Red Oak Realty's internal designer had created graphical layouts for its new web site and needed a developer to implement the designs. The first challenge in this type of project is to develop HTML markup that will be flexible enough to allow for changes, but robust enough to display well on a multitude of browsers and platforms.

Other challenges:

• MLS data and pictures for the property search function needed to be stored locally and updated at set intervals throughout the day. The data and pictures needed to be made available for editing by Red Oak Realty staff.
• The data had to be analyzed and sorted by geographic regions (neighborhoods), the outlines of which were provided by the client.
• Multiple login methods were to be supported, including direct login with username and password and facebook authentication.
• Automated property searches needed to be performed, with new properties meeting users' requirements emailed to them daily.
• Third party APIs such as google maps, Yelp!, and education.com would be arranged and customized to suit the needs of the web site.
• Dynamically generated social network links (facebook, google+, twitter) would be included for each page.

At the close of every job, we need to generate a report for each our clients that contains pictures, shipment quantities, and location information

Employees of Britevision Media were assembling a large report by hand, printing it out and put it into a binder - sometimes 2-3 inches thick. The process was repetitive and time-consuming, used a lot of paper, and cost money to ship.

The company distributes out-of-home advertising materials to thousands of locations each year. At the end of the campaign, the company provides a comprehensive summary to the client, including pictures (typically between 20 and 200), shipment and tracking information, spot checks (audits) on their advertising partners, mapped locations, and distribution quantities.

I created a web-based report with a dynamically generated PDF summary, including pictures, location data, and audits. The report is easily accessible and always available to the client for reference.

Since the data components were already stored in a database, I created an interface to transfer the data to the reporting web site, map the locations using google maps, and format the distribution information for output. I also provided an easy-to-use upload mechanism to attach pictures to a campaign.

Campaign reporting is now 100% web-based. Clients love it because it's easy to use, and, unlike paper reports, they can share the report with interested parties by simply emailing the link. If the client needs to print the report, the PDF option is available.

• Create an integrated platform for families to request childcare for a particular date and time from selected or all sitters available during the time period.
• Notify the sitters of the request and invite them to confirm or reject the request.
• Create an interface that will provide administrators with a good overview of the process and allow them to target requests needing attention.

What started as a small referral business little by little turned into a giant headache for the owner of Swiss Cheese Childcare. Like many businesses, many of the systems to track clients, employees, and appointments were an ad-hoc assortment of google docs, spreadsheets, handwritten notes and phone messages.

The success of the business was the owner's personal attention to each client, but the time for that was diminishing as the time spent on the mechanical aspects of the business grew exponentially with each new client. We needed to come up with a way to centralize information and automate repetitive tasks.

I worked with the owner to create a robust booking system where clients can post a childcare request for certain dates and receive responses from interested sitters. The process involves real-time emailing of sitters and clients so they can quickly and easily arrange for child care using the booking system. The entire booking process is now automated, including an online payment gateway.

No longer burdened with the day-to-day and minute-to-minute task of matching up sitters and families, The owner of Swiss Cheese Child care is now free to spend her time reaching out to new clients and those with unusual or specific needs. And she can sit down for the occasional cup of coffee.

We receive between 100,000 and 300,000 pictures per year, which we need to organize and store.

The company's advertising media is installed in thousands of locations per year. The installers are required to submit pictures of every installation to verify their work, and provide the pictures to Britevision's clients as proof that the work has been done and done correctly.

That's a lot of pictures, and Brite Media had one employee in each division dedicated nearly full time to retrieving the pictures from the installers and organizing them for the client reports. They needed a way to automate this process.

When I looked deeper into the situation, I found that the installers were uploading their pictures nightly to a FTP server, drilling down through several folders to upload their pictures to the correct location. Then they would send an email to the manager, indicating that they had uploaded some pictures. The manager would then go to the FTP server and download the pictures, review them to ensure that the job was done right and the picture was taken correctly, then transfer the pictures to her computer so that she could later upload them to another web server for the client report.

I built a web-based application where the installers could upload their pictures when they were finished for the day. The pictures would then be automatically resized for different output scenarios, indexed by location and advertiser, and marked completed.

Using an administrative interface, the manager can easily browse all current installation campaigns, review and approve pictures individually or as a group. The pictures are automatically transferred to the campaign report.

The managers now spend about 20% of the time that they used to on reviewing installation pictures and managing installers.

• Separate commission tracking systems for rental and sales agents
• A company-wide message board
• A listing and marketing request manager for sales agents and administrators
• Multiple email broadcast systems (newsletter, announcements, etc)
• A central repository for company documents
• A website manager for agents' custom web sites