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B2B Platform · Design + Build

Fortsys

We built Fortsys end-to-end: a Rails 7 + Hotwire application that turns IT procurement from a 2–3 week back-and-forth into a guided online flow. Buyers configure servers by spec, send a single solution request, and receive structured offers from Russian and Chinese distributors — all inside one bilingual workspace with built-in chat, document generation, and admin tooling.

Year
2023
Role
Design + Build
Timeline
6 months
Live
fortsys.org
Fortsys
// Results
2–3 weeks → 2 days
Approval time
EN / RU / CN
Languages
10k+ SKUs
Catalogue
// Built with
Ruby on Rails 7Hotwire (Turbo + Stimulus)PostgreSQLTailwind CSSSidekiqRedisDockerYandex Cloud
// The challenge

IT procurement in the Russia–China corridor lived in spreadsheets, WhatsApp threads, and PDFs. Buyers had no way to compare offers side by side, distributors lost time re-quoting the same builds, and admins had no visibility into where deals stalled. The market needed a single, multilingual workspace that respected how both sides actually negotiate.

// Our approach

We modelled the request → offer → chat → contract cycle as first-class objects in Rails, kept the UI server-rendered with Hotwire so the team could iterate without a frontend split, and made the admin panel a real product surface — not an afterthought — so operations could intervene on stuck deals before they died.

“
TechSprout took our procurement idea from whiteboard to a working platform our distributors and buyers actually use. Six months in, deals that used to take weeks of email are closing inside the product.
FF
Fortsys Founding TeamProduct, Fortsys
// What we shipped
01Multilingual catalogue (EN / RU / CN) with faceted search and dynamic filters
02Solution request flow — buyers configure, distributors offer, both sides chat in-context
03Admin tooling on Motor Admin + Blazer for analytics and ops review
04Role-based dashboards for buyers, distributors, and internal admins
05Document generation for contract packets and offer comparison sheets
06Dockerised CI/CD pipeline shipping to Yandex Cloud container registry
// Process
1

Discovery

Month 1

Mapped the existing procurement workflow with the Fortsys founders, audited supplier touchpoints across Russia and China, and locked the MVP scope.

2

Architecture

Month 1–2

Domain modelling for products, properties, solution requests, offers, and multi-role users. Settled on Rails 7 + Hotwire to keep the SPA feel without a separate frontend.

3

Build

Month 2–5

Iterative delivery in two-week sprints — catalogue, filters, request/offer flow, chat, admin panel, document generation, and bilingual UI.

4

Infra

Month 5

Containerised the app, set up GitHub Actions for image build + deploy, provisioned Yandex Managed PostgreSQL and Object Storage, wired up Sidekiq + Redis.

5

Launch

Month 6

Soft launch to a closed pilot of distributors and buyers, then opened registrations once the offer SLAs were holding.

Credits

TechSprout StudioProduct development + delivery
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