Galadrim supports DirectSkills in the redesign of its business software.

DirectSkills, the French leader in temporary staffing management, overhauls its business software to boost international growth and further widen the gap with the competition

Founded in 2000, DirectSkills develops and markets recruitment and interim management software. The company has gradually established itself as the French leader in the sector, covering 99% of temporary employment agencies in France. By 2022, the software had 125,000 users. More than 1,500,000 employment contracts had been signed, and over 2.6 billion euros worth of temporary work invoices issued.

The business application, created in the early years, had been developed in ColdFusion. The use of this now aging technology, coupled with the company's ambitions for European expansion, made an overhaul necessary. Three in-house teams, each comprising a lead developer and five developers, are working on the redesign and the development of new functionalities.

In order to accelerate this strategic project, DirectSkills wanted to strengthen its teams by working with an agency with expertise in React and TypeScript. It is in this context that Galadrim has been working with the company since 2019. In total, one lead developer and 3 full-stack developers are working with the company's technical teams on this redesign.

Comprehensive business software to manage the entire temping process

Users of the software include both user companies (major groups such as Auchan, Eiffage, etc.) and temporary employment agencies (such as Manpower). It manages the entire temping process.

Here are some key features:

  • recruitment management: companies can specify their recruitment criteria and their requests are sent to temporary employment agencies, which can respond from the platform by proposing profiles.

  • auto-contracting: companies can use a customization tool to automatically generate contracts, configuring them according to their own rules.

  • entry of temporary workers' timesheets: companies can enter temporary workers' timesheets manually, or import data from their badge readers.

  • self-invoicing: when temporary workers' time sheets are entered, invoices are automatically generated and sent by the temporary employment agencies to the user companies. Each company can configure its own invoicing rules.

  • activity reporting: each company has real-time operational, purchasing, HR and financial reporting.

  • connection to corporate information systems: DirectSkills software can be easily integrated into corporate information systems. Integration with their SSO is made possible with the standard SAML v2 connection. Data relating to the contracts generated are transmitted directly to the company's HR IS.

In addition to these structuring functions for managing the interim process, DirectSkills also integrates artificial intelligence technologies to develop functions that facilitate sourcing and quality control.

Furthermore, within each company, a multitude of roles and accesses are given, and a high degree of personalization is allowed. For example, in the case of a recruitment request, several roles are given to different people:

  • one person may be responsible for providing general information on the skills sought

  • another person will validate the request

  • another person will then be responsible for entering the expected remuneration levels

  • etc.

It's this high degree of customization that enables DirectSkills to respond precisely to the needs of a variety of companies.

The challenges of redesigning a business application

One of the challenges of the redesign was to use modern, high-performance technologies. In particular, we use :

  • React & Remix : the advantage of Remix is that it provides a simplified, structured approach by combining React with integrated routing and state management functionalities.

  • Node.JS & Fastify : Fastify is an efficient web framework designed specifically for Node.js applications, offering optimal request management and reduced response times for the development of responsive, scalable web applications.

  • TypeScript which adds static typing functionality to JavaScript code, improving the reliability and maintainability of business applications.

  • GraphQL This language reduces the number of queries made to the database, offering greater flexibility in data management between the front-end and back-end.

Another challenge was to ensure that the two versions of the application would coexist over a long period of time, and that the updates carried out as part of the redesign would in no way affect the proper use of the business application.

To ensure this seamless transition, we follow a TDD (Test Driven Development) approach. We use the Vitest tool to manage these tests.

Finally, the application is part of a complex business process. The Domain-Driven Design approach is therefore applied with the aim of creating an application that is better aligned with business needs and more easily understood by both development teams and business experts.

Galadrim is a trusted partner who is deeply involved in our developments, from developers to managers.
François Chauvin
François Chauvin
CEO

Technologies used