Executive consulting engagement

Technology transfer within major pharma

The client was a major pharma that acquired outside technology targeted at an enterprise-critical production process. ZeeForge was retained to assess the applied functionality of the new technology, explore issues related to its use, and determine the best business alternatives for future support of the technology and process. After consultation with the client, ZeeForge was tasked to answer two questions: (1) How well is the new technology supporting the work of the critical process and (2) What, if anything, should be done to address any issues or pitfalls discovered about the performance and use of the technology? More ...

Analysis engagement

Data export for production database

ZeeForge was retained to solve a significant obstacle blocking effective use of a production database acquired from a third-party for a major pharma. Client personnel spanning a wide range of roles and training needed to export large volumes of data in a variety of file formats for use by a variety of third-party production and research tools. The data export functionality supplied with the database was designed to allow technically sophisticated users to occasionally extract small amounts of data.

ZeeForge identified three categories of client users. Based on "stories" collected from representatives of each category, we identified specific examples of export requests and created test cases that demonstrated the mismatch between the needs of the tool's users and the database's behavior. We gathered specific requirements for query capabilities, file names, file formats, performance, and client workflow integration. We worked with the third-party database supplier to identify specific elements of database access code requiring modification, designed and built a working desktop accessory with interactive graphical user interface, and worked with client technical staff to develop implementation and deployment strategies. More ...

Website design

Design a family of related websites

ZeeForge designed each of the related sites within the Zeetix "family". We wanted a consistent graphic identity across all the sites. We sought a similarly consistent interaction paradigm, so that the sites felt related even though they address a variety of distinct audiences. We chose a simple hierarchical information architecture, emphasizing clean and consistent navigation and presentation. Each page of each site is designed to work as the target of contemplated search engine marketing campaigns.

The sites themselves are targeted at a 1024 by 1024 pixel browser window, selected to align the sites with current and anticipated technology in use by our target audiences. Each page is standards-compliant xhtml (strict) and css to maximize cross-browser compatibility. We use Javascript for all scripting, and rely on AJAX and DOM manipulation for all dynamic behavior. More ...

Software design

Design a genome browser

ZeeForge designed a "Genome Browser", intended to illustrate the transformative impact of applying consumer technology to make leading-edge science available to everyone everywhere. The software design challenge was to provide an end-to-end demonstration of Hex™ in the life science domain. Hex is the language-neutral web-based object ecology that powers the Zeetix portfolio. We made extensive use of relevant software design patterns in both the browser and the server. More ...

Software development

Branded map marker opening to dynamic content

ZeeForge developed all code for “ZeeGuide™”, an application of the Hex™ platform that provides a “Facebook for neighborhoods”. The location of the owner of a specific ZeeGuide is displayed as a branded marker on an interactive Google map that opens to a “ZeeWindow” in response to a mouse click on the custom marker. The development challenge was to provide end-to-end code that determines and supplies the html content of the ZeeWindow dynamically, based on merchant profile information stored in the database, so that the user sees the most recent custom content supplied and frequently updated by the owner. More ...