TelerikServices
CASE STUDY

Critigen – how a leading global
GIS integrator leveraged Telerik’s
advanced Silverlight expertise todeliver a complex logistics solution
for the US government

OVERVIEW
COUNTRY
USRelocating an entire city is challenging. When that city is a large
military base and several smaller bases near hostile countries, thechallenge becomes truly daunting. Critigen, charged with buildinga system to manage such projects, set out with an ambitious
vision to bring together many different types of data in a single,
intuitive interface. Teaming up with Telerik Services and using
Telerik’s RadControls for Silverlight, they succeeded in delivering anoutstanding solution within tight timelines.

INDUSTRYDefense
CUSTOMER PROFILE
Critigen is a full-lifecycle spatialsystems integrator improving
government and private-sector
performance through spatial IT
solutions and managed IT services.
BUSINESS SITUATIONThe US government required a system
to manage complex military baserelocation projects. This involved thevisualization of large quantities ofdisparate data in a single interface.
SOLUTION
Unable to find out of the box UI
controls that could meet theirambitious requirements, Critigen
leveraged Telerik Services’ deep
Silverlight knowledge to radicallyextend the RadControls for Silverlightby Telerik.
BENEFITS• Rapid development of uniquefunctionality within two week period• Telerik expertise enabled realizationof ambitious project aims

www.critigen.com

Detail views

Telerik was the perfect partner. They understood what we
wanted to do and they rapidly figured out the quickest routeto get us there.”
William Griep, Director of Software Development, Critigen

to weapons systems to personnel –and even soldiers’ home assets andfamilies – and the construction or
retrofitting of all necessary facilities atthe destination base.
Architecture overview

BACKGROUND
Without Telerik’sassistance, we’d have
had to delay delivery or
compromise the usabilityof the application... Having
Telerik on board accelerated
the project to the extent
that we were even able toinclude additional featuresthat were on the ‘nice tohave’ list.”

Critigen is familiar with the highstandards required by the military. As
specialists in information management
for critical infrastructure, they have
implemented solutions for hundredsof US Department of Defense (DoD)
clients in North America, Europe andAsia. Typical projects include delivering
comprehensive GIS support for theUS Navy GeoReadiness Program andproviding technology support for themanagement of all US Air Forcebases worldwide.

William Griep,
Director of Software
Development, Critigen

Critigen was in familiar territory when
the US Army commissioned themto build a system to manage therelocation of assets that comprisemilitary bases. “This kind of projectis our bread and butter,” says Ed
Riegelmann, Chief Geospatial Officerat Critigen. “We’ve been working for
DoD customers for more than 20 years,including when we were the EnterpriseManagement Solutions division ofCH2M HILL and continuing when we
became an independent company
in 2009.”

TIMELY ASSISTANCE FROM THE
ULTIMATE EXPERTS
The Telerik Services team prides itself
on the quality of its work and relishes
challenging projects. No matterthe technology, if Telerik offers
tools or controls for the platform,
Telerik Services has experts on staff
who can assist our customers withcustomizing a solution to meettheir needs.
Telerik Services works closely withclients, and occasionally key Telerik
Partners, to deliver the most valuableand challenging portions of a project
up front, while there is still time andbudget to adjust the project planif necessary. We look forward tosolving your mostchallenging problems!

THE CHALLENGE
The project goal was ambitious:
to provide a data visualization displaythat would allow Army facilities andoperational managers to track all theactivities involved in moving the mobile
assets of entire military bases from one
location to another. This included thephysical movement of every kind ofasset from portable buildings throughManagers would be able to see all
the required elements associatedwith each move activity, unified on asingle timeline, and have the ability
to drill down and see the detail –everything from the exact physicallocation to detailed facility and unittransition dependencies and planning
information – all without leaving themain interface environment.
To achieve this, Critigen would bring
together data from more than ahalf-dozen sources, relating themgeospatially and against a commontimeline. Leveraging their considerable
expertise in location intelligenceand data solutions, Critigen rapidly
developed the data architecture forthe project. Naturally, Critigen’s ability
to synthesize the vast amounts of
information to deliver insight andintuitive navigation would be an
essential factor in the success ofthe project.
“It was clear from the moment westarted wire framing that delivering an
intuitive and impactful UI was going
to be technically demanding,” says
William Griep, Director of Software
Development at Critigen. “Our strategy
was first to solve the data challenge,
then identify the best technology tomeet the resulting data visualizationneeds.”
Critigen selected Silverlight as themost suitable technology for theproject because of its strength as aplatform for rich interactive businessapplications and ability to integrate
data from a wide variety of sources,
including SharePoint. Then they
auditioned UI controls from severalvendors. “We knew we would notInformation Panels,
Quick Picks,
Common Timeline

Evangelist for XAML technologies anda key member of the Telerik Services
team. “We worked onsite with Critigen
for two days. We met with senior
developers and architects to discuss
the project and spec out requirements
for what they needed to do. Ourpriority was to get them started on apath towards the type of visuals theywould need to make it work.”

