For over a decade SSW has worked closely with a variety of Australian and international
clients tailoring software solutions to business needs and objectives. We have amassed
a wealth of technical knowledge and are considered the experts in developing solutions
using the latest Microsoft technologies including:
Our software solutions vary in size and complexity having designed custom software
solutions for large multinational companies and SME's. As your software solutions
provider or your outsourced IT department SSW have proved to be the ideal partner
for organizations that lack the technical expertise to compete in an increasingly
competitive and dynamic global economy.
Here's a list of some of our clients and their testimonials. Please feel free to
view our slide show
Microsoft Australia approached SSW to develop a website in preparation for the upcoming
2008 Forum event for SharePoint and Office. SSW delivered a Web 2.0 site build in
SharePoint 2007 in under 3 weeks. The site capitalizes on many of SharePoint's web
publishing features and uses JQuery throughout to enhance the user experience. Virtual
Earth was integrated to provide venue information. The completed site demonstrates
that the possibilities of using SharePoint 2007 for a public facing website are
boundless!
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Figure: The SharePoint and Office Forum 2008 website header
The people at SSW were great to work with from concept to delivery, welcoming, friendly
and professional - the outcome for us was a high quality site delivered in a very
short timeframe
Robin Young, Microsoft Project Lead
SharePoint 2007 was implemented extensively across their organization, but they
were looking to extend the development to include their new public website. After
a lengthy tendering process, WorleyParsons chose SSW to develop their new public
website and it is now powered by SharePoint 2007.
The site and all components were to be reusable, so site templates, page layouts,
content types and web parts were used extensively. This allows WorleyParsons employees
with sufficient permissions to manage and maintain the website without requiring
any assistance from developers.
CBA is one of Australia's largest banks, and it employs thousands of people Australia
wide. SSW developed an intranet based ASP.NET solution to help them better manage
their staffing timesheets and allow HR to better track employee performance and
work expectations.
The project was written in .NET with a MS SQL Server backend. It was written in
a combination of both VB.NET (for the front-end plus security) and C# (for data
access and business logic). The website needed to be very rich in terms of the client
interaction, it was originally slated as a Windows Forms project but for various
reasons it ended up being web based. This meant that large effort was put into developing
and using rich controls with considerable client-side functionality.
An interesting challenge of this project involved the security implementation, whereby
the system had to not only allow integrated (Windows) if possible to allow users
to be identified without needing to enter a login prompt, but it also had to share
its authentication and authorization logic with any number of external applications.
This means that the authentication and authorization process talks to up to 3 different
web services in order to log a user in.
Implementing the database schema also threw up a number of challenges including
an interesting modelling of the organizational hierarchy and our ability to efficiently
query parent-child and parent-descendent relationships within the self-referencing
data.
The CommTrack application is now expected to serve some thousands of internal users
throughout their day and feed into a greater data warehouse to enable advanced management
reporting. It is a massive improvement over an existing system of manual spreadsheet
maintenance. When the full rollout is complete, CommTrack is expected to give CBA
investment returns in the range hundreds of thousands of dollars per year through
increased staff productivity and process improvements.
Tim, a quick note to say thanks for all the work on CommTrack and support for the
implementation. The app is getting very good reviews from the user base and we have
a queue of people lined up nationally wanting to get on and use it. Your part of
the larger project has progressed very well (in contrast to roadblocks and pain
elsewhere). I wanted to make sure you knew that I recognized a job well done by
the SSW and CBA folks.
Simon Renton - Retail Operations - Manager Finance and Modelling, Commonwealth Bank
The organisation was formed to build a series of large water resource projects to
provide adequate water resources to South East Queensland. In each of those projects
a large amount of land was needed making the acquisition, recording, contracts and
communication and key element, and even before a project started a large number
of documents are generated relating to site planning, images, email, agreements,
and other documents. Queensland Water Infrastructure needed a solution to handle
the volume and change management in all this data.
SSW provided a solution as two key systems, 1) tracking and reporting on the land
acquisitions, and 2) a document management system. A custom application was written
to track the acquisitions. This system had a Microsoft SQL Database backend, allowing
the complex reporting requirements to be satisfied by Microsoft Reporting Services.
