Application engineering involves a holistic approach that integrates various technological components, user experience, security measures, and more to create a cohesive system. The goal is to design, build, deploy, and maintain software systems or platforms, ensuring they are efficient, reliable, and expandable.

ISC professionals, collaborating with stakeholders, define the organization’s needs by gathering both functional and non-functional requirements, understanding the business model, and analyzing potential gaps to develop solutions. Several methods can be used to gather or document these needs, including developing prototypes, presenting demos, and analyzing costs.

Solutions may involve developing customized in-house systems, crafting database systems, or integrating third-party software. Developers may build customized software applications that meet the specific needs of an organization. Client feedback and input play a vital role in aligning development with business needs.

Once a solution is determined, the team at ISC will work through the design, development, and testing phases to ensure the application meets the desired standards. After deployment, the application’s performance is monitored using tools and feedback mechanisms, allowing for modifications and improvements over time. Maintenance involves regular assessments, security patches, and updates to ensure the system remains relevant and functional.

Activities include the use of:

Database Architecture

A database is an organized collection of data that is managed by a database administrator and is vital for many modern applications in various industries.

This involves designing a system to capture, store, and retrieve data in a reliable and secure manner. ISC has expert professionals on staff who are experienced in designing the structure of a database system, including data management and processing. This ensures the software system being developed meets the organization’s needs and considers factors such as scalability, security, and performance.

Case Study:

An ISC client has more than 30 Microsoft Access databases and files that are stored in their own physical location or office, rather than being stored online or in the cloud. Information from multiple sources is compiled to form these databases, which provide critical information for business operations and financials.

Problem:

The Access databases the client has been using are getting too large and slow, and having issues sharing files with multiple people within the organization. The lack of timely, important information and measurements is causing delays in decision making.

Solution:

Using a cloud platform and database tools, the Access database layout, which organizes and relates information and data were reviewed with an initial migration to a cloud database.

The cloud database layout and data were then configured with best practices to improve performance and allow for automatic tuning and scaling of memory, compute, and storage resources.

Backup, redundancy, and disaster recovery functions have been put in place on the cloud database, to ensure the database and important data are available for reporting and decision making.

Once the database has been moved to the cloud, the results provide data in a format that can be easily used and analyzed within the Power BI tool to gain insights and make informed decisions.

Power BI

Power BI is a business intelligence tool developed by Microsoft used to analyze and visualize large amounts of data by connecting to various data sources, such as spreadsheets, databases, and cloud services.

Simplifying the process of turning raw data into meaningful insights that can create interactive reports, dynamic charts, graphs, dashboards, and visualizations that update in real-time, enabling users to identify trends, patterns, and other critical information as data changes.

With features such as natural language querying and machine learning, Power BI makes it easier to ask questions and get answers from your data.

Overall, Power BI helps organizations to make sense of complex data by making it more accessible and interactive, empowering employees to make better decisions and drive better business outcomes.

Case Study:

An ISC client receives sales and product information from multiple sources every day. There is a need to see all the financial information combined in one place for better understanding. This helps the organization make decisions and analyze how well the business is doing. The information is used by people both inside and outside the company.

Problem:

Reviewing and consolidating multiple Excel and CSV files is a manual and a labor-intensive process with a high risk of errors and incorrect financial information. Providing the right level of security and access to this information, both internally and externally, is critical.

Solution:

ISC developed a comprehensive financial solution with the assistance of Power Automate, a cloud platform, and Power BI.

As soon as files are received, these are sent to the cloud platform to be stored and processed according to the organization’s rules and regulations.

The information is combined into one source and stored in a cloud database, which provides the data for the Power BI reports.

Reports are formulated based on the business requirements for the desired calculations, with daily, weekly, monthly summaries that have bar, line, and pie charts with snapshots of key financial figures.

Power BI reports are then published to a secure cloud service with full control over who can access, share, and what data can be viewed via SharePoint and an App.

Power Automate

Microsoft’s cloud-based service, Power Automate, enables users to make an automated workflow between different applications and services. These workflows can streamline various tasks, such as data collection and processing, notifications, and approvals, with no coding or technical expertise.

With the help of Power Automate, users have the ability to link up to multiple applications, such as SharePoint, Dynamics 365, and Office 365, and create automated processes that are activated when certain conditions or events occur. As an example, a user could set up a system that automatically stores email attachments to a SharePoint folder, sends an email notification when a new file is added to the folder, and creates a task in Microsoft Planner to review the document.

With Power Automate, users can leverage pre-built templates and connectors for popular services, simplifying the process of creating customized workflows that meet specific needs. Integrating with Microsoft programs such as Power BI, and Teams, Power Automate gives users the ability to create robust end-to-end automations.

Case Study:

On a nightly basis, an ISC client receives over 20 emails from vendors after business hours with XLS format that must be gathered into plain text CSV files and sent to a web server that is accessible to the public.

Problem:

A single person is responsible for the production of web server CSV files, using a tool called “Excel macros” to arrange each attachment in the correct format. This single individual works 1.5 hours a night, 5 days in a week, after usual working hours to finish this process.

Solution:

ISC created a fully automated solution using Microsoft Power Automate, leading to a more efficient use of time and resources.

Automation in the cloud monitors emails for new files from vendors, eliminating the need for dedicated computers.

Transferring the files to a secure Microsoft SharePoint site, the next process is to initiate the same customized file assembly, logging the actions and producing status and error notifications.

Formatting the files is the final step before sending them to the web server with FTP to end the cycle.

There is no longer a requirement for an employee to work an additional 10 hours outside of their normal work week.