Night Life Planning and Reservation System
Client: NiteTables
A great idea, beautiful graphics, media buzz – the NiteTables night life planning and reservation system had everything required for a successful launch, but the release date was looming and the software wasn't complete. NiteTables turned to Greane Tree Technology for help. NiteTables needed a software shop that was not only technically proficient in PHP and MySQL, but also understood how to work well with others and manage projects on a tight schedule. Greane Tree Technology led the team to quickly prioritize requirements, refactor existing code for stability, build new functionality, and test each release. The system was launched with much fanfare and on schedule in August 2011. Since then, it has reliably served a demanding and growing clientele, helping them plan their perfect night out.
NiteTables.com
features easy-to-use Venue Finder and Venue Search tools to help customers find night clubs, bars, restaurants, or other preferred venues in popular metropolitan areas. NiteTables shows upcoming events on its This Week page, filterable by preference and available for all types of venue. A reservation wizard guides visitors through the reservation and checkout process, with a secure hand off to an e-commerce payment gateway. NiteTables staff can update their Blog and Homepage content, view venue statistics, and gather critical marketing and campaign information. The system offers a back-end venue administration interface that allows participating venues to completely customize their menus, seating areas, event schedules, and package offerings, and to manage their reservations. NiteTables is also easy-to-use on an iPad.
Technologies: PHP with RedBean ORM to MySQL datastore, Tonic RESTFUL Router for friendly URI's, unit testing with PHPUnit, automated user acceptance testing with Selenium, XHTML, CSS, JQuery, PivotalTracker project management software, Git version control
Web Application Revitalization
Client: Center For Economic Growth
The Center for Economic Growth's
Technology Roadmap
is an important resource for businesses in New York's Tech Valley region. For almost 10 years, the web application has been the community hub for technology companies and supporting industries in upstate New York. The system had become outdated and did not permit easy maintenance nor expansion. The Center for Economic Growth (CEG) turned to Greane Tree Technology to rebuild the entire application from scratch.
The system had been written in PHP and MySQL. CEG requested a switch to Microsoft technology as part of the upgrade, so Greane Tree Technology rewrote the code as an object-oriented system in C# .NET and converted the data for storage in a normalized MS SQL Server database. The user interface was redesigned to achieve an elegant and uncluttered look; user workflow was streamlined and information hierarchy clarified.
The revitalized Technology Roadmap site is an inviting and well-organized resource once again worthy of the innovative companies it serves. The modernized application can continue to create mutual benefit and foster technological creativity, regional collaboration and economic growth for Tech Valley companies and their customers.
Technologies: ASP.NET MVC with C#, unit testing with NUnit, automated user acceptance testing with Selenium, MSSQL Server, Lucene search engine, XHTML, CSS, JQuery, Subversion version control
Inter-Web Application Interfacing and Communication
Client: Agora Games
Major League Gaming
(MLG) is a competitive league of video game players. One of MLG's major offerings is
GameBattles,
a platform that allows millions of gamers to schedule matches, report results, compare rankings and join discussions with other enthusiasts. GameBattles was launched in 2003 and, while its core features remained solid, its user interface was incompatible with advances in web and mobile technology.
Agora Games,
a division of MLG, hired Greane Tree Technology to write a GameBattles application programming interface (API) in PHP. The API makes GameBattles functionality available for integration into MLG's second generation site and accessible from mobile devices such as the iPhone. As part of its work on GameBattles, Greane Tree Technology also helped Agora streamline its project management and quality control. Agora invited Greane Tree Technology back as a key part of the project team for Leaderboard, a player-ranking system written in PHP with a high-performance Redis key-value store. After the rewrite, Leaderboard went from ranking roughly 150,000 users in about 20 minutes once a day, to ranking them in less than a second in real-time. Greane Tree Technology also enhanced Agora's award and achievement system by integrating a third party service API.
Technologies: Ruby, Ruby on Rails, PHP, unit testing with SimpleTest, Tonic RESTFul Router for friendly URI's, Redis, PivotalTracker project management software, Git version control
Project and Labor Recording, Tracking, and Reporting Database Application
Client: Vicarious Visions (ACTIVISION)
Vicarious Visions is an entertainment company that creates blockbuster video games and prides itself on the passion, innovation and creativity of its employees. When the creative flow threatened to outgrow the systems set up to track it, Vicarious Visions brought in Greane Tree Technology to integrate the separate tools adopted for project management, human resources and business intelligence.
