Software Engineering

Custom software engineering in Toronto and across Ontario: Python pipelines, integrations and applications; Flutter apps for iOS, Android and web; web scraping and data extraction — built accessible, tested on every change, in repositories you own, by a team that has shipped software for public-sector, healthcare and research organizations since 1995.

software delivered for Ontario's public sector and operators
Since 1995 software delivered for Ontario's public sector and operators
models the data, designs the interface, writes the integration
One team models the data, designs the interface, writes the integration
repositories, accounts and documentation in your name
Yours repositories, accounts and documentation in your name

One team, three disciplines

Software engineering at Cantan Group is one team that models the data, designs the interface and writes the integration: Python for the pipelines, integrations and applications that run inside organizations; Flutter for the apps their people carry; pattern engineering for the data that lives in web pages, documents and feeds. The disciplines differ; the habits do not — the model first, tests on every change, accessibility built in, the totals reconciled, and code in a repository under your name. We have worked this way for Ontario’s public sector, healthcare and research organizations since 1995, and the case studies below are how it looks in production.

Built to be owned

The measure of an engineering engagement is not launch day but the third year: whether the system is still understood, still tested, still yours. We build for that — documentation that outlives the project, upgrades planned from the first module, monitoring that tells you before your users do — and we stay accountable after go-live for as long as you want us to.

How we engineer

The disciplines differ; the habits do not

The model first

Every system we build starts with the data model — the thing that makes an application simple or awkward, a pipeline trustworthy or brittle. We get it right before the first screen, and it is why our software is still understandable in year three.

Tested on every change

Tests that run on every commit, a staging environment you can see, and working software every two weeks. Validation rules written down as code, not remembered by one person.

Accessible by construction

Whatever we build — a Django application, a Flutter app, a portal, a report — is built to WCAG 2.1 AA and tested with assistive technology, because the people who use it have a right to, and for Ontario organizations it is the law. The same accessibility practice that serves our public-sector clients.

Integrated with what you run

The ERP, the CRM, the warehouse, the legacy database nobody will retire: connected with code we own and test, with the totals reconciled — the engineering between the systems in our ERP practice.

Operated after go-live

Monitoring, scheduled runs that report, platform updates nobody budgets for, and a named person who answers. We stay accountable for performance, not just delivery.

Owned by you

Code in repositories under your name, store and cloud accounts in your name, documentation that outlives the engagement. If you leave us, you leave with everything.

How an engagement runs

  1. Discover

    The users, the data as it is, the systems as they are, and the decisions the software has to support. A scope you can price and a plan you can defend.

  2. Model, then build

    The data model first, then working software in two-week increments with tests on every change and the integration built alongside.

  3. Reconcile and release

    Rehearsed runs against real data, totals tied to the source, store submissions and cutovers that are boring on purpose.

  4. Operate

    Monitoring, updates and a retainer sized to how much you want to own.

Who this is for

Public-sector programs and field operations

Ministries, agencies and institutions that need an application, a pipeline or a data system procured through the Ontario Vendor of Record and built accessibly.

Healthcare, research and education

Organizations whose software carries regulated data, research archives and clinical tools — where validation, provenance and accessibility are requirements, not preferences.

Operators whose process is the business

Companies whose way of working is their advantage and whose software has to encode it — with the integration to the systems they already run.

In our clients' words

Imran and his team developed and maintained several highly customized solutions for our company. I worked closely with Imran for over two years -- you'd be hard-pressed to find a more creative, savvy, responsive developer.
Rick Satenstein — Director of Operations, Green Standards Ltd.
It's been a pleasure working with Imran and Cantan Group. Excellent service! Highly recommend.
Sami Siddique — Chairman, Founder and CEO, Cya LIVE

All client reviews

Questions we're asked

What do you build?

Data pipelines, integrations and applications in Python; iOS, Android and web apps in Flutter; web scraping, parsing and data extraction with regular expressions; the custom modules and portals of our Odoo practice; and the agents, document intelligence and guardrails of our Intelligent Automation practice, which this team builds. One team does all of it, which is why the pieces fit.

Do you take over existing code?

Yes. We start with an honest audit — what is sound, what is why the upgrade fails, what should be retired — and either put it on a retainer or plan a rebuild that keeps what works. Most rescues are systems that grew without tests or documentation; we add both.

Which languages and platforms?

Python for pipelines, integrations, Django and Odoo; Dart and Flutter for apps; PHP where WordPress needs it; SQL, DAX and the platforms your data lives on. We choose the tool for the job and say when the answer is a product rather than code.

How is it priced?

A fixed fee for a scoped build after discovery, and a retainer for operation and evolution. We would rather quote a smaller first release you can extend than a large one you have to trust.

Who owns the result?

You do: the code, the accounts, the documentation and the models, in your name from the first commit.

Where is the team?

Toronto, working across Ontario and remotely where the work allows, with in-person sessions where they matter — the strategy sessions that shaped the Electronic Daily Flight Report and CYA Live’s thirty-day release were in the room.
Contact us

Have a hard problem and a budget?

Tell us what's driving it. You'll talk to the people who do the work.

A sentence or two is plenty: the problem, the system, the deadline.