International e-Learning
Thousands of Employees on the Same Page — Online
Despite an alarmingly short timeline and shifting project requirements, Sierra Bravo’s programmers turned an open-source project into an e-Learning platform suitable for an international $75 billion corporation.
Business Situation
The client encompasses a large variety of agricultural and food production companies and brands. With such a large organization, it had become necessary to provide on-going training and education for its many divisions which are scattered across the globe. The client’s e-Learning initiative necessitated expansion in capabilities and centralization of features into one place for easy administration.
Technical Situation
The client requested use of the open-source course-ware application Moodle as a foundation for their customized site. Moodle is a multi-lingual, multi-leveled hosted application written in PHP and supporting several database back-ends. Initial evaluation confirmed Moodle a viable platform. The consolidation of pre-existing support applications required the integration of Moodle to a variety of group-ware products including SiteMinder for user authentication, Lotus SameTime instant messaging and Adobe Breeze for hosted online meetings.
The finished web-based e-Learning application is hosted at the client’s headquarters. Sierra Bravo did not have regular physical or remote access to the system or network during development.
Solution
Working closely with the client, Sierra Bravo devised a timeline for the project in order to deliver the first phase of the product in just over two weeks of development time. In this dramatically short timeframe Sierra Bravo delivered nearly 1,000 hours of programming and design services while providing daily updates to the client on project progress. A similarly short secondary development phase followed with client testing and additional features being added throughout the process as the client realized the potential of the application and the flexibility with which Sierra Bravo could implement new ideas.
Benefits
The site leverages Moodle’s existing architecture and adds community resources to round out the application. Users can be added at multiple levels, allowing an individual to be a student in some courses and also a coach or mediator in another, with a single sign-on through SiteMinder. Project status, site news, a robust task assignment and management system, as well as custom course types allow the client to utilize the application for their specific needs.
Products and Services Used:
- PHP web scripting
- MySQL database management system
- Subversion version-control system for update delivery
Services Provided by Other Groups or Companies:
Sierra Bravo worked with an e-Learning consultation firm, as the intermediary and training provider to the client. By engaging an expert in tune with e-Learning trends and methods, the client was able to leverage this knowledge against Sierra Bravo’s technical expertise in order to create a solid and expandable training platform.