The management of documents was built on top of Microsoft SharePoint and WISDOM
DMF. The features of Enterprise SharePoint were extended with custom WebParts for
project navigation, and custom context menus with options available based on the
type of document stored.
Projects of the size involved have many legal and practical management requirements
that only a system that is both reliable and performing the core business model
can provide. The systems SSW provided were tailored to the exact model that QldWI
ran its business on, and the systems have used to complete 3 successful projects,
with further project work currently underway
We used these technologies: Microsoft SharePoint MOSS (Enterprise), SQL Server,
Reporting Services, WISDOM DMF, Access 2007
McDonalds needs to track shipments and report on their meats to the US, Asia and
domestically.
SSW worked together with McDonalds to build an Access application with SQL backend
to help manage their day to day operations. Since then SSW have been porting some
existing functions into ClickOnce applications and migrating reports to Reporting
Services reports. We also provide training to their users around using Access and
writing advanced queries.
Streamlined their operations from a manual system to an automated system
We used these technologies: Access 2003, SQL Server 2005, SSIS, Web Services, Great
Plains integration, Reporting Services
SnackBrands were rapidly growing and acquiring other companies. As such they had
sales data in many different systems. They were currently reporting my manually
consolidating figures into excel and crunching the numbers.
SSW developed the glue that brought all these systems together using SSIS to grab
and dump the data into a data warehouse. We worked with the business users to build
a cube off that data that helped report on sales, trends, forecasting, volumes,
logistics and customers. We also setup SnackBrand’s SharePoint infrastructure configuring
Excel services and Reporting Services integration, allowing users to easily query
the cube and upload and share reports.
Empowered users to create their own reports, streamlined their reporting solution
by removing the manual steps.
We used these technologies: SharePoint 2007 MOSS, Reporting Services 2008, SQL Server
2008, SSIS, Excel Services
The NRMA organisation provides a Community Grants Programme annually, and when the
NRMA came to SSW the records in a legacy database were difficult to report on and
maintain. One of the key issues faced by the NRMA community grants team was keeping
the records of organisations consistent across several years, when it is common
for office bearers to change, and for each organisation to create separate registrations
making reporting difficult if not impossible for periods beyond the current year.
The solution provided by SSW comprised a custom website written in Microsoft ASP.NET
Dynamic Data and with an SQL Server backend. Reporting was built on top of Microsoft
Reporting Services. A key feature of the system was a mechanism to identify “re-registration”
events when someone tries to register for an organisation that is already in the
system.
NRMA now have a secure database for recording the community grants data which is
easier to use and maintain that the old system. This system incorporates a mechanism
that avoids most cases of organisation duplication, and so reporting is reliable
across multiple years for the same organisation. NRMA have successfully used the
system for the first year of its operation, and are looking forward to using it
for the next and subsequent years.
We used these technologies: Microsoft ASP.NET Dynamic Data, SQL Server, Microsoft
Reporting Services
Lend Lease is one of the world’s leading fully integrated property solutions providers,
with strong development, investment management, project and construction management
and asset and property management capabilities. As part of their ongoing effort
in improving efficiency and productivity, several legacy spreadsheets and reports
need to be converted into web applications. To ensure consistency, a common visual
framework is required across applications.
SSW worked together with LendLease IT department and together formed a series of
visual UI framework which are used for existing and future web applications.
With the visual framework in place, developers can focus their effort in meeting
functional requirements and worry less on how the apps should look. End users also
benefit from having a common UI theme across their line-of-business applications.
FastAs provides a global directory of contact information and integrated messaging
services for individuals and businesses. It offers free alphabetic and phonetic
searching of millions of subscriber listings, and incorporates message forwarding
capabilities that enable a subscriber to be contacted without disclosure of the
contact details. The FastAs application incorporates on-line processing of both
payments and receipting, and offers convenient (and, if necessary, confidential)
contact services via Email, SMS, Fax, surface mail and telegram.
FastAs has no in-house development expertise and, after careful evaluation, selected
SSW to complete the development and deployment of their internet services. Key considerations
were SSW’s strong project management disciplines, their design and creative talents,
and their considerable technical expertise in .NET3.
SSW has carried out all development work in a professional and disciplined manner.
