Traditional Cork Bulletin Boards Go Electronic, Providing ...



Microsoft Visual Studio 2010Customer Solution Case Study04445Traditional Cork Bulletin Boards Go Electronic, Providing Simpler Web Sites SolutionsOverviewCountry or Region: United StatesIndustry: IT servicesCustomer ProfileFounded in 2002, CyberSavvy develops software-as-a-service solutions for a rapidly growing customer base. The company, which has 5 team members, is based in Heron, Montana.Business SituationCyberSavvy wanted to create an electronic version of the cork bulletin boards that people around the world use to post announcements, items for sale, and other communication.SolutionThe company created using Microsoft Visual Studio 2010, Microsoft Silverlight 4, and Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2.BenefitsEase of useFaster developmentRich reportingSecurity“We’ve wanted this kind of development power for years. … Faster development translates into lower development costs.”Peter Hammond, President, CyberSavvyCyberSavvy, a developer of custom software-as-a-service (SaaS) solutions wanted to invent an electronic version of the ubiquitous cork bulletin boards that are found in post offices, grocery stores, and other community gathering places around the world. The challenge was to find a technology platform that would enable the same ease of use of traditional cork bulletin boards while providing data management, scalability, and security. The company created , a SaaS solution that can be used to create location-based electronic bulletin boards throughout the United States and much of the rest of the world. was created using Microsoft Visual Studio 2010, Silverlight 4, and SQL Server 2008 R2. The drag and drop ease of creating notes on the electronic boards has inspired small businesses to use as an alternative to traditional Web sites.SituationWhen Peter Hammond, President of CyberSavvy, a developer of custom software-as-a-service (SaaS) solutions based on Microsoft technologies, moved his company from the Seattle, Washington area to Heron, Montana his creativity as a developer was inspired by the new surroundings. While there are plenty of technology-minded people in Montana, he found that many of the local business owners and other community members he met were reluctant to embrace computer technology. Even when business owners had Web sites, people spoke of them being difficult to keep updated, or to customize with their latest messaging.At the same time, Hammond became fascinated by the role that simple cork bulletin boards seemed to play in rural communities. “These bulletin boards were everywhere,” Hammond says. “Cork boards are in the stores, restaurants, gas stations, post offices—anywhere people gather. You certainly see people working on laptops and using WiFi in coffee shops here, but in many ways it seemed as if cork boards were Montana’s version of the Internet. This is where people would go to see what was happening around town, to browse for goods or services, or to hang a note about whatever they might want.”From an ease of use standpoint, Hammond noted that people enjoyed stopping at bulletin boards to have a look to see what was new. And unlike posting a message on the Internet, placing a message on a physical bulletin board was as easy as using a pushpin to hang a business card, or jotting down a message on a piece of paper.He also liked the non-categorical randomness of the postings. It is not uncommon to find a 3-by-5 card offering babysitting services next to a snowplow posting, which may be just above a business card offering septic tank and excavation services. While traditional Internet searches provide exacting results based upon specified parameters, Hammond liked the diverse juxtaposition of community bulletin boards. However, he also saw that physical bulletin boards are far from perfect. “If you want to post a message, you have to physically walk or drive to each bulletin board, which in winter might be a chore,” Hammond says. “After something sells and you want the calls to stop, you have to visit all the bulletin boards you might have placed your note on. And an hour after posting a note someone else might take it down, or cover it up with another posting. In one case I know a business owner who thought a vandal was tearing down all the messages from his outside bulletin board. However, it turned out to be a hungry goat eating the paper.”Viewing this all from a developer’s perspective, Hammond wanted to create an electronic version of community bulletin boards, but knew that in order to be accepted these electronic posting places would need to have self-evident ease of use. And to accommodate growth, the posting places would require industrial-strength scalability behind the scenes.SolutionDetermining that the Internet could benefit from the simple location-based efficiency of community bulletin boards; Hammond, his partner Dan Dzina, and the developers at CyberSavvy created an electronic version of the ubiquitous cork bulletin boards called . The SaaS solution provides a place where businesses and communities can post location-specific announcements and messages. While also allowing