Welcome to the personal page for John Cosmas

MethSolv

A local clinic using an established case management system needed critical assistance with their business processes and applications. We successfully extended their hierarchical MS Access application into a DESKTOP/OUTLOOK model using VB.NET which now features a long awaited payment collection, treatment charging and scheduling system with embedded automation features. The resulting enterprise gave birth to a company called METHSOLV which was formed to embrace contemporary case management principles and modern day clinical technology so that integration with imaging equipment, pharmaceutical devices, and laboratory testing data exchange may be leveraged. The next release of the application promises a new face, which is be deployed on mobility devices to enable physicians and staff to employ paperless technology and alleviate delays and the traditional hassles of post-treatment documentation which is often inaccurate and may not be completed on time.

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Southern Brokerage Services

A well known brokerage service that services the Alabama and panhandle region solicited my services to help fix, maintain and enhance their OSS with underlying services written in Visual FoxPro and interacts with complex enterprise-level applications (including state and national insurance providers). The legacy system features automated reporting, quote management, system based declinations, case management and offers an extensive task-centric functions that streamlines the operations of the entire brokerage. All of these features were migrated into VB.NET as a client-server applications with a SQL Server data source, which is highly configurable and alleviates many of the previous outages and re-indexing that had to be performed with the previous FoxPro database. The improved OUTLOOK type interface offers new ways to navigate the system rapidly, and also makes accessible relevant day-to-day tasks which has been arranged for each user function so that rating, reporting, sales and quoting services can be regulated. At the completion of the development cycle, about 85% of the functionality from the legacy environment was ported, while the remaining functions were abandoned due to disuse. The new system embraced learned risk and depopulation programs, and the application subjects all quotes and request through extensive risks and rules to accept business that will be underwritten eventually. It also features OLE Automation technology to automate the creation of Word and Excel documents based on quoting data. DevExpress was the reporting tool of choice that was used instead of Crystal Reports.

Import Resource Group

A web based ordering system was designed to enable US dealers to place orders for items provisioned by Chinese business partners using a showroom model. A back-end database used to populate the web site employs MS Access, while an accompanying MS Access client application was developed to handle loading data from MS Excel files, and to perform day-to-day administration of pricing, dealer, contact and related documents. Detailed notes, status, workflow information is also maintained through the application. Extensive reports, comprehensive search and a simplified dashboard was also developed to improve day-to-day operations. Many of the features designed in this application were included into the web application in its simplified form to reduce coding demands and focus its functionality on the web platform.

ScubaVentures, Inc.

A dive shop and scuba teaching school based in Birmingham, the website that features ScubaVentures has been a long-time customer. Their ASP.NET web service application features an automated event scheduling, student logging, story board controls and a notification system designed to enhance enrollment and subscription retention. Also featured are sales automation functions designed to secure tickets and sales for time critical featured dive trips and events. A new release using AJAX is scheduled shortly. The completed application will interact with MS Accounting and PADI web services.

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Trussville Board of Education

The IT department required assistance in developing a Student Information System which features a suite of on-line and DOT.NET application. The result of a long range initiative planning effort sought the need for a RFID system, library student logging, lunchroom payment, PayPal student commerce; all of which interfaces with the Alabama State Registry. A trouble-ticket system for IT, faculty and maintenance were complete in planning and a prototype for the student system was created. Numerous features such as photo albums, a registry, queuing, logging, alerts, teacher-parent reporting and an event notification system were also integrated and demonstrated.

Actek

A comparative analysis was commissioned to determine if the ASP.NET web service would serve many of the Microsoft Windows Server technology which has not been completely bridged by J2EE technologies. This move also offers the promise of using various other reporting tools that falls outside the economic choice of COGNOS, which also alleviates the expense of licensing and a server platform. In this way, the existing application could be easily repackaged into a Microsoft based model which also embraces the emerging XML, ebXML, transaction processing and AJAX technologies. The resulting web service also offers the opportunity to exercise the TEST AUTOMATION features already available in the Visual Studio TEAM release, and enables ease of deployment into a single virtual machine environment that is becoming a choice of release platform for many legacy based customers.