UAPomoc WebApp

UApomoc in short

• Project scope: Front End, Back End, DevOps
• Start of project: 25 February 2022
• Team: started from 5 developers
• Project type: charity project
• Live version: https://uapomoc.pl

For whom did we create the project UApomoc?

UApomoc.pl is a CetusPro initiative. It is a charity project created to help Ukraine refugees. We developed an app not only for refugees but also for people who want to offer their help.

Challenge

The biggest challenge was to create a working version of the app in a short time. The first version, which allowed adding announcements, was released in 2 days.

A big challenge was also to ensure the stability of the app in case of a large number of users, as we predicted a high level of activity on the site.

When the war broke out, many people helped refugees financially or in a direct way. In CetusPro we thought that if we knew about technology, we would use it to help people by developing an app that connects refugees with people who want to offer their help in a simple way.

Norbert Pisz

/ CEO - cetuspro.com

Process

When the armed conflict between Russia and Ukraine began, we met with 5 people at CetusPro on Friday evening and decided to start work on the UApomoc project. The software developers of CetusPro had been working all night and by Saturday we had already implemented a working version of the application in the production environment. On Sunday, another 5 programmers, who wanted to develop the app in their spare time to help Ukrainian citizens, joined the project.

While we were working on the application in the first step of the project, we collectively prepared a document with a specification to define the distribution of tasks. We wanted to run the application as quickly as it was possible, so we started with the most important elements, like the form of advertisements, along with a list that was divided into appropriate categories.

We have relied on a constant and continuous development of the app. During the first working days, a new version for the production environment was implemented on average every 15 minutes. On the third working day we had around 2500 active users at one time, which motivated us to continue working.

After the promotion in the media, the whole project became an open source application to which everyone was able to contribute something. At the peak, about 200 people were working on the project, including programmers, testers, marketing managers, volunteers, who reviewed the announcements added and people who coordinated the entire action. The entire community working on the project has gathered on the Discord server help4ua.org and the source code on the application has been placed in our GitHub account: https://github.com/cetuspro/help4ua.org-frontend.

Results

Users are able to use the app from 29 February, 2022. Since 2 June, 2022, more than 4000 announcements have been published on the website.

The app has been made available in several languages, so anyone, regardless of their nationality, can offer his/her help.

Those who want to offer their help to the citizens of Ukraine can add advertisements in several categories. They can offer accommodation, transportation, translation assistance, legal and medical assistance, job offers and much more. Users can also add help points and accommodation. Refugees can find the nearest places on the map.

In the application’s admin panel, volunteers can manage the ads they added and verify their correctness.

We integrated the app into the SMSAPI service with which we sent more than 5000 SMS messages to improve the communication.

Media and celebrity support

Many companies took part in the action and the actions were promoted by well-known people and the media. We would like to thank everyone for their help and involvement.

Companies, which support UApomoc:

• Ciklum supported us with 10+ developers
• Sii Polska supported us with developers and testers
• SMSAPI provided the possibility of sending SMS without limit
• cyberFolks.pl provided the server and hosting
• Cloudity supported us with developers
• Fundacja SysOps/DevOps Polska helped us implement security

Within 2 days, we had created the first version of the app, which wasn’t perfect, but fulfilled the primary objective, namely to help the refugees from Ukraine. Thanks to the development of the app we were able to do something good. What pleases us the most is that a large community has formed around the project. Individuals have participated in actions by sacrificing their private time and often were working whole nights to help as many people as possible. I would like to thank all those involved in the project, both to CetusPro programmers as well as to external people and companies from whom we have also received support.

Norbert Pisz

/ CEO - cetuspro.com

Summary

In a few days, we developed an app that has helped thousands of refugees find help in Poland and other countries. A very large community gathered around the project and the project was able to develop quickly. App is avaiable at: https://uapomoc.pl