John T. Kounis

I have undertaken many IT projects at Airventure Publishing—too many to list on the resume. A more complete list follows:

• Developed a comprehensive, customized database that automates many of the subscription and e-commerce functions. This software enables Pilot Getaways to use substantially less staff than other magazines to achieve the same level of customer service. It comprises roughly 50,000 lines of Visual Basic code, 7,500 lines of MySQL stored procedures and triggers, 36 forms, and 54 subforms. The front end is Microsoft Access on PC clients and the backend is a Linux MySQL server. Server/client communications are via ODBC.

  Click here for a screenshot showing the main page of the subscriber database with the subscriber and product order windows open. The highlights of the software package are:

  • On-line address verification via XML interface to U.S. Post Office address information APIs for reliable delivery of mail and products.
  • Per-subscriber detailed history.
  • Automatic combination of subscriptions at duplicate addresses.
  • Integration with online webforms and automatic download of web orders via XML. Since the data include credit card numbers, all data are encrypted via SSL.
  • Generation of invoices and renewal notices for subscribers. Customization of invoice and renewal letters and sequences.
  • Generation of mailing lists to fulfill list orders to mailing list brokers. Customization to remove duplicates and prior orders. Inclusion of decoy names to track use of mailing lists.
  • On-line credit card authorization and billing via SSL.
  • Automatic retrieval of address data from direct mail lists. For example, if we receive a subscription card with code “AB0123” from a direct mail campaign, the data entry operator enters only “AB0123,” which is a unique code for each prospect. This fills in the prospect's name and address automatically, permitting unskilled operators to enter more than 200 new subscriptions per hour.
  • Statistical analysis of subscription sources to determine the effectiveness of marketing campaigns.
  • Dual-entry accounting that permits comprehensive reports and quick identification of discrepancies.
  • Quickbooks interface to automate export of subscriber checks, preventing the need to enter check data twice.
  • Graphical reports of new subscriptions sources, subscription growth, and internet subscription activity.
  • Textual reports of renewal rates, revenue sources, data entry productivity, address discrepancies, payment discrepancies, and mailing.
  • Ordering and inventory tracking of products such as back issues, books, videos.
  • Automated mail-merge generation of form letters and emails to subscribers for bounced checks, duplicate subscriptions, and other customer service issues.

• Conversion of the Pilot Getaways website from disjoint html pages to the Drupal content management system, including custom Drupal modules written in PHP to automate the conversion process. Other customizations include:

  • Customized back-issue pages written in Perl scripting language with a MySQL backend and XML interface to the Pilot Getaways subscription database.
  • Zen Cart shopping cart for ordering ancillary products.

• Integration of a complete server system comprising several software components. I procured, set up and configured the internal Pilot Getaways database, file, and web server including the following packages:

  • Samba file server for PC clients.
  • NFS file server for Linux clients.
  • Netatalk file server for Macintosh clients running Appletalk or AFS.
  • MySQL database server.
  • Apache web server.
  • Local DNS server with OpenDNS name resolution.
  • Courier/IMAP mail server.
  • Postfix Mail Transfer Agent.
  • Webmin administration interface.
  • Openvpn virtual private network.
  • NXServer desktop virtualization software for remote access.
  • Synchronization of contacts and calendar data with mobile devices such as Blackberries with Funambol and ScheduleWorld.

• Installation and setup of custom in-house web productivity software, including:

  • Sugar Customer Relationship Management system for tracking advertiser and retailer contacts, managing the ad sales process, and forecasting.
  • An in-house wiki based on MediaWiki (the same software as Wikipedia uses) that serves as our complete operations manual and is invaluable for training new employees. (Click here for a screen capture of the main wiki page.)
  • Hylafax fax server and Avantfax web client for fax communications.

• Procurement, setup and administration of all Pilot Getaways computing resources, including PC, Mac, and Linux platforms.