Consent Management Platform (CMP) Development Project for Cookie Information

Cookie Information were initially using third-party tools to power the consent management part of their business but wanted to build their own solution. 

The main reasons they wanted to build their own CMP were to have more control over technology and product roadmap, enabling them to build the features their clients needed.

To invest in custom software development, they turned to Clearcode due to our experience and expertise in custom AdTech & MarTech development.

Another key reason why they chose us was our full-service software development capabilities — i.e. frontend and backend software engineers, a dedicated project manager, and scrum and agile management processes. 

At the time, Cookie Information were a startup and didn’t have their own internal development team, so being able to access all the technical skills needed for the project was a big advantage for them.

MVP scoping and MVP development

• Held in-person workshops.
• Confirmed the project’s tech stack — programming languages and frameworks, cloud-computing services, databases etc.
• Created a story map outlining the key features and functionalities of the CMP.
• Developed the CMP’s initial set of features.

Post-MVP development

• Built the self-serve dashboard.
• Built the invoice module.
• Set up Integrations and developed plugins.
• Built a reporting module.
• Integrated the CMP with the IAB’s TCF.
• Maintained the CMP.

• Self-serve dashboard
• Website cookie scanner
• Invoice module
• Google Tag Manager and Consent Mode integrations
• IAB TCF integration
• Reporting module

Working towards a deadline

One of the main challenges was meeting the strict deadline. 

Cookie Information wanted us to develop and release the MVP before the GDPR took effect. This meant we only had 5 months to plan, build and release the MVP. 

Fortunately, the project had a clear vision and good direction, allowing us to progress with the project quickly.

To meet the deadline, we focused on selecting the essential features for the minimum viable product (MVP) and applied the agile development methodology.

Managing and working with technical debt

After releasing the MVP, we had to balance addressing technical debt caused by the rapid development of new features with the continued development of the product. 

Technical challenges, like web browser and cloud-computing obstacles, came up, and design decisions were limited by the need to stay compatible with the existing solution for existing clients. 

We also faced challenges in supporting a wide range of browsers, including older versions, in our consent library.

Scaling the CMP

Scaling became a significant problem that we had to solve. Our team was skilled in PHP on the backend, but it didn’t fit well with the planned microservice architecture, so we switched to Node.js.

Over the 6 years we worked on the project, we built and released the CMP, extended its features, and integrated it with various other tools and platforms.

The CMP now handles over 10 million consent requests daily, serving approximately 5,000 customers. 

Additionally, it scans around 2 million URLs every day.

Important achievements:

1. The CMP generates revenue and is a stable and working product.
2. Cookie Information was able to attract a large investor.
3. We were able to help Cookie Information’s business grow as we added new features to the CMP and expanded its capabilities and functionalities.

Within this project, we proactively came up with many initiatives and established a very close partnership with Cookie Information.