Trello + Open Data NYC

Trello + Open Data NYC 

Mayta + Sebastian Architecture D.P.C. is a New York City based Architectural Design and Consulting firm. M+S is recognized for expertise in building, design, and restoration/rehabilitation, particularly Facade Restoration, Forensics, FISP/ Local Law 11 projects, and  ground-up construction. Their customers include a wide range of industries including residential building owners and managers, commercial building owners, and select educational, and industrial clients. 

For the past several years, they have relied on Trello as their project management tool. Their environment is moderately customized with a variety of custom workflows to streamline their work.

As the system became more mature, they realized that they needed to enhance their environment with more features. They also wanted to provide their clients with easier access to project data. It was already stored in Trello. Why couldn’t customers access this data in a limited and controlled manner in M+S’s environment?

As a mid-size company, they did not have a software development team in-house. However, the AEC space speaks its own language, much like software developers. As a firm borne from the built environment enhancing workflows and building web apps connected to building data is our specialty.

Mayta+Sebastian Architecture & Lagarsoft

Like all of our engagements, this project started with a discussion. What data do your customers need to access, where is it stored? The list of "must-haves" included access to project progress reports, a map view with pinned projects, and secure data storage. Each project would connect to FISP inspection dates and the main contact from M+S.

To achieve this, Lagarsoft built a robust custom integration leveraging Trello's API to fetch projects from M+S’ environment. These were displayed in a portal built on SpringBoot+React and hosted on AWS. In tandem, our data team went through a cleanup process. We standardized and connected all of the data stored in custom fields. The result: consistent and high-quality data displayed in the portal.

NYC Open Data

The Facade Inspection Safety Program (FISP) requires that Architects or Engineers that have become Qualified Exterior Wall Inspectors (QEWI) through the NYC DOB qualification process, file FISP reports with the city agencies on a regular 5-year cycle. In addition to displaying project data, M+S wanted to link to these reports filed along with violation data. This would allow their customer base to see everything in one place. 

New York City has a program called NYC Open Data. Its API (The NYC open data portal) can be leveraged to pull this kind of information. This would allow queries for specific information related to violations, such as location, date, and nature, directly in the portal, in addition to FISP reports.

Using the NYC Open Data API, Lagarsoft built an integration to fetch this data and display it in the platform. This provided M+S's clients with a single source of truth they could turn to for all inspection data and project progress. This made it easy for project managers and customers to all directly access and review the same documents

The end result: a cost-effective solution that improved their workflow and provided their clients with easy access to the information they needed. Today, the platform has been in action for almost a year. The robust and elegant solution that works across all devices and operating systems. On top of the must-haves, our team added a handful of other off-the-shelf portal options. These include a 3D model viewer as well as notification functionality to alert customers to reports or action items.

Learn how custom software development outsourcing can improve processes and help your architecture firm provide better services.

Meet with our team