Websites and Applications by Stack Solutions
NRCA
Using the Stack CMS, a structured, comprehensive website was designed for NRCA to serve members, consumers and others visitors. NRCA's site organizes and promotes thousands of pages of information, several template widgets, and many other applications. The Stack CMS allows all pages to be created and edited by non-technical staff through our custom inline editor. The site has several integration points with NRCA's ERP system, Microsoft Dynamics AX.
Technologies: ASP.NET MVC, C#, .NET 4.5, SQL Server 2012, Entity Framework Version 6.1, responsive design
American Society of Home Inspectors (ASHI)
ASHI needed a dynamic site to serve the home buying community as well as the society’s members; delivering different messages to each audience. The Stack CMS manages several hundred pages of content and several different tools including the society’s flagship tool and custom feature, Find an Inspector. This tool allows visitors to search for a home inspector based on an address; the address is then converted to geolocation coordinates and compared by radius to find those inspectors closest. Also included are an interactive community and discussion forum, profile management, membership and dues renewal online forms, polls, quick links, news and data extraction islands. These features are controlled using administrative feature templates.
Technologies: ASP.NET MVC, C#, .NET 4.5, SQL Server 2012, Entity Framework Version 6.1, responsive design
Professional Roofing
A modern and brand-consistent website was required for NRCA to catalog thousands of articles, subscription information and advertising opportunities for their monthly publication, Professional Roofing. This comprehensive website reflects the magazine that is distributed in hard-copy format to more than 25,000 subscribers. The custom site, built with the Stack CMS, allows editorial staff to easily post articles, moderate comments, and edit content. The Professional Roofing site now houses nearly 2,500 articles, 2,000 photos and is viewed by more than 50,000 unique visitors each month.
Technologies: ASP.NET MVC, C#, .NET 4.5, Azure SQL, Entity Framework Version 6.1, responsive design, Azure Websites
Selected Independent Funeral Homes
Selected needed a website that could integrate the needs of current and prospective organization members as well as end-consumer families looking for a funeral home. The Stack CMS provides easy administration of all of the site’s pages and applications. In addition, Selected’s site uses Stack's web add-ons including meeting registration, bookstore, member search and event calendar modules. One of the key functional aspects of the site is the tight integration with Selected’s in-house membership database system, SIFHDB (a custom application built by Stack).
Technologies: ASP.NET MVC, C#, .NET 4.5, Azure SQL, Entity Framework Version 6.1, responsive design, Azure Websites
Selected Independent Funeral Homes Forum
(Members-only website -- not publicly available)
To encourage member-to-member communication, Selected had implemented an email mailing list. The mailing list proved to work great for interaction, but suffered in several other areas: archiving conversations, regulating access to the group and spam to members. After thoroughly understanding the problem and desired results, Stack built Forum, a custom application members-only website. Stack implemented a modern Internet discussion platform (Discourse) to alleviate these problem areas. Stack worked closely with the Discourse team during the implementation process to develop interaction points between Selected’s website and membership database system. The result is a seamless transition between the website and the forum for the user.
Technologies: Discourse www.discourse.org, JSON, C#, ASP.NET MVC, RestSharp
NRCA Mobile App
Stack created a custom mobile app to provide NRCA an easy way for their members to access an electronic library of industry publications on their mobile device. The NRCA App is a portable document library allowing members to pull up technical specifications, safety recommendations and reference materials from a handheld device. The app "stamps" the documents with the name of the user, the company name and a copyright notice as they are downloaded. The app also keeps track of downloads by item, user and company providing NRCA with valuable usage metrics. The app is available for iOS, Android and Windows.
Everybody Needs A Roof, NRCA Consumer Website
To compliment their main website, NRCA needed a dedicated space to serve as a comprehensive roofing resource for homeowners, building owners and building managers. The Stack CMS provided the solution: a consumer-focused website that allows visitors to make informed decisions about maintaining or replacing their roof systems. In addition to all the standard Stack CMS features, this site directly interfaces with the main NRCA site, www.nrca.net, to share content without duplicating data. With ease of content change, NRCA employees can update frequently to reflect the current season or other industry happenings.
Technologies: ASP.NET MVC, C#, .NET 4.5, Azure SQL, Entity Framework Version 6.1, responsive design, Azure Websites
Roofing Industry Alliance for Progress Website
www.roofingindustryalliance.net
The Roofing Industry Alliance for Progress (Alliance), a group of roofing industry leaders committed to advancing the roofing industry, needed a venue to communicate their life-changing grants, scholarships and education programs. The Stack CMS allowed the Alliance to have a brand-consistent website, visited by more than 30,000 users per month, and featuring an administrative tool for adding content. This feature allows the Alliance’s staff to make timely updates and receive input from supporters.
