For 24 hours the developers, business analysts, UX designers and QA engineers worked on finding solutions for the following tasks:
- save and analyze the air quality markers in Lviv
- develop a record-keeping system for the monitoring data of the ecological lab
- automate the process of collecting data from tree examinations in Lviv
- make a feedback form and visualize the data based on the feedback about the work of the Administrative Services Center (ASC)
- find a solution to manage a database of contacts (more than 20 000 people) with different grades
- develop a mechanism ensuring transparent activity on solid waste disposal
EPAM analysts were accompanying each team throughout the whole hackathon. They had elaborated on each project initiative that the City Council brought in, prepared detailed specifications and requirements, and coordinated the teams for 24 hours.
There were three criteria for evaluating the teams’ work: how close the solution is to the completion stage and whether it is ready for implementation, how creative it is, and how the developed solution is presented, and the created prototype of the product demonstrated. On top of that, there was a demand to not have additional paid licensing for any of the software parts of the solution or costly infrastructure.
Each team has succeeded in realizing and presenting real technical solutions that took just 24 hours to create. Some of the solutions need polishing, though the majority may be implemented soon.
“Every team deserves acknowledgment, as in most of them the Members didn’t know each other. Their teamwork in such tough conditions has shown how great and responsible the specialists in our city are, no matter what company they represent. A greater number of the solutions were quite practical and interesting, and very soon we may start implementing some of them in the IT ecosystem of the Lviv City Council. This hackathon has presented a pleasant surprise to us. We have discovered that a lot of young IT specialists are interested in the life of the city and are ready to help perfect the services by mutual efforts. And EPAM from their side is ready to support this active youth,” said Petro Didukh, Director of Software Engineering, EPAM.
The most technologically interesting and complete was the solution presented by the team UiPath Racoons, which worked on the feedback form for ASCs.
“I’m pleasantly surprised by the talent of our youth and their zest. I hope we quickly implement the solution for ASCs, which won in this year’s hackathon. This project is important for the city community and is going to help our citizens, who communicate with the City Council directly or remotely, to receive a high-quality service. The feedback and timely response from the City Council are precisely the means that will refine our service. We sincerely want our city to stay not just the cultural capital and the city with a developed IT component, but capital in terms of efficiency of communication between authorities, people and the city”, says Natalia Anokhina, acting head of the Information Services Department of Lviv City Council.
“This has been a second Social hackathon organized together with EPAM. The teams work on not big, but very helpful solutions for different structural departments of the Lviv City Council. We are grateful to the Members for the interesting solutions on automation of processes, which we are going to implement soon. We also appreciate the support EPAM provides to such events. I suppose, we should start thinking about an incubator program, so the teams are not limited to 24 hours, but could tackle some more complicated tasks during a certain period” remarked Olena Hunko, the head of the Information Technologies Department of Lviv City Council.
This year’s hackathon is another event in the course of cooperation between EPAM and Lviv City Council. The first one took place in 2019. 6 out of 7 technical solutions that were developed by the teams two years ago, continue helping the departments of the City Council to effectively perform their duties.