changzone tag:www.changzone.com,2008-10-19://2 2009-09-28T05:52:45Z Movable Type Pro 4.21-en Product Launch: The new Billboard.com! tag:www.changzone.com,2009://2.30 2009-09-27T01:56:09Z 2009-09-28T05:52:45Z In late 2008, Billboard hired Razorfish to help redevelop our Product Strategy and design a new user experience for billboard.com. I was responsible for all Billboard's Technology and Development for this project. We completed the project in July 2009, in under 8 months. Warren bbhp1.pngIn late 2008, Billboard hired Razorfish to help redevelop our Product Strategy and design a new user experience for billboard.com.  I was responsible for all Billboard's Technology and Development for this project.  We completed the project in July 2009, in under 8 months.

This project was unlike any previous project at Nielsen Business Media.  We re-designed our entire infrastructure as well as build process, tools, JDK and frameworks.  The technical requirements for this site required a stronger infrastructure to support the expected traffic and my team and I decided that this was the best opportunity to bring Nielsen Business Media's technology framework up to date.

For our infrastructure and build system, we upgraded our application servers to Weblogic 10, and updated our JDK to JDK 1.6+.  This gave us significant performance improvements to our application servers and gave us flexibility with the new features of JDK 1.6 that we did not have in JDK 1.4.  We also installed Maven with some ant customizations as our primary build platform utilizing Atlassian's Bamboo as our continuous build system.  Bamboo not only ensures a compile-level build compliance from all our developers, but we also used it as our build deployment tool, cutting our production deployment time from nearly 2 hours down to under 20 minutes.

We had attempted to migrate our legacy framework from JDK 1.4 to JDK 1.6, but met with significant obstacles.  We decided then to drop our legacy framework and re-write our core framework utilizing Spring.  Our development team had very little experience with Spring, but we stepped up and came up to speed quickly.  With Spring to help us develop more consistently and faster and with maven to ensure the integrity of our build dependencies, we were able to build up a new set of application libraries quickly.

Within this project, we also decided to in order to allow the editors to take full control of the site, we had to update our custom CMS [Stylus].  We decided to rebuild Stylus utilizing jQuery, extJS and AJAX as our primary front-end development and rebuild the backend services in Spring. 

This site is AJAX heavy and built this way to allow for a non-interrupted music playing experience for the Billboard.com user.  All aspects of this site from analytics, to ads are updated by the front-end engine built in javascript utilizing jQuery. 

Since launch, the total site traffic has increased by over 30%, with time on site increasing by over 100%.

Link: www.billboard.com

Company: Billboard

Technology: AJAX, extJS, jQuery, JSTL, JSP, Spring, J2EE, Weblogic, Oracle, Linux
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]]> Product Launch: PDN Gear Guide tag:www.changzone.com,2007://2.27 2007-10-15T19:10:15Z 2008-11-11T03:23:24Z When approached by Photo District News' editors to bring their annual publication of "PDN Gear Guide" online, my team and I developed a plan utilizing the appropriate technology to build a new product which would drive PDN's business. Warren pdngg.png

When approached by Photo District News' editors to bring their annual publication of "PDN Gear Guide" online, my team and I developed a plan utilizing the appropriate technology to build a new product which would drive PDN's business.  The online magazine was launched in time to promote the magazine's sponsorship of Photo Plus Expo.

After reviewing PDN's business model, we chose to utilize Flash to showcase their main news articles and products, and Endeca to power their Gear Guide database.  I created the architecture for the technical functionality and lead the development of the site creation.  We utilized Endeca Search technology for the search and catalog functionality, and developed a custom administrative interface for the Gear Guides.  The news articles were powered by Stylus CMS.



Company: Photo District News.

Technology: Endeca, J2EE, Flash
]]> Product Launch: Nielsen Enterprise Search tag:www.changzone.com,2007://2.28 2007-03-26T22:37:20Z 2008-11-11T04:40:30Z As Project Lead on the Nielsen Enterprise Search rebuild, I was tasked with finding the right technology to drive Nielsen's next generation search tools for all Nielsen Business Media websites. This entailed reviewing vendors for industry leaders in Search Technology including: Google, FAST, and Endeca. Warren endeca.gif
As Project Lead on the Nielsen Enterprise Search rebuild, I was tasked with finding the right technology to drive Nielsen's next generation search tools for all Nielsen Business Media websites.  This entailed reviewing vendors for industry leaders in Search Technology including: Google, FAST, and Endeca.