for easy personalization of the board’s style, the basic setting is a corkboard background with cards and pushpins to reinforce the concept that the electronic is just as easy to use as the real-world corkboards hanging on walls in stores and community centers around the world. CyberSavvy moved from development to full production in less than six months using the Microsoft Application Platform, including Microsoft Visual Studio 2010, the Microsoft .NET Framework 4, Microsoft Silverlight 4 browser plug-in, Windows Communication Foundation and Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF). Data management is handled using CyberSavvy’s DataPlace, a SaaS solution data platform that leverages Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 Enterprise running on the Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise operating system. CyberSavvy uses SQL Server 2008 R2 Reporting Services to provide rich data to businesses and individuals using to support geospatial data visualization. supports popular browsers including Microsoft Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, and Apple Safari. The solution uses Microsoft Bing to support address searches, provide satellite maps, and for geocoding addresses. CyberSavvy uses GeoTrust RSA 2048-bit SSL encryption certificates to protect all transmitted data. The solution is hosted on the company’s existing Dell PowerEdge 2950 server computers with two quad-core Intel Xeon processors and 32 gigabytes of RAM.PostingPlace – CyberSavvy created PostingPlace as an electronic version of the traditional cork bulletin board.CyberSavvy provides free use of for individuals and communities, while businesses pay a modest fee for using the SaaS solution.The robust Microsoft Application Platform infrastructure enables users to go far beyond posting notes. They can also post photos, videos, and other rich content. The SQL Server backend enables users to post messages across a range of bulletin boards. From the home page a user can begin by clicking on their own zip code, and drill into the specific board or multiple boards they would like to read or post to. In addition to geospatial navigation, enables time-based data display, so users can click through a board timeline to see how the mix of notices has changed over time. When users post a note they can specify an expiration date so that they don’t have to manually remove a posting later.Hammond’s vision of creating an electronic version of the traditional cork bulletin board is validated by the number of small businesses and other organizations that were early adopters of CyberSavvy’s PostingPlace. Early adopters—many of whom either had never had a Web site, or felt uncomfortable managing a site—include:All American Arms Company. A licensed firearms dealer in Clark Fork, Idaho, All American Arms uses as the small business’s new Web presence. “We had been wanting a Web presence for quite some time, but we’re not techie people,” says Eric Cox, owner of All American Arms Company. “My wife and I didn’t want to deal with having to try to figure out how to build a Web site and how to maintain a Web site. We tried and were delighted with how easy it is to use. You just drag and drop. We’re on the Web now and we can update our content whenever we want to, all by ourselves.” Cheshire Goldsmiths. A jewelry store that also offers watch and jewelry repair in Keene, NH, Cheshire Goldsmiths uses as it’s only Web site. “I had been turned off to Web sites because so many are so difficult to use,” says owner Tom Pinard. “With some Web sites you go there despite the difficulties in navigating because you need to get the information. With you go there because it is fun to browse and easy to use.” Web - The Thompson Falls Chamber of Commerce uses PostingPlace to host information once kept on its Web site. eGraphics. A printing business in Houston, Texas, embedded its PostingPlace presence into its Web site to serve as a news page because it is so easy to immediately post announcements, updates, and other communications for customers. “I’m sponsoring a golf team in the tournament for the Houston Hispanic Architects and Engineers Society,” says Ernie Reguera, owner of eGraphics. “I’ll be able to immediately post photographs of my customers at the event because is so easy to work with. I did the same for a sand castle building competition that the AIA [American Institute of Architects] sponsored down at Galveston. I co-sponsored one of the architect teams. I don’t need a developer to place photos onto my Web site. Using I can do this myself in a matter of seconds. This helps me to keep things fresh and exciting for my customers.” Thompson Falls Chamber of Commerce. The Chamber of Commerce for Thompson Falls, Montana initially planned to use to just augment their existing Web site, using to replace e-mail lists to correspond with board members and other members. “However, we liked so well that we decided to completely transition our old Web site over to PostingPlace,” says Erin Travor, President of the Thompson Falls, Montana Chamber of Commerce. “Any of our Board Members can post updates to our site, so we aren’t