Recent interesting projects which give an insight into some of the types of software challenges we have addressed:

The task was to create a custom content management system with e-commerce functionality and a number of unique requirements. The content management system needed to operate in 27 different languages, multiple currencies and tax systems, as well as integrate with existing accountancy and stock management systems to minimise the duplication of work. A simple interface was created to allow content to be modified with minimum training.

A project required us to Beta test a new type of desktop training software. This included testing the application on multiple hardware configurations and platforms, and compiling extensive bug reports to ensure the customer experience was as good as possible.

As a result of split content testing, an existing e-commerce platform required modification to provide different content to different users dependent on the origin of the visitor. This included ad hoc currency manipulation and a tracking system to ensure visitors received the correct content.

The project was to create a highly complex quote engine for a business to business garment supplier. The quote system factored in one product line having multiple prices dependant on size/colour of the garment as well as multiple price breaks. Customers received individual prices based on previous business needs. A front and back end interface was created to allow admin staff to manage the system.

A product manufacturer needed to create unique product codes for a range of new products. To ensure product IDs were not existing UPC or ISBN numbers, a stand-alone software application was created to cross check intended product IDs for duplicates. Existing databases from third parties were not sufficiently accurate to perform the task to the required standard.

A building maintenance company had an existing website that they wished to utilise to reduce training costs for its staff. An intranet was created as part of the web presence, which allowed staff to access both text and video training material. Not only was a multi-level access system required but also the ability to track employees' viewing patterns of use.

A large e-commerce site with over 300,000 products suffered from excessively slow load times. The site had already been transferred to high performance servers, resulting in some performance increases - however the required load times were still not achieved. The solution was to redesign the database to suit the specific type of queries being created by users.

An internet based retailer had a number of different product and customer databases which had been created over a number of years. To improve the availability of information to customer service staff and to reduce the administrative overheads, it was decided all data should be merged into one single efficient database. This involved merging similar records from existing customers, ensuring that no information was lost, that the latest information was retained and that all records became unique.

A mail order company had a range of existing offline and online processes to handle orders. A large burden was placed on admin staff as part of the internet order process involved information being manually copied from one system to another. The cost of replacing all systems with one single system was excessive. The solution was to create a smart conversion tool which would convert information from one system based on a number of pre-defined rules for automatic entry into another.

An internet retailer was having a significant issue with fraudulent orders from a small group of individuals presenting themselves under a vast array of identities with multiple payment methods. The solution was to create an order checking system, which compared each element from every record with each element of every new order. The system looked for duplicates of what should be unique information per order and generated reports so such orders could be inspected more closely. The system also addressed the issue of customers obscuring information such as spelling names slightly differently with a close match system.