They have consistently completed work to time and budget and we have been very happy
with the results. We continue to have a strong and strategic relationship.
Carl G Peatman, CEO.
Chubb had slow Asp.NET web pages and reports and needed to be faster
We spent time redesigning the business tier and SQL queries to speed some pages
up to 1800% 3. Payrol reports generated within seconds not hours.
We used these technologies: MS SQL, .NET
We needed to build a complete credit returns system to replace the entirely manual paper based
system that was previously in place.
We build an ASP.NET application using a custom workflow engine to address this challenge.
There is now a mostly automated workflow system in place that manages the entire
process of credit returns, and frees up multiple resources for other work.
We used these technologies: ASP.NET 3.0 and SQL Server 2005
Upgrading a complex Access-based application to latest technologies. The main problem
with Access was client deployment issues
We are bringing the Access application forward to Silverlight with RIA services.
We’re keeping the database schema unchanged so that the new version will run in
parallel to their existing application, and gradually phase the old one out. This
also allows us to deploy the new version earlier and get the end-users excited.
Deployment model will be a lot simpler for end-user machines – since they won’t
need to have Access installed. This will allow Conquest to reach a broader market,
and simplify the deployment experience
We used these technologies: Silverlight 3 WCF Services RIA services SQL Server ASP.NET
Carmody Group specializes in Hotel Interior Design and Refurbishment services throughout
Asia Pacific. SSW was given the task to redesign their public website www.carmodygroup.com.au
applying unique design concept to showcase current and past projects.
Westbus is Sydney's largest private bus company serving the communities of Western
Sydney and the Hills District by providing local, city, school and charter bus services.
SSW developed Westbus' Charter Booking system to serve multiple concurrent users
based at the various Westbus depots which service the Western Sydney region. The
objective was to replace an existing DOS system, to automate quote calculation and
to integrate with Microsoft Great Plains Accounting for invoicing.
The application was developed as an ASP.NET intranet application using a 4 tier
design. The .NET Framework 1.1 was used in conjunction with SQL Server. The system
generates reports powered by Crystal Reports whilst being exportable to Adobe Acrobat
PDF.
Daniela Fontana, Westbus Business Development Manager says SSWs simple and efficient
design has ensured the application has been quickly accepted by the depot users?
Our work for Westbus was recognized by Computer World in their article ".NET helps
wheels go round at bus company"
and Microsoft also commissioned a
.NET Snapshot.
SSWs simple and efficient design has ensured the application has been quickly accepted
by the depot users.
Daniela Fontana - Business Development Manager, Westbus.
SSW assisted Scolari Software in the technical development of their latest software
package - Clubsinc. CLUBSINC has been designed and produced by Scolari Software
to overcome skill shortfalls and time restraints facing cultural, community, industry
and sporting organizations ensuring that they comply with their rules (constitutions)
and relevant legislation.
Built in VB .NET, Clubsinc takes advantage of the excellent deployment functionality
for applications built on the .NET framework. Lead SSW developer John Liu says "While
building in VB .NET has been an exciting challenge, the Clubsinc project has worked
successfully due to the close integration of the Scolari Project Team and SSW technical
staff."
Media Monitors is Australia’s only national media information company and is the
largest provider of customized information services. Media Monitors required that
AC Nielsen ratings data (demographically related) be provided on the transcripts,
tapes and recordings they provide to customers. These come in as CSV files. SSW
created a utility in Visual Basic 6.0 for the manual import of CSV files from this
ratings agency, and modified the associated Word templates and population functions
to handle this data.
Sportstec is a leading provider of sporting technology designed to maximize individual
and team performance.
Our focus is on helping their clients by using all the benefits of leading-edge
technology. That means working closely with individual athletes, coaches, teams,
sports agents and sporting organizations to develop products that are useful and
relevant to their sport and their ambitions.
Coda is Sportstecs 7th unique Software development for Sporting Game or Coaching
analysis.
The concept for this development was to create a portable solution for the coding
of sporting performance. A PDA was chosen as the ideal platform.
The majority of our development is done in-house, however our developers were fully
committed at the time we needed to bring Coda to market.
Sportstec
SSW provided Sportstec with the opportunity to fast-track this development.
