Flatland Consulting

Receipt Management

JohnP — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 19:12:13 +0000

The goal of this project was to help the client manage a large amount of receipting at multiple physical locations throughout their organization. The pre-existing solution required numbered receipt books and a large paper trail. The new application provides a centralized and Microsoft Active Directory aware database to both collect and report on issued receipts. Additional features include comprehensive user permissions and a workflow manager to allow receipts to be forwarded to appropriate staff.

Written in C# with the .NET Framework 3.5, this application leverages Microsoft SQL Server 2005 as it’s database backbone.

Occurance Reporting

JohnP — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 20:47:59 +0000

This client needed a way to track all accident occurances for their risk management reporting. This application provided both a data entry point for multiple users and a full reporting suite. Additional features included warning flags for over threshold occurances and detailed control over program dropdown boxes.

Built using Microsoft Visual Basic 6 on a Microsoft SQL Server 2000 backend.

Corporate Website

JohnP — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 20:20:44 +0000

A local building contractor had a need for a new website. Their needs included displaying many images of their, current and ongoing, projects to their viewers. Built long before all the latest time saving web builder tools, this website was built from scratch in Notepad. It has been live since late 2002.

Built using HTML, Javascript and Photoshop (for the design).

Online Education Suite

JohnP — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 20:19:58 +0000

This project is still the largest project John Pendergrast has ever worked on. Completed in late 2001 this project was cutting edge for its time. It was complete with video streaming, real-time chat, file sharing, full forums and offline access. Built before web applications had really come into their own this application was built using Microsoft Visual Basic 6, COM+ Server and a Microsoft SQL Server 7 backend.

Using custom compressed asynchronous XML streaming for data transfer this application was able to handle large amounts of students and data with very low server load. Full n-tier design allowed for easy expansion to additional servers.

When asked John Pendergrast calls this his ‘dissertation’ for programming.

Mental Health Database

JohnP — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 20:06:02 +0000

The challenge of this project was to convert a large amount of paper forms into a useable application. Additionally, the resulting application had to provide data to an existing provincial application for reporting purposes. The final product provided case workers with a mini electronic file of their clients. Due to the health-based nature of the application it had to provide a detailed audit trail and comprehensive security measures.

This project helped to solidify many of Flatland’s interface paradigms. Organizing large amounts of data in an intuitive manner was quite a challenge. Notable GUI concepts to mention are: a lack of pop-up style windows, consistent toolbar locations and tab-based UI. These elements, combined with many more, created a very friendly, efficient user environment.

Built using Microsoft C# and the Microsoft .NET 2.0 Framework on a Microsoft SQL Server 2005 backend. The reporting module was created using Microsoft SQL Server 2005: Reporting Services.

Palliative Care

JohnP — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 20:05:32 +0000

This application is a rebuild of an antiquated custom Delphi program. The client needed an application that could extend the original application and provide comprehensive reporting. The choice was made to build this as a web application to facilitate a higher level of portability to staff.

While simple in concept this application represents some groundbreaking advancements for its time. It leveraged large amounts of AJAX-style code when AJAX didn’t even exist and provided an extremely rich UI at a time when web development was more about function than form. Additionally, through the in-house development of several custom web controls the bandwidth footprint of this application was quite small. Flatland Consulting was asked to demonstrate this application to several different companies during the following few years.

Built using Microsoft VB and the .NET 1.1 Framework on a Microsoft SQL Server 2000 backend.

Charity Website

JohnP — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 19:59:02 +0000

Centre Miriam Center Inc. is a charity that was in desperate need of a simple, form-based website. It was a great pleasure working on this website and learning the history of this local charity. Additionally, the website graphical design work was a nice change from the usual application interface design.

www.miriamcenter.org

Social Networking

JohnP — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 19:48:09 +0000

The brainchild of John Pendergrast and Dylan Barkman, SpecBox.net is a social networking site dedicated to computer gaming aficionados. Traditionally computer gamers have had few places to show off their, often hand tooled, custom computer systems. With the launch of SpecBox.net they now have a full featured site to both show off their systems and meet with other like minded system builders.

Built using Microsoft C# and the .NET 3.5 framework, SpecBox.net utilizes cutting edge AJAX technologies to provide a rich user interface. From the multi-server supporting architecture through to the cost effective, high performance MySQL backend, SpecBox.net is quite an accomplishment.

*** Update *** This site has since been taken offline. The site can be shown on request.

Reservation System

JohnP — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 19:41:14 +0000

Whirlpool Jet Boat Tours is a premiere tourist attraction in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, Canada. With thousands of guests booking trips they needed an application that could handle large amounts of data and provide comprehensive financial reports. Their existing 10 year old desktop application was no longer capable of meeting their growing needs. Flatland Consulting created JetRes to fill that need.

JetRes is a very complex web application. Built using Microsoft C# and the .NET 2.0 Framework upon a Microsoft SQL Server 2005 backend, this application is capable of handling the thousands of orders that come in every day. The system leverages AJAX to provide a smooth, productive user experience to the reservation staff. Additionally, the system tracks all financial information pertaining to the incoming reservations and presents them to the staff using Microsoft SQL Server 2005: Reporting Services.

From a complexity standpoint this application represents the most difficult application Flatland has created in many years. Handling the various General Ledger accounts including partial and split GLs has been extremely challenging and rewarding.