Revitalizing the UI and testing framework for Bigleaf Networks

The challenge

Bigleaf sought to overhaul its UI to compete with industry leaders, improve user experience and streamline development. It faced outdated design elements and challenging timelines. Its CI/CD infrastructure also needed an audit to support long-term performance enhancements and cost savings.

Critical goals:

• Seamless migration from legacy tools.
• Improved test coverage.

What we did

• Conducted a comprehensive frontend audit of the design system, technology stack and existing solutions.
• Selected a reliable, off-the-shelf design system that accommodates future scalability, and built a consistent visual language on it.
• Audited the architecture and CI/CD pipelines, identifying bottlenecks and outdated tools.
• Designed with Bigleaf a detailed migration roadmap addressing performance, maintenance and cost efficiency.
• Audited test automation and streamlined the test codebase with the Page Object Model, fixtures and data-driven testing.
• Introduced robust regression test plans, extended test suites, and shifted testing earlier in the release pipeline.
• Optimized internal test frameworks, improved Postgres SQL query performance, and explored Graphite for time-series data visualization.

How we built it

The work covered four areas, each starting with an audit.

1. UI modernization A frontend audit showed that reusing or refreshing the existing components was impractical, so we chose a reliable, off-the-shelf design system that fits the project’s immediate goals and future scalability. Its standardized components gave design and development a consistent visual language, faster UI updates and easier maintenance.
2. Infrastructure and CI/CD We audited Bigleaf’s architecture and CI/CD pipelines and identified bottlenecks and outdated tools. Our senior engineers then designed with Bigleaf a detailed roadmap addressing performance, maintenance and cost efficiency.
3. Test automation and QA After a test automation audit, best practices such as the Page Object Model, fixtures and data-driven testing reduced the maintenance effort for new features. Robust regression test plans, extended suites and earlier testing in the release pipeline aligned QA with Bigleaf’s schedules.
4. Backend and team scaling Our team integrated with Bigleaf’s backend developers to accelerate progress: optimizing internal test frameworks, improving Postgres SQL query performance, exploring Graphite for time-series data visualization, and delivering enhancements faster in close collaboration.

Planned epics were completed a month early, 8% faster than the initial plan, on a design system with more than 90% reusable components and tests covering ~99.9% of typical use cases.

In the client’s words

Working with CodiLime felt like an extension of our own team. They quickly understood our goals and guided us in modernizing our UX. Their engineers integrated seamlessly and delivered a new UI ahead of schedule (8% faster). This collaboration also brought a standardized design system (>90% reusable components), improved test coverage (~99.9% coverage), and a clear migration path to a future-ready distributed architecture. We were impressed by their clear communication and flexibility when facing new challenges.

David Kubarycz, VP of Engineering, Bigleaf Networks