We have developed many different types of technology solutions for different reasons ranging. We've developed custom programs, websites, web applications, digital signage, databases, web pages, etc. We have made solutions for improving customer service, opperation management, to save time, save money, decrease human error, etc.
Here is a select list of some projects we developed. If you would like more information to to talk to any of our past clients please contact us.
Project: Communications Program
Project Type: Program ::::: Industry: Hospitality |
Project Objective/Problem:
This hotel was having a breakdown in communication from the guest asking for a bellman and for their valeted car to be pulled up when they were checking out. The problem was the operator taking the information from the guest then needed to call a front desk, who was sometimes too busy to pickup the phone right away. The front desk would then communicate the room that needed the bellman to the bellman by writing the number on a sheet.
The other problem was the valet would bring up cars for checkout, but there was no guest there to take the car yet because they were waiting for the bellman to come get their luggage. So the valet would stop taking calls for cars and then the guest would have to wait for their car after they showed up with their luggage in the driveway. |
Solution Developed:
Developed a communications program in Microsoft Access that helps communication between phone operators, front desk, bellman, and valet. This program decreased fallout in communication, increased efficiency in the time to communicate, and provided tracking methods and statistics.
Now the operator inputs the room for the bellman and the car number for the valet into a program. The room number pops up on a list immediately on a computer that the bellman can see. Only after the bellman indicates on the program they they are on their way up to get the luggage does the valet car number get sent to the valet computer. This way valet is bringing the car up at the same time that the bellman is getting the luggage. Ultimately it has provided associates with a tool to better the guest experience.
This program provides a very easy way to create a constant sharing of information between departments. This program is still being used as a means to coordinate bell/valet efforts with the check-in and check-out of our owners and guests. It is extremely user friendly and easy to use. The application Travis created was ahead of its time and showed that with a little imagination and creativity we would could up the level of service provided to our owners and guests as never done before.
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Project: Community Organization Communication System
Project Type: Web Application with Text Alerts ::::: Industry: Community Organization |
Project Objective/Problem:
This non profit organization has a weekly meeting. The times and locations are not always the same and sometimes the location will change at the last minute. The organization needed a way to better communicate with all their members to inform them of the schedule and of any changes. |
Solution Developed:
Developed a web application that allowed members of the community to signup to receive notifications from this organization giving their email and cell phone number.
Developed an easy to use control panel for the organization's leaders to use to update information about events in the organization. Upon creating an even a set of reminders are automatically scheduled to be sent at certain times on certain days before the event to communicate event information by email and text message.
We run a youth organization (similar to the YMCA) and trying to keep track of hundreds of teenagers and volunteers on a weekly basis when our locations and meeting times change frequently used to be so unbelievably insane. Once we explained our problem to Travis (we're not very computer literate at all), he imagined and programmed a perfect solution from scratch where all we have to do is write the information about the event and then the program sends out reminders via phone text message and email and even puts reminders on our website leading up to the event. It's no longer a burden to change the schedule at the last minute. With the program he wrote, everything is taken care of automatically. I can't say enough good things about how much it's simplified things for us. - Chris Batliner
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Project: E-Commerece, Blog, Forum Website Selling Tea
Project Type: Web Development ::::: Industry: Products |
Project Objective/Problem:
Client is a tea expert and started a company to educate people about tea and sell tea online. He wanted to create a website that had some social interaction with other tea enthusiasts. |
Solution Developed:
Developed a website that is inviting and organized to find information about tea including videos. Also an easy to use modern shopping cart online e-commerce store using PayPal Websites payment pro as the merchant account. Client can easily manage his inventory in a control panel and fulfill orders. Also developed a blog for client and forum for client and others to post about tea related subjects. |
Project: Activities Electronic Schedule Display
Project Type: Digital Signage ::::: Industry: Hospitality |
Project Objective/Problem:
The activities department wanted to display the schedule of activities they offered each day on a big flat screen near the activities center so that guests can see it as they walk by. |
Solution Developed:
Setup the technology for this digital signage system to display two separate sets of schedules on two separate flat screens outside the activities center.
Developed custom presentation software to display the schedule of information with rotating slides showing what activity is happening now, the schedule for today, and the schedule for tomorrow automatically based off the current time. Developed a custom control panel that is easy to use for activities associates to update the schedule.
This effort provides a visual to our owners and guests that allows them to see what events are going on, or will be happening in the near future, as they pass through the lobby and lobby corridor. This system is easily maintained on a standalone PC via a web-based server. Accessing an admin website allows for easy updating of the events.