From our initial discussions, through to product release, SSW were always proactive
in helping us create an intuitive, and elegant product. The most impressive aspect
of the partnership between Sportstec and SSW is flexibility. We were able to make
a change in the system in the middle of the project. If something came up unexpectedly,
the SSW staff and system adapted immediately.
Coda was completed within the promised timeframe and on budget.
Sportstec immediately had a second PDA application completed again to our total
satisfaction, and have subsequently contracted another large project to SSW.
Owen Tough, Sportstec International Support Manager
The FRDC plans, manages and funds millions of dollars worth of research into the
Australian fisheries industry in conjunction with many independent companies. Funding
used to be managed via an Access application that was distributed to over 100 sites
across Australia. SSW has designed, developed and deployed a SQL Server 2000 application
that streamlines the funding process using Microsoft's latest .NET Passport technologies.
We used SSW's Access Reporter for delivering reports
via the web in either Snapshot, HTML, Excel or RTF formats.FRDC Web Application
Our work for the FRDC was recognized by Computer World in their article "Government
department fishes out .NET solution".
AMS is a data staging system that imports and converts data into a specialised format
for import into the Dyna financial modelling system. External outsource service
providers send simple files which are imported and converted through 3 databases.
SSW's role was development in Visual Basic, JavaScript and SQL Server 7.0 stored
procedures. This involved building stored procedures to do data transformation and
building an ActiveX component to queue and run batch jobs. The web interface required
programming in JavaScript and VB COM objects.
SSW worked on this large 3-tier ASP/VB/SQL Server 2000 project. One of the requirements
was to create a specialised data transformation system to feed data into an asset
management system for predicting future rental prices on all properties owned by
the Commonwealth Bank.
The data would come in as CSV and tab-delimited files (amongst others), which would
be read into the first SQL Server database via DTS. Following this, stored procedures
moved and transformed it into the second SQL Server database where it was in a standard
format. Then stored procedures moved it into a third database which was in a special
format for output into a text script that the Commonwealth Bank Asset Management
package could read. The 'Administration' and 'Script Importing' sections of this
project used an ASP interface created by SSW. Validation of the imported data was
done in DTS via a Visual Basic 6.0 COM object called by the DTS ActiveX scripts.
SSW resource played a critical role in the project. The high level of technical
understanding ensured the project was completed smoothly.
David Masters, AMS system project manager
Enterasys Networks Australia, a leading manufacturer of networking switches and
routers, has partnered with SSW to deploy an automated customer tracking database.
This new application is the foundation for all sales and marketing activities at
Cabletron, and includes sophisticated product quoting functions.
The system uses a SQL Server backend, and is designed to automatically integrate
with Microsoft Outlook and Exchange Server. The solution includes a unique data
replication feature, automatically transferring records from SQL Server to Exchange
Server.
We have seen immediate improvements in our ability to track customers. The migration
of our customer database from Exchange to SQL Server has been very smooth.
Ian Fewtrell, Managing Director, Australia and New Zealand
City Agents is a legal searching firm employed principally by lawyers to carry out
searching, paralegal and agency work. As such they have to keep control of many
small but nonetheless important tasks and have these integrated into a solid reporting
and accountable system.
SSW was commissioned by City Agents to build a custom database to manage the day-to-day
running of their business. The database was built using ADP (Access Data Projects)
in Access 2000 with MSDE as the backend.
We are very pleased with the outcome, speed and flexibility of the database and
impressed with how SSW kept the project within budget.
Mark Scott, Director, City Agents
Australia's first ISP formed in 1993 and based in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane. Magna
Data is recognized as one of the most experienced Internet companies in Australia.
Magna Data has been a central part of the commercial Internet Industry in Australia
since the beginning, from it's inception as the first officially sanctioned provider
of Internet access, through to establishing the Internet Industry Association of
Australia.
SSW converted our customer database which was stored in a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet
into a fully workable database using Microsoft Access. Following the rapid growth
of our business SSW were further contracted to implement SQL Server 7.0 and also
to develop an ASP front-end. I was extremely pleased with the professionalism and
support given by SSW throughout these projects.