We chose Endeca to power our next generation search functionality.  We are slated to launch Endeca on all Nielsen websites by 2010.  The following details Endeca's roll out on Billboard, The Hollywood Reporter and Kitchen & Bath:


Billboard
billboardesearch.png
By integrating Endeca into Billboard.com, we linked all of the data elements related to a single article (ie. Charts, Artists, Videos, Articles and Tours ) into one search result using 'Guided Navigation'.  This feature gave Billboard.com users the ability to drill further into results to access other related articles.

Billboard had a tremendous amount of data elements and it was challenging to highlight them all within one result page. We opted for spotlights to highlight specific elements above the actual search results.  We also did Usability Testing with user groups to gather feedback on the UI and will be implementing these changes in the next version.

Hollywood Reporter

In The HollywoodReporter integration, we 
theesearch.png
opted for a more subtle approach since THR did not have as wide a breadth of data elements as Billboard. The result was a more streamlined and less cluttered interface.

Similar to Billboard, we implemented spotlights to highlight data elements as part of the search on the right sidebar.





Kitchen & Bath (kbbonline.com)
kbbesearch.png
We took a different approach with Kitchen & Bath since we did not have data elements other than articles and the publisher wanted the search to encompass a large dataset including industry websites and press releases. We implemented Endeca's web crawling engine to crawl over 1500+ websites in the kitchen and bath industry and returned their results alongside with KBB's own articles.


Link: 

Company: Nielsen Business Media, Online. 

Technology: Endeca, J2EE, XML, Prototype
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]]> Site Redesign: Hollywood Reporter (2006) tag:www.changzone.com,2006://2.24 2006-10-26T04:11:35Z 2008-11-11T05:06:15Z As the Technical Project Lead, I was responsible for designing the application components to address the business requirements for this redesign. Some of the key goals of this redesign were to streamline the publishing workflow and improve the editorial functionality and the publishing speed of articles. Warren thr_redesign_v7.jpg
As the Technical Project Lead, I was responsible for designing the application components to address the business requirements for this redesign. Some of the key goals of this redesign were to streamline the publishing workflow and improve the editorial functionality and the publishing speed of articles.

To achieve our goals, we built a customized, in-house Content Management System.  We produced an editorial tool that gave editors the ability to post content to multiple sections of the site and control user access to articles based on the context in which the article appears.

'Modcon', the new publishing engine, improved the publishing speed of articles by 700% and was capable of handling over 1000 articles in a single batch submission.  Modcon is now the publishing engine used for all Nielsen Business Media websites.

The new Content Management Interface, Stylus, is now the default CMS for all Nielsen Business Media websites.


Company: Hollywood Reporter.

Technology: J2EE, XML, JMS
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]]> New Product: Hollywood Reporter Esquire tag:www.changzone.com,2006://2.21 2006-06-23T17:45:27Z 2008-11-13T06:59:46Z I was asked to participate in the THR ESQ project to manage the relationship between our internal client and offshore development team. Due to the particulars of the legal framework on which the THR ESQ site was based there were discrepancies between the client's expectations and the product that the development team was building. As such we needed to manage the client's expectations. Warren mockup_INDEX_V3e_cut.jpg

I was asked to participate in the THR ESQ project to manage the relationship between our internal client and offshore development team.  Due to the particulars of the legal framework on which the THR ESQ site was based there were discrepancies between the client's expectations and the product that the development team was building.  As such we needed to manage the client's expectations.

I joined the project during its final stages in order to ensure the on-time delivery of a complete product built to the client's satisfaction and specifications.  With two weeks till delivery, I worked with the project management team to prioritize issues and identify the source of our client's concerns so as to address them upfront.  We decided that building a demo of the final product would be most effective at eliminating any existing concerns.

To this end, I built out a HTML based mock up of the administration console that our client would use to populate the DealFlow and Docket content on the final product.  We walked the clients through the demo to ensure their comfort with the product.  Once the client signed off on the mock up, we pulled in multiple development teams to fix existing issues and build out new functionalities.

The site was launched prior to deadline and built to the client's satisfaction.

