App Optimization for Smooth Online and
Offline Data Collection

Client:

Utility service provider

Industry:

Energy Management Tech

Core technologies:

Python, Flask, MongoDB

Country:

Switzerland

Client Background

The Swiss energy management tech company provides tools for metering, billing, and consumption tracking across residential buildings using smart gateways. It faced issues with excessive data (3–5 GB/month), system instability, and poor offline support across its 1,700 devices.

Project Objectives & Goals:

Cut data usage to under 300 MB/month
Switch to SQLite
Upgrade to the Raspberry Pi OS
Better offline data handling
Enhance UI for easier management

Challenge

The client engaged Glorium Technologies to address the demands of its growing infrastructure and increasingly complex technical challenges.

The system’s heavy data usage (3–5 GB/month for EV Chargers) made it hard to ensure reliable data transmission over limited 4G connections
Local event-based preprocessing was urgently needed to reduce unnecessary data traffic, eliminate non-essential data, and improve overall performance
The app often failed to record data during offline periods and sync properly when back online, affecting reliability and user confidence
The client wanted to refine the Meters tab to show unique IDs and groups by type, enable real-time load/zone updates on the Mobility page, and stop transactions in progress

Solution

A structured, iterative approach focused on deep discovery, parallel updates, and continuous feedback is what we were guided by. We analyzed each functional and non-functional requirement, prioritizing stability and offline reliability. The client received a robust system update plan designed to tackle each challenge in logical stages. Close collaboration and transparent reporting kept the client informed throughout the entire process.

Our contributions included:

Design and implementation: Our team designed and implemented incremental system updates, including enhancements to the local web server and refinements to the user interface, ensuring a more intuitive and efficient user experience
Server-side development: We conducted a detailed review of the existing infrastructure, identifying critical issues and optimizing the system for improved performance and reliability
Regulatory and compliance reporting: Through extensive testing, we validated the system’s offline data collection capabilities and update mechanisms, ensuring compliance with data integrity and synchronization requirements
Technological integration: Using a combination of web technologies and local server solutions, we ensured seamless operation across different environments, maintaining robustness in both online and offline scenarios

Key Features

Introduced local event-based data processing to cut data volume and boost reliability
Replaced MongoDB with lightweight SQLite for improved performance and stability
Updated the UI using Bulma and Pico CSS for faster loading, even with weak connectivity
Enhanced service updates and device control for stable operation across 1,700+ devices

Business Value

Optimized data efficiency

The solution drastically reduced data volume from 3-5GB to under 300MB monthly. This enabled cheaper transmission costs and faster synchronization speeds.

Better system reliability

By replacing MongoDB with SQLite, we eliminated critical crashes and enhanced platform stability, ensuring consistent uptime and a seamless user experience.

Time savings for teams and users

The refined UI/UX and real-time monitoring tools reduced manual oversight for internal technicians while giving end-users instant access to meter data and simplified controls