Buoy Monitoring Application

A system to monitor oceanic buoys with email messages transmitted via satellite to the database. The application also kept track of orders for buoys, etc.

RESULTS: Client was able to easily keep track of the movement and statistics of all of the deployed buoys in the Pacific Ocean, as well as review customer status and process invoices accordingly.

Financial Staffing Application

A financial staffing application that kept track of staffing assignments, hours worked, customers, upcoming schedules, clients, and more. Like some of the other applications listed here, it was an “admin-only” program.

RESULTS: Client was able to manage staff assignments in a comprehensives fashion, using a calendar feature. The staffing process was streamlined and easy to manage.

Web Help Ticket System

A web help ticket system that received input via email and web pages, and allowed attachments. It sent emails out to all the managers and team members listed in the database.

RESULTS: The program allowed the web department to keep track of requests from editors and company stakeholders in a central and shared application. Up until that point, emails from stakeholders were directed to individual web staffers, so it was very difficult to manage the volume of requests and ensure that all of the tasks were completed in a timely fashion. The system also provided a snapshot of tasks still left to be done.

Web Domain Management & Account Creation Application

A web domain management and account creation tool for a company that included a script run as root that would create domain accounts across multiple High Availability servers, all automatically (pulling data from a database system).

RESULTS: The application allowed one to create a web account on multiple servers, with all of the user and Apache settings required, in seconds, versus one hour or more. It also kept track of all of the domains and reduced human error.

“WCN:SQL” — An Open Source Web Database Content Management Framework (CMF)

“WCN:SQL” was an Open Source web database framework and management application that was used to manage data in MySQL databases, but was also used to create complex web database applications like some of the apps on this page (including the buoy monitoring application). It contained pre- and post-processing "hooks" to allow all kinds of actions to take place, and was driven by data dictionary and "action" scripts that were unique to each database application, allowing it to be vastly extensible. It is still in use, but is not being actively promoted.

RESULTS: Many web applications were built with WCN:SQL and, because of it's power as a "framework," a huge number of hours and dollars were saved for client projects because each application started with a great deal of the programming already done. In addition, the framework allowed features to be changed or added on because of its convenient structure.

Fast CMS that Wrote HTML Pages for Optimal Performance

A custom CMS, which was also the very first CMS used by the magazine http://tvtechnology.com. It wrote the web pages to pure HTML files, for very fast loading times. It was based on the Content Management Framework listed above (WCN:SQL). Note that TV Technology uses a different CMS now.

RESULTS: Prior to the creation of this CMS, TV Technology web pages were updated by one person receiving Word docs from the Editorial department and running them through a series of scripts. It was a laborious and time-consuming process. After the CMS was installed, editors could directly enter their articles in the CMS and edit them at will. It sounds quaint, from today's perspective, but at the time, a CMS was a Huge Step Forward.

Custom Shopping Cart

A custom shopping cart for a watch repair shop, written using the content management framework mentioned above. It had all of the standard functions, such as customer tables, cart tables, products, pricing, etc.

RESULTS: As with shopping carts today, the custom shopping cart provided customers with a smoother buying experience, and gave the watch repair shop a better avenue for revenue.

Custom / Complex Web Forms

Custom web forms used to gather data for magazine catalogs and directories, with the ability to charge for features like ads, using credit card gateways, and specialized scripts to produce Excel or Word output on demand. Based on the Content Management Framework above, and also an Open Source script written by Peter, called “Simple Form,” that had pre-and post-processing hooks for significant extensibility.

RESULTS: Prior to the various web-based, custom forms mentioned above, the different clients often had to gather information from customers via snail mail or email, and then go through a variety of laborious steps to assemble the data in a format that could be either added to a database or processed by a graphics / print department to turn into printed magazine "directories." The complex data forms were easy for the customer to fill out (so that wasn't complex), but behind the scenes, calculations were made and data files were assembled for production departments. The bottom line included happier customers and a much more efficiently run data to production pipeline.

Web Discussion Forum

An Open Source web discussion forum that used the typical threaded methodology of parents and children.

RESULTS: The forum software above was written in the early days of online forums. In fact, prior to that forum, Peter wrote a "BBS" (Bulletin Board System) that was hosted on a dial-up modem (remember those?), and provided the same type of discussion forum experience. But the web changed everything, of course. The forum above was efficient and simple to use, and gave discussion "communities" ease of access to a place to exchange ideas and thoughts.

MySQL Backup Script

An Open Source mysql backup script that won the magazine Unix Review “Tool of the Month” in June, 2002, and has been used for many years (and is still in use, with many updates), by various clients and companies. The write-up at Unix Review was by the well-known Unix commentator, Joe “Zonker” Brockmeier. The magazine is no longer in publication.

RESULTS: "MySQL Backup" is providing results to this day, backing up databases and protecting clients from data loss. A common truism is that servers can die, laptops can go kaput, but DATA must, at all costs, be preserved. MySQL Backup has been doing that job for 20 years, since version one was written on January 2, 2000. It's now at version 3.7.

Desktop Invoicing System

A desktop invoicing system for a pipeline maintenance company. It kept tracks of parts, labor, and customers, and meshed the data together into weekly invoices.

RESULTS: The company used it for ten years and processed millions of dollars in invoices. It was error free, and was a huge step up from using paper and spreadsheets.

The list of apps above are some of the custom web database applications that have been built over the years. Some were in ProcessWire (PHP), some were in Perl, and one was from long ago in Clipper dBASE (included because it processed millions of dollars in invoices over many years).

Note that these applications were built before DataVarius was birthed in 2020, but they were all done by the DataVarius founder, Peter Falkenberg Brown. Most importantly, these serve as examples of what can be done for your company.