Anouk Demeester

Want to become a Skryver?

## What is “good” code? 
What is writing good code? When you are new to coding, you are probably happy when your code works. So would “good code” mean “working code”?

Suppose you have a project and you get it to work. You do the obligated happy dance and then leave your code alone. Six months later, you’ve had an awesome idea for a new feature. You open up your code and… it looks like Chinese. Sadly our minds cannot remember complex things in much detail for a long time (at least my mind cannot; if yours can: give me your secret!)

> “If your code looks like Chinese after six months. Would you still consider it “good code”?”

Good code should probably be “readable” as well as “working”. In fact, there’s a whole list of adjectives we need to put in front of “code” before it becomes “good”. Good code = working, readable, extensible, documented, scalable, efficient, robust, smart, according to the styling, consistent, doesn’t repeat itself,…

## How to write “good” code? 

Well, at Skryv we do it this way: 

- First of all, we realise that we don’t know everything and we are open to learning new things. 
- Secondly, we are respectful towards each other and strive to help others grow where possible. 
- Thirdly, we review each others code.

## What’s in it for the code reviewer?
All developers at Skryv review code. As reviewers, we give thumbs-ups when we see something that we like. We ask questions to understand better. We give suggestions for improvements. We find bugs that can still be fixed before something actually gets broken and sometimes we nit-pick a bit about code style and typos so the author knows we reviewed the code thoroughly.

It is interesting to see **how other people tackle problems**. As reviewers, we might learn new things and grow as a developer ourselves. Also, we are u**p to date** with changes to our shared codebase. That will make it easier when it is our turn to change something to it later.

> "We are up to date with changes to our shared codebase"

## What’s in it for the author?

All of our code gets reviewed. As authors, we know that we are not perfect and we see the comments from the reviewer as learning experiences. We want to give the reviewer the best reviewing experience and so we make our code review-ready (so: readable) before passing it to him. When the reviewer asks us questions, we know that the **code is not self-explanatory yet** and we can think about a different design, a better variable name or a comment with an explanation. This improves the global readability of our code and makes it easier for future new developers to understand what’s going on when they see the code for the first time (and for ourselves, when we get back to it in six months).

> “When the reviewer asks us questions, we know that the code is not self-explanatory yet”

The reviewer can give very **good suggestions** that we did not come up with ourselves. This also **improves our codebase**, as well as our personal developer skills. It happens often enough that a comment from a reviewer leads to a co-creation process where author and reviewer combine their skills. When 1+1>2, it leads to better ideas, better developers and better code.

Recently we stressed more this concept introducing **Pair Programming** in our team. This should allow us to move the review from a downstream process to a more real-time activity. We are still experimenting with it and we will let you know the result in a future blog post.

At Skryv, we know that a combination of an open attitude and a respectful feedback culture helps grow our developers and our code. That makes it more than worth to invest in code reviews.

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At Skryv, we know that a combination of an open attitude and a respectful feedback culture helps grow our developers and our code. That makes it more than worth to invest in code reviews.

Why we invest in code review and you should too

Enforcement for our dev and functional team has arrived! Meet Mustafa, Nazar, Clémentine and Matteo. Their arrival allows us to expand the base of our modules and take on more public sector digitalisation challenges. We can say that Skryv is moving to the next phase of growth and our team of 13 people is ready to make it work. 

Curious to get to know them a little better? Continue reading:

## Mustafa

"My journey with Skryv started when I got the green light to start working as an intern back in February. As intimidating as it was to start my professional career, my team encouraged me in every step of the way. Now I’m proud to say that I am a full-time [insert happy face here] developer at Skryv and surrounded by a team that motivates us to learn and grow every day."

## Nazar 

"Since I graduated I have got the opportunity to experience many different environments and fields in Computer Engineering. The valuable lesson I have learned is to value the team you are working with over other aspects. I have joined Skryv recently and can firmly say that it is the right team to motivate me and solve engineering puzzles together. PS: I am not a spy."

