In 1996, webmaster still meant that you did all of the work on a web site from server maintenance to database architecture to graphic design. The minimalist design was to provide speedy load times not only for the average AMS.NET education customer, but also potential customers still stuck on slow modems. Even so, the site featured a searchable product catalog of several thousand parts and allowed customers to build their own network quotes and submit them directly to a sales person for fulfillment.

Designed with modularity in mind, the database driven back end started with only a few basic functions: maintaining the product catalog, posting news articles to the public web site, enabling the sales people to build quotes and track customers and vendors, and invoicing the orders created. Over the next few years the internal web site grew, adding modules to run much of the company business including e-mail marketing, purchasing, shipping, receiving, human resources, job scheduling, service requests, support contracts, and sales analysis. Although I was technically still the only web person, other people were hired to maintain the product catalog and generate marketing messages and news articles.

The scheduling module was one of the larger early modules. It allows the operations and service managers to schedule installations and service calls and assign technicians. The technicians can look at their own calendars and know not only when they have to be where, but what job orders are attached to the work they need to do and the status of all of the related products or prior service calls. This kind of cross-tying of related information makes it far more useful than a simple scheduling application.

Languages and applications used: ColdFusion, HTML 4, CSS, Javascript, MS-SQL Server.