Jason Ashton, CEO, Davnet
Laissez-FaireCatering is one of Australia's most reputable catering companies, winning
the 1999 Caterers of the Year and snatching the contract to feed NBC during the
Olympics.
SSW designed and built a database to streamline their function management processes.
The system was originally built in Access 97 but was recently upsized to SQL Server
7 by SSW to cater for the increasing number of users and records. The database is
the centre piece for Laissez's function management, controlling quoting, invoicing
and all aspects of function requirements.
The project was professionally, competently , satisfactorily completed by SSW and
consequently we have returned to them for further software development projects
and for regular software support, such as preparing the database for the GST. We
have been very happy with the professional level of services provided by SSW.
Alan Seabrook, Director, Laissez Faire Catering
Dell Computers are a leading vendor of desktop, server and notebook systems. Since
its principal competitors were IBM, Compaq and Hewlett Packard, its marketing arm
had a hard task before them.
Project Specifications: Dell required a database which would enable them
to successfully prosecute new prospects and to follow them up as the sales process
progressed. In particular, it had to tie in seamlessly with Microsoft Outlook, which
was in general use throughout the company.
CityRail was the principal urban public transport provider for the Sydney metropolitan
region. It employed more than 5,000 persons, many of whom worked near dangerous
machinery.
Project Specifications: CityRail’s health services needed a user-friendly
Access database to manage the process of returning injured employees to work.
Cisco Systems are to the Internet and networking what Microsoft is to software.
We were very privileged to be asked to be involved in such a prestigious company.
Cisco Systems Australia needed a web site that could be updated from a central database.
Not only did their web site be database driven, it had to be updated by an ASP front
end.
When Manpower contacted SSW we thought we'd be building a website that managed underwear
purchasing and having meetings with guys in g-strings! However, it turns out Manpower
is a world-leader in complete staffing solutions, with over 70 offices throughout
Australia and New Zealand. Manpower required an active Internet and Intranet to
extend their services online.
[SSW was] always up front and willing to provide and justify their direction and
technical advice. The final result is a solid Internet and Intranet application,
based on ASP and SQL Server, which performs many useful functions... simple and
very user friendly.
Steve Milroy, Services Web Master, Manpower
Established in 1979, Hamilton James & Bruce is today, the leading independent executive
recruitment consultancy in Australia with offices in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane
and Parramatta.
HJB required a fast, searchable browser-based application.
Holders Direct is a world-wide manufacturer and distributor of Injection Moulded
clear plastic brochure holders.
The company required functionality on their web-site that would enable companies
to apply for official distributor status.
Metalcorp's branches and distributors throughout Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria,
Tasmania and South Australia provide manufacturing, distribution and recycling steel
services.
Metalcorp required the transformation of an outdated order tracking Access database
into a fully functional SECURE extranet. Using SSW's proven methodology the system
is currently being built using 3-tier architecture.
SmartSalary is Australia's second largest and fastest growing salary packaging provider.
To handle their dramatic expansion, SSW was commissioned in 2004 to merge their
3 separate databases in close association with internal IT Staff. We were also charged
with an upgrade to their existing VB 6, Crystal Report, Active X control-based application
to Visual Basic .NET and SQL Server 2000 Reporting Services. In the process, SSW
also re-modelled the new Windows Forms application with a proper strongly typed
data and business logic layer.
Additional client-specific functionality was required and implemented for SmartSalary
which made full use of .NET and control inheritance.
We found the SSW Team to be team oriented, and they integrated well with our internal
IT staff.
Deven Billimoria, Chief Executive Officer
Stolichnaya Lemon Ruski is a leading product of United Distillers (Aust.) Limited.
The "Black Market" promotional blitz of Stolichnaya Lemon Ruski required an active
messaging facility that would enable customers to join their online promotion. SSW
was chosen to construct an online form that would register a contestant's details
and allow access to the subsequent components of the promotion.
SSW provides consultancy services in web design and database development. Our website
often creates the first impression of SSW for prospective clients and is a first-base
for providing support to our current clients (e.g. through SSW Knowledge
Base).
When our website goes down, so does our business, so we understand the important
of reliability, functionality, speed, simplicity and security; so we use SQL Server
2000, XML and ASPX.
Not enough? Need more Testimonials?