immediately.

Coordinating Stakeholders

In addition to team members Grand Rapids and Atomic Object, this project brought together lots of different groups. Having this many cooks in the kitchen required a lot of coordination and a complex project schedule that balanced several timelines and sets of constraints.
Recycling data from the GR Public Services Department
Dozens of vendors with rewards of various sizes, types, and durations — recruited and coordinated by Local First
The myGRcitypoints information website, created by The Image Shoppe

Technical Specs

Atomic designed the system architecture and wrote software and firmware for:

Custom Protocol
Reduces required bandwidth and handle collisions, allowing reliable transfer of a high volume of information through RF and cellular communications back to the data collection service.
Gateway Devices
Each is a Technologic TS 7800 single-board computer with a custom RF receiver. They run a combination of C and Ruby on an embedded Linux system.
Web App
A JRuby on Rails application using an Oracle database that deploys to IBM Websphere.

  • Significantly reduces the amount of time dealerships spend managing each customer.
  • Gets information to customers faster and gets them back on the road sooner, increasing customer satisfaction and retention.
  • Reduces stress and improves efficiency for service department staff, many of whom are reluctant computer users.
  • Functions on older computers running outdated browsers, which are common in dealership service departments.

Dealers report that Singlethread helps them save hours per day. Service managers spend less time chasing customers down to get approvals for work and give updates. It’s been really enjoyable to get phone calls from users saying, “It’s permanently changed the way we do business.”

Will Mapes, Founder

Atomic provided mobile web application development for Singlethread using Rails, Angular.js, and other tools. The system integrates with dealer management systems and uses Twilio for SMS and WebSockets for push notifications.

The Atomic Team

Here are some of our current Atoms who worked on this project. Click their photo to read their bios!

Project domain(s)

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web

mobile

mobile

desktop

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Services provided

Software Product Design
System Architecture
Information Architecture
Interaction Design
Visual Design
Software Development
Deployment

Tools used

Ruby on Rails
AngularJS
Bootstrap
CSS/SCSS/Less
PostgreSQL
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