Again, this is another creative example that has been recognized not only by our sites executive leadership but also by our Corporate leaders as a possible brand standard.
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Project: Family Memories Website
Project Type: Web Application ::::: Industry: Social Networking |
Project Objective/Problem:
This company wanted to create a website similar to myspace.com and facebook.com where families can store their memories online to share with each other. |
Solution Developed:
Developed a website where families can create profiles for each family member and upload photos, videos, stories, life timeline, writings, etc for each family member. They can also create the family tree and view it in a visual way. Users can designate who can view and or edit their profile. |
Project: Late Checkout Program
Project Type: Program ::::: Industry: Hospitality |
Project Objective/Problem:
Many hotels offer late checkouts to their guest. However they have to usually set a limit so that they don't have problems checking in the new guests for that day. Setting these limitations were being based off information that didn't really have an impact on the operation. The number of late checkouts given to guests was minimal to none on high occupancy days. Sometimes problems still arose with rooms not being cleaned on time even when these guidelines were used. |
Solution Developed:
Figured out the root of the problem with late checkouts between front desk and housekeeping department. In this hotel each floor was split into two sections where one housekeeper would cover one section moving from room to room.
The only time a problem arose with late checkouts was when the same housekeeper had several rooms with a late checkout and was thus standing in the hallway waiting to do work, thus delaying those rooms being ready for checkin. With the current systems in place, there was no effective way to keep track of what rooms in what sections had a late checkout so that any front office associate getting a request for a late check out could know.
We developed a program where all front office associates can input the time a room would like to checkout if requesting a late checkout. The program knew what rooms belonged to what section, and therefor when inputting a room number to request a late checkout, the program would advise the associate if that section had already reached the max late checkouts for that day.
Now when a guest calls to request a late checkout it takes any associate a few moments to see if they can give the guest a late checkout and till want max time. And no housekeeping section gets over burdened with late checkouts because of this organized tracking. This new process also allows the hotel to give many more late checkouts to their guests regardless of how high their occupancy is. |
Project: Auto Room Assignment
Project Type: Program ::::: Industry: Hospitality |
Project Objective/Problem:
This timeshare/hotel has very specific guidelines for how to assign the rooms to the guests depending on requests. For example owners of the timeshare get the best rooms, and owners of another property who traded for this one get second priority, etc. Then a lot of guests request a certain view or floor, etc.
The associate had to manually figure out how to assign 450 rooms every day with these reservations taking all these variables into account, assigning each reservation one at a time. The hotel property management system in place had an auto room assignment feature, but could not be configured in a way to work with the room assignment strategies for that hotel/timeshare. |
Solution Developed:
Developed a system to auto assign the rooms in a manner that is accurate with corporate goals. By tweaking the current property management system and using some other technology this could be accomplished.
Room assigning is now more accurate and takes about 15-30 minutes a day instead of 4 hours. This hotel/timeshare property's blocking process is now considered a "best practice" for the company.
Travis was able to maximize our Property Management System's capabilities by creatively using its existing functionality. He streamlined the Rooms Control process which allowed for greater time management in that area. The assignment of rooms to reservations is one of the most critical pieces in our success as determined by our owners and guests.
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Project: Craigslist for Oil Industry
Project Type: Online Directory ::::: Industry: Advertising |
Project Objective/Problem:
Client starting a new business that is like craigslist for the oil industry where people can post ads to sell or rent their used equipment in the oil industry. Client also wanted to sell advertising space on the website. Visitors need to be able to search for ads based on criteria or searching for keywords and be able to view photos and information. Also needed alert system to notify advertisers when their postings would expire so they have a chance to renew. |
Solution Developed:
Developed a modern data driven website using php, ajax, javascript to achieve an easy to use user interface and meet all requirements from the client. Admin can view all information in a secure control panel about users and ads expiring and manage their account status and review ads posted. |
Project: Front Office Incentive/Training Program
Project Type: Database ::::: Industry: Hospitality |
Project Objective/Problem:
Training for the front office staff was varied and inconsistent. A front office associate has a wide range of knowledge they can learn to perform their job better and better. However there was no external incentive for an associate to want to become better. |
Solution Developed:
Developed an incentive/training program for the front office to provide associates with an incentive to improve their knowledge and ability to perform at the front office as well as standardizing the training for all associates. All information that should be learned was organized into 4 levels of training progressing an associates knowledge as they passed each level. Passing each level earned them a raise in their hourly income.
