Conlan Scientific

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm a project manager at a service company that provides IT management services for a multitude of organizations both private and public. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Conlan Scientific?

We were trying to get some complicated data onto a website for people who may not have experience working with such complex data. We wanted to do it in a way that was easy to digest and interactive for the users.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We created a  static site built in HTML and asked Conlan Scientific to help make the site more dynamic. For its new version, we’ve moved the site over to Drupal and had to conduct a good amount of performance and 508 testing.

Since it’s a government website, we work closely with Health and Human Services (HHS) and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to ensure that all data are approved and that we’re displaying them in an accurate way. We also take into account all stakeholders, which range from data scientists to community planners who don’t understand HIV data. 

Conlan Scientific has taken multiple spreadsheets from the CDC and aggregated them. They've created code to interpret data points and put them into a dynamic graph and table. They’ve developed and designed the UI/UX for these interactive graphs. The team has also used those spreadsheets to create footnotes attributed to each data point. 

They make sure that the website works across browsers. The government still uses IE11, which is outdated, so additional work was put in for the site to work on Government Funded Equipment (GFEs). Overall, Conlan Scientific deals mostly with machine learning (ML) and makes sure that all data are accurate and displayed appropriately on the site.

What is the team composition?

I mostly work with Chris (President & CEO), and he’s my data developer. I rely on him on a daily basis. 

How did you come to work with Conlan Scientific?

We got referred to them by one of our subcontractors, who highly recommended them. We’d also done some initial research on other data developers that we could bring in. However, it’s much better when we use a company that was suggested by somebody we already trust. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in April 2020, and the project’s ongoing. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? 

Conlan Scientific’s interactions with the client as well as the background work they’re doing have received rave reviews. We’ve received feedback from key stakeholders, which include everyone from the boots on the ground to government agencies and advocacy groups. We’ve also done limited user assessments to have feedback on the data display and how easy they were to interpret. 

Moreover, we’ve done a couple of demonstrations for the CDC’s Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention, and they loved it. Our direct client has requested Chris to give more demonstrations to high-visibility and high-ranking stakeholders, such as the new director of the CDC. 

Overall, having the backing of people who look at this data every single day as we display it in a different way is a huge feather in our cap. Chris has done such a good job that we’ve actually talked with the government about additional work within this project.

How did Conlan Scientific perform from a project management standpoint?

In terms of project management, I rarely have to reach out to Chris to ask him for updates. I have a Type A personality, so I like everything to be planned out when I approach a project. I like things to go according to schedule, and I need people to communicate with me on a constant basis. As long as he provides updates, I’m a happy camper. 

He’s also acclimated to our ticketing system, so it’s easier for me to track tickets that I send him. He’s very communicative over email and very professional. A lot of times, I’ll add him to emails to clients to answer their questions in a more technical way.

He’s been constantly on time, too. A prime example of that was when CDC gave us their review of the data points a day before the interactive version was supposed to go live. In the technical world, this situation meant we weren’t going to get this data version into launch. However, Chris took it upon himself to prioritize changes. He made some of them over the weekend, so we were able to push up the data points and get them out on time.

What did you find most impressive about them?

One issue that I tend to have with people who are very intelligent — especially when it comes to data and development technology — is that they don’t know how to explain that in layman’s terms. They can’t hold the conversation with a client or with me to explain what’s actually happening and what that means for us.

However, Chris can give an estimate of how long it might take to finish up a task and explain it in a way that the third-party client and I can understand, and it’s such a huge benefit. On top of that, he can step back from a technical standpoint and explain it in a big-picture way, and that’s like the icing on the cake. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, there aren’t any yet. I’ve been so happy with them. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Do it. Jump in with both feet and hire them. Conlan Scientific has many creative ideas, and they’re truly easy to work with. Chris is also amenable and listens to suggestions. That’s something that has truly helped me.

For instance, if we have a problem with a data point but stakeholders want it or we need it for design, he’ll figure out a way to do it without undercutting the data. They can collaborate on things as well as get them done on time based on the requirements of the project. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a managing director at a public affairs firm. We work on advocacy, communications, digital branding, and advertising.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Conlan Scientific?

We needed help with product definition and development.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They helped us create the parameters of a data tool that incorporated strong machine learning and analytics. They used an open-source data tool to build the visualization part of it.

What is the team composition?

Chris (President and CEO), was our main point of contact. I know there were two other people from their team as well.

How did you come to work with Conlan Scientific ?

We were looking for data scientists in the Washington DC area. I found Chris through a mutual friend and decided to work with them from there.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve invested $20,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working together in November 2019, and our engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? 

Their work has directly contributed to the analysis and the presentation we’re making to our clients.

How did Conlan Scientific perform from a project management standpoint?

They’ve been fantastic. Chris is focused, clear, and good at translating complex data and analytic ideas in a way people can understand. They’ve delivered everything on time and even spent more time than expected. They’ve been incredibly accessible, and effective in delivering so far.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Chris has the ability to talk with both internal and external clients effectively.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, they’ve been flexible, clear, and on-time and on-budget.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

My advice is to have a clear with the outcome you want to see.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder of an education platform. We teach kids robotics, coding, and 3D printing.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Conlan Scientific?

We wanted to build a custom learning management system (LMS), and it was more than I could write on my own. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Conlan Scientific wrote basically all the code for the system. Part of why we chose Chris (President & CEO) is because he specializes in machine learning algorithms. There’s some intelligence built into our system that gives students the right content depending on their interests. Chris wrote algorithms to make that happen.

What is the team composition?

I work directly with Chris. He has one person besides himself working on the code. 

How did you come to work with Conlan Scientific?

I searched online because I was specifically looking for Django developers, which are hard to find. I found all these online lists and called everyone on them. Chris seemed like the best fit for us.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project started in December 2018. We work in phases, and they’ve finished our current phases. We’ve stopped work because we currently don’t have any revenue, but the goal is to keep going. I have no doubt Chris will continue to do good work.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

I don’t have any hard numbers, but all of our customers have come back and given nothing but good feedback about the system. It has a lot of revolutionary ideas that are hard to explain, but Chris still understood those and made them happen. He was able to see my vision, which isn’t necessarily easy to do. 

How did Conlan Scientific perform from a project management standpoint?

Chris is really good at staying in touch. If I email him, I almost always hear back within a half-hour. He keeps me updated about what he’s currently working on. We operate on mini-milestones rather than hard deadlines, so we can create content and know when it’ll be done. If he promises something will be done by Monday, then it will be.

What did you find most impressive about them?

A lot of people can do Django, and a lot of people can do machine learning, but Conlan Scientific can do both. Other agencies can give us a slick frontend, but Chris focuses on a solid database, good data, and the ability to visualize and act upon that data.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can’t really think of anything he could do better. If I try to nitpick, I’ve worked with bigger firms — that’ve done a worse job — and they have lots of resources to meet all my needs. Chris doesn’t have a one-stop shop. He’s the best I’ve found in his area, but I wish he did more; I like working with him.

Any advice for potential customers?

Have a relatively good idea of what you want to do. He’s really good at making it happen once he knows what you want. He can also advise in his area, whether it’s machine learning, data, or things like that.