Committee Evaluation System

This application was originally developed in Visual Basic 6 and Access 2000.  The goal of the application was to provide a system to manage the association of committees and their participating members.  An added component of the application was to allow members of a committee to evaluate every other committee member.

Initially we developed this to run as a desktop application.  This application was very successful in that fulfilled all the existing requirements of the customer.  They were able to manage the information, generate the evaluation forms and mailing labels, and enter the results of the surveys once they began returning.

The application allowed the overall process to be structured but it was very stressful from the start of the evaluation process to the completion of the final data entry.  Hundreds to thousands of forms would be mailed out each year and the results would trickle in over the period of one month.  By the end of the month, all committee members wanted to know how their colleages had rated them.  The application put the oness of data entry back onto the staff within the management organization. Since they were a small enterprise, this was a heavy load.

During the second phase of the project, we extended the application to SQL/Server 2000 and provided a web component to the application.  This allows committee members to go on-line to furnish their ranking of the other committee members electronically.  Not everyone has to partake of this feature to make a significant impact on the process.  Approximately 60% of the participants use the online version. As time goes on, it is anticipated that this number will increase each year due to the infusion of younger committee members. 

The online option provides the following benefits:

  • Data entry is often performed by the evaluator rather than staff reducing the possibility for incorrect information.
  • Postage costs can be reduced by sending paper forms to only those evaluators who need them.
  • Support questions are reduced since committee members can look up their results online.
  • Additional textual comments can be provided that allow constructive criticism of an anonymous nature.

    The desktop application tools used were Visual Basic 6.0 and Access 2000. The web based application uses a website powered by Windows 2000 Server, IIS, ASP and SQL/Server 2000.