03 / FRONTIERS RIGHTS / DATA DESIGN
Complex situations.
Connected information.
I redesigned the entire database and built the backend and Visual Basic frontend for an application lawyers use to conduct interviews and collect information about their clients’ situations.
THE PROJECT IN CONTEXT
The interview is the starting point.
I built for lawyers gathering information during client interviews. The engineering challenge was in the data: the application needed to retain the relationships between a client, their situation, and the information collected about it.
- 01
The person
A client’s situation provides the context for the information being recorded.
- 02
The interview
Lawyers gather details through the application as part of their work.
- 03
The relationships
The data model keeps those details connected to the context they describe.
A client’s situation does not fit in a flat record.
I needed to represent complex client situations with many related pieces of information. Treating the interview as a collection of isolated fields would lose those relationships. The database design had to capture how the information fits together and support the application built on top of it.
From the database to the interview interface.
I redesigned the entire database, developed the full backend, and built the Visual Basic frontend. As the sole developer, I connected the data model to the forms lawyers use, translating a complex information structure into a working application. I worked directly with leadership and reviewed progress in weekly meetings.
Design the relationships before the screens.
I made the database the foundation of the project. I worked through how the information about a client’s situation relates before building the backend and interface around it. That gave the application a consistent structure from the information entered during an interview to the way it is stored.
Understand the information
I worked with stakeholders to understand what lawyers needed to collect and how it related to a client’s situation.
Redesign the database
I rebuilt the data model around those relationships, making the connections between records a central design concern.
Develop the backend
I implemented the backend that connects the application’s workflows to the redesigned database.
Build the Visual Basic interface
I developed the frontend used to enter interview information, bringing the underlying data structure into the lawyers’ workflow.
What I delivered.
I delivered the database redesign, backend, and Visual Basic frontend as one application used by lawyers for interviews and data collection. I took responsibility for the whole system, with the relational model at the centre of the work.
I’m always happy to talk through the engineering. Let’s talk