Technologies: ASP.NET MVC, C#, .NET 4.5, SQL Server 2012, Entity Framework Version 6.1, responsive design
ASHI Reporter Website
To reflect the professionalism of their monthly magazine, the American Society of Home Inspectors (ASHI) needed a website for The ASHI Reporter that offered archival capabilities, advertiser details and subscription information. The Stack CMS provided an extensive administrative section to allow staff members to create, update and delete issues, images, articles, authors, advertisers and news stories. In addition to an SEO friendly URL scheme, the site also uses Google site indexing and results for its internal search engine.
Technologies: ASP.NET MVC 4, C#, .NET 4.0, SQL Server 2008 R2, Entity Framework 4, jQuery
ASHI Association Management Software
(Intranet application -- not publicly available)
The American Society of Home Inspectors (ASHI) had various software systems that didn’t fully integrate with each other and wasted staff member time. Stack developed custom association management software (called ASHIDATA) to save time and money. ASHI uses ASHIDATA to manage their entire business. The intranet application includes membership, publication ordering, demographic tracking, accounting and student record management. In addition, the application includes a query interface that allows users to extract data from the database in various file formats. The system also interfaces with ASHI’s accounting software and provides reports on a variety of data points.
Technologies: ASP.NET WebForms, C#, .NET 4.0, SQL Server 2008 R2, Entity Framework 4, jQuery
Selected Independent Funeral Homes Association Management Software
(Intranet application -- not publicly available)
Stack built custom association management software for Selected (called SIFHDB) where all operations information and processes could be present in an organized and accessible way. This intranet application manages almost every aspect of Selected’s business. SIFHDB manages membership information, conference registrations, activity records, and demographic information. In addition, SIFHDB interfaces with the association’s accounting package, Sage MAS 90, to pull and push data between systems. The system includes many premade reports and a query application that allows users to extract data in various file formats.
Technologies: ASP.NET WebForms, C#, .NET 4.51, SQL Server 2008 R2, Entity Framework 6, jQuery
Selected Independent Funeral Homes Management Comparative
(Members only application -- not publicly available)
Selected members, funeral home owners dispersed about the country, had no way to compare their business operations data to other similarly sized businesses in other regions. Now, with the Management Comparative custom application developed by Stack, Selected members are provided the data they need to help them evaluate their business operations by comparing data to other funeral homes around the country. Reports provide operating ratios, sales analysis, cost data and other important and confidential information from participating member firms on an annual basis—reports and data are produced in PDF and Excel formats.
Technologies: ASP.NET WebForms, C#, .NET 4.0, SQL Server 2008 R2, Entity Framework 4
Clark Roofing Job and Time Tracking Application
(Intranet application -- not publicly available)
Clark Roofing had a separate, time-consuming payroll and inventory process that was not integrated into their accounting software—they wanted to streamline operations and combine several business processes. Stack developed the Roofing Contractor Time Tracker custom intranet application. This application allows Clark Roofing to track employee hours, crew membership, inventory item costs, customer receivables and job productivity all while interfacing with their payroll and accounting package—QuickBooks. Dozens of man-hours are saved each month due to the automation of the payroll and inventory processes.
Technologies: ASP.NET WebForms, C#, .NET 4.51, SQL Server 2008 R2, Entity Framework 6, WebAPI, ASP.NET MVC 5, jQuery
Photo Importer
(WPF application with Intranet administration =-- not publicly available)
The Photo Importer custom application was created by Stack for Clark Roofing to solve their problems locating and utilizing photos for reference and portfolio needs. Clark had thousands of job photos from dozens of users in unorganized, unspecified locations. Clark Roofing field workers are equipped with a cellphone to take photos of repair work and job progress. This application allows workers to plug in their phone each day and simply upload photos to the appropriate directory. The geolocation information is read from the photos and renamed to the job address where the photos were taken for easy sorting. In addition to the Windows Presentation Foundation application front end, there is an intranet application used to perform administration of users and default directories.
Technologies: ASP.NET WebForms, C#, .NET 4.0, SQL Server 2008 R2, Entity Framework 4, jQuery, WPF
Beldon Roofing Company Website
When Beldon Roofing Company wanted to revamp their online marketing presence, they turned to Stack. Beldon takes advantage of many of the valuable Stack CMS features, including blog posts, form administration, bulk email distribution and portfolio photo galleries. The ‘Request a Quote’ feature provides Beldon with around-the-clock lead generation by allowing visitors to provide job details and contact information; these leads then integrate with Beldon’s customer relationship management software. The implementation of the ‘Refer a Friend’ banner on the homepage takes visitors directly to their ‘Refer a Friend’ page where referrals of new customers are rewarded.
