Audio Deluxe specializes in re-selling high-quality audio equipment and software to North American and European markets. When they came to Acro Media, they were looking to upgrade their Drupal 6 site to Drupal 7 and streamline the process of selling product software licenses. After working with three other companies on the development of a new D7 site, they had hit what seemed to be an impassable roadblock and were unable to complete the project.
The main problem involved the sale of software licenses. This was an entirely manual process that involved getting a physical copy of the licence (by cutting it from a box) and mailing it to customers individually. This was extremely cumbersome and wasted a lot of time.
Audio Deluxe wanted to automate this process so that as soon as a transaction was made, the licence was automatically sent to the customer. This issue had stymied the previous developers who worked on the site. Audio Deluxe looked to us to architect a solution, finish the project, and launch the new site.
The first part of the project was the migration from Drupal 6 to 7. This proved challenging as it required the transfer of a large amount of data, including customers, orders, and products. This was partially completed when we took over the project, but a lot of work was still needed to finish it.
The second major issue was the license distribution automation that had perplexed previous agencies. Our solution was to develop a tool that we called the “Bulk Updater.” This tool allowed Drupal to automatically pull product numbers from a manufacturer's catalog; this meant that information such as images, URLs, and product descriptions would then be transferred to Drupal. It also meant that downloadable software was available as soon as a transaction was completed. The process works like this:
1. We created an API called XChange that connects to a module called Audiodeluxe_license. This module is used to manage and create all of AudioDeluxe’s digital license keys (the codes that are used to uniquely identify a customer’s copy of the software). We also built out APIs called SKUPort and Waves that allow different vendors to connect to the licence pool system.
2. Licenses are then stored in license pools that are attached to products. When a product is bought, the order can automatically grab a license from the pool and assign it to a line item on the order. These licence pools can be broken up into separate smaller pools for the specific product they apply to and are stored in pools on the web server until they are needed.
During the site build, we also included a feature that allowed users to place price offers on products. Administrators can flag to enable or disable this functionality per product. As offers come in the administrator could then review each offer and accept it, decline it, or make a counter-offer to the customer.
Lastly, we upgraded the site to PHP 7, which made it twice as fast. And we increased fraud protection with the addition of a custom module that we built to allow administrators the ability to detect fraudulent orders through a system of rules.
Since the completion of the initial project, the client has seen significant gains in productivity due to the new automation. With no manual process to run, staff time is freed up to focus on other tasks. Audio Deluxe has also received numerous great reviews regarding the site and its functionality.
For more information, visit www.acromedia.com or email us at solutions@acromedia.com