Packagesseparated bysector

Unit Moves andpopulation

The Telerik team realized that what
Critigen needed was beyond thecapabilities of any UI toolkit on themarket. The answer was to createcustom UI layers above and beyond theregular RadChart drawing surface while
utilizing the built-in RadChart APIs tocreate a multi-part, interactive map.
The extended RadChart would display
each unit and facility that neededto transition, along with additionalschedule and dependency information,by using custom visualizations to givethe impression of a single
charting surface.

Community
Support packages
and Supply &DemandHigh level overview

Package relationships

ADAPTABLE AND VERSATILE RADCONTROLS FOR SILVERLIGHT
One of the challenges faced by theTelerik XAML development team whenarchitecting the Telerik RadControls
was to ensure that they served a dual
purpose – easily covering 95% ofcustomer scenarios while remaining
flexible enough that customers canuse them for that other 5%. This isa key differentiator for the Telerikcontrols, ensuring that no scenario isout of reach with the right controlsand framework expertise.
In the case of Critigen’s project, thisversatility is what allowed for RadChart
to be used in such a unique way. By
combining the capabilities of theSilverlight framework, built-in API for
effects and layout, and a customized
visualization layer for turning several
charting surfaces into a single display,
the teams were able to solve acomplex problem.

get all the functionality we neededout of the box. We were looking forsolid, reliable products that could beextended to provide the functionality
we needed. Telerik RadControls met allour requirements. The only question
was whether we would be able toimplement the additional features weneeded in the timeframe available.”

THE SOLUTION
Critigen called on Telerik to evaluate
the task. “Nobody knows Telerik
controls better than Telerik, so we wentstraight to the source.”
Telerik responded by immediately
deploying senior members of its
Services team onsite at Critigen.
“We flew straight down to Atlanta,”
says Evan Hutnick, Telerik’s SeniorThis involved working with the teamto understand requirements, provide
detailed code samples on how to
implement certain functionality, andbeing available on-demand for any
issues that came up or changes
to requirements.

THE RESULT
During a period of just two weeks,Telerik Services helped Critigen design
and build radical modifications to theRadChart control. The enhanced tools
allowed Critigen to deliver a UI that isdelighting the system’s users.
Telerik’s responsive Services assistancemeant no compromises on schedule orbudget either. The system is now in use
by the US Army.
By successfully integrating data from allunits and all engineering/constructionresponsibilities, the system provides
General Officers with the reliable,
single source of truth data they use toreport progress to the US Congress.
It also provides the data needed tocoordinate construction relocation anddemolition activities while ensuring
critical defense operations are
not compromised.
“Telerik was the perfect partner,” says
William Griep. “They understood what
we wanted to do and they rapidly
figured out the quickest route to get us
there. There was also an easy cultural fit
for us. Both teams were laser-focusedon driving success for our client.

Our initial partnering session was highlyinteractive and creative and resulted ina creative and practical path forward.
After the initial briefing we were able
to call on Evan and his team whenever
we needed them, and they responded
quickly with advice and code to keep uson track.”“Without Telerik’s assistance, we’d have
had to delay delivery or compromise
the usability of the application. Neitherof those are in Critigen’s DNA. Having
Telerik on board accelerated theproject to the extent that we were evenable to include additional features thatwere on the ‘nice to have’ list.”

In addition to these criticalcontributions, Critigen calculates thatinvolving Telerik Services delivered
cost savings of approximately 20%
compared with attempting to develop
the same solution without
expert advice.

THE VERDICT
Would Critigen call on Telerik Services
again? “In the short time since wecompleted that project, we havealready worked with Telerik on another
Silverlight project. We won’t hesitate to
involve them whenever we needtheir expertise.”

FIND OUT MOREABOUT CRITIGEN
Critigen is a full-lifecycle spatial systems
integrator improving business performancethrough spatial IT solutions and managed ITservices. Critigen helps clients make spatialtechnologies “work” in organizations of allsizes, integrates spatial technologies withenterprise systems, and enables field users
with mobile spatial solutions.
With global reach, top-tier partnerships anda full-lifecycle approach, Critigen delivers
all components of a geospatial program:data collection, spatial processing, analytics
and intelligence, application development,
mobile solution development, hosting andCloud services. Critigen’s Spatial Enterpriseconsulting services tie these technology andprocess components together with businessstrategies that maximize the value ofgeospatial information. www.critigen.com
ABOUT TELERIK SERVICES
Telerik Services provides skilled,knowledgeable consultants who can help
you successfully implement your solution,improve your processes and increase
productivity and quality. Expertise in ALM,

UXD, project management, development,
customization, testing and training means
Telerik Services can make an effective
contribution at every point in your project.
ABOUT RADCONTROLS FOR SILVERLIGHTBY TELERIKRadControls for Silverlight is a powerfulbusiness-ready suite of UI controls forcreating engaging, interactive user
experiences for Web and Desktop.
With more than 65 individual controls,
RadControls for Silverlight cuts yourdevelopment time and accelerates projectdelivery, thanks to its shallow learning curveand industry-leading support.
ABOUT TELERIKTelerik is the market-leading provider
of end-to-end solutions for application
development, automated software testing,agile project management, reporting, andcontent management across all major
Microsoft development platforms. Telerik
is trusted by more than 100,000 customers
worldwide for its innovation and industrybest technical support.

Go to www.telerik.com
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Email services@telerik.com

Copyright Telerik 2013. All rights reserved.
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All information believed correct at time of printing.