Case Study: Project Lionheart

As we cover new ideas in each chapter, we’ll apply them to a case study, Project Lionheart. The case study is based on a real system, but the names and situations have been changed for teaching and legal purposes.

Design an Architecture to Solve This Problem

The City of Springfield is facing budget shortfalls and needs to cut costs. Mayor Jean Claude van Damme (no relation to the action hero) has hired our team to streamline the city’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB).

When a city employee needs to purchase something for more than a few thousand dollars, the OMB issues a Request for Proposals (RFP) in the local newspaper. Businesses bid on the RFPs and the OMB awards a contract based on the competitiveness of the bid and other factors. The OMB monitors more than 500 active contracts and RFPs for everything from toilet paper to medical supplies to basketballs. The OMB manages all this data in spreadsheets.

Mayor van Damme hopes modernizing the OMB will improve a few strategic areas.

• Over half of all RFPs have a single bid. The city is potentially overpaying for lower-quality services.

• Finalizing a contract takes months. Many businesses get lost in the multistep process.

• Publishing a new RFP takes up to 6 weeks. This process must be faster.

Throughout Part II, we’ll flesh out this case study and work together to design a plausible architecture to solve some of these problems.