Company: Hollywood Reporter Esquire

 

Links: Hollywood Reporter Esquire

[Note: this site is defunct. The link is to the current blog.]


Technology: J2EE, Struts, JDBC

]]> Custom Build: Stylus Content Management System tag:www.changzone.com,2006://2.20 2006-06-21T03:07:44Z 2008-11-14T05:06:25Z Stylus is the front-end interface for our in-house custom Content Management System built using the Modcon publishing engine. As the project lead on design, architecture and development of Stylus, my goal was to create a streamlined system with scalability to adapt to business needs. Warren styluslisting.pngStylus is the front-end interface for our in-house custom Content Management System built using the Modcon publishing engine. As the project lead on design, architecture and development of Stylus, my goal was to create a streamlined system with scalability to adapt to business needs.

Stylus replaced the existing Interwoven Teamsite CMS and was designed to address Teamsite's editorial limitations.  Stylus succeeded in creating a customized publishing experience for Nielsen's editors.  A key Stylus feature allowed editors to file content to multiple locations simplifying work processes.  The interface was built to be nimble enough to allow for quick fixes to address editorial and business needs as required.  To date, we have added Photo Galleries, User Comments and SEO controls to Stylus.

Stylus was launched in part with the 2006 Hollywood Reporter site redesign.

Link: This is an internal application.

Company: Nielsen Business Media, Online. 

Technology: JMS, AJAX, Javascript, J2EE, JSP, XML


]]> Custom Build: Build System Deployment tag:www.changzone.com,2008://2.18 2006-03-20T17:49:49Z 2008-11-14T06:19:51Z As the Technical Lead for VNU eMedia's application support group, my team was responsible for all Development, Staging, and Production system support. We were also responsible for managing all the internal production systems such as our Wikis, Project management tools (JIRA), and most importantly our build system. Warren anthill.png
As the Technical Lead for VNU eMedia's application support group, my team was responsible for all Development, Staging, and Production system support.  We were also responsible for managing all the internal production systems such as our Wikis, Project management tools (JIRA), and most importantly our build system.

We utilized Apache Ant to power our build scripts and used Anthill to manage our nightly system builds.  As the number of application projects and websites grew, our build system became more difficult to maintain.  

I went into our build and deployment process and developed a new set of build scripts to facilitate our web builds which we used to generate Enterprise Archive files for deployment.  I also re-wrote our patching and deployment scripts to allow our group to execute the build deployments more efficiently.

Company: Nielsen Business Media, Online. 

Technology: Ant, J2EE, XML, Unix Shell Scripts
]]> Custom Build: Modular Content Engine tag:www.changzone.com,2008://2.19 2006-03-07T03:43:00Z 2008-11-14T05:42:41Z Modular Content Engine is a custom publishing engine built to replace Nielsen's aging article normalization application. Modcon is designed to handle high volume document submissions as well as be an agile platform for future publishing needs. Role: Technical Lead, Architect, Developer, Analyst Warren Company: Nielsen Business Media, Online. 

 

 

 

MODCON 

 

Modular Content Engine is a custom publishing engine built to replace Nielsen's aging article normalization application.  Modcon is designed to handle high volume document submissions as well as be an agile platform for future publishing needs.

 

Role: Technical Lead, Architect, Developer, Analyst

 

My team and I reviewed customer feedback to identify areas of improvement for the current system.  The goal was to architect a flexible, high performance engine capable of powering Nielsen's sites for the next 5 years.  Modcon was designed on top of Weblogic with a JMS Queue on the front-end to handle high volume submissions.  To facilitate high performance throughput and flexibility, processing workflow was designed using Message Driven Beans and Stateless Session Beans.  Configuration XML files decided which process workflow to use based on the content type being published.

 

Modcon increased the speed of the core publishing platform from 1 article per 5 seconds to more than 10 articles per second.  Modcon was capable of batch processing a submission of 500 articles.

 

Technology:  Enterprise Java Beans, Message Driven Beans, JMS, XML, J2EE

]]> Process Integration: JIRA Project Tracking System tag:www.changzone.com,2006://2.17 2006-02-20T17:36:21Z 2008-11-13T20:54:37Z Recognizing the value that a centralized system of tracking projects and communication between functional groups would add to the product development and building process, I pitched the idea of integrating the JIRA system across QA, project management and develop teams. The system also gave management the tools to track employee hours per project. Access to this data gave management the opportunity to perform a per project cost analysis. Warren jira.png

Company: Nielsen Business Media, Online. 

