Project Portfolio

The projects described here are representative samples of a much
larger body of work performed successfully for CSG clients.

Commercial Projects

On-Line Reservation System
Business Intelligence Applications, based on Microsoft Analysis Services
Atlantic Plant Maintenance (APM) – ERP Implementation
Electronic Records Management
Freight Rates Data Base
Agile Development: Mentoring and Coaching
Customer Billing System
Contracts Administration System
Retail Store Applications
Pharmacy Management System
HIPAA Compliance System

Government Projects

Commercial Projects

On-Line Reservation System
A CSG project team worked closely with the client to design and develop an Internet-based travel booking system for purchasing airline tickets, hotel accommodations and rental cars. An iterative software development process and Open Source technologies helped to control costs. The resulting booking system effectively leveraged the client’s legacy database while delivering a high-functioning, Web-based front end.
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Business Intelligence Applications, based on Microsoft Analysis Services
CSG consultants designed and built several Microsoft Analysis Services-based BI applications for APM, a subsidiary of General Electric. The data source for these applications is a commercial ERP database. Multiple measures and dimensions are incorporated into data cubes, which provide the structure for the ProClarity MS Performance Point presentation layer. Extensive use of multidimensional expressions (MDX) has created new capabilities for visualizing key performance measures and overall operations. The applications provide better information for sales forecasts and operating plan performance.
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Atlantic Plant Maintenance (APM) – ERP Implementation
In addition to custom software system development, CSG was responsible for this client's implementation of a new ERP system. This project was a “make or break” project for the client; failure was not an option. Embracing the challenge, CSG was extensively involved in all aspects of the project from initial requirements to full go-live deployment. The implementation was completed on time and was viewed by APM as a tremendous success.


Additional projects for APM include:
	• Electronic Time Reporting and Payroll Processing • Electronic Document Management • Tool Tracking • Project Management Support System

Electronic Records Management
The client for this project specializes in securities litigation support, providing services in pre-litigation, litigation, and arbitration matters for several of the most prominent firms on Wall Street.
CSG was hired to design a solution for electronic records management that would enable the client to overcome the ever-increasing challenge of managing and storing large volumes of paper documents and artifacts. CSG’s expertise was utilized to design the records digitization processes and supporting systems. The successful project resulted in over one million paper documents being processed in fewer than three months, and the establishment of internal process for digitizing new incoming documents.
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Freight Rates Data Base
A CSG team developed a database and Web query system for railroad shipment rates for the client, a wholesale lumber brokerage. The application is written in .NET 2.0 with SQL Server 2005 on the back-end. CSG wrote software code to compute the least-cost route between any two cities in the US using a shortest-path network traversal algorithm. To maximize performance, this CPU intensive algorithm runs within the database server using SQL Server 2005's new CLR integration. The results are impressive. Working with 20,000 locations and 50,000 connections, the most cost efficient rail shipping route is calculated in mere seconds.
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Agile Development: Mentoring and Coaching
CSG’s Marty Thorne took on the roles of Java Trainer, Technical Mentor, and Agile Coach to help our client roll out a new product line based on the Eclipse RCP (Rich Client Platform). The client’s burgeoning Java development team lacked experience with key technologies required for the project. Using SCRUM as the development process, Marty provided technical leadership for the team, defining the architecture and designing critical elements of the product. Marty’s contribution to the project and to the development of the team was deeply appreciated by the client.
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Customer Billing System
CSG’s Ron Brooks served as the Project, Requirements and Quality Assurance (QA) Manager for a customer billing system to support the business needs of a leading technology escrow company. Ron facilitated a Rapids Requirements Discovery workshop in Atlanta, GA, that included all key business stakeholders. A significant emphasis was placed on simplifying the billing processes to improve revenue potential and operating efficiencies. The CSG project team used an iterative development process to transform software requirements into a highly-functional software solution that allowed the client to frequently evaluate and change software deliverables as the project progressed.
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Contracts Administration System
CSG developed an intranet-based Contracts Administration system for a leading technology escrow company. The CSG team was responsible for translating high-level business objectives to software requirements, and for managing the requirement implementation and verification process. As the project was not initially tightly defined, CSG employed an iterative development process, which allowed the client to evaluate and change software deliverables as the project progressed; this process instilled a very high degree of confidence and a deep sense of product ownership on the part of the client. This highly successful project fulfilled the business requirements and delighted the client.
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Retail Store Applications
CSG was responsible for designing and developing multiple applications for a large Pacific Northwest company specializing in home improvement retail sales. Competing with large national competitors like Home Depot requires maximum efficiency. For our client this is achieved by making the most of IT resources and information. Over the course of several years, CSG worked to develop a suite of strategic applications that dramatically improved operational performance and planning in many dimensions. The applications developed by CSG fully leveraged Microsoft’s .NET technologies and SQL Server.
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Pharmacy Management System
CSG was hired by a major healthcare provider to discover and analyze application and database requirements to support an enterprise-wide pharmacy management software system. A senior CSG consultant facilitated multiple Rapid Requirements Discovery workshops with key business and operations personnel to identify and prioritize requirements. The result of the requirements analysis enabled the business stakeholders to make a fully informed decision on whether the business benefit justified the estimated cost of the developing system, and what other options and strategies were viable. The decision was made to not proceed with a custom development solution.
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HIPAA Compliance System
A CSG team engaged with this major healthcare provider to design and build an intranet-based file encryption and transfer system required to meet the client’s regulatory requirements under the federal Health Insurance Portability & Accountability Act (HIPAA). CSG employed a lightweight iterative software development process resulting in project completion on schedule and significantly under budget, with several additional features included that were not in the original project scope.
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Government Projects

