Bluestein Export Import Inc.

In my role as Director of Information Technology at Bluestein Export Import Inc., I developed a custom intranet system that streamlines data management and reporting for employees across the country. This custom-coded intranet uses Lando for local environment setup and includes a dedicated staging environment with daily file and database backups from production to ensure data integrity. The site is built on a LAMP stack (Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP), providing a robust foundation for scalable, secure operations.

Intranet Project Highlights:

  • Employee Access and Roles: The platform supports multiple employee logins with four distinct security levels. Employees can manage their own data and submit detailed reports, with role-based permissions ensuring secure access to relevant data.
  • Administrative Controls: Administrators have access to:
    • A view of all employee reports
    • The ability to surf the site as an employee for troubleshooting or support
    • A customized dashboard with summary reports of all business dealings
  • Data Export: The system supports data export via PHPSpreadsheet, allowing for seamless generation of reports in spreadsheet format.

Technical Stack:

  • Local Development and Deployment: Developed using Lando for consistent local environment setup, along with a staging environment with daily backups to secure production data.
  • Code Optimization: Gulp is used for minification and optimization of JavaScript and CSS files, enhancing site performance.
  • Document Handling: Integrated with PHPSpreadsheet for data exports.

Additional Packages:

  • PHPSpreadsheet for data handling and export
  • ESLint and Stylelint for code and style quality assurance
  • Choices.js for enhanced form controls
  • Gulp Autoprefixer for CSS browser compatibility
  • Gulp Clean-CSS for CSS minification
  • Gulp Sass and Gulp Terser for SCSS compilation and JavaScript optimization
  • Stylelint SCSS for SCSS-specific linting

Version Control and Testing:

  • Repository: The project is maintained on GitHub (Project Repository), with issue tracking to facilitate transparent management and continuous improvement.
  • Code Quality: Enforced through ESLint and Stylelint for consistent code style, with automated SCSS linting for better maintainability.

The reason we chose a custom intranet build for Bluestein Export Import Inc. (BEI) is because their business model is highly unique—no other company operates quite like they do. Traditional CMS intranet solutions, like SharePoint or Confluence, couldn’t easily accommodate their specialized daily workflows. We customized each aspect of the intranet to align perfectly with BEI’s specific operational needs, creating a solution that supports their preferred ways of working and enhances productivity across the organization.

Bluestein Export Import Inc. Intranet