Reef Surf's Silverlight

Using one of Microsoft’s latest visual technologies, Compsoft has combined the skill set of the whole company to deliver its first commercial Silverlight Application.

Silverlight is a Microsoft technology that delivers a superior user experience. This enables solutions to get the best out of web-based applications that rely on complex functionality in the background and introduces a new level of design-orientated navigation for interfaces and the display of ‘rich media’, like audio, video and other types of dynamic information.

The Background

Compsoft was approached in 2006 to build a booking application for a surf school that had grown from the back of a camper van to incorporate three residential properties (initially to serve the surfing community, then expanded to cater for a wider audience) and needed to streamline the office processes. There were a number of complex issues involved; each property had a different function - one catered for groups in dormitories, another offered private rooms and with that there were price variations and also booking complexities.

Compsoft chose Equinox as the development platform because of the complexity of the booking options and because the company wanted to use the system from a central location and didn't need access over the internet. Developers were able to build the system quite efficiently and at times from the customer’s office in Newquay, providing a comprehensive solution to fit exactly what was required. Once fully implemented the booking system ran well with very few problems.

Roll on a couple of years.

A couple of months back the sales had dropped and the sales staff were feeling de-motivated, as there was a perception that the business was not selling enough and this impacted the working environment. Management knew that there was a healthy number of enquiries on the computer system and wanted to use this information to motivate staff using live data feeds of the system to illustrate the team’s performance and to acknowledge staff for good work. To distribute information relating to sales previously, staff would manually input data in to an Excel spreadsheet; Reef Surf required something more efficient in order to review sales.

The Silverlight Project

Reef Surf approached Compsoft initially with the requirement to build the appropriate functionality in to the system, however, Compsoft made the recommendation to use Silverlight because of the need to interact with and display Equinox's live data. Compsoft’s in-house design agency, Bluesulphur, designed the interface, the Equinox development team built the functionality to calculate staff sales in relation to targets and the web services to release the data, and the .NET team built the Silverlight interface that would display the data on the 42 inch screen in the call centre.

The Silverlight Solution

The Silverlight application is now live and streaming up to the minute information directly from Reef Surf’s booking system providing a dynamic overview of the current sales. The screen progresses through each of the team illustrating daily, weekly and monthly performance and moves on to 'showcase' the leading weekly and monthly performer using graphics.

The staff are now motivated, being able to view their performance against targets and getting recognition for their efforts and the management have greater visibility of the sales situation.

Apart from motivating staff, the management at Reef Surf wanted to introduce a culture of fun within office, staff attendance and the rate of turnover had become an issue, so a feature was incorporated into the display that charted each individual’s attendance and their progress toward meeting the loyalty bonus incentive.

If you would like to explore how a Silverlight application can benefit your business, please contact us.

Compsoft plc, based in Alton, Hampshire, is a leading bespoke software and website development house using a range of development tools including Microsoft's .Net framework. This expertise has led to Compsoft being awarded Microsoft Gold Certified Partner, Microsoft's highest level of recognition.