Budget Narrative Project -- Oregon Department of Education
A team of CSG consultants developed a Web-based system that enables school districts throughout the state of Oregon to fulfill the application and administrative requirements for receiving Federal Title 1 and No Child Left Behind education funding. This application was constructed with ASP.NET 2.0 and SQL Server 2005. ODE project stakeholders were extremely satisfied with the results. The project was completed on time and on budget, fulfilling all of the requirements.
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Web Timesheet Project -- Oregon Department of Education

CSG consultants worked with ODE Human Resources staff to create a new Web-based timekeeping application for use by all employees in the department. Integrating with the state payroll system, the timesheet application replaced the existing paper-based process, improving efficiency. The CSG team responsibilities included requirements management, analysis, software design and construction.
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Pre-K Program Data Collection Project -- Oregon Department of Education

CSG worked with Pre-Kindergarten program staff from ODE as well as stakeholders in the Pre-K provider community to create a new data collection. The data collection was necessary to provide student-level data and information requested by the Oregon legislature. CSG worked closely with ODE technical staff to adhere to their standards and to integrate the new collection into their existing data collection framework.
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Decision Support / Business Intelligence Projects -- Oregon Department of Education
CSG consultants developed two Business Intelligence (BI) applications for ODE. The first project supported efforts of the Early Childhood Development Program to better understand the enrollment and attendance of Pre-Kindergarten Head Start, Special Education and Literacy services. From the collected data, a CSG consultant designed and developed data analysis capabilities that enabled ODE staff to gain additional insights about students receiving Pre-Kindergarten services.

The second BI application CSG consultants designed and built for ODE focused on payroll data. The source of data for this application was the existing statewide payroll system. The system provides ODE staff with enhanced capabilities for researching payroll questions and issues.
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Risk Assessment -- Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife
A senior CSG consultant conducted a risk assessment for an ODFW project to replace the Department’s point-of-sale (POS) application for selling recreational hunting and fishing licenses throughout the state. He was responsible for reviewing the project’s documentation and interviewing key internal and external stakeholders, software vendors and project team members. The result of the assessment was a comprehensive report with opinions and commentary on key elements of risk. The report findings were presented to the ODFW Director, stakeholders and staff.
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Women, Infants and Children (WIC) System -- Oregon Department of Human Services
WIC is a Federal assistance program sponsored by the USDA and administered by state governments. The program provides food, nutrition counseling, and access to health services for low-income women, infants, and children.

CSG was selected by the Oregon Department of Human Services (DHS) to complete the design and construction of the software system essential for administration and automation of this important and complex program. CSG assembled an expert team with the capabilities to accomplish all of the required tasks to complete the project within the constraints of limited time and budget. Working hand in hand with DHS staff, CSG was extremely successful in building the system and assisting in the statewide deployment of the application.

The result of this multi-year, multi-million dollar project is that women, infants and children throughout the state are benefiting from the essential services this system enables. With much deserved fanfare and appreciation from DHS, the CSG team completed system development on time and on budget. CSG continues to assist DHS in on-going maintenance and enhancements to the system and is viewed by DHS as a valuable partner.
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Integrated Client Services (ICS) -- Oregon Department of Human Services
DHS provides the citizens of Oregon with a comprehensive host of services necessary to support and enhance health, welfare, safety and independence. The annual DHS budget is over 4.5 billion dollars. A key challenge for the department is to accurately forecast the future needs of Oregonians for DHS services. Accurate forecasting is essential because DHS must have sufficient budget to deliver necessary services. If the forecasted projections are wrong, the result could be a serious budget shortfall for DHS.

CSG consultants have been engaged with DHS to build a data warehouse and decision support system that will significantly enhance the department’s ability to forecast the needs for services based on historical trends. In addition to providing the information required for forecasting, the system provides DHS with better information about the services DHS is providing to citizens. Additionally, DHS will be able to provide more accurate and timely response to questions from the state legislature.

The CSG team has won the praise and confidence of DHS by overcoming many significant challenges for the project. Noteworthy examples include:
•	Extracting and transforming data from more than a dozen distinct data sources ranging from mainframe to relational to Microsoft Access databases.
•	Deriving sophisticated algorithms to “clean” dirty or conflicting source data, based on defined rule sets.
•	Determining “distinct” individuals, as each of the data sources use different techniques and processes to identify their respective clients.
•	Obfuscating individuals’ identities to ensure the privacy and confidentiality of very sensitive data.

The ICS data warehouse will continue to grow and evolve as DHS develops new ways in which the data can be queried to answer important questions heretofore unanswerable. CSG is proud to have played a pivotal role in developing this system because of the clear benefits it provides to DHS and Oregonians.
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Oregon Department of Transportation – Data Warehousing
The Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) recently adopted a data warehousing program plan for the Highway Management Information System. The system will address specific reporting, analysis and data needs that could not be fulfilled with ODOT’s existing automation infrastructure.

CSG is currently working with ODOT to iteratively design and build this system and is providing analysis, architecture design, development, ETL and testing services that will result in the deployment of a data warehouse solution built on the Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Enterprise toolset.
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Oregon State Treasury -- Debt Management System
A CSG development team collaborated with the Oregon State Treasury to design and build a new banking system to support the core business functions of the Treasury. CSG was responsible for the outbound data components of the system that included interface files to feed other systems and custom reports. Working closely with Treasury staff, CSG performed business function analysis, requirements definition, component design, component development, component implementation and documentation. The system has been in production now for over ten years.
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