Online/Offline Terminal Software - A Case Study

Terminal software systems can be found in many forms, and they cover several industrial cases, from Point of Sale (POS) systems in the retail industry, logistics and shipment tracking in transportation, booking terminals in travel, trading & financial apps in banking, and so on.

In this case study, we explain how we developed a highly reliable terminal system for visitors’ on-site registration, check-in and badge-printing, in a specialized case for the events’ industry.

Big international trade shows welcome tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of visitors during the exhibition days. At peak times, there can be tens of visitors registering/checking-in and printing their badge simultaneously, while other visitors await for their turn in the registration line. While it might not seem a difficult task, in fact, the terminal registration software plays a mission-critical role at such big trade shows, as even a short shortage in the system’s availability at peak times may translate to hundreds of people stuck waiting at the event’s entrance.

The Requirements

Visitors expect to register to a trade show from anywhere, either the web, their smartphone or on-site at the registration desks, and while visiting the show to check in and print their badge seamlessly, quickly, and without hassles. It’s a real-time system where visitors’ registration data has to be available during their on-site check-in (or create new registration records for visitors that register directly on-site) no matter the internet or local network conditions in the venue at that very moment.

The Solution

To ensure a 100% uninterruptible registration process at large trade shows, we designed a sophisticated online/offline software architecture, where the on-site registration terminal system synchronizes bi-directionally in real-time with the online cloud infrastructure, and at the same time being ready to switch in offline mode at any moment, if it detects any anomaly in the network or internet connectivity.

Being switched in offline mode, the terminal software operates completely locally and autonomously, continuing accepting registrations and check-ins as before, without any disruption. When connectivity is restored back, the system detects it instantly, switches back to online mode and synchronizes all data with the cloud infrastructure.

The Result

The result is an amazing 100% unbreakable on-site registration/check-in process that is reliable enough to power with ease the registration at even the largest international trade shows.

Epilogue

Our solution is battle-tested and is used for years in several big annual trade shows. Its second generation that was launched recently, has been enhanced even more and enriched with eye-caching self-registration screens and animations, and is part of our Cloud-based event management platform. You can visit our solution at its dedicated website, at ExpoSystem.io.