Breath of Fresh Air for Four Winds

In the homestretch of a  long project, Four Winds Interactive reached out to Wyolution to shore up and complete some development tasks required to go live.  Faced with a long list of issues to address and a short time frame, we structured the effort to utilize not only Wyolution’s resources, but FWI’s as well.  We provided designers direct access to the project to make changes on the fly while Wyolution focused on heavy lifting tasks.  This collaborative approach drastically reduced turn around time without compromising our software development processes and standards.

Visit Site: www.fourwindsinteractive.com

 

fwi-page

 

Back to School

When one of the top school districts in Wyoming was ready for a website overhaul, they partnered with Wyolution and PB Communications for UX design, information architecture and development to ensure the new web presence would support students, parents and the public on a wide range of devices.

The project included a content management system that allows staff from the district as well as all 10 schools to update and deliver timely communications. Schools have their homepages with stories and calendars while the district and the main homepage can bubble up and display a story from any of the existing school stories.

As a consumer of Google services, the district utilizes calendars to track academic, sporting and district events across all schools.  We were able to integrate these 50+ calendars into the site thus eliminating the need to build and delivery copies of all these calendars and support the districts initiative to only have to manage a single calendar for any one category of events.

Visit site: www.scsd2.com

scsd2-homepage

 

Wyolution Team Members Take Home 1st Place at Google’s GovDev Challenge

Team Code RangersWyolution partners Mark Thoney and Jared Kail joined Anne Gunn of the Sheridan Programmers Guild and Tighe Fagen of Gannett Peak Technical Services to form a 4-person team named “Code Rangers” to compete in Google’s first ever GovDev Challenge.  The 24-hour hack-a-thon, held on May 17th and 18th, 2014, in Denver, Colorado, was a partnership between the states of Wyoming and Colorado, Google and MoDev.  The goal of the event was to find creative technical solutions to problems faced by state government.

The three challenges of the competition were not known to participants prior to the event.  Of the three issues presented, Code Rangers chose the only challenge put forth by the State of Wyoming:  Government Budget Transparency.  “Wyoming is more than a place where we live – it’s our passion,” remarked Jared Kail.  “That’s why when Wyoming presented a problem it was facing, we knew we had to tackle it.”

At the end of the caffeine-fueled coding event, Code Rangers ended up taking 1st place honors in its challenge category.  “It took us by surprise, really.  We drove down to Denver to work together as a team, meet new programmers, learn a few new things, and maybe to help solve some problems at the state.  We didn’t think that winning was in the cards for us,” commented Mark Thoney, of Wyolution.

Code Ranger’s final 24-hour project can be found at http://govdev.wyolution.com.  The project was conceptualized to take the complex and large set of state vendor data, combine it with publicly available information, and present it in a way that is intuitive and easy to use.  “Our goal was to create a solution that was easy to use and would pique visitors’ curiosity.  If we did our jobs right, the data will generate more questions than it answers – questions that taxpayers should be asking of their state government,” Kail said.

The team encourages you to go out to the site, try it out, and leave feedback via the form at the bottom of the page.

Google’s writeup about the event can be found on the Google | Official Enterprise Blog, “Developers code their way to more efficient government at the GovDev Challenge


Video From Google


Video from K2 of Wyoming:


Video from 9News of Colorado:

9new-story

 

 

Keeping Adventurers Safe

On The GrandImagine being on top of the world – the Grand Teton at 13,775 ft., soaring over 6,530 ft above the ground below.  Beneath you are huge vertical walls, granite rock slides, steep glaciers and thin mountain air.  Above you is nothing but blue sky.

In a place like this you want your climbing guide to be aware of every possible condition.  Exum Mountain Guides recently teamed with Wyolution to implement a new “guide’s only” section of their backend system that allows guides to communicate with one another conditions they experience in one of the World’s most extreme settings.  This system includes the ability to post conditions; use threaded comments; and upload files so guides can share pictures of conditions and data sheets.

When safety is concern #1, there is no one in the world better than Exum Mountain Guides, and Wyolution is proud to play a small part in keeping their clients safe.

