We expect our graduates to be able to think critically, to plan intelligently, to design creatively, and to build efficiently – in the various combinations appropriate for our professional disciplines. The unfailing satisfaction of those here who teach and provide student services lies in the knowledge that, based on this foundation, our graduates will have the appropriate preparation for outstanding professional careers and fulfilling lives.
SAUD was also in need of a library system for all of their Architecture, Fine Arts, and Topics slide needs. With an immense slide inventory, it was essential for the school to transform their old system in a way to help organize, maintain and share their image collection. Likewise, SAUD looked to AllofE again to automate the school’s scheduling processes. In order to control room/equipment scheduling and reserving, the school needed a complete room tracking system. SAUD, therefore, hired AllofE to develop comprehensive content, digital image and scheduling management tools to accomplish this task.

• Develop a web site that aggregated the Architecture, Architectural Engineering, and Urban Planning departments.
• Maintain the unique image of each of the departments.
• Customize a content management tool to meet the schools data needs.
• Create a user friendly menu structure.
• Automatically generate page content, search pages, and menus as content is updated.
• Develop a site that allows users to update content with no HTML knowledge or experience.
• Develop a complete image library system to store slide information for three categories of slides: Architecture, Fine Arts, and Topics.
• Build customized printing functionality for slide labels and cards.
• Create extensive search functionality to quickly find slide, artist, architect, and other reference information.
• Integrate the existing slide library data into the new database.
• Develop a dynamic, resource management application to give complete control over scheduling processes.
• Allow users to track and reserve rooms, equipment and facilities in one system.
• Design all three systems as web based applications to be accessible anytime and anywhere.

AllofE graphic designers worked closely with SAUD to develop templates for each of the three departments and then created a common portal into the school’s site. Once this was accomplished, the developers began to work on enhancements to the ContentM system that would allow for the quick and easy formatting of page content by any user. To accomplish this, AllofE developed a Rich Text Editor that worked like a typical word processor to format fonts, images, tables, and links in an easy to use manner. With this functionality the school was able to disseminate site content responsibility across the various departments.

AllofE then developed separate modules to format and store news and events, faculty information, and staff information separately to account for the different content needs and displayed similar content in the same way. This along with the Rich Text Editor allowed faculty and staff to update and maintain their own page information.

ContentM was already equipped with functionality that automatically generated page content, search pages, and menus, so this task was easily achieved through slight modifications and customization. In addition the system separated user permissions into two categories: permission to modify the menu structure (i.e. the pages that display on the web site) and permission to modify the page content. This further increased security and provided additional control over the content on the web site.

Due to the complexity of the slide library data and the poor design of their previous database, AllofE developers created a database structure that incorporated the existing data needs yet was scalable and adhered to new and future needs. With extensive functionality and customizable features, AllofE made specific modifications to DigitalM to assist SAUD in the organization and maintenance of their image collection. Then, AllofE built extensive searches and used detailed designs to develop customized printing capabilities for all labels and library catalog cards.

With both content and image management systems under way, AllofE continued the development process for SAUD by implementing a room and equipment scheduling application. AllofE’s complete scheduling and resource management system, SchedCheK, was customized to combine the school’s specific room tracking, scheduling and reserving needs into one robust application. In addition to SchedCheK’s room layout, availability search and calendar functionality, AllofE further provided SAUD with support for individual and recurring meeting reservation, scheduling of multiple room events and specific equipment requests and reservation.

The dissemination of site content responsibility has reduced site maintenance costs by allowing users without technical knowledge to maintain their own information. The result was a secure, flexible and customizable web site with full content management capabilities. The implementation of DigitalM was fully customizable to include only the digital image information fields needed by SAUD and allowed different collection formats to work in conjunction with each other. With DigitalM, SAUD was able to store multiple artists, architects, subjects and digital image resolutions in one user-friendly application. Users have proclaimed that the SAUD digital image library is extremely easy to use compared to their previous system.

Finally, the SchedCheK application that AllofE developed for SAUD has given them complete control over the room and equipment scheduling process. The effects of the implementation have had a tremendous effect on how the school manages its resources. The scheduling system has entirely automated the scheduling and reservation procedures, thus it eliminated meeting conflicts and overbooking.