Agile Software Development
Princeton has an unrivaled track record in designing and successfully implementing custom software applications ranging from strategic tools to core operating systems.
Case Study
Agile Software Development: Intermodal
The North American Class 1 Railroads sought to drive more revenue through increased modal conversion from truck to rail and an enhanced customer experience.
Princeton developed Pegasus, the first commercial Intermodal software platform for the North American Rail Industry. Pegasus provides the full complement of services including door-to-door orders, drayage, gate and facilities management, rail billing, invoicing, settlements and accessorials.
Pegasus has become the backbone of North American Class I intermodal, deployed by CN, CPKC, CSX, NS (Thoroughbred Direct and Triple Crown), and UP (Streamline). It has also been implemented by important industry participants such as TTX and leading intermodal marketing companies (IMCs).
Case Study
Agile Software Development: B2B Mobile App
Leadership of a business insurance broker sought a new-generation software application to audit businesses and facilities for risk and provide mitigation recommendations.
Traditionally, inspectors traveled to sites and filled out paper checklists, took photos on digital cameras and uploaded them to a local computer, transcribed information into a web browser, exported to Word document reports which required additional manual modification and layout changes, and emailed the final report to clients.
Princeton built a software solution with a modern user interface to simplify the workflow and ease data entry by providing suggestions to users. The solution was deployed on a field device with a camera so reports are now created during inspections, improving customer service and inspector productivity.
Case Study
Agile Software Development: Revenue Forecasting
A Class 1 railroad sought a new-generation revenue forecasting system, leveraging cutting edge analytics and forecasting techniques.
Princeton designed and built the new system, based on macroeconomic indicators, replacing a resource intensive, multi-month bottom-up exercise with a flexible scenario-based system that runs in minutes.
“Princeton Consultants proved to be a great choice for this [Revenue Forecasting] project. They remained very aware of our timeline needs and were helpful in making sure we built what was needed to meet the initial requirements, while also keeping in mind future needs. Their guidance enabled us to deliver the project on time.”
– Class 1 Rail AVP Market Research and Forecasting
Case Study
Agile Software Development: Train Marshaling and Reporting
A Class 1 Railroad is modernizing its Yard Management system, a mission critical system comprised of several key subsystems that are vital to the mission of efficiently, reliably, and safely moving freight through the rail network.
- Princeton developed the new-generation integrated train marshaling rules engine to validate and automate the construction of train consists in compliance with train marshalling rules and to be integrated into existing legacy applications.
- Enhanced Train Reporting by providing visibility and automatically reconcile planned consists versus train scanner reporting, with notifications when action is needed leveraging ML/AI analytics.
The application was designed and successfully deployed in 6 weeks.
Case Study
Agile Software Development: User Journey Design
Rail executives engage Princeton to document existing user journeys and create the next-generation journeys. Princeton employs a streamlined “Design-Think” design methodology for journey design, which may focus on a journey from a system point of view rather than a human end-user point of view.
Case Study
Agile Software Development: PTC
Since Positive Train Control (PTC) was federally mandated in 2008, Princeton has developed industry-leading PTC solutions for safety, security, communications and signaling. Railroads are leveraging the data to improve safety and operations.
Princeton developed and offers SATS, the dominant rail signal design, testing and simulation platform. It is used by most freight railroads, transit agencies and engineering firms, and is now the preferred testing solution for hundreds of engineers, managers and designers.