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Many techniques were used for the design and programming of an internal web site for the world-wide Quote To Collect (QTC) project at Sun Microsystems, including:
Comprehensive web sites were produced for Europe, Australia, Latin America and Singapore (Asia Pacific). Input templates were used widely to collect, validate and post to a central office, complex contract information from remote Sun offices.
I have spent several years at Sun Microsystems developing intranet web sites for various groups. QTC (Business First!) was a world-wide project involving the implementation of a new contracts administration application. The site was accessed by Sun Contracts Admin employees all around the world to disseminate information about new business practices and help them understand and use the new business application and it's interfaces. The success and acceptance of the original sites led to requests for my help designing and producing web pages for other Sun departments in Europe and the US.
The implementation area of the web site, which contained project plans, timelines, roles and responsibilities, key documentation and the implementation process and progress for each country, was proposed as a template for future use within Sun. Unfortunately for my career out in the rest of the big wide world, these sites all sit behind a firewall! However, my proven track record keeps pulling me back to this excellent company!
QTC Europe |
The Quote To Collect (QTC/Business First!) project involved the
world-wide installation
and implementation of a new Contracts’ Administration software in Sun
offices. This implementation was core to the Sun Service business and time
scales were aggressive, requiring considerable commitment from project members.
Each country’s implementation had different requirements, so involved
the development of individual web page areas documenting specific business
processes and legal requirements as well as general information about the
15 interfaces to the new software and the software itself.
My responsibilities were to gather information, write, design and develop a web site that has been used in all areas of the project. The design of the site includes information for all project members covering the pre-implementation planning through installation to defining business processes and order of work for the software users. The web site has been used to disseminate information, provide guidance and business practices for new users and country management, and also to gather information from users via PERL CGI scripting. |
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Latin America and Asia Pacific |
The success of the European site design extended my contract at Sun to
set up further sites for Asia Pacific and Latin America based on the European
model. Asia Pacific and Latin America make extensive and successful use of
PERL CGI scripts and HTML templates.
The HTML templates gather complex contract information from remote sites/users via PERL CGI scripting. The templates included extensive use of javascript pop-up help windows on completion of the template by the user. I developed several PERL scripts to automatically validate and format remotely entered information to produce automated email that was then sent to a central administration office in the US for entry onto the contract system. The PERL script had to consider complex contract rules in the validation process before email could be successfully sent. On-screen specific and detailed feedback was provided for the user should the validation process find errors in the data entered. These web sites have also been used to monitor and plan implementation, disseminate information, provide guidance for new users and country management. |
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Data Entry Templates |
Each of the web sites have been used to gather information from users
via HTML templates and PERL CGI scripting. Each PERL script was developed
to automatically validate and format entered information to produce an automated
email. The scripts and templates were used in the following areas:
All HTML templates included extensive use of javascript pop-up help windows for completion of the template by the user. The scripts were designed to provide detailed feedback should the validation process fail due to incorrectly entered data. |
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Image Maps |
Image maps and diagrams were used wherever possible to allow navigation around the web sites. The use of image maps was particularly successful in business process flow charts, with each box of the flow linking to more information or specific detail of a process. |
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Pop-up Help Windows |
Throughout the web sites I used pop-up windows to provide pertinent
information or help for the user. The windows were invoked from image maps,
buttons or text links depending on the page and situation. This type of help
was used extensively in the data entry templates to explain data entry
options and enable the user to achieve accurate completion of the template
the first time.
This type of tool was also used for explanation of software screens - the user could click on an area of a screen capture and find out how to use the screen, data entry criteria, which fields needed completion and what results they could expect. This was especially useful when explaining report request screens. |
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| I was also responsible for the preparation, open tender, negotiation and management of translation of course materials into French and German; the delivery of those course materials in an accurate and timely manner; and for co-editing and production of course materials using FrameMaker. | |
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Radiance
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Conversion of training documentation relating to contracts and customer service into on-line interactive web training for world-wide audience. This Sun software product is related to QTC. |
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EMEA Business Services
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Design, set-up and completion of an extensive intranet web
site for the EMEA Business Services group within Sun Microsystems (EMEA is
Europe, Middle East and Africa). This site included click-able world maps
(with image map rollovers that produced pop-up, editable country
information pages), on-line registration, login and password protection
checking of users, several PERL CGI templates enabling the on-line
automatic update of web pages, calendars, chat, weekly whereabouts,
on-duty service contact information for EMEA regions, and the creation of
both simple and complex new, automatically hyper-linked, editable pages.
All scripts have validation routines to ensure the entry of required and
appropriate information.
Yep! 20+ scripts and a couple of hundred pages all in a few months. Plus extensive on-line and hardcopy maintenance instructions for pages and scripts were also produced - well you have to be ISO compliant! |
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What do I do when not working? |
In between these numerous contracts I spend my hard earned money - on many holidays to places in the sun (not at Sun!) and have a great time: Barbados, North Africa, Central Florida, Texas and, of course, several countries in Europe. And just in case you're wondering ... the best place? Without hesitation, Barbados! The people there are some of the best in this world and so are the beaches! |
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