## Matteo 

"I have been working in IT over the last 9 years, both in large and small companies over various domains. I started my career as a Software Developer then I discovered the eXtreme Programming methodology: that changed my perspective, and I am acting more as a Software Craftsman. I'm now trying to give back acting as Technical Coach and letting other people discover how XP values and practices can help to improve their way of working. I'm looking forward to sharing my knowledge with my new colleagues at Skryv and keep growing together and overcome our challenges."

## Clémentine 

"Hi, I am Clémentine and I am a Functional Analyst building and helping build software since I finished my master's degree in Computer Science. My hobbies and interests span from science fiction and martial arts to a cappella singing and playing the ukulele. As a matter of fact, I think I am just interested in being interested in any original and frantic subject that comes my way :) My story with Skryv started when I was looking for a new professional opportunity that coincided with my interest in process modelling and optimisation. In addition to the latter, the positive and stimulating work environment was a refreshing bonus."

blog-enforcement-functional-dev-team.jpg

Enforcement for our dev and functional team has arrived! Meet Mustafa, Nazar, Clémentine and Matteo. Their arrival allows us to expand the base of our modules and take on more public sector digitalisation challenges. We can say that Skryv is moving to the next phase of growth and our team of 13 people is ready to make it work. 

Enforcement for our dev and functional team has arrived

Fancy smart and easy-to-use online services? 

The Vlaams Rampenfonds compensates individuals and companies who suffered from damages caused by an exceptional, general disaster (e.g. excessive rainfall). The disaster fund was created after the state reform of 2011 when the competence was delegated from the federal to the regional level.

## The challenge
The team had to find a new way to treat the submitted compensation claims. They tried out multiple approaches but none seemed to fit the bill. Systems were aged, it took a long time to treat the claims and collaboration with multiple people was a challenge.

The two biggest motivators for the Vlaams Rampenfonds to move to a case management software were:

* To ease the collaboration between the different stakeholders (external experts, case managers, citizens, head of the department,…)
* To simplify and digitize the request process for citizens and companies that suffered damages

## The solution: an end-to-end digital process that fits the ecosystem

Due to the introduction of new legislation, the organization had to start from scratch. It had no internal IT team at its disposal. Skryv started off with a business analysis track (Think & Try). At the end of the workshop series, the organization knew what the future would look like and what features the solution should have. The three most important features for the organization are:

### A smart ePortal.
Citizens can now submit their request for compensation digitally via the ePortal. It guides the user through the forms and ensures a seamless experience. It is powered by smart forms, the collection of data from authentic sources and error recognition (e.g. when the national number is missing a digit). Before the introduction of the ePortal, different paper forms had to be completed based on the damage one had suffered. Today, a digital request is possible and the citizen is led to a customized form based on his context.

### Digital processing of the claims. 
Today there is one smooth digital flow, from the moment a citizen starts a request to the actual payment (or denial) of the compensation. This allows for a significant decrease in processing time of the claims. Firstly, all the information is brought together on the Skryv platform. The case manager has everything he needs within reach. Secondly, all calculations are done automatically, based on a limited number of inputs from the experts. Lastly, all communications to the citizen are generated automatically by the system.


### Integration with the building blocks of the Flemish government.

The Flemish government provides different IT building blocks. Both the ePortal and case management platform needed to fit into this ecosystem. Today the Vlaams Rampenfonds fetches data from different authentic sources (parcel registry, KBO, …), uses the login system of the Flemish government and has an ePortal that reflects the Flemish corporate identity.

