About the project
byrd is a rapidly growing technology company offering comprehensive fulfillment services for e-commerce. With its own network of warehouses across Europe and modern cloud-based software, byrd enables online retailers to automate logistics processes, integrate with popular e-commerce platforms, and efficiently manage returns.
New integration team to support logistics automation
Customer experience
Fireup.pro is the best IT agency I've ever worked with, and I have extensive experience in this field!
Sebastian Mach
Co-founder & CTO at byrd
From challenge
Key Challenges
Market expansion strategy
Market expansion strategy
Expanding integrations with courier and e-commerce platform APIs to enable rapid entry into new markets.
Building a solution from scratch
Building a solution from scratch
The need to build an integration team from scratch to ensure both maintenance and development of existing solutions.
Flexibility in the face of changing APIs
Flexibility in the face of changing APIs
Potrzeba reagowania na częste zmiany w API zewnętrznych systemów.
High quality data
High quality data
Utrzymanie wysokiej jakości danych – poprawność adresów, deklaracji celnych, kodów HS.
Key functional requirements
Carrier integrations:
- Registering and ordering shipments.
- Generating courier labels: for shipments from the warehouse to the end customer and for return shipments.
- Handling customs documents and declarations.
- Retrieving parcel tracking data (tracking number, tracking link).
- Supporting various delivery methods (address delivery, pickup points, parcel lockers).
Shop integrations:
- Importing orders from e-commerce platforms into the byrd WMS.
- Synchronizing inventory levels between the byrd WMS and the online store.
- Transferring parcel tracking data from the byrd WMS to the store, enabling customers to check the order status.
Key non-functional requirements
Carrier integrations:
- Minimizing the number of errors during courier label generation.
- Reducing the time required to order shipments (including label generation).
- Decreasing the number of returns caused by address or customs declaration errors.
- Limiting additional charges imposed by carriers due to incorrect customs declarations.
Shop integrations:
- Minimizing the number of unimported orders.
- Reducing errors in inventory synchronization.
- Adapting to API rate limits of e-commerce platforms.
Through the solution
Through the solution
Implementation Process
The fireup.pro team began by onboarding and analyzing the technical documentation. Each integration followed a complete cycle: from requirements gathering, through architecture design and implementation, to testing and production deployment. A key part of the process also involved documentation and the creation of runbooks.
Methodologies Used
Initially, the team worked in sprints, later switching to a Kanban approach – which better suited the evolving nature of the project and the need for rapid response to changes.
Challenges
- Varying quality of API technical documentation (often available only in Italian or Spanish).
- Failures of external systems and the need to switch to alternative integrations.
- Issues with the quality of data entered by end users.
- Strong emphasis on testing and quality – each new integration had to undergo rigorous test scenarios in a test environment.
To the success
Project Phases
Business Requirements Gathering
Business Requirements Gathering
At this stage, the team identifies the client’s needs and defines the goals the planned integration is expected to achieve.
Access to the Integrated Service's Technical Documentation
Access to the Integrated Service's Technical Documentation
This includes activating a company account with the service provider and gaining access to the development/test environment (the so-called sandbox). These actions usually require a signed agreement between byrd and the service provider.
Discovery/Investigation Phase
Discovery/Investigation Phase
During this phase, the technical documentation is analyzed and technical tasks are prepared. The integration architecture is also designed, and potential dependencies on other teams are identified.
Implementation Phase
Implementation Phase
The source code is typically developed by a single developer. In parallel, at least one other team member conducts a code review to ensure the high quality of the implemented solutions.
Testing Phase
Testing Phase
– For carrier integrations, tests include generating courier labels for various parameter combinations, such as domestic shipments, intra-EU shipments, and those with customs declarations.
– For shop integrations, tests focus on verifying the correct import of orders into the byrd WMS, synchronization of stock levels, and propagation of shipment tracking details from the WMS to the online store.
Production Deployment of the Integration
Production Deployment of the Integration
After successful testing, the integration is launched in the production environment.
Client Onboarding
Client Onboarding
The team supports clients in connecting their online stores (on a given e-commerce platform) to the byrd WMS system.
Integration Maintenance
Integration Maintenance
This includes ongoing technical support, monitoring the integration's performance, and responding to changes on the side of the service provider or e-commerce platform.
Technological outcomes
Development and maintenance of a scalable integration system supporting multiple e-commerce platforms and courier company APIs.
Deployment of new integrations enabling expansion into the Italian and Spanish markets (including BRT, Correos, Posteitaliane, SEUR).
Automation of onboarding processes using Zapier and custom integration components.
Maintaining high system reliability through rapid response to changes and failures in external APIs.
Development of a billing system that enables automatic invoice generation and calculation of shipping rates based on operational data.
Business Benefits
Enabled byrd to expand its services into new markets – Italy and Spain – without increasing the workload of the core team.
Improved the handling of parcel deliveries to pickup points, including various types of parcel lockers across several European countries.
Reduced the number of integration errors and end-customer support requests, resulting in improved service quality.
Shortened the time required to implement new integrations and respond to changes in external systems.
Increased operational flexibility – thanks to automation and a dedicated integration team, the company was able to quickly adapt to market and technological changes.
Relieved operational and customer support teams by automating many manual processes and integrating data across systems.
Strengthened partner and customer trust through operational stability and transparent logistics processes.
Project team
Piotr
Software Engineer,
(Integration & WMS Systems)
Key team competencies
- Integration architecture design
- Experience with WMS (Warehouse Management Systems)
- Automated and manual testing
- Observability and telemetry (OpenTelemetry)
- Knowledge of DDD (Domain-Driven Design) and clean architecture patterns
Tech stack
Python
Flask
PostgreSQL
Redshift
Redis
AWS
Kubernetes
OpenTelemetry
Grafana
TypeScript
Angular
Android
Kotlin
Your success is our success
See how we can build a technological advantage for your company together.
Innovations
Implementation of custom integration blocks in Zapier to automate onboarding processes.
Asynchronous collaboration and thorough documentation of all processes in runbooks.
Development of a billing system that automates invoice generation and logistics cost analysis.
We have a team that truly knows its stuff — we'll help you find a solution that works.
Conclusions & recommendations
Assigning at least two responsible team members to each integration increases response time and fosters a stronger sense of ownership.
Detailed documentation and avoiding knowledge silos are crucial for project success.
It's advisable to carefully plan the number of parallel integrations – quality should take precedence over quantity.
Asynchronous collaboration methods (e.g., recorded videos) enhance team efficiency.
