Native Mobile Apps for Customs Papers Management
INDUSTRY
Logistics
CLIENT
Boomerang Carnets
Boomerang Carnets: Native Mobile Apps for Customs Papers Management
"See how Waverley built a dual-native iOS & Android platform for customs documents with location-tracking, push notifications and alert management."
Waverley's mobile engineering team designed, built, and tested Carnet Valet, a comprehensive dual-native (iOS and Android) mobile application enabling users to manage critical customs documents during international travel. Developed for the Corporation for International Business, the application helps users navigate ATA Carnet requirements—documents allowing duty-free passage of goods across 70+ countries. Carnet Valet incorporates sophisticated geolocation tracking, push notifications, and alert management to reduce liability and improve user compliance with customs procedures. The project demonstrates Waverley's expertise in collaborative mobile development, handling complex feature requirements, and real-world testing of geolocation-dependent applications.
Boomerang Carnets
Founded in 1987 and headquartered in Barrington, Illinois, the Corporation for International Business (CIB) provides claims services and ATA Carnets for US businesses, artists, and journalists traveling internationally. As an ATA Carnet System member, CIB helps users expedite customs clearance across 70+ member countries. The organization recognized that smartphone applications could help users manage Carnet documents, track required items, verify compliance, and reduce errors that create liability for CIB.
Project Analysis
CIB required a dual-platform mobile application (iOS and Android) to help customers manage customs documents and high-value goods during international travel. The application needed to track Carnet "consumables" (items that diminish as goods are processed through customs), provide real-time location awareness (to notify users of customs checkpoints), send push notifications for compliance reminders, and maintain synchronization with CIB's existing customer database. Complex requirements included simulating geographic changes and tracking item consumption to verify correct application functioning.
What We Delivered
Waverley organized a distributed team of three designers (New York, Florence, Ukraine), a project manager, and development team in Ukraine. Using Agile methodology, the team worked through iterative cycles of user story generation, wireframing, native platform optimization, and simultaneous iOS/Android development.
Design and UX Process: Starting with simple flowcharts, the team generated over two dozen use scenarios captured in screen wireframes. These were optimized for native elements on each platform (iOS and Android), accounting for platform-specific UI conventions and user experience patterns.
Development Approach: iOS and Android development proceeded simultaneously while server-side infrastructure was built. This parallel development accelerated time-to-market while enabling early testing and integration. Initial releases encountered challenges with geolocation, offline functionality, and database synchronization—typical complexities in location-aware mobile applications.
Testing Methodology: Quality assurance required real-world testing of geolocation functionality. Waverley's team traveled to varied locations with different connectivity profiles (WiFi, Edge, 3G, LTE) to validate application behavior. Testing included simulated location changes and consumption tracking to verify correct application state management and notification delivery. The team also performed rigorous UI flow testing and user experience validation.
Communication and Iterations: The team started with bi-weekly Scrum meetings via Skype, then shifted to weekly and bi-weekly standups during stabilization phases. As the project matured, ad hoc calls between PM and specific engineers became the preferred communication mode, allowing rapid problem resolution while minimizing formal documentation overhead.
Technology Stack: Objective-C (iOS), Java (Android), .NET backend, geopositioning APIs, push notification services, cloud storage.
Outcomes & Impact
This new technology allows CIB customers to manage their Carnet documents more correctly, order additional documents in a timely fashion, answer basic FAQs by means of the app and gain live access to CIB Customer Service more easily, at the same time encountering fewer “surprises” and customs-related delays in their travels. For CIB, Carnet Valet is generating an unprecedented range and depth of information on customer behavior and preferences while reducing the costs related to incorrect use of Carnets.
Carnet Valet enables CIB customers to manage Carnet documents more effectively, order additional documents timely, access FAQs through the app interface, and contact CIB customer service directly. Users encounter fewer "surprises" and customs-related delays during international travel. For CIB, the application generates unprecedented insights into customer behavior and preferences while reducing operational costs related to incorrect Carnet usage. Client testimonial: "Waverley Software enabled us to turn high-level ideas into fully-working iOS and Android apps. Waverley truly shines when it comes to UX and UI design for mobile apps; their guidance and suggestions have been invaluable. Waverley's development team has also been great throughout the project, and we are extremely pleased with our new apps."—Andres Salaverria, Sr. VP IT, Corporation for International Business.
Key Takeaways
This project showcases Waverley's expertise in: dual-native mobile development (iOS/Objective-C and Android/Java), complex geolocation and location-aware features, real-world mobile testing with varied connectivity conditions, distributed team coordination across multiple geographies, agile development for mobile applications with iterative refinement, and UX design collaboration with multiple stakeholder groups.
Conclusion
The Boomerang Carnet engagement demonstrates Waverley's capability in building sophisticated mobile applications that solve real business problems in regulated industries. By combining thoughtful UX design, native platform expertise, and rigorous real-world testing, we created applications that users rely on for critical processes. If you need mobile applications for compliance, document management, or location-aware services, Waverley's mobile engineering team has the experience and expertise to deliver.
Let's Build Something Great.
Tell us about your project — we'll find the right path forward.