Cedar Mountain Software, Inc.
Case Study

Division Of Early Childhood Conference call for papers and review process.

   The Division of Early Childhood wanted to streamline the process for accepting and reviewing proposals for their annual conference. The current procedure consisted of applicants submitting multiple copies of their proposal in writing. Those proposals were then divided by category and sent to a committee chair responsible for that category. The chair would then send copies of the proposals to various reviewers. Each proposal required at least two reviewers. The reviewers would send the scored proposals back to the chair; the chair would make final comments and send the package back to the conference committee to make final selections. The conference committee would meet to review all the proposals and their scores and make final selections. After selections were made the appropriate acceptance and rejection letters were sent out to the applicants. The accepted applicants then needed to send in a confirmation form and AV and other requirements had to be worked out.

   This whole process was very well suited for conversion to the web. We built an online registration system to accept the proposals from the applicants. Then we built a reviewer web site where the reviewers could log in and see the proposals that had been assigned to them. Forms were built for them to score the proposals right there on the web site. Once the committee chairs had locked each category the proposal data was downloaded to an MS Access database used by the selection committee to manage and document their selection and scheduling choices for the conference. After the selections were made the applicants were automatically sent the appropriate acceptance or rejection letters via email. The acceptance emails contained a link to log into the new web based confirmation system.

    Here they could respond to specific committee requests, make final adjustments to their proposal, and make their AV requests. Overall this project was a tremendous success and a perfect example of a conversion from a paper process to a web application.

"I want you to know that our program planning session in Portland last week was the best ever! The process went smoothly, the database was absolutely fantastic to use, the cards were printed easily, and we had all the data the program committee asked for. Projecting the form using the LCD projector went well too. Folks simply asked to see a proposal and we used the search function to pull it up in seconds. It went so much better than last year, I can hardly believe it.    I can honestly say that we couldn't have made it through that planning meeting without all your work and attention to detail. The online process and the resulting database is truly something to be proud of!    On behalf of all the staff who are much saner because of you--thanks," --Sarah Mulligan, M. Ed.