About Scran

Scran in a Box

Scran uses a Linux, Apache, MySQL and PHP [LAMP] stack. Fully committed to open source, our technical team has developed this further, with custom code, into a full solution which powers Scran and its various web sites. You can benefit from that experience by using our solution for your purposes.

The solution includes a full back office with Content Management System [CMS], Database Editor, Page Designer, Editorial features and Corrections Admin for non-technical staff plus the customer facing tools of search, albums, stuff, create and pathfinders. This is a fully dynamic web based solution based on page objects held in a database. Furthermore, you choose what modules you want from a basic to sophisticated service.

The Scran Help Videos give you a good idea of the customer facing tools. Click to view the video selection.

Robust and Flexible

We call it Scran-in-a-Box and you are using it right now. Tested through real daily use on a site that provides at peak one million hits per day, it's robust and scalable. More importantly, it has been built to allow a variety of configurations and skins. It can look the way you want it to.

It's also standards based with Dublin Core compliant data fields, and for education it supports educational metadata such as LOM. With remote search facilities such OAI, Z39.50, SRU/SRW and with output using XML and RSS, Scran-in-a-Box supports the standards you need.

We also have extensive experience of integrating Scran-in-a-Box with other open source solutions for Customer Relationship Management [CRM] and Social Networking.

Use that Experience

That solution - with tools such as remote editing by your staff over the Internet - can apply to your website or data set.

The options include [among many permutations]:

custom views on existing Scran data - with your own front end and editorial control - but fully hosted at Scran
custom systems with your own front end and editorial control hosted at your own location but using Scran data
custom systems as above but with your own data held locally.

And, of course, being an open source solution, there are no recurring costs after the initial set-up - unless you would wish to benefit from Scran's future development programme.

And Scran's development programme is based on requests from the users who generate those 22 million monthly hits.

Modules

You may decide to use a basic system making your site fully accessible to the public with minimum support overheads. Or, as extras, you could have user accounts installed, adding optional albums, user storage and e-commerce.

Custom development is also possible: for example, you want facilities for users to tag the records or display comments and information - we can switch that on for users economically by using core features already embedded in the back office.

Use Scran-in-a-Box to do things your way.