Selected Activities

USAID Office of Democracy and Governance

Client: USAID/DCHA/DG
Site: http://www.usaid.gov/our_work/democracy_and_governance/ and the USAID DG Intranet site
Status: These sites are actively maintained.
Technologies Used: Static HTML (public site), CSS, PHP, MYSQL (DG Docs Tool

Sonjara is supporting the Outreach and Communications and Knowledge Management efforts of the Democracy and Governance (DG) Office at USAID by substantially contributing to the development of the DG Communications Strategy, maintaining the DG public and intranet sites, identifying and implementing web tools, and developing 508 compliant PDF documents for posting on the websites.

Sonjara developed the PHP/MYSQL DG Docs Web Tool which allows trainers and presenters to upload presentation documents to a secure website for specific training sessions. This tool allows for improved management of presentation documents and an online data entry interface for managers to update session information as needed.

NCUIH Health Publications Toolkit

Client: National Council of Urban Indian Health
Site: This site is under development
Status: This site is under development
Technologies Used: PHP, MYSQL, Static HTML, CSS, JavaScript, AJAX

Using Sonjara's Rapid Development Framework, NCUIH will have an online web toolkit for its members and the general public consisting of health related publications specific to the needs of the Urban Indian Health community. The database will feature member only features, web-based data and user managment, and an auto-glossary feature for key terms.

Primary Source Learning

Client: Primary Source Learning
Site: http://www.primarysourcelearning.org
Status: This site is actively maintained.
Technologies Used: PHP, MYSQL, Static HTML, CSS, JavaScript, AJAX

Sonjara has been chosen as the technology partner of Primary Source Learning, a non-profit focused on providing assistance to American teachers on using primary source materials from the Library of Congress, and other knowledge repositories. Major tasks include maintaining and supporting the site, adding new search and interactive functionality, and improving performance.

Institute for Reproductive Health

Client: Institute for Reproductive Health, part of Georgetown University
Site: http://www.irh.org
Status: This project is under development.

Sonjara is performing a website assessment for IRH, which includes: site analysis (information architecture and content), user and use case analysis, comparative analysis of other reproductive health partners' web presences, content workflow analysis, and a final needs assessment, which gives concrete recommendations on next steps for an eventual website redesign (including recommended functionality).

Africa Avian Influenza Information Center

Client: USAID Global Health
Site: http://www.africaai.net
Status: This site is actively maintained
Technologies Used: PHP, MYSQL, Static HTML, AJAX

Sonjara supported USAID's contribution to fighting the global Avian Influenza Pandemic by producing the Africa Avian Influenza Information Center, which offers a web-based document library tied to an event calendar, a links library, and a discussion mailing list. The data and documents for Information Center are managed entirely through a web-based, secured administration site.

Civil War Gun and Sword Kiosk Display

Client: Kim Bieler Graphic Design
Status: This kiosk is under development.
Technologies Used: PHP, MYSQL, Static HTML, AJAX, Mac

Sonjara is partnering with Kim Bieler Graphic Design to develop the backend functionality for a museum display kiosk on Civil War weapons. Key features include: zoom and magnify images functionality, touch screen display, look and feel contingent on path, and networked data updating ability, including auto-thumbnailing of images.

USAID Women in Development Web Presence

Client: USAID/EGAT/WID
Site: http://www.usaid.gov/our_work/cross-cutting_programs/wid/ and the USAID WID Intranet site
Status: These sites are actively maintained.
Technologies Used: Static HTML (public site), CSS, , PHP, MYSQL, XSLT, XML (WID Document Manager)

Sonjara is supporting the Outreach and Communications efforts of the Women in Development Office at USAID by maintaining the WID public and intranet sites and developing 508 compliant PDF documents for posting on the websites.

Sonjara developed the WID document Manager to help maintain the over 700 WID PDFs, each classifed by region/country, activity, and gender focus areas (such as child marriage, legal rights, or economic growth). This document manager generates high quality HTML for posting lists of publication links on the public site using XML/XSL templates, decreasing workload and increasing quality of HTML management.

Sonjara presented the WID Document Manager at the USAID/Economic Growth, Agriculture and Trade Knowledge Management Forum on February 25, by participating in a panel on Capturing and Indexing Knowledge, and holding a demonstration table for the application for visitors.

Global Health, Office of Population and Reproduction Health Evaluation of INFO Project

Client: USAID/GH through QED, LLC
Status: Project is completed.

Sonjara contributed to the USAID Global Health evaluation of the Johns Hopkins Knowledge Management for health project, INFO, by performing the technology and KM analysis of the five year activity. Through interviews, technology analysis, and other means, Sonjara reviewed the various KM and technology elements to this project and gave an overall analysis of both the technology investment and the overarching KM strategy. Sonjara also provided concrete recommendations to USAID Global Health Bureau for the follow on contract.

Office of the Chief Information Officer Intranet Redesign, Release 1.0 and 2.0

Client: USAID/CIO through SRA, International
Status: This site is actively maintained.
Technologies Used: Static HTML, CSS, JavaScript, Perl, integration with CommonSpot CMS, Remedy, other existing applications used by USAID.

Sonjara played the role of information architect and web developer for the intranet site redesign and consolidation process for the Office of the CIO at USAID. The task involved developing the web strategy for the OCIO, identifying use cases and user groups, interviewing stakeholders, identifying and consolidating existing content (over 37 existing, independent websites), developing wireframes and navigation system for the new site.

The team also performed a collaboration functionality analysis, focusing on existing software applications approved by USAID, and integrating some of the recommendations of the Release 2.0 phase of the activity.

Release 2.0 encompassed transferring the content from static HTML into a Content Management System (CommonSpot), a task which including writing custom scripts for mass data import (including documents and images), tweaking the navigation and user interface to meet the needs of the CMS, and creating custom Coldfusion modules for collaboration functionality. Sonjara also designed and held multiple training sessions for Content Editors, and customized a user manual specific to the CIO site.

Asia & Near East Content Submission Tool (ANE CST)

Client: USAID/ANE
Status: This tool was rolled out June 2007 and is actively used.
Technologies Used: ASP.NET, SQL Server, C#, XML/XSLT, RSS

Sonjara, Inc developed a content submission tool to help overseas Missions manage their own web content without the need for a dynamic content management tool. Residing on USAID’s Intranet, the CST allows user to add and edit activity and article information through web-based forms, create new web page layouts using XML/XSL, and “churn” USAID compliant html pages, which are in turn either FTP’d directly to the USAID intranet server or downloaded as a ZIP file onto the user’s hard drive. The CST also allows cross population of content onto the ANE central website from each of the subsites, by pulling shared content from the database, and by pulling in RSS feeds from two Mission sites managed by a content management system.

ICT-in-Education Toolkit

Client: InfoDev, UNESCO, AED, Knowledge Enterprise, Inc.
Site: http://www.ictinedtoolkit.org
Status: This site is actively maintained. UNESCO, World Bank, and other partners are currently using or have plans to use the tool to train Ministries of Education around the world.
Technologies Used: PHP, MYSQL, Linux, XML

Sonjara, Inc. provided software development and management expertise in the production of this highly-complex set of inter-related policy tools. Sonjara was also involved in addressing usability concerns, additional functionality requirements, and review of training process for recommendations on improved training workflow.

The site was implemented in PHP/MySQL using a custom developed XML-based form engine that provides a high-level mechanism for describing the complex workflows within the toolkit. The site was debuted in September 2005 in Bangkok, Thailand and substantially extended in March 2007. A fully functional and dynamic CDRom version was also developed as part of this project.