I am currently in Grand Rapids, MI, where tomorrow I will visit EnGraph's very first ParaPlan client, the American Red Cross of Greater Grand Rapids. In 1999 they were in search of Paratransit Scheduling software to support their transportation service and Carl came across their RFP. I had recently left Burns & McDonnell as a structural engineer to help make EnGraph a reality.
After I started at EnGraph, we eventually decided to build our OWN application around our scheduling SDK's for MapInfo (in lieu of ostensibly selling them as 'tools' for other developers, etc.). The initial ParaPlan workflow was based on Carl's initial proposal and input from the Red Cross in Grand Rapids. I used this input from various sources to create ParaPlan 1.0, which debuted in the summer of 2000. I had built small applications at KU and for my thesis, but this was my first commercial application built entirely by me and it still exists to this day! 40+ installations later...here we are!
Now that I have a 'real' developer re-writing ParaPlan...the future is bright!
I also hope to visit our newest client, Georgetown Senior Center, for a pre-install meeting on this business trip.
