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Walmart operates one of the most technologically complex, yet efficient, supply chains. We recently launched Walmart GoLocal, which extends that technology and expertise to a wide variety of businesses.
Walmart GoLocal empowers businesses of any size and type to easily use our technology to provide last-mile delivery capabilities, including a real-time view into delivery performance and progress, to their customers through standardized APIs — powered by the Walmart GoLocal Delivery as a Service platform.
The essential requirements to extend this technology to other businesses were multi-tenant architecture, simple API interfaces, cloud-native technology, a dedicated sandbox environment, rigorous security protocols, self-service tooling, a Client Center UI, and an analytics dashboard.
Multitenancy
We knew it was key to develop a multi-tenant system from the ground up that has a strong infrastructure with hardware efficiency through resource sharing for a variety of uses — without sharing data across clients. We provided data segmentation and isolation throughout our architecture, including schema definitions, APIs, and client-facing UIs.
Simple API Interfaces
Another key aspect was developing simple API interfaces with self-explanatory contracts. We wanted to ensure that we provided best-in-class functionality — designed to fit a variety of industries and sizes. In addition to the API interfaces, we support callbacks using Webhooks. These Webhooks are useful for clients who have their own interfaces and would like to incorporate event information or feedback from Walmart GoLocal into their systems.
We created industry-standard API subscription, authentication, and authorization tooling which allows us to define and apply security policies at the frontend. Our APIs are secured using an implementation of Oauth 2.0, and our clients are subscribed to our external APIs during onboarding. Clients begin by calling our token API using the client_credentials grant type to get the JWT (JSON Web Token) based bearer token. This bearer token is passed on all the subsequent API calls. We use short-lived bearer tokens that are active for only 15 minutes.
Cloud-Native Technology
We knew our systems needed to be built using loosely coupled microservice architecture with cloud-native technology and be deployed in multiple regions. This development strategy allowed us to provide resiliency, auto-scaling, zero-downtime deployments, and be multi-cloud. Our microservices are deployed into Kubernetes clusters as Docker workloads. We also ensured that all of our end-facing services follow the sync model, whereas our internal interactions within and between our services follow the async model, decoupled using Kafka.
Dedicated Sandbox Environment
We have a dedicated sandbox environment for our clients to use for their development, testing, and continuous integration needs. This environment allowed us to push beta changes and enable clients to do end-to-end and user-acceptance testing. It also has simulation capabilities to replicate driver actions — allowing our clients to follow the delivery throughout its lifecycle, which enables our clients to test the integration independently.
Rigorous Security Protocols
As the world’s largest retailer, we knew that rigorous security protocols would also be essential. Our services went — and continue to go through — meticulous Infosec and privacy review procedures to ensure that our clients and their customers are protected from unauthorized access and use. Walmart GoLocal natively supports California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) access and delete requests, client-specific data retention, and obfuscation policies.
Self-Service Tooling
We also focused on providing self-help tooling for user management, delivery service settings, subscriptions, and audit trails that our clients could use to manage on their own — without depending on our centralized operations team.
We had to build using an outward view, so there would be clear separation from Walmart-specific terminology and any pre-conditions. This would enable any business to integrate into our delivery services without adhering to Walmart-specific system requirements. As a part of a wider commercialization strategy, services would be consumable in an a-la-carte vs. all-or-nothing mode.
As we were building this platform, we kept in mind the needs of small, medium, and large-scale business partners. We wanted to ensure the experience of onboarding was as seamless as possible and that new clients would be able to integrate either via the APIs or a well-designed, intuitive, and highly responsive UI.
Client Center UI
Client Center UI provides a one-stop location for all configuration, reporting, and invoicing secured behind firewalls and authentication/authorization layers. We built the UI to follow responsive web design so that it could be accessed via desktop or mobile devices, and we ensured it would be backed by state-of-the art auditing to track and monitor changes and also supports white labelling. After reviewing use cases and performing initial integration reviews, any new client is granted access to the platform. If the client needs customization for certain apps or to change the look and feel, those updates can be accommodated with minimal code changes. The platform has strict access controls in place so that no customer can view or edit anyone else’s data. Multiple microservices exist to manage users, clients, delivery sources, and destination Pickup Points.
Analytics Dashboard
Apart from building the Client Center UI, we also wanted to provide clients an analytics dashboard with easy access to essential data to support them in monitoring and understanding performance — without relying on account managers and support teams.
The Analytics dashboard provides businesses with the data required to make short, medium, and long-term strategic decisions that produce exceptional operations and delivery outcomes, as well as the transparency required to establish trust as a service provider. This flexible feature allows for the adjustment of reports and dashboard views, without engineering customization, after a one-time data linking process.
We created a state-of-the-art last-mile technology that has already proven successful for Walmart. Now, we are extending that technology — empowering a wide variety of businesses to offer reliable delivery services that guarantee the same great customer experiences we’ve become known for. Thank you to everyone who has been a part of the Walmart GoLocal launch. Your efforts have solidified our status as a truly nimble, agile, and customer-centric technology company.
Walmart GoLocal Tech: Powering Delivery for Businesses was originally published in Walmart Global Tech Blog on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.
Article Link: Walmart GoLocal Tech: Powering Delivery for Businesses | by Parvez Musani | Walmart Global Tech Blog | Nov, 2021 | Medium