dependent upon having a developer make changes for us.”BenefitsEase of use – Customers like the ease with which they can post new notes to their electronic cork boards.CyberSavvy was able to use Visual Studio 2010, Silverlight, WPF, and other elements of the Microsoft Application Platform to create an electronic analog to traditional cork bulletin boards that provides ease of use, rich reporting capabilities, and security. The company credits the efficiency of Microsoft development tools and technologies with enabling faster development.Ease of is so easy to use that many business owners invite their customers to post their own notes to the business site. “Part of building a business is building a community for your customers,” Reguera says. “If I know a great MEP [mechanical, electrical, and plumbing] I’ll want to introduce him to architects, and the other way around. I invite my customers to post their own notes on the board, and it is so simple that they can post a note in a matter of seconds. really is as easy to use as the old cork bulletin boards, while providing far more benefits.” Reguera feels is a better community-building tool than a blog. “Putting a note up on is so much easier than creating and updating a blog,” Reguera says. “The blog for me is like getting up on your pedestal and telling everybody what you’ve got to say. is more like saying: ‘Hey, I found something really cool I can share.’ I can post a note about a cool Web site that I think my clients would find interesting. This kind of casual community-building communication is awesome.”Even those who are longtime users of the Internet can be put off by the complexity of creating and maintaining a Web site. Cox, for example is credited with writing more than 30,000 posts on a discussion site about his industry, but had resisted trying to create his own Web site. “I’d been on the Internet for quite a long while, but kept putting off creating a Web site. I even read up about HTML, but didn’t have the time to become my own expert. With I can do whatever I need to do without knowing anything about HTML or Web development. I just click and drag to create a new message.”Cox’s wife Belinda agrees: “We can just sit there and use to enhance our business instead of having to think about how to make it work on the Web. It just works. We can use it. We don’t have to worry about it.”"With Microsoft you enjoy a nice sense of continuity across all of the tools, technologies, and server products.”Dan Dzina, Architect, CyberSavvy For Pinard, has been empowering. “I figured I was too old to get involved with the Internet, that I was just out of the loop,” he says. “But is useful. It isn’t snake oil. It works and I can do it on my own.”The ability to navigate through time on , to look at earlier boards, and to create announcements for the future that won’t go live until a specified date and time is helpful to Travor at the Thompson Falls Chamber of Commerce. “My husband has a business and I have a business so there is very little time to spare. I have to allocate the time I spend on Chamber business. Being able to schedule notices in advance is a huge benefit for me because when my daughter takes a nap I can just sit there and write up notices and announcements and schedule them for future release.” Behind the scenes Reporting Services generates notifications that are sent to role-based distribution lists notifying members that updates have been posted.The Chamber of Commerce takes advantage of the ease with which multiple boards can be created to augment the main Chamber of Commerce board. “All of our members can create their own boards off of ours, describing their services, specials, and events,” Travor says. “We also have an access-controlled board where Chamber of Commerce Board Members can sign in to collaborate on projects or discuss subjects to help form our policies and to guide decisions.”The ease of use of enables businesses to grow their Web presence by adding more boards that focus on different parts of their business.Faster DevelopmentCyberSavvy credits Silverlight, WPF, SQL Server 2008 R2 and other elements of the Microsoft Application Platform with enabling it to create its innovative SaaS solution and going into production in less than six months. The company found great efficiency in taking advantage of Microsoft’s Extensible Application Markup Language (XAML) that works seamlessly with WPF and Silverlight to create a rich user experience for both Web and desktop applications.