##Advantages
This digital and automated way of working created various efficiency gains:

-  **Simplified administrative process.** Requesting compensation is no longer an administrative hurdle. The citizen does not have to enter the same information over and over again. He gets a personal approach that fits his context. Once submitted, the request can be handled promptly. 
- **Improved collaboration with all stakeholders.** The case managers, victims, heads of departments and external experts work together on one platform. Based on the allocated rights they have secured access to the appropriate data and dashboards.
- **Quality improvement, both for the organization and the citizen.** By following the only-once principle and automating repetitive tasks, typos and miscalculations can be avoided. This speeds up the process and prevents the case manager's frustrations about incomplete or incorrect dossiers or repeating the same acts over and over again.


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Citizens submit their requests via a smart eportal which triggers the digital evaluation process on the Skryv platform. Fully integrated with the Flemish gov IT building blocks.

Rampenfonds created a digital experience for the citizen and a better collaboration with external experts 

Your DIY toolkit to digitise your services and create the best online experience for citizens. It is easy to set up and adjustable at any time.

Create and edit forms without having to rely on a developer. Fast to set up, maintain and in a language that both business and IT understand.

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Low-code DIY platform

Actively inform the citizen on changes or questions about his dossier. Send notifications via different channels (email, eBox, MijnBurgerprofiel, etc). It helps you to decrease the number of worried phone calls by citizens and increase transparency.

Proactive communication

Ease the evaluation of the dossiers and integrate with your back-office system by using API, webhooks or file-export.

Back-office integration

Minimize the effort for the citizen and avoid mistakes by using smart form techniques. Requesting a service will become a walk in the park.

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Smart citizen forms

Keep the citizen well-informed and increase transparancy. Every client has an overview of the status of his dossier(s) and their history.

Overview

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Front-office

Front-office software to help you digitise your services, improve the quality of requests and inform the client.


Smart forms, happy citizens

Want to tackle your backlog of dossiers?

Wonen-Vlaanderen helps to make sustainable and affordable housing available for everyone in Flanders. They provide different support measures, such as the “renovation premium” to support the renovation of houses that are at least 30 years old, or the “adaptation premium” to support the modification of houses to the needs of the elderly. 

## Challenge and objectives
Wonen-Vlaanderen struggled with a backlog of cases, due to a long processing time of premium requests. It took up to a year for the citizen to receive a (final) decision. They worked based on a paper dossier and used an application to store the (meta)data of each dossier. The work pressure for the case managers was high.

They decided to simplify and digitise the administrative process of the renovation premium, with the following objectives:
- Substantially reduce the processing time;
- Move towards a paperless work environment;
- Have a software system that is easily adaptable to organisational reforms and legislative changes.

## A digital back office to save time
Wonen-Vlaanderen selected a scanning solution to digitise its paper dossiers and selected the Skryv platform for process automation and case management. 

The process automation of multiple objective checks and calculations allowed to drastically reduce the dossier processing time. The system automatically gathers info from different authentic sources and checks specific conditions such as the level of income, the age of the house, the type of house, etc. Thanks to this automation, it is now known within seconds whether a requester qualifies for the premium.

By digitising the remaining administrative workflow on the Skryv platform using the case management,  the case manager’s work is simplified. When a case manager starts a task, the system offers the exact info and documents needed to complete it. The automated task assignment ensures the work is distributed and that the case managers focus on the most important tasks. Dossiers can easily be retrieved with the search function. The dossier overview gives the case manager all key information about the dossier at a glance and makes all dossier information easily available.

Finally, it was important for Wonen-Vlaanderen to have an adjustable system that can adapt quickly to changing regulation.  For example, an updated premium type was added and activated on the platform within one month of publication of the new regulation. 

## Advantages
By introducing a fully digital way of working, together with the necessary simplification measures, Wonen-Vlaanderen reached its goals: 
- They noted a substantial decrease in the processing time, allowing to eliminate the case backlog that had been increasing in the previous years;
- The fully digital workflow allows for case management from home, supporting the teleworking available at the Flemish government;
- Wonen-Vlaanderen increased its flexibility. When legislation around the renovation premium changes they can easily adjust to the new situation, as was demonstrated with the swift upgrade to the new version of the renovation premium;
- They have a strong basis to build on. Other types of premiums, new integrations to authentic sources and reporting tools can easily be added. 


