Calcey – a San Francisco-based software development company – has been maintaining the website for Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business “Leadership in Focus” program since August 2010. The need arose late in 2013 for building a new website, which would provide a seamless user experience for this portal when viewed through both desktops and smartphones. Calcey rose to the occasion to help Stanford University develop the new desktop and mobile device-friendly (responsive) website, which went live in February 2014 (see: www.leadershipinfocus.net).
The business requirement for the new website was to improve the user experience. The mobile view has a simplified user experience and supports a wide range of popular smartphones, web browsers and operating systems such as Safari on iPhone or Chrome on Android devices.
While creating the new website there was an opportunity to replace the former legacy ColdFusion-based technology. After due consideration, Calcey chose to develop the new website’s features using the Python programming language, in combination with the Django web framework. This choice of technology helped Calcey deliver the project within a few months. The website is hosted on the Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud and connected to a common MySQL backend. Calcey also bridged the website with SSO technology for one of the Leadership Program’s key clients.
Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business “Leadership in Focus” program is an exclusive training program focused on developing the leadership skills of corporate executives and other mature learners who seek advice from the best leaders in the world.
Susan Feland, Director of Online Leadership Programs at Stanford GSB, was delighted with the final outcome: “I am thrilled with the work your team has done for me. The team has been great to work with and you have been very responsive to our needs and focused on delivering great work. I know that single-sign-on integration was also quite difficult, but the users are now thrilled that we were able to launch on time and that everything works. Thank you for such professional work! It is a pleasure to work with the Calcey team!”