My boss has thrown me for a loop. Even though it’s not in my job description, she’s asked me to dig up 3-4 software companies that make software to accomplish this specific task:
My organization (non-profit medical) wants to buy software that lets a doctor visit our Web site, where he or she will fill out a brief form that specifies a patient’s situation (i.e., age, sex, disease, disease stage, prior treatment, etc.).
The software will then retrieve a series of PowerPoint slides (that we have previously created and stored on our Web server) that are most relevant to the clinical situation previously described by the doctor.
The doctor can then download these slides and use them anyway he or she wishes, such as for personal reference, or in an academic presentation.
Do any Dopers use software that does this specific task (or something similar that can be adapted)? If so, please share.
I don’t even know what name this type of software would go by, but it’s probably something like “Web site slide library management and presentation software” if I had to make a guess.
-Query creation & execution (filling out the form & getting results)
-File retrieval (e.g., does it need to specifically .ppt files? Or could they be saved as images?)
-Database design
-General site design
-IP
These things are done by web databases. There are several server technologies that allow this: Coldfusion, ASP.NET, JSP, PHP, MySQL, etc. You could build (or commission an experienced web design firm to have built) a custom database such as you describe. All the listed technologies are handled by Adobe Dreamweaver.
there may be file-retrieval sites that can provide your service. They would probably store your files on their server, and provide all the database functionality.
This I think we can do using in-house resources. Our Web site already has several pages where visitors can fill out forms to order free materials. These were created by our IT department, and I think we can do this, too.
Doctors love the .ppt files, especially if they want to use our slides in their academic presentations.
We could do this in house … we are talking about no more than 100 slides.
We already have an extensive Web site that is flexible enough, so this should not be a problem.
We have a static IP, and a T3 (I think) connection. Is this what you mean?
scotandrsn, I’m going to Google the terms you’ve provided, which should help me get educated about what’s out there.
It sounds to me like you already have most or all of the resources in-house to do most of what you want. The missing link seems to be the “intelligence” to decode the doctors’ responses and make the decision as to what .ppt files are appropriate.
I seriously doubt that you will find any “off the shelf” software that will be able to do this task for you. Depending on the talents available in your IT department they may be able to take on this task, or you may need to hire a consultant to help you set something up that will meet your needs.