Customer-story-wonen-vlaanderen.jpg

By digitising its back-office, Wonen-Vlaanderen noted a substantial decrease in the processing time. This allows them to eliminate the case backlog they had built up in the previous years.


Wonen-Vlaanderen reduced its processing time

Everything you need to digitally process your dossiers from submission to payment. It’s adaptable, low-code and integrated with your services. 


Configuration-based set up and maintenance to save costs and improve business - IT alignment. Complemented with customisation to come to the best solution.

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Low-code case management

The low-code approach puts users in control. Add intelligence, introduce templates and let the processes work for you. Laying the foundation for a qualitative workflow. 

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Smart workflow management

Control and divide the amount of work and ease the collaboration with externals. (Automatically) assign tasks, define responsibilities and visibility according to the user's role. Check the version history to know who did what and when.

Collaboration & team management

A central overview of all the dossiers and to do's that varies according to one's responsibilities. Use the search and filter function to quickly find info and dossiers.

Overview & reporting

Maximally reuse data and avoid copy-paste and mistakes. We integrate with your organisation's log-in, authentic sources, databases, look & feel and other tools.

Integration

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Case management

Case management software to help you focus on the real deal, decrease the processing time and get insight into dossiers. 


Right info, right time, right place

Want to increase productivity and focus on your efforts?

Your low-code tooling to automate repetitive tasks and decisions. Easy to maintain and 100% reliable.


Save cost and gain flexibility with our low-code tools. They allow you to quickly set up and maintain your processes without heavy dependency on the software vendor.

Low-code set-up

Orchestrate how third party data enters your systems, how information is modelled and other actions in your end-to-end process. Optimize the process in order to eliminate redundancies and increase productivity.

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Orchestration

Support the case manager by automating decisions, so he can focus his efforts. Define the business rules in DMN and automatically generate an advice for specific questions. Obtain a lower error rate and overall quality improvement of dossiers. 

Decision automation

Easily integrate the automated process in your (case management) system. You can trigger or manage it via the properly documented Rest API. To save even more time, you can execute the automated processes in bulk instead of executing them individually.

System to system

Use the easy & accessible user interface to quickly validate the automated processes. It also comes with an admin page and support tooling. 


User interface

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Process automation

Automation software to help you automate repetitive tasks, make decisions and increase productivity.


Ease your work, increase productivity

Want to make maximum use of existing IT building blocks?

The all-in-one connectivity suite to integrate with eGovernment services. Prevent duplication of effort and minimize the IT and maintenance costs 


Connect faster to a whole range of eGovernment services and always have the most up-to-date version at your disposal. We are currently connected to: 

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Out of the box connectors

Difficulty with understanding the variety of technical implementation and documentation? Bypass the technical complexity of the eGovernment services by integrating to the connectors suite.

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Easy to integrate

You are automatically compliant with security requirements. Several government services expose sensitive personal data and require specific security measures. Examples are certificate management and legal logging each time data is consulted. 

Security compliance

Avoid fall-downs, useless calls and learn from best practices. Use smart techniques such as throttling to not overload the 3rd party service and circuit breaking to help bring the 3rd party service back in business. 

Robust connectors

Add more business oriented functionality to maximally benefit from the eGovernment service. For example, fall-back scenarios when the service is not available.

Mini-processes

Use the connector factory to quickly add connectors or follow evolutions. Including secure development practices and knowing how to deal with (anonimised) personal data during the development cycle.

Connector factory

Quickly get started, test without any hassle and get a view of the status and history of calls. Easily manageable and always up to date.

Easily accessible user interface

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Connectors

Connector software to help you reuse information, improve collaboration with others and to avoid copy-paste. 

Enforcement for our dev and functional team has arrived

Mustafa

Nazar

Matteo

Clémentine

Want to become a Skryver?

Related Posts

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Resources

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