Basic Data Services project descriptions

php applications

infomail systems

secure sql clients

sql for smart phones

web forms processors

web apps for workgroups

xml data convertor utilities

Past projects include custom process automation solutions for all kinds of problems.


	Accounts Payable Enhancements Bulk E-mail Automation Corporate Brand Protection Corporate Secretary Currency Exchange Distribution List Managers E-commerce Catalogs E-mail Message Parser Event Log Monitor	Inventory & Point-of-Sale Jewelry Appraisal Information Merge Editor Intranet Forms Litigation Reference Microfiche Index Offsite Records Storage Technical Recruitment Trademarks Management

Accounts Payable Enhancements Created in order to enable a department to track and examine it's expenses in greater detail than the legacy accounts payable system could easily be customized to allow, information from incoming invoices is extracted and classified by departmentally defined project and matter codes and attributes. A subset of the data is summarized to print out payment request forms in the format expected by the legacy accounts payable system, while the additional data is used to create detailed reports for department managers and exported for additional pivot table analysis

Bulk E-mail Automation When a corporate e-mail server suffered an unrecoverable error immediately prior to it's scheduled daily back-up, we were asked to quickly build a database which could parse the server's transmission logs and then send each user an individual message listing details of messages lost when the server failed. The system worked well and the technology was later used to automate the mass transmission of individual messages with specific information tailored to each user, including encrypted and compressed file attachments.

Corporate Brand Protection This system integrated 4 legacy databases into a single resource, creating a mechanism for coordinating brand protection services while providing a searchable catalog of trademark infringement, opposition and counterfeit intelligence. Users in North America, Asia, and Europe maintain the database, adding and updating records as necessary. Related images are imported, cataloged, and stored on a secure intranet server and are retrieved via standard web browser. The system also includes comprehensive report-generation capabilities.

Corporate Secretary Tracking corporate information for a portfolio of 100+ international companies, including reporting obligations and deadlines, shareholder and board member details, directorships, share distributions, policy statements, by-laws, charters, minutes, and references to related documents, this system was co-developed by administrators on 3 continents working collaboratively on interface and functionality iterations.

Currency Exchange Programmed to retrieve a daily e-mail message containing the currency exchange rates for 70 countries, this simple utility parses out all exchange rate information and then re-builds a table which shows comparisons of each of the currency's units per US$ and US$ per each of the currency's units. The updated information is then passed into a globally referenced accounts payable database for inclusion in various currency related calculations.

Distribution List Managers This database repackages data extracted from a legacy corporate directory application in order to create an MS Exchange server's e-mail distribution list input file. Besides giving administrators precise control over rules for defining distribution list members, the system also searches for and repairs errors in various e-mail address components. Aspects of the system are also used by communications, security, and executive administrative personnel as an enhanced corporate directory utility as it provides a hierarchically-defined departmental cross-reference with comprehensive records on 14,000+ employees, contractors, and temporary workers, many with photographs later integrated from the company's security access system.

E-commerce Catalog Managers These databases provide a simple and accurate way to maintain large amounts of product information in e-commerce shopping cart databases. Adapted to existing systems, they are designed to make it much easier to correctly add, modify, or delete product information in e-catalogs containing unlimited numbers of products.

E-mail Message Parser A department required the ability to process form information submitted via web browsers, but the web server administrators did not want to add database functionality to the server. The administrators instead used a standard e-mail CGI which forwarded any submitted form's contents as an e-mail message. We built a database which could batch collect all of the e-mail messages, examine them, parse out relevant data, and transfer the data into dynamically created records in a multi-user database.

Event Log Monitor Created a rules-based database which could run scheduled examinations of NT server event logs seeking specific error messages as determined by system administrators. Once a target error message is detected it can trigger a variety of actions, including running commands, scripts, and batch processes or sending e-mail alerts, pages, or fax reports.

Inventory Control and Point-Of-Sale A busy specialty retail consignment business with hundreds of thousands of consigned items in 16 store locations in 3 different states needed a centralized solution to better manage their inventory. FileMaker was utilized to encapsulate the company's highly successful business logic, provide a simple forms-based interface for POS functions, and deliver a central administrative interface for writing payment checks.

Jewelry Appraisal System A fine jewelry appraisal company's growth was being limited by the lack of automated processes for their agents to describe and accurately price their client's items using the company's proprietary methods while working in the field. FileMaker runtimes were utilized as clients to a central database which imported e-mails sent from the clients that contained appraisal information and images. The central database assembled the data sent from the field agents into a the finished appraisal and published the document along with generating an optional I.D. card and an e-mailable PDF version.

Information Merge Editor When two departments found that they had overlapping data collections with no common field to relate the collections together (each department had created their system independently) we built a database which used a variety of criteria to compare components in each collection, narrowing down potential matches to a pick list. A workgroup was instructed on how to make a final selection based on various properties made visible in the editor, and then the workgroup members were assigned record sets to process. The utility worked well and the collections were accurately merged in one afternoon.

Intranet Forms After evaluating various commercially available electronic forms management applications we built a database which makes it relatively straightforward to transfer paper business forms into electronic format. Form designers can scan in paper documents or build forms layouts from scratch, embed complex calculations, conditional pop-up choice lists, relational lookup fields, and rich on-line help. Deployed via Terminal Services, users can fill out forms using a standard web browser. The system provides real-time collection of submitted data and can execute various automated procedures depending on the data submitted.

Litigation Reference Providing attorneys a simple method to keep accurate tabs on various litigation management components, this system is a searchable catalog of detailed court and counsel information, case analysis, litigation types, case statuses, key dates, parties involved, damages claimed, and depositions scheduled. It also tracks legal fees by vendor, invoice, and date plus provides links to the accounts payable system for drill down fee detail.

Microfiche Index This is a high-speed text index referencing 250,000+ pieces of jacketed microfiche. We first built an error-checking utility to import the catalog data from a legacy mainframe application, then built a reference application to contain the necessary file classifications, data type descriptions, and retention schedules. We also created a module to hold any data purged from the catalog as determined by the schedule. Once everything was working properly, we web-enabled the index to provide search-only capabilities to qualified users.

Off-site Records Storage Keeping track of boxes of documents sent off-site to a long-term storage facility, this system provides a searchable database of 200,000+ folders stored in 66,000+ containers. The information is indexed by file classifications, key dates, and user-supplied contents descriptions. A web interface enables users to search for and request retrieval of their records storage set's contents.

Technical Recruitment This system makes it easier for a technical recruitment service to quickly and accurately match available people to open positions and open positions to available people. It reduces confusion as recruiters gain a single, unified view of all transaction progress. Incoming job orders and candidate resumes are verified and entered into either a jobs table or a candidates table. Relational links are created as recruiters match open positions to candidates or candidates to open positions. The links are contained in a third table with time, date, and action description. The chronologically sorted actions are viewable from either the jobs record or candidates record, making it easy for recruiters to find potential matches, initiate an appropriate e-mail or fax message via integrated MS Outlook and WinFAX components, and record activities as transactions progress.


Trademarks Management Developed by a licensing department in order to better keep track of 9,500+ trademark registrations and their associated trademark certificates, this system is accessed by users on three continents to track general trademark information and also to keep accurate watch over a docket of scheduled registrations, renewals, affidavits, and follow-up actions. The database also stores 22,000+ thumbnail images linked to scanned trademark certificate images stored on a secure intranet server. Workgroup members click on the thumbnails to download, view, and print high-resolution copies of trademark certificates.