Technologies: ASP.NET MVC, C#, .NET 4.5, SQL Server 2012, Entity Framework Version 6.1, responsive design
American Society of Home Inspectors School Website
After providing ASHI with their main organization website, ASHI turned again to Stack for help with their new ASHI School website. The most notable integration point hits between the website and their custom association management software ASHIDATA, developed by Stack. This integration with ASHIDATA allows the website to have real-time class listings, as they are pulled directly from where staff manages class creation and availability. If students have any questions regarding a course or curriculum, the live chat feature is available and connects directly with association staff.
Technologies: ASP.NET MVC, C#, .NET 4.5, SQL Server 2012, Entity Framework Version 6.1, responsive design
Professional Roofing Tablet App
Description: Stack created a custom application designed specifically for tablet devices that provides Professional Roofing magazine subscribers access to an electronic library of current and past issues. The Professional Roofing App is a portable way that subscribers can receive information about roofing trends, business management, government regulations/legislation, new products and practices, safety, insurance, technical research and NRCA resources. Having this app has offered Professional Roofing magazine another way to appeal to their subscribers and advertisers.
Rooftop Solar Resource Website
To meet the increasing demand for information on solar rooftops, the National Roofing Contractors Association (NRCA) wanted a separate website to serve as a resource for homeowners, business owners, building managers and consumers as well as contractors, suppliers, architects and designers. Using the Stack CMS, a thorough, dedicated site was created that allows NRCA staff to conveniently deliver timely information and tools designed specifically for each audience. Also incorporated into the site is the ‘Find a Contractor’ feature which allows users to locate a roofing contractor nearby based on zip code.
Technologies: ASP.NET MVC, C#, .NET 4.5, SQL Server 2012, Entity Framework Version 6.1, responsive design
Paramount Roofing Website
A modern, professional website was needed to promote Paramount Roofing as an industry-leading commercial roofing contractor and to serve the needs of their customers. The Stack CMS was used to produce a polished, brand-consistent site that is easy to maintain for Paramount’s non-technical staff. Also included in the site is a client portal and forms for requesting an estimate and reporting leaks.
Technologies: ASP.NET MVC, C#, .NET 4.5, SQL Server 2012, Entity Framework Version 6.1, responsive design
NRCA's Roof Wind Designer
NRCA entrusted Stack Solutions to develop a valuable tool for their membership: the Roof Wind Designer is a web-based application that provides users with an easy-to-use means for determining wind resistance of roof systems. Users across the roofing industry look to Roof Wind Designer to simplify complex regulation calculations with this free application. Online user accounts allow for load recommendations by country as well as saving/accessing new and existing projects.
Technologies: ASP.NET MVC, C#, .NET 4.5, SQL Server 2012, Entity Framework Version 6.1, responsive design
NRCA's Energywise
Looking to further expand their offerings to their members, NRCA employed Stack Solutions to develop the EnergyWise Roof Calculator Online, a web-based application that provides a graphical method of constructing roof assemblies to evaluate energy efficiency. This custom application allows the user to calculate energy consumption, compare roofs and determine energy loss based on roof options. Users can develop accounts that store profile and project information for future calculations. The user can also generate customized reports that can be printed or saved in a PDF format.
Technologies: ASP.NET MVC, C#, .NET 4.5, SQL Server 2012, Entity Framework Version 6.1, responsive design
Radiological Solutions Inc., SGBD sample panel
(Custom software application)
Stack Solutions customer, Radiological Solutions Inc. (RSI), was commissioned by Exelon to construct and install a complex piece of equipment called a Steam Generator Blowdown (SGBD) sample panel. RSI needed a software program to meet the complicated specifications of the machinery, while being user-friendly. They turned to Stack.
Stack software developers learned RSI’s business and about how SGBD sample panels and nuclear reactors work. Nuclear power plants use a SGBD sample panel to continuously monitor the chemistry parameters required to protect each of the plant’s steam generators from chemical impurities that could lead to damage. Stack developed this custom software for RSI’s sample panel to receive data from all the instruments and display the data as current values and trend graphs, to sound an alarm for specific conditions and to communicate data to the plant’s computer systems and main control room. This latter task involved meeting the requirements of a stringent cyber security program. The new sample panel has proven to be reliable and accurate, allowing the plant technicians to rely on the in-line data; freeing up resources to perform other important tasks.
Technologies: C#, .NET 4.5
Radiological Solutions Inc., Chemical Injection System
(Custom software application)
Radiological Solutions Inc. (RSI), a small-staff business that provides products and services to the nuclear industry, was expanding their line of chemical feed systems. Stack Solutions developed a custom software application to control several pumps and the associated instrumentation of RSI’s new chemical injection system. This project required Stack engineers to work closely with RSI to gain an in-depth understanding of the complex specifications and learn the mechanics of power plant chemistry control. Stack delivered an easy-to-use interface for controlling a sophisticated program.
Technologies: C#, .NET 4.5