Website Development

Our company uses a website as a protal to access our application online. We hope to update and revamp our existing website and move it to AWS so we can add some security features. We would like to work with students to develop a new website that is easy to maintain while providing an appealing interface for users. This can be achieved through site building tools found on AWS. This will involve several different steps for the students, including: Researching different site-building tools and their associated advantages / disadvantages. Conducting a needs analysis to determine which platform is most suitable. Building a website, with our assistance in providing the content. Providing training on updating and maintaining the website. Bonus steps in the process would also include: Implementing security features like WAF and Shield.

AWS Elastic Beanstalk Implementation

To implement AWS Elastic Beanstalk for the WOWzer Backup and Restore application. By using AWS Elastic Beanstalk, WOWzer will shift responsibility and management of the cloud network, including availability metrics, to AWS. Transforming AWS from an IaaS to a PaaS. WS Elastic Beanstalk reduces management complexity without restricting choice or control. AWS Elastic Beanstalk automatically handles the details of capacity provisioning, load balancing, scaling, and application health monitoring.

AWS Security Implementation

Objective:   To implement AWS Security Hub and its accompanying data from Amazon GuardDuty, Amazon Inspector, and Amazon Maci.   Background/Context:   WOWzer Technologies builds applications that automate the tedious tasks that Accountants and Bookkeepers have to do. One of these tasks is to backup customer organization data. When using cloud accounting as their resource, it is not automatically backed up in a fully restorable version. Or it’s backed up by the vendor, with no commitment to being able to restore lost data in the event of a breach or corruption. With this in mind, WOWzer built a Backup and Restore application specifically for Xero Cloud accounting. We are preparing to launch our new application and would like to improve our security and increase information flow about vulnerabilities. Output(s):   Implement AWS Security Hub, adding WOWzer team members to the platform. Implement Amazon GuardDuty and connect to AWS Security Hub. Implement Amazon Inspector and connect to AWS Security Hub. Implement Amazon Maci and connect to AWS Security Hub. Write an implementation guide with screenshots and instructions for the above four applications. Write an instruction guide as to what key metrics are being measured and what responses should be taken based on AWS Security Hub outputs and how often the metrics should be monitored. How will the success of the project be measured:   The project's success will be based on the final two outputs and how well a WOWzer staff member can adopt the practices and procedures in the guide without relying on other resources. Project Manager: Mark Kennedy, mark@wowzer.tech Governance:   Weekly meetings can be made available to each team as needed by available WOWzer team members. An MS Teams chat will be set up for ongoing questions throughout the project. The attending Professor will be added to the chat. Resources:   WOWzer will provide access to a test environment on AWS with access to our application for operation testing. WOWzer team members, including Preston Wong CTO, Mark Kennedy, CEO and WOWzers’ AWS representative, will provide Senior Architect access for questions or clarification.  Reporting Requirements:   Project status updates every two weeks. Verbal or written. Assumptions and Constraints:   WOWzer assumes that the team members have sufficient background and knowledge of AWS to complete the project and, given sufficient time, can succeed. Constraints may include student time availability, meeting time availability and experience in preparing written and visual material to support the work. Risk Management:   Team members accessing WOWzers’ AWS platform must use MFA when logging into the system. Issues Management:   Issues encountered must be brought to the attention of the attending Professor and WOWzer team as soon as they present. Knowledge gaps will be referred to AWS staff engaged by WOWzer. Related Projects:   WOWzer will be shifting to AWS Elastic Beanstalk simultaneously and the team should be prepared to switch from AWS EC2 Autoscale and Load Balancer to the Beanstalk Service, should the existing resource be changed . The team must be prepared to re-implement onto new EC2 instances and S3 buckets. Quality Assurance:   As each AWS application is implemented, tests must be performed by a backup and restoration procedure using WOWzers’ application. This will ensure that the settings programmed into the AWS applications do not prevent the end user from still using WOWzers’ Backup and Restore application effectively.

Pen test our environment on AWS.

WOWzer Technologies has a backup and restore application hosted on AWS with two additional backups of this data. Both are disconnected one is a snapshot, one is a duplicate. The data includes sensitive information. We are a startup and do not have a team to make sure our existing server environment on AWS is safe or at the very least, what holes we have that need to be plugged.

Disaster recovery plan for AWS Network

WOWzer Technologies has a backup and restore application hosted on AWS with two additional backups of this data. Both are disconnected one is a snapshot, one is a duplicate. The data includes sensitive information. We are a startup and do not have a disaster recovery plan in place. We would like a disaster recovery plan that we can test on a regular basis to ensure in the event of failure, hack or employee error, we can restore the data quickly and efficiently with little to no disruption of service.

A robot to login, select account and perform an action.

Xero users have a tedious task that requires them to confirm transaction matching by manually clicking an "ok" button on Xero, and we would like to eliminate this from their busy schedules. Our goal is to allow users to able to complete transaction matching for an organization with a single click of a button. The transactions that are marked "ok" are such because they match the incoming receipt record and the bank feed withdrawal, or they have been previously programmed with a "rule." In order to automate this, we would like to create a bot/automated process to log in to the Xero account, seek out transactions that are identified with an "ok" and “matches”, and have the “ok” buttons clicked. This function can be performed across multiple accounts and be continuous. This process can be applied to multiple organizations. This will be a selenium project or a browser plugin, for Xero Cloud Accounting users. · Connects and logs into Xero Account. · Identifies transactions that “match” and has a clickable “ok” button. · Click the “ok” button of all identified transactions. · Proceed to next pages until all identified transactions have been clicked. · Have the ability to start or stop the process whenever the user pleases. · Notifies users when the process is complete.

