A custom, large-scale order and job tracking application integrating Quickbooks 2002 and MS Office 2002, specfically Word, Excel, and Outlook. Application included a custom security model based on the existing Windows 2000 infrastructure. The client needed a custom application that could share data (invoices, POs, etc.) with the Quickbooks 2002 installation already in place. Quickbooks alone could not satisfy their needs as they have a specific business model that is not easily represented in off-the-shelf software.
Internet Publications developed a multi-user Win32 environment using elements of standard client-server architecture with that of Web applications. Users were restricted in areas of the application (pricing, for example) by creating a security model that piggy-backed the existing Windows 2000 network infrastructure. A number of automated processes, such as report generation, were created by employing the use of custom Win32 services.
A number of collaboration tools were developed within the application so that users could share reports, quotes, and other data without having to use external tools like email and file sharing. The application integrated with the Microsoft Office suite allowing users to use the application's data in their normal workflow. For example, the application allows users to use it's customer list in Microsoft Word for a mail-merge, and can automatically produce a Word document for a price quote, complete with the customer's template, for faxing, printing or emailing.

Technologies:

QBFC 1.1 (Quickbooks 2002 Foundation Classes)

XML data structures

Custom NT Service

CDO

ADSI

Visual Basic for Applications

Microsoft Office Web Controls

MSDE

ODBC

DHTML/JavaScript