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Secure Document Handling

Introduction
Redfern International Logistics Ltd is a large shipping company with offices around the globe. They sell space in containers and can ship these anywhere on Earth.


Problem
When cargo is shipped across national borders, there are many documents that must travel with it. These documents pass through many hands along the way and can often be in poor condition when they reach their final destination. In many cases, these documents are unreadable.

Furthermore, the recipients of the cargo usually require that documentation arrive ahead of the cargo itself, depending on local law and customs practices.

Redfern International Logistics Ltd asked us if we could help...


Solution
We developed a web-based application to manage these documents digitally. The application we delivered offered a number of features tailored to Redfern's needs. Specifically:
  • Security: The system requires all users to authenticate before granting access to documentation stored within. Additionally, the program "sandboxes" each user so that, even though thousands of documents are contained in the database, only those documents relevant to the user are accessible.
  • Ease-of-use: The entire application is accessed and managed via a standard web-browser. The user doesn't need to install special software, or endure a steep learning curve in order to reap the the benefits of the system.
  • Familiar Interface: The application interface is designed to resemble the sort of file manager that users are already familiar with on their desktops. Documents are stored in a hierarchical structure of nested folders, in the same way that they are stored on your hard disk. Users simply navigate through the folders then click the document they require to open or download it. Users add new files by navigating to the target folder and uploading them - again, using just the web browser.
  • Searching: The volume of documents the system could handle was limited only by available disk space. So finding a specific document could be something of a chore without a search facility. We wrote a fast and powerful search engine to locate documents by various criteria


Problem solved!