Case Study: Web based multi-media training solution


INDUSTRY
Education

PROBLEM/OPPORTUNITY
Smart Schools, Inc. was expanding operations of its charter school to a second campus and needed a cost effective way to deliver training materials consistently to the educators and therapeutic specialists on staff at both campuses. Having already developed a rich library of materials for presentation by the founder at the main campus, they needed a way to organize and present the materials for employees, and eventually for subscribers outside their own schools.

SOLUTION
The database was designed using meta-data concepts to allow for future extension without extensive software revision, and the web-based GUI for users was developed using Flex II from Adobe (formerly Macromedia). The system allows users to search for information and media files by topic or specific key-words, as well as browsing topically. Content is organized under each topic by type, and multiple entries of each type can be displayed for any given topic. When the same media is included in multiple topics, a single instance of the file is referenced by multiple instances of relationships between topics and media so revision control can be managed efficiently at the individual media file level across all topics.

SOLUTION FEATURES

  • Thick-client administrative console
  • All media types supported
  • Unlimited topics, content types, and media entries, subject to DB and disk storage limitations
  • Web-based access with both browse and search modes

TECHNOLOGY

  • MS SQL Server
  • C#.Net
  • Adobe Flex II

CHALLENGES
Smart Schools had a limited budget, a short timeline, and bad experiences with prior technology partners. Trust was built through consistency in making and keeping commitments during the initial scoping and design phase. Building a web application that would meet future rich GUI requirements without a complete re-write was achieved by using Flex II for the initial deployment. Constraining administration of the server to the local network (or a remote desktop session on the server itself) allowed speedy development of the administrative interface as a thick-client application using C#.