Greane Tree consolidated the information needed by various departments into one non-redundant data store, then wrote an interface using MySQL stored procedures so that existing systems could extract the centralized data in the format they required. Departments could keep preferred and familiar tools for managing the data, but the data themselves were no longer isolated in departmental silos. Critical business information became more accurate and up-to-date, new questions could be asked of the data, and interdepartmental collaboration became much easier.
Technologies: MySQL
Environmental Analysis Tools
Client: Morse Zehnter Associates
Morse Zehnter Associates (MZA) is a world-leader in building forensics, investigating and solving complex building problems that affect health and safety. They identify conditions that encourage mold, evaluate indoor air quality and ventilation requirements, offer expert testimony on asbestos and other toxins, and create remediation plans for buildings damaged in disasters such as the World Trade Center collapse and Hurricane Katrina. Their work often requires the collection, analysis and interpretation of large quantities of precise data from sensors that monitor indoor and outdoor environmental conditions.
When MZA was called in to investigate sulfur emissions from problem Chinese drywall, they turned to Greane Tree Technology to create a software system to manage their analytical data. Written in .NET, the system imported into an MS SQL Server database millions of rows of data collected by environmental sensors, performed statistical analyses on the data, and digested it for export to spreadsheets for further evaluation by engineers. Although the software was initially created for the drywall study, it can be used in MZA's other projects involving similar monitoring and analysis.
Technologies: .NET, MS SQL Server
Albany College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences Website Revitalization
Client: Albany College of Pharmacy & Health Sciences
On the vibrant campuses of the Albany College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences (ACPHS), dedicated students were learning about the very latest advances in pharmacology and health care. Unfortunately, the college's website didn't reflect that relevance and richness. Confident that Greane Tree Technology could not only give the website a face lift, but could also integrate academic and administrative databases and migrate to Microsoft technologies, ACPHS sought our assistance.
Greane Tree Technology completely revitalized the roughly 800-page ACPHS website. Updates included a freshened design, dynamic content, search engine optimization, W3C validation, and improvements to information architecture, usability and user experience. The website was migrated to Microsoft technology and integrated with social media and existing academic and administrative systems.
Technologies: ASP .NET, MS SQL Server, MySQL, PHP, Javascript, CSS, XHTML
Get on Board Web & Database Application
Client: The Stakeholders, Inc.
Volunteers are vital to every non-profit organization and project, but too often are in short supply. It is important to find volunteers whose skills and interests fit an organization’s specific needs. The Stakeholders, an “intergenerational association of community builders and change agents committed to building diverse and sustainable communities in New York’s Capital Region,” asked Greane Tree Technology to help them match volunteers with non-profits.
Greane Tree Technology created Get on Board, an online marketplace that invites volunteers to fill out applications through easy-to-use web forms, while non-profits register their needs on similar forms. Responses are stored in a database, and Get on Board analyzes the data to match the right volunteers with each applicant organization, creating the best fit for all.
Technologies: ASP .NET, MS SQL Server
NFPA 1600 Self Evaluation Web Application
Client: Tech Valley Continuity
Tech Valley Continuity works with small to medium size businesses to develop business continuity/ disaster recovery plans that satisfy their unique needs, budget, and time-line. It wanted to offer a self-service web application to help clients assess their National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) 1600 compliance.
Greane Tree Technology custom-built the system using ASP.NET MVC and MS SQL Server. At low cost, clients can use the software to help them measure, improve, and document their compliance with NFPA guidelines. The system presents the user with questionnaires and analyzes the responses to identify areas of potential noncompliance. Once deficiencies are addressed, the system helps users format the company specific information they have provided into standard-compliant strategic, prevention, mitigation and other plans. Tech Valley Continuity's mission is to provide practical continuity and recovery solutions designed to protect the bottom line. The NFPA 1600 Compliance Assessment system that Greane Tree Technology built helps them carry out their mission.
