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ABB Document Storage Database and Web Interface
Tom Barber
May 2003
Advisor: Susan Reiser
Background ABB is a Civil Engineering firm that I have worked
for during the past few summers. I realized they were in dire need
of an alternate storage solution for their dated, hard copy
documents. They had at least four offices full of boxes of documents
that were just taking up space. On top of the waste of valuable
workspace, these documents were often used as references and were
difficult to find among all the boxes of files. I offered my
services, and explained to them that I could create a database to
store the scanned documents, and also a web interface to search,
insert, delete and print the records.
Description The ABB site will contain some of the old and
most of the current documents that the company has completed and is
currently working on. This project will help the company to save
valuable space in their office as well as give the employees access
to the documents they need through their computer. The Database will
store the directory structure that the documents are stored in and
also any Administrator information. ASP/VB script, web pages will be
able manipulate the database and make an easy to use interface for
the client. In talking with the client we came to the conclusion
that we would make most of the older projects available locally, and
only the more current projects available remotely. The local pages
will not be password protected. One of the challenging tasks in this
process was creating forms on a single webpage that would filter the
selections based upon the choices the user made earlier in another
form on the same page. Another difficulty I ran into was the fact
that I was dealing with these files that were just located through
the database, but not actually stored in it, for this reason I had
to learn how to access the actual data structures through the web
pages. In all of my experiences with databases I have just been
taught how to manipulate what is actually stored in the database.
Yet another difficulty was in creating and deleting folders through
the web pages.
Conclusion In completing this project I was able to use the
knowledge I gained through my classes and put it to use to create a
working product for a client. I now understand the importance of
communicating with the clients and being able to deliver
specifically what they expect. Time management skills are vital in
taking on a large project like this, and thankfully I have acquired
those skills from the various assignments I have had throughout my
college career. In conclusion, I am glad to have had this
opportunity to understand what an undertaking a project such as this
could be. When coupled with real users and actual data the project
took on a complexity that would have been difficult to anticipate.
This project has definitely helped to prepare me to move into the
real world and attempt to make a living from the skills I have
attained through school. |