Power Programming, Christopher Ross Mens Wear Case Study: Christopher Ross is one of the oldest formal men's wear hire establishments in Scotland. In business for over a decade and based in Edinburgh City Centre, they promise the finest quality and prices in Scotland.

Power Programming, based in Edinburgh, will offer you a professional software solution using the technology most appropriate to you. Our consultants are all Microsoft qualified in one or more of the following MCSD, MCSD.NET, MCDBA. We will architect your solution professionally, whether you require a SMB or enterprise level database, application, web site, web portal, or intranet.

Power Programming designed Christopher Ross eCommerce portal with their business needs in mind, the solution offers them the flexibility to accept hire requires online as well as sell highland ware goods online. They have complete control over the stock available and the content provided online.

Christopher Ross, Formal Men's Wear Hire

Business Overview

Christopher Ross is one of the oldest formal men's wear hire establishments in Scotland. In business for over a decade and based in Edinburgh City Centre, they promise the finest quality and prices in Scotland.

Business Objectives

Christopher Ross has been a successful business for many years, and has had web sites representing their business in the past. For 2007 they decided that a new site was required to fulfil the following objectives

To offer a dynamic experience to represent the company in the world, that will bring the web site inline with their branding making the site more appealing.
To allow staff to update the content easily
To manage stock
To manage customer records
To manage orders
To operate independently of the internet in the shop(s) to allow orders to be taken
To store all information securely.
Implement an internet marketing campaign to increase the visibility of the site.

Overall the new internet based site will improve the internal business response to customer needs, and greatly improve and simplify the management of customer relations and online sales.

Activities

Power Programming visited Christopher Ross several times, to discuss each of their objectives in detail to make sure that both parties were clear on what was required. These meetings took the form of question and answer sessions, brain storming, IDI (Initial Design Illustrations) and PoC (Proof of Concepts).

The purpose of the meetings is to

Analyse the current business processes within the organization
Identify the goals of the business over the next five years
Identify the branding of the company that is to be used in the solution
Come up with design goals
Agree a time frame for core deliverables
Agree the "look and feel" of the IDI or PoC

Results

Once the look and feel and design goals have been agreed, Power Programming delivered the following technical features

Web portal
Single entry point for multiple sites and multiple stores
- This facility gave Christopher Ross the option to have multiple stores which house the same stock, but a different look and feel.
Complete online stock control management
Complete online access to customer details
Complete online access to customer orders and order maintenance
Online payment handling
Sensitive details collected over SSL
Credit card details encrypted using public/private key encryption. Private key is not deployed to live web site.
Online WYSIWYG editable page content

The technologies used to deliver this site are

Microsoft .NET Framework 1.1
Microsoft Crypto Security
ADO.NET
C# and ASP.NET
Java Script
Java Applet
CSS
SQL Server back-end database

The business objectives that Power Programming achieved during the implementation of the Christopher Ross site are

On-time delivery
Within budget delivery
Customer objectives achieved

In all, this entire project was delivered to Christopher Ross's complete satisfaction, in a timely manor and continues to be a vital cog in their business wheel. Power Programming wishes Christopher Ross the best in the future and we will look forward to supporting their web portal and any new business endeavours.

Testimonial from Christopher Ross Men's Wear

"When first I approached Power Programming to develop a new website for my company. I was unsure of what type of website I was looking for. This is where I found the service I received from my software programmer ‘Victor’ to be second to none. He took the time to show me many different formats and layouts for the website, all of which were new to me, but I found he described them in a helpful informative manner and did not confuse me with technical jargon. I was able to phone or email him anytime I had a question, or query regarding the site and he always responded very quickly in a highly professional manner. The website also allows me to change various items (i.e. photographs, prices and descriptions of the range of products that I supply. The programmer also included a feature where customers can book an outfit online; this has proved very successful since 80% of my business comes through hire. I am delighted with the completed product and most of my clients and business contacts have also commented on the excellent layout and ease of navigation around the website. I would definitely use Power Programming again in the future and would not hesitate to recommend them to business colleagues and contacts. A truly fundamental, inspiring, and not to mention expert service. "

Screen Shots - Chris Ross (Primary Site)

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