Case Study: Sure Deposit

URL: http://www.suredeposit.com

The Client: Overview SureDeposit is an alternative risk management tool that vastly improves upon traditional security deposits by replacing them with a financial guarantee surety bond. The first of its kind, SureDeposit is the market leader in the emerging industry of security deposit alternatives, with more than 250,000 apartment units under agreement in nearly 1,200 communities nationwide.

The Challenge: In experiencing rapid growth, SureDeposit developed the need to be able to automate and simplify many of its processes, create simpler lines of communication with clients, decrease the amount of time spent on simple common administrative tasks, and to increase customer satisfaction.

It was agreed that a Client Extranet would facilitate all of the company’s requirements. This Extranet would need to be secure, easy to use, and be fully integrated with the company’s in-house database.

The Solution: Oxclove Workshop (O\W), through a rigorous discovery phase, created a comprehensive set of requirements, which drove the creation of the full Use Case modeling of the application. This processed described the exact functionality and user experience of the site in domain level terminology (without technical jargon). Once the Use Cases were completed and approved by SureDeposit, O\W used them to drive the development of a full UML model, which allowed the O\W development team to create the application to the exact specifications agreed to by SureDeposit. The UML model also allowed O\W to easily and efficiently maintain and upgrade the application, regardless of changes within the team.

The site was programmed using Microsoft’s ASP (Active Server Pages) with an MS SQL Server 2000 database. Daily and weekly data synchronization with the offline database is fully automated.

The Result: is a fully functional Client Extranet which greatly reduces the amount of time and effort required, from the client and SureDeposit’s end, to perform most common administrative functions. Additionally, O\W created an XML gateway which allows partners, such as RentPort, to offer SureDeposit to renters through their online interface. Applicants never have to leave the partners site to receive a SureDeposit bond application, which is supplied in the form of a fully populated PDF, with bond coverage amounts and amounts due calculated based on parameters controlled by SureDeposit on a per community per partner basis. The applicants are also tracked to allow SureDeposit to input them into their system with a single click once payment is received.