Powering real-time simulations using foundational codebase development with a functional core
The Mission
CPower was balancing priority work on developing a real-time simulation system while also staffing up an engineering team. It doesn't get much more complex than real-time, demand-side energy management.
Delivering a sophisticated set of services that includes Demand Response (DR), Demand Management (DM) and controlling Distributed Energy Resources (DER) is a a complex challenge. Measurement, monitoring, and reporting at scale are all required. The problems are made only more difficult when faced with an evolving environment (e.g. solar energy panels) and a rapid growth in the number of devices to be supported.
The Fix
VP of Utility Solutions Mike Ratliff was already familiar with Test Double from previous work at clients Enbala, Cars.com and Comverge. When he needed to move forward with development, from prototypes to fully functioning simulations built on Elixir, he knew who to call.
Great Software- Developed a system for both real-time simulation and “speculative” time-accelerated scenarios
- Took prototypes through to core functionality in a new codebase in a functional style
- Applied best practices on tooling, testing and stories to build the right thing and do it well
- Instituted practice of architectural decision records to provide context long-term on why decisions were made early on in development of the new system
- Provided onboarding and pairing with new team of engineers to catch them up on discussions and nuances of the codebase
- Shared ideas around next areas to explore and encouraged meaningful discussions on code review
The Results
Test Double delivered functionality on a critical prototype so the VP could focus on staffing up a team of new engineers. Our consultants also led onboarding efforts for new team members, transferred codebase knowledge, and identified potential next steps to further the work.
- Simulation software development with time-dependent behavior and reproducible randomness
- Introduced architectural decision records for lasting impact on maintainable code
- Onboarded new engineering team to get them up to speed quickly
