All case studies / KinderSystems
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KinderSystems increased deployment frequency by 2,000% with Octopus Deploy
About KinderSystems
KinderSystems is the leading US provider of subsidy management Software as a Service (SaaS) solutions to state agencies, Head Start programs, and child care providers.
Hundreds of agencies in the publicly funded child care sector use KinderSystems applications via the cloud and mobile devices to streamline their operations, ensure compliance with government regulations, and meet the needs of the families they serve.
Challenges
KinderSystems needed to support cloud and on-premises deployments and reduce manual work
Complex deployments
KinderSystems works with organizations at different stages of their digital transformation journey. Many of KinderSystems’ customers, government and commercial, have moved their tech stack to the cloud.
This means deploying to various cloud environments, such as Microsoft Azure and AWS. However, some customers still operate mainframe systems; so KinderSystems’ ability to also deploy on-premises lets it meet customers where they are. KinderSystems also integrates its solution with customers’ legacy systems, so deployments are often highly customized.
Manual processes
When KinderSystems released new software, it could take up to 4 weeks to get all customers on the latest version. Software engineers worked for 2 or 3 hours every afternoon, upgrading a couple of sites at a time – manually updating databases, web apps, and reports, and performing smoke tests.
Slow speed-to-market
KinderSystems was releasing new features at high speeds, but its bottleneck was deploying these features to its customers.
Staff burnout
The team was under constant stress knowing that emergencies required staff to work a ton of hours, usually on weekends, just to deploy a simple fix.
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Our DORA metrics have skyrocketed since we started using Octopus. Our deployment frequency has increased by 2,000% in the last 4 years, and it continues to improve with a 90% deployment frequency improvement in terms of now versus last year.
Solution
Automating complex deployments
KinderSystems chose Octopus Deploy to automate its software deployment processes, to meet the complex needs of its customers and reduce the time to deploy their software.
With Octopus Deploy, we can now perform 100+ customer-specific deployments in only 2 hours, completely automated.
KinderSystems' CI/CD pipeline
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Value
Saving time and money with rapid release cycles
Increased deployment frequency
Since the team at KinderSystems started using Octopus, their deployment frequency has increased by 2,000%, peaking at 482 deployments in a single week. They expect this number to keep growing.
Shorter release cycle
KinderSystems dramatically shortened its release cycle by deploying to development, testing, pre-production, and production environments faster. The process is fully automated using a rich set of Octopus features, including variables and tenanted deployments.
Time savings
KinderSystems performs 100+ customer-specific deployments in 2 hours using Octopus. Deployments are pre-scheduled and run automatically, and Octopus notifies the KinderSystems team if there are failures.
Lower cost to deploy
By using Octopus best practices and standardizing deployment processes, KinderSystems teams who are close to their customers can manage deployments. Helpdesk technicians, instead of developers, can execute the deployment process. This lets developers focus on what they do best – troubleshooting complex issues and coding new features.
Shared knowledge
Another benefit of using Octopus was moving the knowledge held by only a few team members into a larger shared space. This provides peace of mind that employee absence won’t jeopardize on-time delivery. The broader team fully understands the steps and dependencies for a successful deployment and helps when needed.
By bringing consistency to our deployment process, we were able to lower our operational costs.
Continuous process improvement
KinderSystems’ leadership team strongly supports DevOps automation. They understand that if they want to grow, they need to apply automation in areas beyond just deployments. KinderSystems is now bringing testing automation into the mix, with Octopus playing an integral role.
Fulfilling company mission
Automating complex deployment processes lets the team at KinderSystems use their talents to ensure all players in the publicly funded child care ecosystem have the software systems they need to deliver high quality child care to the families and children they serve.
Octopus enables us to improve our continuous delivery without incurring additional risks.