Each training topic was explained in detail on numbered document. These documents were stored in a searchable database which made it very easy for associates to access the training and reference material. It also standardized the training so that it was consistent.
A tracking program was also created in Microsoft Access to assist managers in tracking the progress of all associates.
This program has remained very popular amongst the Front Office team. It provides a mutual benefit to the department and the individual Associates. The program is easily updated as processes change so that the information reflected is always current.
This program has caught the eye of our Corporate Offices and could possibly be rolled out as a best practice for the Company.
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Project: Information Database
Project Type: Database ::::: Industry: Hospitality |
Project Objective/Problem:
The hotel had paper sheets of information and phone numbers they used. But the information gets outdated sometimes and it was hard to make sure all copies of the paper all over the hotel was also updated if something changed. |
Solution Developed:
Developed a searchable information database in Microsoft Access for the entire property to access. Information such as contact information, prices of services, description of services. This program made the property's communication more accurate and efficient. It also increased the ability for front desk agents to be a better concierge when there wasn't one on duty. |
Project: Project Tracking Logs
Project Type: Database ::::: Industry: Hospitality |
Project Objective/Problem:
The housekeeping department for this 1300 room hotel always has several big projects like replacing a luggage rack in all 1300 rooms. With so many projects sometimes going at the same time, with 8 managers and supervisors, and over 150 associates working for this department, it became difficult to always know the status of the projects. |
Solution Developed:
Developed a project tracking program that makes it very easy to track and manage the status of large projects such as replacing a luggage rack in 1300 rooms. It also calculates the total cost of each project in the log including the labor cost based on time to complete the project and additional cost on a per unit bases. It also calculates the remaining labor hours and money needed to complete the projects as they progress to completion. |
Project: Guest Issue Tracking
Project Type: Database ::::: Industry: Hospitality |
Project Objective/Problem:
This hotel has two systems currently in use. One is the property management system that has information about the reservation and guest and the other is a program designed to log and communicate any guest issues when they happen.
The problem is that neither program would notify the phone operator who gets the call about an issue if this was the guest's second or third issue. If they knew that, they would say something different, letting the guest know they are aware of the other issue or issues the guest had during their stay. And if the guest had multiple issues during their stay a manager could give them a call or do something to make up for it.
This is especially difficult to track and know when you have guests staying multiple days, and there is a staff of about 40 associates and several managers who might all become aware of a certain guest issue. |
Solution Developed:
Developed a guest issue tracking program where associates can enter a guest issue quickly and instantly be notified if it is their second issue. This program is easy and fast to use, and also keeps track of all history of guest issues. |
Project: Website Selling a Product with Gift Card
Project Type: e-Commerce Website ::::: Industry: Product Sales |
Project Objective/Problem:
Company wanted to create a website to sell their product of tea and chocolate as a gift with a custom gift card. |
Solution Developed:
Developed a website where a customer can order any quantity of gift packages and the shipping rates are automatically calculated with a link to UPS.com shipping rates based on the zip code and quantity of packages selected.
Then the customer can input a custom message for the gift card, and upload a personal photo for the gift card, and select what version of the gift card they wish to use. The website gives them a preview of their gift card before they confirm the order and pay with their credit card.
Also built a fulfillment order process control panel for the admin to use to fulfill the orders using the information from the order including the photo and text needed for the custom gift card. |
Project: Customer Relationship Management Program
Project Type: Program ::::: Industry: Sales |
Project Objective/Problem:
Company needed a customer relationship management program to manage their sales process to keep track of each potential customer and customers through the sales process. They had looked at many different programs available including Microsoft CRM Dynamics. |
Solution Developed:
Developed a custom Customer Relationship Management program streamlined for the companies specific sales processes. The program was optimized to meet their needs for tracking and communicating with the potential customer and for management to see all the statistics of sales reps performance, etc. |
Project: Messaging Program
Project Type: Program ::::: Industry: Hospitality |
Project Objective/Problem:
The hotel wanted to create an easier way to update all their staff on announcements and insure everyone got the message. Often announcements were made in a morning meeting, but the information only got to the people who were working that day. Some information was kept in a paper binder for an associate to read, but it wasn't in their face enough to make sure they read it. |
Solution Developed:
Developed a message program for the Front Office so that messages could be delivered to all associates from supervisors to keep them updated in a very efficient manner using a computer program that all associates access when they start the computer. Supervisors could also track that everyone received the message. |
Project: Housekeeping Inspection Tracking Program
Project Type: Database ::::: Industry: Hospitality |
Project Objective/Problem:
The housekeeping department has 8 managers and over 150 housekeepers working in a 1300 room property. Inspecting rooms is one of the important aspects of a managers job. Managers would inspect a housekeeper's room to check if any mistakes were made so they can coach and develop that housekeeper if needed. They would log the problems they found just as problems and would log this into a spreadsheet that they can print out and look at later. |
Solution Developed:
Developed a new methodology of inspecting housekeeping associate's rooms that helps management identify area's of opportunity in the housekeeper to help coach them. Instead of noting the exact problem they found like "the pillow was missing a pillow case", they would note a category the problem was associated with like "Making the Bed". Therefor over time, you could see if a housekeeper was having trouble in a certain category or process they always do.
