• Public & Private Universities
• Professional Colleges
• Technical Colleges
• Academic Units or Departments within a College or University

Coaster is best used to engineer JSR168 compliant modules and portlets for integration with each other or with the existing systems already in place at your organization. By selecting the Coaster service suite you are buying into a set of elegantly constructed components designed specifically for IHE use. When honed to meet the exact needs of your institution and paired together or with your existing Web systems, Coaster can provide you with a feature rich portal structure that addresses profile administration, event and calendar management, alumni and development community facilitation, appointment and interview scheduling, admissions CRM needs, and more.

Low Risk Services
Selecting the Coaster service suite puts you in control of the project's destiny. You are not constricted by specific product attributes, but afforded the ability to tailor system requirements to your institution's exact needs. The collection of services available through Coaster includes:

Consulting Product Implementation Content Management Systems Groupware Systems Portal Frameworks And more... Custom Web Programming & Software Development Database Development & Data System Architecture Web Development

The flexibility of a service suite allows you to meet specific oganizational goals while optimizing your business processes to a standard at which individuals at every level of your institution will be comfortable. By selecting services instead of specific products you are picking a course that will lead to project success through the realization of benefits such as:

• Low TCO - You have an indefinite license to use and modify the resources implemented for your organization's needs, this means NO ONGOING COSTS!
• Single Source - Rely upon GraySail as a technology partner and consolidate to a single technology vendor
• Custom Development - The project methodolgy used ensures that the final implementation meets your institution's needs and not the blanket desires of the IHE market.
• Scalability - Coaster is built around open source technology which allows you to grow, change, and extend as your institution sees fit.

The output of the Coaster service suite is a seamless unit of easy to use Web applications and Web tools that power and enhance Web communication systems such as Web sites and Listserves, through the implementation of event/scheduling systems, community/portal management tools, and resource management or "intranet" systems.

Project Methodology
Good technology is a by-product of strong project management & methodology. The GraySail approach is embedded to the Coaster service suite in such a way that you expereince 100% disclosure during each step of the process and have utlimate control over the project's destiny. Every Coaster project passes through the following phases:

• Requirements Analysis: Gathering information on the front end of a project mitigates you as a client as well as GraySail as a vendor from the risk of project failure. Knowing the details and turning over stones provides a wealth of information that is used to plan the project, set goals, and forecast schedules. The Requirements Analysis phase of the project will identify things such as:
  
  • Key Users & Their Goals
    • Who will be using the final product?
    • What is their current job and role within the organzation?
    • Who supervises them and what are they evaluated on?
    • What needs to they have?
  • Legacy Applications & Existing Systems
    • Is the project replacing existing applications?
    • What frameworks and platforms with the final product be interfacing with?
    • Can this project be used to consolidate, simplyfy, or upgrade these systems?
  • Functionality Requirements
    • What specific business processes and tasks are addressed with this project?
    • What is the current workflow of existing non-tech business processes that the project will be replacing/partnering with?
  • Implementation
    • What is your ideal implementation timeline?
    • Is there an existing server environment that should be accounted for?
    • What specific issues/concerns should be noted?

The deliverable based on a completed requirements analysis is a full technical specifications document. This document will fully outline all functionality, interfaces, and workflows that will be developed during the project.

• Prototyping: The second phase of a project takes the words that makeup the technical specifications document and moves them to the Web. The prototype allows you to see how the final product will work, and during this project phase you will have a chance to change specifications. The more changes we identify on the front-end of development, the lower the total cost, and the lower the risk.
  
• Development: The project does not go to development until the prototype has been accepted. During this project phase the theoretical project requirements become true functionality. A beta devlivery is always done to ensure that requirements are met as expected.
  
• Implementation: After a final review, the project is fully implemented according to project specifications. Project staff closely monitor all new project for several weeks to ensure that change reqests are dealt with promplty.
  
• Active Support: The Coaster service suite entitles you to ongoing support an maintenance from GraySail as you see fit. The project staff is available for comprehensive monitoring and maintenance or occasional work order requests.

Proven
GraySail is experienced in providing dependable Web systems to organizations of all types. The software packages and Web applications implemented are well-planed through metrics oriented project methodology and scrutinized by technology professionals before being released to the client. Project managers at countless organizations are enjoying the benefit of having selected GraySail as a technology partner . GraySail clients include:

• Claflin University
• Center for Educator Recruitment, Retention & Advancement
• Children's Law Office at the University of South Carolina School of Law
• Daniel Management Center at the Moore School of Business at the University of South Carolina
• Lander University
• Moore School of Business at the University of South Carolina
• National College of District Attorney
• Univeristy Technology Services at the University of South Carolina
• University of South Carolina School of Law
• More GraySail Clients