Case Study - 10th Planet Jiu Jitsu Dubai
How we rebuilt 10th Planet Jiu Jitsu Dubai's membership and operations platform into a self-service, automated, VAT-ready system — delivered in ~3 months with zero downtime.
- Client
- 10th Planet Jiu Jitsu Dubai
- Year
- Service
- Platform Engineering
Working with Vivyd Media has been an excellent experience. They understood exactly what I wanted for my academy from the very beginning, were incredibly responsive throughout the process, and consistently went above and beyond my expectations. I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend them to anyone looking for a professional team that genuinely cares about delivering great results.
We modernized 10th Planet Jiu Jitsu Dubai's membership and operations platform into a self-service, automated, VAT-ready system — rebuilt in phases and delivered with zero downtime. 10th Planet Dubai, a Jean Jacques Machado affiliate, runs BJJ, No-Gi, Muay Thai, and kids programs for adults and families.
- downtime
- Zero
- end to end
- ~3 mo
- automated tests
- 977
- security & data upgrades
- 50+
- saved / year
- ~AED 40k
- less manual admin
- ~80%
The starting point
A thriving academy, ready to scale — with a custom platform ready for a modernization to match its ambitions:
- Membership status was calculated in several places across the system — a clear opportunity to consolidate it into one reliable source.
- Day-to-day admin was largely manual — membership updates, payment reconciliation, attendance, and reporting took an estimated 15–20 hours a week (client estimate).
- Financial and UAE VAT reporting were handled manually and externally — ready to be built into the platform.
- Attendance ran on paper, with no dashboards yet for churn, retention, or attendance trends.
- The platform was primed for a security and data refresh to current best practices.
Our approach
We consolidated membership status into a single computed model — driven by dates and payment — then built the back office and member experience around automation, self-service, and visibility. Everything we shipped went out in phases, straight to production, behind 977 automated tests and zero-downtime migrations.
Project timeline
Step 1
Scoping
we mapped the platform, the data model, and the team's day-to-day pain points, then locked a phased plan with clear priorities.
Step 2
Planning
we designed the target architecture: one computed membership model, an automation-first back office, and a self-service member portal.
Step 3
Implementation
we shipped in phases straight to production, each behind 977 automated tests and zero-downtime, backward-compatible migrations.
Step 4
Testing & handover
an independent post-implementation review confirmed no billing or access regressions before we handed the platform over.
What we delivered
Stability & correctness
we made billing and access rock-solid with a single source of truth.
Member experience
a self-service portal: buy, upgrade, book classes & PT, join waitlists, check in.
Operational efficiency
we moved attendance and finance from paper and spreadsheets to automation and a front-desk POS.
Admin UI & reporting
a fast, modern back office with live business and financial dashboards.
Engineering quality
977 tests, CI/CD, and zero-downtime deploys — built to keep working.
Highlights
Open any highlight for the before → after and the impact.
A platform that runs itself — self-healing, self-service, and delivered with zero downtime.
Outcomes
~80%
less manual admin work
~AED 40k
saved per year across admin time and accounting
~12 months
the platform pays for itself
24/7
member self-service: buy, upgrade, book & pay anytime
977 tests
gating every deploy to production
500+ → ~8
queries on a key data path, after optimization
Built with
- Laravel (PHP 8.2)
- Inertia.js + React
- Tailwind CSS
- MySQL
- PayTabs
- Encrypted off-site backups
- GitHub Actions CI/CD
- Automated monitoring & alerting