Technical Architects for Green Building Registry®

The Green Building Registry® is a SaaS platform that aggregates data about the energy performance of homes throughout the US and makes that data available to the public through an easy-to-use online portal (greenbuildingregistry.com) and an API for integrating home energy performance data into the home listings provided through real estate Multiple Listing Services (MLSs). Earth Advantage, a non-profit organization focused on fostering the adoption of green building standards, was undertaking the initial development of the Green Building Registry® web application but was encountering difficulty with having requirements understood, keeping the application scope well-defined, and in meeting schedule expectations. Earth Advantage turned to dymaptic to work with the existing development team to get the Green Building Registry® website to initial launch successfully.

With decades of experience across every facet of the software development lifecycle, including needs assessment, design, architecture, implementation, testing, documentation, and project management, the team at dymaptic stepped in not just as contributors, but as organizers and technical anchors for the entire project. Bringing order to an in-progress project requires more than technical skill. It requires understanding people, processes, and priorities simultaneously. We know exactly what to expect in every facet of the software development lifecycle and how to manage a project to set sensible milestones and ensure they are met. We have also successfully collaborated with and directed a multitude of professionals in the field, including co-workers, project partners, and employees of our clients, so we understand how to work with people of various aptitudes and roles to get the job done.

With our engagement in assisting Earth Advantage with the Green Building Registry®, we sought to leverage our experience to inject organization and motivation into the existing team's process to catalyze the registry's development. With our depth of engineering experience, we also aimed to serve as a technical resource to help define and direct the engineering work needed to bring the application to the finish line.

From day one, the focus was on rapid discovery, clear documentation, and keeping engineering and leadership aligned throughout every sprint. As soon as dymaptic joined the Green Building Registry® team, we set about gaining a thorough understanding of what it was that needed to be built, what was already done, and what was still left to do. To do so, we proactively engaged with the senior management personnel at Earth Advantage who were defining the application requirements, and we also performed a technical, hands-on assessment of the current software and technology stack. We started introducing organization into the development process by documenting the requirements and relevant findings from our assessment as user stories and tickets using the project management software Jira. During this process, we coordinated with the engineering team to ensure the requirements were well understood.

With the scope and details of the project captured and broken into workable units, we collaborated with the engineering team to organize the work into sprints and liaised with business and engineering staff to set achievable expectations, formalizing these as milestones.

With this roadmap in place, development proceeded accordingly. As the work progressed, dymaptic continuously coordinated with senior management to ensure proper prioritization and adherence to business requirements. The dymaptic team also collaborated with engineers to troubleshoot technical challenges and devise innovative and effective approaches to implementing application components. Lastly, the dymaptic team assisted with application documentation and took the lead in coordinating with the third-party developers that would be consuming the Green Building Registry® API.

Relying on our long and varied experience overseeing and executing software development projects, we readily integrated with the Green Building Registry® team and rapidly introduced an effective and well-organized development process using industry-standard agile methodologies. Our team acted as the much-needed connective tissue between senior management and the engineering team and served as expert technical resources for project engineers. With our involvement, the project quickly got back on track, resulting in the smooth and on-time launch of the Green Building Registry® website and API. The registry continues in operation today, serving as a vital information source for homeowners, real estate professionals, and home energy inspectors. Because of the project's success, dymaptic remains a trusted partner of Earth Advantage, frequently lending technical expertise not only on the Green Building Registry® but on a range of other projects as well.