About the Client:

Network Photography LLC is located here in Wisconsin, and specializes in studio portraiture, auto racing, photo journalism, fine art photography, and sports photography.

Project Details

Network Photography was in the process of expanding its sales force, and had made it a priority to increase sales this year. Jason Hoss, the director of IT, identified that in order to do this, they would need to begin building a sales database. He contacted us and we began working out the details.

After some discussion we realized that he needed a custom solution, and that the existing products out there would not fit within his budget after customization costs. He also had some concerns about the complexity of these products, and felt that something written specifically for his environment would be more straight-forward for the sales staff. We concluded that a custom solution would be the best route, and began working with sales staff to identify the key requirements and project goals.

Jason made one thing very clear: He wanted his sales staff to have access to this data while on the road. To accomplish this, the entire database was made available through an asp.net web application, and the sales team was given wireless cards and company laptops. He had also hoped to use his existing database platform, and we accommodated this by developing the database on the existing SQL Server.

It was also determined that Jason would want employees outside of the sales department to have access to a limited view of the data. We created a security mechanism, which allowed him to control which users have access to each individual screen. He can also use this system to control user access outside of his local network.

The entire project was delivered three months after conception. Afterwards, we went through several revisions, adding fields and simplifying screens based on user input. Once the users were satisfied with it, we delivered the final product. We then wrote custom code to convert the existing Microsoft Access database that had been used to store sales data.

Application Features:

• Application has been integrated with Google Calendars. Each user can schedule events within a personal Google calendar, or shared calendars. Contact information is carried over to the calendar event.
• Database design includes fields to allow integration with Kodak DP2 software in the future.
• All categories, choices, products, and drop downs are customizable to allow for future growth.
• Past search criteria for each user is maintained, allowing them to repeat a previous search with minimal effort.
• Provides audit logs of all user actions.
• WYSIWG notes screens, allowing users to draw attention to important details for the client.
• Printable versions of customer screens