Also created a database program that logs the inspection information so that managers can inspect same number of times to every housekeeper being fair and consistent. Also gives a lot of statistics like top problems in the inspections, average inspections scores, etc. which is useful to know at a higher level to identify trends in the hotel.
The program was developed to be easy enough for housekeeping supervisor with no prior use of a computer to learn to use the system and input inspection information. |
Project: Housekeeping Turndown Service
Project Type: Program ::::: Industry: Hospitality |
Project Objective/Problem:
The housekeeping supervisor each night needs to generated a list of rooms that need turndown service (a housekeeper comes before you go to bed, to fold down the sheets, put some chocolates there, empty the trash, provide some fresh towels). The turndown service is not for every guest and depends on some codes that are in the property management system.
Several pages of reports needed to be printed out, and room numbers were written on pieces of paper to make the list for the housekeepers. This process took about 2 hours every single day. |
Solution Developed:
Developed a program that uses the information in the hotel property management system to automatically identify which rooms need the turndown service and prints the list of the rooms out for each housekeeper divided by each tower. Now this process takes about 2 minutes to do, and has no human error. |
Project: Artist Website
Project Type: Web Application ::::: Industry: Art |
Project Objective/Problem:
Artist wanted to change her website so that she could update the paintings and news on her own. She had some web designers make a beautiful web site for her, but every time she had to add a new painting or update some news about herself on the website, it would take time contacting the web designers to update the text on the website. |
Solution Developed:
While still using the existing website design, we changed all the data from static data to dynamic data meaning that it comes from an updatable database. Developed an easy to use control panel for the artist to log into and edit all the content on her website without any knowledge of web page designing. She can now add, edit, delete paintings, update news, resume, and more within moments, when ever she wants without depending on the schedule of web designers. |
Project: Housekeeping Inventory Tracking Program
Project Type: Database ::::: Industry: Hospitality |
Project Objective/Problem:
Housekeeping department needed way to more effectively know when they need to order more supplies and speed up the process of ordering supplies so they were never caught short. The current process included taking a checklist back to the supply rooms and counting boxes and bottles to determine if they were over or under the level desired. Then pulling out a sheet of paper that had vender phone numbers to make some calls. |
Solution Developed:
Developed a tracking program in Microsoft Access so Housekeeping can track inventory, know when they need to order more, and quickly access all information needed to make the orders. |
Project: Financial Management Website
Project Type: Web Application ::::: Industry: Finance |
Project Objective/Problem:
Company wanted to communicate the transaction history with their financial planning account to their clients. |
Solution Developed:
Developed a web application that allows the account managers to input transaction data easily in a control panel and create new client profiles. Clients are sent welcome emails with login information and have the ability to login to view their account transaction history on demand and generate PDF printable monthly statements. |
Project: Front Office Audit Tracking
Project Type: Database ::::: Industry: Hospitality |
Project Objective/Problem:
The front office management team performs random audits on their associates to see if they are using the proper verbiage when answering the phone and answering questions correctly and saying certain brand phrases, etc. These audits needed be tracked with their outcome so that the history could be looked up for each associate and to identify trends in the front office staff to see where opportunities for training and re-enforcement were. |
Solution Developed:
Developed a tracking program that makes it easy for the management staff to enter the results of an audit. Then can easily see statistics on trends in the front office staff |
Project: Medical Marijuna and Herbal Collective
Project Type: Web Site ::::: Industry: Herbal Medicine |
Project Objective/Problem:
Client needed a website to promote the non profit collective providing a membership service for licensed users to order medical cannibus. Also needed functionality for admin to create users for the site, and login to make orders, and manage inventory and fulfill orders. |
Solution Developed:
Developed a website to explain information about the non profit and allow members to login to view and order products. Admin has easy back office control panel to manage inventory and fulfill orders and store all information about the members electronically. |
Project: GRC Owner Rental Forecasting
Project Type: Process ::::: Industry: Hospitality |
Project Objective/Problem:
Owners of a timeshare needed to know if their unit would be rented or not a month in advance. Each owner of a unit is listed in a certain order to determine which unit gets rented first. The hotel would then attempt to assign all the reservations a room number a month in advance using this owner priority list so that they could tell the owner of the units if their room was going to be rented based on if it was assigned a reservation. Assigning reservations a month before arrival never guaranteed the unit would actually be used and it took a lot of time for the hotel to make those assignments that far in advance. |
Solution Developed:
Assisted in the development of a new system of forecasting unit rental information to owners. Now using a forecast of how many rooms will be rented on which days, you can determine which owner units will be rented on those days based on the number of reservations already existing for that day.