Customer User Interface Process Backup and Restore

Currently, there is no market-ready application that can backup and restore accounting data in the Xero Cloud Accounting platform. We have created an app to perform this task but have This project is to create a front end for customers, to be able to use the document conversion service as described above and allow us to bill them according to their use from a pre-entered credit card. From signing up for an account to entering credit card information to uploading a PDF for conversion. Our suggested workflow is as follows but is open to design creativity. The client will pick the appropriate Backup and Restore site, based on his/her region (US, Canada, EU, UK, AU, NZ). Each site is connected to a bucket in its respective region. Client signs up for an account through Auth0, on Backup And Restore. Email address will be used to automatically create a folder in the S3 bucket. The email address will also be used to create an account on Recurly. Account information and payment information is gathered for Recurly. We will need to develop an “Account Information” page in order for the client to update any of his/her information. Would we be able to bill users across all regions onto one invoice in Recurly or will we have to separate each of them? Can Recurly support multiple websites, each with its own database of emails and users? Some users may use multiple regions, therefore, their account information may appear on Recurly as duplicates. Does Recurly separate this information from different websites in separate databases? I will look into Recurly further. The client logs in to our B&R application, which is hosted on the AWS EC2 server. The client connects to Xero account(s) – it is the client’s responsibility to connect companies of the same origin as the site/bucket region. The client backs up data from Xero and into our S3 bucket. Data consumption is transmitted to Recurly. Recurly does not currently support AWS S3 directly. We will have to push the data out of AWS and receive it through the Recurly API. One possible solution is determining the size of the folder based on the user/email address in the S3 bucket. With the size of the folder, we should be able to push that information into Recurly, connect, and invoice it to the correct client, based on email address. This is something I have to speak to Dhaneshwar about. Data consumption of restore process – how will we be billing Restoring an account? Once data has been transmitted to Recurly, and assigned based on the client’s email address, we can charge and invoice the client appropriately. Data is kept on our S3 bucket, and the Client can access it through our application. All data on S3 is periodically backed up to Azure, and only accessible by WOWzer Admins. Software platforms we use include WordPress, Auth0, Recurly, AWS Textract, AWS S3, and EC2. The team would be expected to use these tools to create the process and put all the pieces together.

Marketing Strategy Plan Xero Doc Convert

We want students to help us build a marketing strategy plan to grow and engage our target market: Xero Cloud Accountant Partners . We’d like to know how we can maximize use of different channels and get recommendations to improve our messaging. This is for our application Xero Document converter. The application takes PDF bank and credit card statements and converts them to a pre-programmed CSV file that is ready to upload into Xero Cloud Accounting organizations. The main questions we’d like students to help us answer are the following: How do students currently perceive our brand and marketing, based on publicly available information about our company? What channels should we utilize for promotion, including ones we are not currently using? What budget is appropriate for advertising, given our goals? What is the best message to explain our value proposition? Do different geographic areas require a different message and image? What is the best approach for our target, direct contact (ie; phone, email), advertising or introduction via community event. What is the best online platform to reach our target market.

Marketing Strategy Plan

We want students to help us build a marketing strategy plan to grow and engage our target market: Xero Cloud Accountant Partners . We’d like to know how we can maximize use of different channels and get recommendations to improve our messaging. The main questions we’d like students to help us answer are the following: How do students currently perceive our brand and marketing, based on publicly available information about our company? What channels should we utilize for promotion, including ones we are not currently using? What budget is appropriate for advertising, given our goals? How could our messaging be updated to better explain our value proposition? Do different geographic areas require a different message and image? What is the best approach for our target, direct contact (ie; phone, email), advertising or introduction via community event. What is the best online platform to reach our target market.

Customer User Interface Process

Every month, accountants receive monthly bank and credit card statements that remind us of our financial decisions the past month. While this information is insightful and occasionally, shocking, these monthly reports are often provided in Portable Document Format (PDF). However, accounting platforms, such as Xero Cloud Accounting, require data to be submitted in a specific format. With the assistance of Amazon Web Services and its machine learning technology, our WOWzer Document Converter can automatically extract text and data, even if it is handwritten, from scanned documents to identify and understand the data from forms and tables. This is beyond the simple optical character recognition (OCR) software that requires manual configuration, due to its inability to differentiate forms, text, and tables. By utilizing machine learning, text, tables, and data in scanned documents like PDFs and images, can be read and processed by "WOWzerDoconvert" accurately, without manual effort. Extraction of the data can be completed in minutes, versus hours or days of manual data entry. Additionally, this extracted data is converted to a file format that is accepted by Xero and is ready for uploading to the accounting file. This project is to create a front end for customers, to be able to use the document conversion service as described above and allow us to bill them according to their use from a pre-entered credit card. From signing up for an account to entering credit card information to uploading a PDF for conversion. Our suggested workflow is as follows but is open to design creativity. 1. Client signs up for an account on https://xerodoconvert.com 2. Once signup is complete, a folder is automatically created in the S3 bucket with the email address 3. Client logs into XeroDocConvert account 4. Client uploads document 5. Document goes through our website (WordPress) and into the designated S3 bucket, under client's email address 6. After upload completes, a screen will ask the client to identify what institution and what type of statement 7. Pick from one of filtered selection (images) 8. By picking the filtered selection, it selects the type of function that needs to read and run on the PDF document, from AWS. 9. PDF is converted to CSV by Textract, and the chosen AWS function converts it to a Standard format, and a Xero format. 10. Following completion, user will receive an notification email and link to view/download Standard CSV and Xero CSV files in the client's profile. 11. If the process is interrupted for any reason, the client can go back to the PDF file that was uploaded, click it, and press “convert.” This will bring up the filtering and selection screen again. Software platforms we use includes WordPress, Auth0, Recurly, AWS Textract, AWS S3 and EC2. The team would be expected to use these tools to create the process and put all the pieces together.