About

Socena is the software company opereated by myself, Tobin Harris. I am an independent software consultant based in Leeds, UK. Projects include:

• An ASP.NET patient administration system for Sandwell NHS Trust.
• A distributed multi-threaded news spider running on .NET, taking 10M records per month.
• A set of UML Case Tool extensions for Wells Fargo Bank, San Franscisco.
• .NET ETL and reporting tools for Bates Financial Services.
• A Ruby on Rails psychometric testing application for AQR Ltd.
• See below for more...

I'm currently working with:

• Microsoft .NET 2.0 Applications - WinForms and ASP.NET. Using tools such as Resharper, Anthem AJAX, NUnit, Castle Active Record, NHibernate and Lucene .NET.
• Ruby On Rails 1.2.3, running with Debian and MySQL

News

eDocShare Coming Soon!

eDocShare is an intuitive and lightweight web-based project management tool. It allows you and your team to effortlessly share documents with customers, track issues, and keep everyone in the loop without sending millions of emails.

eDocsShare will be available to purchase in Q2 2007.

Portfolio

Socena worked with BT's document management team to help them add new features to an internal system. Socena undertook the work at very short notice and accommodated a very aggressive schedule. We worked with closely with developers and managers to quickly understand the project and implement the features required.

Technologies used: Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 Beta, Microsoft Access, Windows Forms

Socena is assisting Restart Consulting by implementing an online patient administration system for the NHS. The project aims to consolidate data from various disparate systems in to one place, and give clinical staff secure and responsive access to patient information. The system is built using best practices and will be handed over to an internal team for maintenance following it's construction.

Technologies and features: Microsoft .NET Framework 1.1, Microsoft SQL Server 2000, ASP.NET, Secure access using Active Directory and forms authentication, report generation involving large volumes of data.

Socena developed a suite of CASE tool plugins for Wells Fargo Bank, USA. One tool helps analysts capture business processes and then rapidly prototype web applications to verify that processes are well understood. Another tool generates test cases to allow technicians to ensure that the software includes all necessary features.

Technologies used: Microsoft .NET Framework 1.1, Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect CASE tool, the UML modelling language, Visual Basic 6.0, Windows Forms libraries, COM

Bates is one of the UKs largest Independent Financial Advisers, operating from 18 differnt UK locations with over 300 advisers. Socena has enjoyed working with Bates since early 2006, offering mentoring and telephone support to one of thier in-house .NET developers.

Socena has recently undertaken additional project work for Bates. This has involved customising in-house ETL tools and then loading, analysing, and reporting on large quantities of financial valuation data.

Technologies & skills used: Microsoft ASP.NET 2.0, MSSQL Server 2005, SQL + Schema Optimisation, SSIS, Component One Reports

Socena is working with PCS Ltd to develop eDocShare, an online application that helps teams coordinate projects. eDocShare supports issue tracking & document publishing whilst keeping customers and team members in the loop. This is a commercial solution, and will be available to purchase in Q1 2007.

Technologies used: Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0, NHibernate, Castle Active Record, Microsoft SQL Server 2000

Socena provides software development services to Ripe Design, a Leeds based media company. Ripe work on a number of high-profile web sites and applications, and often need to out-source various development tasks.

Technologies used: The Ruby on Rails web framework, MySql, CSS, ImageMagic

Socena has enjoyed a long relationship with NMI, developing a robust and performant web spidering solution that collects and indexes millions of news clippings from the internet. We have also built a web portal allowing customers to monitor and view news articles on particular subjects.

Technologies and skills: Microsoft .NET 1.1, .NET threading, MySql, MSSQL Server 2000, The Ruby on Rails web framework, CSS, Lucene Indexing, FTP software, database query and server optimisation

In partnership with Telescope Studios, Socena have developer a web-based psychometric testing application for AQR Ltd. This secure application allows candidates to complete questionnaires online and then PDF reports are generated to indicate their mental toughness and inform them of possible areas for improvement.

Technologies used: The Ruby on Rails web framework, MySql, CSS, PDF reports

SqlBuddy is an open source database IDE developed by myself, Tobin Harris. SqlBuddy is only in Beta but includes some interesting features such as code completion, back and next buttons for flipping through commands, editable SQL results etc.

Technologies used: Microsoft .NET 1.1 and c#, Windows Forms, MSDE

Contact Information

For more information please contact Tobin Harris on:

• Tel: 0113 3944342 (or +44 113 3944342 from outside UK)
• Alt Tel: 07900 907146 (or +44 7900 907146 from outside the UK)
• Email: tobin@socena.com
• Skype: tobinharris
• Mail: Socena Ltd, Round Foundry Media Center, Leeds, LS11 5QP, UK

Socena is a registered UK company #5402633. VAT Registration # 857147109