Performance Improvement with New Relic

New Relic ScreenshotPerformance can make or break an Internet Application.  The trouble is, there are a lot of moving parts – from database queries on the backend to server performance, from slow network traffic to poorly designed javascript code.  Trying to get a handle on how your application is performing has traditionally been a very difficult task.

Enter “New Relic“.  This server-based performance-tracking suite of tools helps to monitor, measure and improve performance of applications and, if interpreted and utilized correctly, can save tremendous time in helping to enhance your application.

Wyolution recently integrated New Relic with multiple clients, including the Civilian Marksmanship Program’s Competition Tracker.  We were able to immediately use the results to optimize queries that were slowing down the system; discover, troubleshoot and fix errors that were previously unknown to the team; and fine tune various parts of the stack to increase performance significantly.  The result is a faster-running, more error-free environment for the CMP’s user base; a better product for the CMP that generates less support calls; and peace of mind at Wyolution that the app is running smoothly, performing well, and being monitored for trouble spots should they arise.  That’s a win-win-win in our book.

Supporting Coach USA

coachusaSeveral of the members at Wyolution have had a long relationship with Coach USA.  We designed, implemented and maintained my aspects of their collection of web sites and applications.  From eCommerce solutions that address sight seeing trips to scheduled services that move people on a daily basis, we have played an active role to ensure these applications continue to meet the needs and goals of CoachUSA.

Their schedule services operates many useful bus routes in North America.  Their safe, reliable, and convenient scheduled services will get you downtown, to the office, to the airport, home from college, or wherever you need to go.  Services are offered across 34 states with hundreds of stops spread across many cities.  The system was designed to allow day-to-day maintenance of schedule changes to be managed by Coach USA through existing workflows.  No intervention on our part is required.

Currently our focus is providing 24/7 support.  Whether we are called upon to fix a bug or address a security concern or add a feature, we are there for Coach USA.

CoachUSA

Coach USA owns over 20 local companies in North America that operate scheduled bus routes, motorcoach tours, charters, and city sightseeing tours. We cover three geographic areas: the North East and North Central regions of the United States, and Canada.  These local companies are each independently managed and operated to meet the specific needs of their local communities.

References:
Coach USA : http://www.coachusa.com/

 

 

 

San Francisco International Airport : A look back

Flysfo.com ( 2009 )
Flysfo.com ( 2009 )

Wyolution provided the technical support amongst a team of vendors tasked with designing, implementing and providing maintenance and support for one San Francisco International Airport’s customer facing web site flysfo.com ( http://www.flysfo.com ) from 2006 to 2013.

During that time Wyolution deployed, configured and maintained flysfo.com on a OpenCMS ( a Java and XML based solution ).  It was an extremely stable platform and served tremendous amounts of users a month.

While day-to-day updates and content management were handled by SFO staff, Wyolution built a number of applications that allowed various departments within SFO to manage their content and information with minimal or no technical expertise.  Applications included:

  • Customer Email Management System : A legacy application that was ported as is to the Java platform that managed the correspondence with SFO and travelers to ensure submitted questions and concerns got answered and addressed by the correct people at SFO.
  • Flight Status : The most used application on site allowed visitors to check on arrival and departure information.  Information presented online matched the same information being displayed on flight boards within the terminals.  Our application utilized data aggregated by the vendor ARINC.
  • Jobs Database : SFO managed hundreds of jobs across all the vendors within the terminals.  The jobs application allowed them to quickly post and take down job reqs.

We also provided tier-2 support around the clock in the event of a problem.  If SFO’s support couldn’t resolve a problem, a call would be placed to our 24/7 support system and Wyolution would get involved to address the issue.

SFO was a fantastic organization to work with and we expect them to continue to delivery a site that consistently ranks among the top International websites in the world.

References:
Flysfo.com : http://www.flysfo.com
OpenCMS : http://www.opencms.org/en/
ARINC : http://www.arinc.com/

First People’s Center for Education

fpcfe-photo1Through our involvement with ServeWyoming.org we were asked to help First People’s Center for Eduction build and launch a new site that they could manage.