 

Summary:

Recognizing the value that a centralized system of tracking projects and communication between functional groups would add to the product development and building process, I pitched the idea of integrating the JIRA system across QA, project management and develop teams.  The system also gave management the tools to track employee hours per project.  Access to this data gave management the opportunity to perform a per project cost analysis.

 

After receiving approval from the VP of Technology to move our work groups onto the JIRA platform, I customized the system to suit the needs of each group involved in the project process.

 

History:

Prior to the transition to JIRA, each of the functional teams playing a significant role in projects used separate tracking systems.  The Project Management team used MS Project and Excel to track projects while the QA team used Bugzilla and Excel to track tickets and the Development team used Bugzilla for bug tracking and Excel or hand written notes to track tasks.

 

Project hours were tracked via a Lotus Notes application customized for our online support desk.  It was used sparingly by the various work groups to track time spent on projects; however, was missing several key project cost analysis features since the system was intended for tracking support desk tickets.

 

After experimenting with several project management tools, I found JIRA from Atlassian Software.  Over the course of 18 months, I demoed the product to each of the department managers whose groups would benefit from the features offered by JIRA.  After receiving their support, I pitched the product to the VP of Technology who gave the green light to purchase the license to JIRA.

 

JIRA succeeded in consolidating project and task tracking for the Project Management, QA and Development groups facilitating project status reporting as well as analysis of project costs.

 

Technologies:

JSP, Tomcat, Oracle, Linux

]]> Custom Build: Customer Relationship Mgmt Application tag:www.changzone.com,2003://2.14 2003-05-01T04:35:36Z 2008-11-14T06:14:29Z As the primary developer on the build of a new custom Customer Relationship Management (CRM) solution for VNU eMedia, I was responsible for gathering business requirements and developing the project timeline. Warren crm_page.png

Company: VNU eMedia. 

 

As the primary developer on the build of a new custom Customer Relationship Management (CRM) solution for VNU eMedia, I was responsible for gathering business requirements and developing the project timeline.

 

The Customer Operations team used the CRM application to manage customer information and account billing and subscriptions.

 

The CRM application was built on JSP, Struts 1.0, Weblogic and standard JDBC.  This build also required using existing customer EJBs and CMP beans.

]]> Product Launch: Oscar Screening Guide tag:www.changzone.com,2003://2.16 2003-02-05T05:52:00Z 2008-11-14T06:07:25Z As a developer with VNU eMedia's technology group, I worked with the Hollywood Reporter team to create a new section of hollywoodreporter.com to showcase the films being screened at the Oscars. Warren oscarscreeningguide640.png
As a developer with VNU eMedia's technology group, I worked with the Hollywood Reporter team to create a new section of hollywoodreporter.com to showcase the films being screened at the Oscars.

The Screening Guide provided users the date and location of the screening as well as information about the film.

The application was built utilizing J2EE, Struts, JDBC on a Weblogic application server.

Note: The application has been redesigned a several times since 2003 and the image is reflective of the current application.


Company: The Hollywood Reporter

Technology: JDBC, J2EE, Struts, Weblogic
]]> Custom Build: GE Capital Loan/Lease Administration App tag:www.changzone.com,2008://2.15 2000-12-01T05:47:23Z 2008-11-14T05:57:12Z As a Technical Consultant, I was responsible for J2EE development, GUI Design, and Build Administration on one of Cap Gemini Ernst & Young's largest accounts, General Electric Capital Corporation. Warren capgmini.png
As a Technical Consultant, I was responsible for J2EE development, GUI Design, and Build Administration on one of Cap Gemini Ernst & Young's largest accounts, General Electric Capital Corporation.

The project consisted of building a Loan/Lease web application to allow GE's satellite offices to process loans and leases on a standardized platform.  The application used back end connectors to GE's legacy mainframes to evaluate applications and generate approval decisions.

This project required coordination between 2 offshore teams and 30+ on site developers.

Technology:  J2EE, Photoshop, dHTML, Javascript, JMS, EJBs

Company:  Cap Gemini Ernst & Young
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