One of the most challenging projects I worked on was developing a learning management system for
nearly 2000 clients. The main challenge was ensuring the system could handle high traffic
and provide a seamless user experience. I overcame this by implementing a scalable architecture
using modular development and optimizing database queries.
Additionally, I led a team of developers, ensuring clear communication and effective task delegation.
- Developed an online Learning Management System, SAAS with nearly 2000 clients - https://traininggrid.com/
- Pennsylvania client: Remote.
- Developed and Maintained LMS: Spearheaded the development and maintenance of a comprehensive learning management system, enhancing user experience and system functionality.
- Customization and Scalability: Web application designed to be highly customizable and scalable to meet the specific needs of different clients and to grow with the organization.
- Automation: Consists of many administrative tasks to improve efficiency and reduce the workload for administrators, such as training assignments and reporting by location, role, job, individuals, and more.
- User Authentication and Security: Implemented robust login and authentication mechanisms, providing secure access for thousands of users.
- Reporting and Analytics: Designed and integrated advanced queries and reporting features, enabling detailed tracking and analysis of user progress and performance.
- Video Training Integration: Programmed mechanisms to allow users to view video training modules, facilitating seamless access and playback.
- Questionnaire Functionality: Developed systems for users to take questionnaires and assessments, supporting diverse educational needs and compliance requirements.
- System Scalability and Performance: Optimized system performance and scalability, accommodating growing user bases and increasing data loads.
- Modular Development: Each module handles a specific aspect of the application, making the codebase easier to understand and manage. This aligns with the Single Responsibility Principle, ensuring that each module has a clear and focused purpose.
Modules can be reused across different parts of the application, thus reducing redundancy and accelerating development by leveraging existing components.
Modules can be deployed independently, enabling more frequent and targeted updates. This reduces downtime and allows for quicker delivery of new features and bug fixes.
Modular Examples:
User Management Module: Handles user registration, authentication, and profile management.
Course Management Module: Manages the creation, updates, and deletions of the Training.
Training Assignment Module: Manages the selection and assigning of training courses.
Reporting Module: Allows users to generate custom reports on user progress and course completion.
- Git Version Control: Feature development, bug fixes and releases were handled via Git. All code changes were reviewed through
pull requests to a parent branch.
We had a main parent branch for the entire project, but each module had its own module parent
to allow merging each participating developer's branch into the module parent without yet
pushing to the main parent. This usage helped maintain code quality and facilitate collaboration.
- Code Management: Established standards for branch creation and code check-in, responsible for code merges before publishing
Case Study
Proof of Concept Feasibility Study
Challenge: A recent project required setting up a dashboard for managers to view training completion percentages and other relevant data across their units, districts, and zones. The challenge was that obtaining accurate percentages necessitated running a complex query on all training data for each location. I anticipated that executing this query for even just five locations each time a user accessed their dashboard would lead to significant performance issues, especially since many users managed far more than five locations.
Solution: To address this, I conducted several feasibility studies to validate my concerns and devised an alternative solution. I developed a web service that periodically ran the necessary queries for each client and stored the updated percentages in a separate table for dashboard display. Although the dashboard results were not in real-time, they were updated every 20 minutes, which was acceptable to customers.
Outcome: This approach ensured that the dashboard remained responsive and efficient. Additionally, when a new, large client joined, their percentage report initially took 20 minutes to generate. I optimized the query, reducing the execution time to under 2 minutes for this client, while other clients experienced query times of just a few seconds.
Handling Architectural Risks
Mobile vs Web Application:
When developing a mobile application, it was crucial to address architectural issues to ensure
a single set of shared code. The mobile app needed to call a web service to retrieve data for
display, while reusing the majority of the web application’s code. To achieve this, the web
application’s architecture was restructured, encapsulating all functionality within class libraries.
This allowed both the web forms and the mobile web service to call these classes efficiently.