National Retail Franchise Management Platform
Large-scale franchisee pool service system for service scheduling, customer management, sales management, routing and billing
The Overview
Pinch A Penny is the largest pool retail and service franchise with nearly 300 stores throughout the southeastern US and the leading resource for all pool supply, equipment and service needs over the past 45 years. Nearly a decade ago Pinch A Penny created a web application to support franchisee operations. To support the next decade's growth, MercuryWorks modernized and expanded this solution into an enterprise national-scale system.
The
Challenge
While functional, Pinch A Penny’s legacy web application (“PCP”) was outmoded for current business needs and built atop dated technology, both at the back-end and at the user interface. PCP had grown a feature at a time over several years without central product management to keep it organized and streamlined. Mercury’s challenge was to redesign and redevelop a more robust system to better align with franchise owner needs, improve inefficiencies and meet Pinch A Penny’s technology expectations.
The
Solution
Our planned solution incorporated new features and functions suited with its current franchise and corporate needs, a striking modern user interface and modern platform for long-term growth. An updated app structure to corral and refactor a more coherent set of features while rejuvenating the UI and UX was put in place to make all user interactions more delightful. We utilized the enterprise Strangler pattern and CI/CD automation to introduce change over a controlled series of pilots.
The
Results
The new Pinch CarePro system allows Pinch A Penny to better serve their franchises, make each store more efficient and profitable and position them for dramatic ongoing corporate growth. The substantial facelift is both more aesthetic and state-of-the-art but also mobile-enabled for use on any device. The new enterprise architecture and technology elements are already bearing fruit with a reduction in software response times thanks to adept application of Azure cloud, .NET Core and React.
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App Features
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Even More
Other Key Highlights
60% Improvement in Response Time
A modern JavaScript interface combined with improved UX has provided a marked reduction in the time required to execute common store management functions
Improved Franchisee Satisfaction
Store franchises have responded with a nearly universal positive response for the new system reported both via franchise surveys and increased system usage rates
Reduced Technical Debt
Populate commercial and open-source code complexity and health scores reflect a system that is more maintainable and containing less technical debt
Increased New Development Speed
The modernized technology platform and instituted design system have enabled Pinch A Penny engineers to roll out features in notably less time than in the past
"Our new platform is going to be massively popular with our stores. It provides wonderful new features, improved usability and significant speed improvements. They love it and I appreciate the Mercury hustle!"
James P. Eisch
CFO
Behind The Curtain
Core Technology

.NET Core
C#, Entity Framework and the .NET Core were used to implement all business logic and data marshaling for the application. Enterprise authentication practices and Core tie-ins provide a locked-down and robust security platform.

SQL Server
Provides a robust data storehouse and query platform to store all enterprise data, marshal data for integration and provide a source to the app’s API tier. In-cloud SQL Server was used to provide instant scalability and rapid querying.

Microsoft Azure
Provides database storage, web app, authentication and web services. Azure provides an ideal solution for back end mobile applications with a multi-data center Platform as a Service (PaaS) cloud solution.

React
The React JavaScript framework provides the UI base for the entire system, providing rapid and smooth data fetching, storage and screen painting. Supporting use of modern CSS provides interaction and responsive display.