FPCFE mission is, “to improve and support teacher effectiveness in Native communities, because we believe America’s First Children deserve the best.”  Building a site that could effectively manage was a key step in fulfilling this objective.

ServeWyoming promotes collaborative efforts among private, non-profit and governmental organizations that advance community service, volunteer programs and activities in each Wyoming community.  If you or your company is interested in volunteering, contact ServeWyoming.org.

We worked with a great team who had tremendous passion for their mission and the people they served. 

servewyoming-logo

References:
First People’s Center for Education : http://www.fpcfe.org/
ServeWyoming : http://www.servewyoming.org/

RockResorts – Luxury Resort Hotels

BC.Pines.Hot_Tub.na.lgRockResorts’ luxury resort hotels offer casually elegant accommodations, state-of-the-art RockResorts® Spas, renowned golf courses, award-winning dining and a variety of exciting outdoor adventures. The RockResorts collection includes One Ski Hill Place in Breckenridge, CO; The Osprey at Beaver Creek in Beaver Creek, CO; The Pines Lodge in Beaver Creek, CO; The Arrabelle at Vail Square in Vail Square, CO; The Lodge at Vail in Vail Village, CO; and Half Moon in Jamaica.

Wyolution helps support the reservation booking engine for these luxury properties.  Employees of Wyolution have worked for years on enhancing and supporting this system.  Though not our tradition LAMP solution, we do support Microsoft based solutions from time to time.

References:
RockResorts : http://rockresorts.com/
Vail Resorts, Inc. : http://www.vailresorts.com/

Wyolution’s Kail Presents at Governor’s Forum

Wyolution co-founder, Jared Kail, presented at Governor Matt Mead’s Forum on Wyoming Business today.  “It was truly an honor to be invited to speak along side of men like Herb Allen, Hank McKinnell, James Wolfensohn, Neil McMurry, Tom Scott and so many others,” remarked Jared after the forum. “Wyoming business owners are second to none. I have tremendous respect for all of the people that attended. With a group like that, there is no limit to the things Wyoming can achieve.”

Jared’s presentation focused on drawing inspiration from Wyoming’s rich, colorful, hard-working and entrepreneurial past when guiding decisions that propel us into the future.  To listen to the presentation as it was streamed live, use the player below (note that Jared is the 3rd speaker on the panel):

Fremont County Website featured in Lander Journal

Lander Journal
February 14th, 2010

Today Wyolution’s latest customer site was featured on the front page of the Lander Journal, in an articled titled “County debuts new Web site.”  The story describes the new site as “improving [the county’s] online presence” by offering “a host of information covering vehicle registration, elections and property questions.”

Joni Miller, from the Fremont County ISS department, said, “I’ve had hits from all around already, like from Florida, and different people are looking at the different job opportunities.”  Regarding the new features, she explained, “What’s really good is each department can update their own stuff now and within that they have a lot of the forms.  Anybody can come in [to the Web site] and do a form and mail it in to us.”

Jared Kail, of Wyolution, was quoted, “We’re really happy with how it turned out.  I think it meets the needs of the county residents in terms of information distribution pretty well.”

Sheridan College Foundation Launches New Site

Sheridan College Foundation
Sheridan College Foundation

The Sheridan College Foundation launched their new site this month at www.sheridancollegefoundation.org.  The site was built to provide the foundation with the ability to easily maintain their own site.  Just a few things they are now able to do include:

  • Loading and managing galleries of photos and placing those photos into Flash players or photo lists throughout the site.
  • Managing the large images on each page.
  • Loading and displaying events.
  • Collecting data through various forms.
  • Managing new releases and articles about the foundation and Alumni.
  • Collect donations.
  • Send newsletters.

Monthly information about the site is also provided in order to determine what content is considered valuable and what can be improved or refined to make the site better.

In the end, the new site allows the foundation to share and promote the hard work they do to better the education of students at Sheridan College.