Now communicating if an owner's unit will be rented or not doesn't depend on if it's currently assigned a reservation. Now the hotel doesn't need to assign the rooms so far in advance. Assigning the rooms closer to the arrival date provided more accuracy for the using the owner priority sheet thus being fairer to the owners. It also cuts the amount of time to assign rooms in half. Provides the same accuracy of rental forecast to the owners as the previous system. |
Project: Big Online Store
Project Type: E-commerece Website ::::: Industry: Online Retail |
Project Objective/Problem:
Client wanted to create an online store where the affiliates of another company can customize their store and earn a commission for sending people to the store. Client wanted to be able to sell their own products as well as refer to other products for sell on the internet. |
Solution Developed:
Developed a website with an easy user interface design that uses the latest web technologies to give an easy shopping experience navigating through the hundreds of products. Products are coded to be either fulfilled by the company or link to another website. Website tracks who referrered the guest so commissions can be paid to affiliates. Also displays a custom store name and tag line and custom featured products selected by the affiliate who referred the guest. Affiliates are able to easily modify their custom store. |
Project: Reservation Request Website
Project Type: Web Application ::::: Industry: Hospitality |
Project Objective/Problem:
Owners of this timeshare had a benefit to stay at the hotel for free if the occupancy was low. But they could only make the reservation 3 days before arrival. One department would make a sheet indicating if there was availability and for which room type on what days, then give this sheet to the front desk. The owners of the time share would call the front desk to check availability. The front desk would write down the request information, then check the sheet, and call them back, to let them know.
This process took some time and there was a lot of steps involved in confirming if the reservation could be made. Then there was a lengthy process to figure out what room could be used for this reservation since every room in the time share had to be used evenly for this type of reservation. |
Solution Developed:
Developed a website for owners to request reservations instead of by phone and for associates to manage the requests quickly while providing the owners with statistics they needed. This process is now more accurate and efficient and a more enhanced service for the owner. |
Project: Work Experience Guide Website
Project Type: Web Application ::::: Industry: Travel Information |
Project Objective/Problem:
Already had an existing website that was a work experience guide for Brazlians to work in the USA that listed many work places all over the USA with a lot of information. The information was getting very big and time consuming to add new work places or locations and to keep all the data organized. Needed an easier to to add new and manage work places and locations and provide some social interaction for people using the website. |
Solution Developed:
Developed a content management system (CMS) for the website. Designed a database to house all the information in the website then designed an easy to use user interface for the admin to add and manage the work places. Also users of the site can now add their own testimonials and photos and videos related to their own experiences with a work place. Admin can easily review these and approve them to go live on the site. Before people would email photos and videos to the admin creating a very time consuming task of processing those and putting on the website. |
Project: Housekeeping Request Log
Project Type: Database ::::: Industry: Hospitality |
Project Objective/Problem:
In housekeeping there are two office coordinators working to answer the phones and take requests and dispatch the tasks to other associates running around the hotel. They were tracking these requests on excel spreadsheets on each computer. The information was not shared and not tracked very well. |
Solution Developed:
Developed a Microsoft Access database program that allows the office coordinators to quickly enter requests into the system and see all pending requests from both computers in the same system. Now they also click each request after its complete to track if its been done.
The program automatically logs the time the request was made and when it was complete and displays flags if the request has been pending over a certain time limit to let the office coordinators if they need to follow up on the task. |
