Company Overview
EiRG is a Houston, Texas based company with the mission to revolutionize the way school districts operate through the creation of custom software applications. Their work focuses on the simplification, through specialized applications, of the highly regulated US school system. Together with input from their nationally diverse client base, EiRG has created various custom web-based applications for K-12 educational institutions.
Opportunity
Two years ago, in response to an outpouring of requests from customers, EiRG began to outline an application aimed at simplifying how school districts manage large amounts of critical data. Focusing their attention on the processing of key student data as it related to state and federal regulations, EiRG began to formulate a vision for a complex tool which they call SMART (Student Merit and Achievement Research Technology). Ultimately the tool would not only allow schools (and districts) to track student information in real time against ever changing regulations but also to run complex federally mandated reports that originally had to be compiled by hand.
Driven by time to market, man power and budget constraints EiRG hired Rapidigm Inc., a Fujitsu Corporation to create this custom application in a record amount of time. Rapidigm turned to Solutions Architect Brian Payne not only for his successful record in designing and executing complex business solutions but also for his insightful management approach when working with large, globally diverse teams.
Solution
During the 18 month project Brian successfully managed a technical team of 50+ resources including developers, business analysts and database specialists here and abroad. The team initially identified the need for three unique but closely linked applications, 26 core modules , a custom framework, multiple databases, a back end super-user portal and multiple interfaces controlled by a users role and access rights.
The project faced a several challenges that called for unique solutions. First, the client’s timeframe was extremely tight and the budget did not allow for a massive ramp-up to compensate. This was managed by placing Brian in India for several months to provide training and to help the team adhere to strict programming and project management best-practices. Second, the solution required the team to use beta versions of .Net 2.0 and SQL Server 2005 which meant the team had to work quickly to incorporate changes and updates to keep up with the changing programs.
Results
The project faced funding challenges and was eventually shut down after 52 weeks of work. Prior to loss of funding the team successfully delivered several key project components. The team provided a complete set of detailed project and system documentation, created using the Rational Unified Process. In addition the team was able to deliver the complex custom framework and several of the system's core modules. Before the project was shelved because of budget difficulties, the team was on track to deliver a complete system on time and on budget.
Technologies
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