“We are able to provide a great user experience using Silverlight, the Windows Presentation Foundation, and XAML,” Hammond says. “We’ve wanted this kind of development power for years. Combine this with the enterprise-grade data management of SQL Server 2008 and we were able to create far faster than we could have using other development platforms. From idea to launch it took us less than six months to create . Faster development translates into lower development costs.”Dan Dzina, Architect at CyberSavvy agrees that using the Microsoft Application Platform speeds development. “The consistency of all of the technologies that make up the platform in terms of developer experiences is a big advantage,” Dzina says. “The alternative is to start buying development tools from a number of different sources, trying to create a best-of-breed design. But when you do this you need to have your own pack of experts to deal with each of those technologies. With Microsoft you enjoy a nice sense of continuity across all of the tools, technologies, and server products.”Rich Reporting CapabilitiesCyberSavvy uses SQL Server 2008 R2 Reporting Services to give their customers advanced reporting and analytics that provide an exacting view into the traffic and activity their boards are generating. Using geospatial reporting capabilities of SQL Server 2008 R2 enables businesses to see the results of posting messages on boards in different ZIP codes. Rich reporting – PostingPlace uses SQL Server 2008 R2 Reporting Services to provide users with rich reporting. “We can see the benefits we gain from posting one of our ads on various boards in different areas,” says Cox. “Our customers will drive up to three and a half hours to come here because of our prices and our service. So it is very helpful to be able to place our ads across different ZIP codes and to then see graphical reports that show us exactly how people in the different ZIP codes responded.”CyberSavvy likes that Reporting Services goes beyond providing just numbers, and provides strong graphical tools to enable users to see at a glance how they are doing across a number of metrics. “The new controls in SQL Server 2008 R2 have given us innovative ways to present the data in a graphic manner so that it’s easier to draw people’s attention to the most important information,” says Deborah Palmer, Report Developer at CyberSavvy. “Traditionally users are given a summary grid view of the data and then they have to review the data carefully to determine where they need to dig deeper. With Reporting Services we have several options available to graphically draw the user’s attention to key data points in the metrics to guide them to the detailed information that is most critical. The result is that our customers don’t have to worry about how the reports work, they can instead focus on what the numbers mean to their operations.”SecurityWanting to provide a highly secure environment for users, CyberSavvy deployed its solution using 2048 bit SSL certificates with enhanced verification. “All data transmission is encrypted with because we wanted our users to be able to post family photos, videos, and whatever messages they wanted without having to worry about losing their privacy on the Internet,” Hammond says. “While some sites use encryption for just credit card information, we use encryption for every communication with .” boards are protected from automated spam delivery mechanisms, sometimes referred to as bots, through use of the Microsoft Application Platform. Hammond notes: “The bots are out there, but they can’t successfully attack because we created it using Microsoft’s latest technologies, including Silverlight and authenticated WCF services.”SummaryIn summary, CyberSavvy was able to create an easy to use and scalable electronic version of the traditional cork bulletin board by building its solution using Microsoft development tools, technologies, and server products.Software and ServicesMicrosoft Server Product PortfolioWindows Server 2008 R2 EnterpriseMicrosoft SQL Server 2008 R2 Enterprise Microsoft Visual Studio 2010TechnologiesMicrosoft .NET Framework 4Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 Reporting ServicesHardwareDell PowerEdge 2950 server computers with duel quad-core Intel Xeon processors and 32 gigabytes of RAMThis case study is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY.Document published September 2010For More InformationFor more information about Microsoft products and services, call the Microsoft Sales Information Center at (800) 426-9400. In Canada, call the Microsoft Canada Information Centre at (877) 568-2495. Customers in the United States and Canada who are deaf or hard-of-hearing can reach Microsoft text telephone (TTY/TDD) services at (800) 892-5234. Outside the 50 United States and Canada, please contact your local Microsoft subsidiary. To access information using the World Wide Web, go to:For more information about CyberSavvy products and services, call (888) 300-8310 or visit the website at: Microsoft Visual StudioMicrosoft Visual Studio is the world’s most popular development environment for designing, developing, and testing next-generation Windows-based solutions and web applications and services. By improving the development experience for Windows, the web, mobile devices, and Microsoft Office, Visual Studio helps organizations deliver a variety of solutions more productively than ever before. Visual Studio Team System expands the product line with new software tools that enable greater communication and collaboration throughout the development life cycle. With Visual Studio, businesses can deliver modern service-oriented solutions more efficiently.For more information?about Visual Studio, go to:msdn.vstudio ................
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