Digital Hub Solution LLC

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the owner of Sheet Music International and operating manager.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Digitalhub Solution LLC, and what were your goals?

I hired Digital hub to rebuild our website from scratch. It is complex website providing an online library of sheet music to the public on a subscription basis. This is the third time we have written code for this website. Our goal was to create an online file management system for Admin and provide users with an account to assess online files.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

They contacted me, I provided them a project with task analysis and asked them for a quote. Their fees were reasonable, slightly higher than the first firm we worked with but lower than the second.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

As I said this was a huge project. I had a team of 6 engineers from Arizona State University on a Capstone Grant that worked for an entire year on one iteration, and another firm that took almost a year to complete the project before a launch. Develop: User accounts: Premium paid act and free non paid act Admin accounts: Two levels of Admin access On library of files, mostly .pdf and text files with some .xml and media files> Custom Display to our specifications including color, layout font, etc.

Admin: Complete File Management to include. Uploading new files or replacing exlsting files, rename, delete, move, copy, add folder content etc. Admin Create/edit Program note page for composers Physical URL of .pdf hidden from user. Users Acts. Music is watermarked if user does not log in Free account has a 10 second delay prior to loading content, Premium account has no delay.

All acts. Have Personal library where they can: Book mark works in our online libraries for quick reference May upload personal music to their library May share multiple works with files with other users with one URL on a temporary basis where links to uploaded music expire when User delets temporary performanc folder. User may rename, copy move files in their personal library. Library was to have Music Repertoire pages for each instrument that where works are hand selected rather than computer generated with links to downloadable sheet music. Repertoire pages can be edited by Admin.

Create a School Music Library with band, orchestra and string arrangements listed by level of difficulty along with solo and ensemble music for all instruments in all levels. Create a Church Music Library: Collections of Hymns searchable by title, categhory, church year, and topic, and links to other forms of church music such as Masses, Oratorios etc. Two Main Libraries: Master composers being the most commonly performed music: All Composers Library, being a collection of all music.

All libraries have a search engine enabling searching by composer or title, or both. Admin has ability to add search keywords to all files and folders Music For Sale Feature: Users with premium accounts can upload music they own for sale. User to receive 80% of listed price with 20% going to Sheet Music International. Users have check box option to include music for sale when doing searches. Website was to include a comprehensive site map with links to every function and page on the website in one place.

Site was to translate into multiple languages via translation engine. Custom title page with watermark was to be added to every user downloaded file. Page would automatically populate with Composer name, composition name, instrument/ensemble name and have place for a custom text note individual to each work that could be added by admin.

Admin: can add custom text to appear below any folder or file User and Admin Browsable Directory with complete Listings of each Library with alphabetical selection at top of screen to limit search to ones starting with a paricular letter. Each returned result was to have icons for, bookmarking to Personal Library copying a URL to share file/folder with other people evenlope to e-mail folder/file link to people from e-mail client.

Icon to execute search for that folder/work on Youtube Icon to execute search for that folder/work on wikipedia Page icon that displays if Admin has created a program note Page for that folder. Program note pages to contain Photo, text, and complete directory listing of all works by that composer along with any custom searches added by Admins. Searches for things like "duets."

How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

Project Manager Poojah, Assistant Project Manager Kulbir, Sanya Personal Lieason, Gaurov programmer,

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

Team was very responsive and available to trouble shoot problems as they arose during development and addressed glitches/modifications after going live promptly.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.

Most of my contact was through Sanya, my personal contact. She coordinated information with the rest of the team. We kept in contact via e-mail and used SKYPE for conferences with the team when working on programming on a regular basis.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

Their commitment to insuring everything worked and that the website functioned the way I wanted it to. With a project of this size many concerns arise, the team addressed everything explaining what can and can not be done along with providing suggestions for alternate solutions.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

As I have found with all software development firms. Communication is the issue. It is difficult to describe what you need in such a way as to not end up with multiple iterations on the same topic. The team was responsive and took care of these items. However I have found this to be a problem industry wide so I would not fault Digital hub for that. It's a challenge and you need a team that is willing to work through the development with you, and they did that.