Norwich Sunblinds

About Norwich Sunblinds Admin System

The Norwich Sunblinds Admin System is a comprehensive enterprise resource planning (ERP) application designed specifically for window treatment and home improvement businesses. This sophisticated Laravel-based platform manages the complete customer lifecycle from initial enquiry through to order fulfillment, providing a centralized hub for sales teams, administrators, and management to efficiently handle quotes, orders, bookings, and customer relationships.

The system features an advanced modular architecture built on a custom package-based framework, enabling scalable business operations across multiple departments. It handles complex pricing calculations, product configurations, fabric selections, and appointment scheduling while maintaining detailed audit trails and comprehensive reporting capabilities. The platform supports multi-user environments with role-based access control, ensuring secure data management and workflow optimization.

Undergoing major Laravel upgrade from a legacy framework, the application demonstrates modern development practices including containerized deployment, automated testing with Pest, and continuous integration pipelines. The system integrates with external services for payment processing, document generation, and marketing automation, making it a complete business management solution for the window treatment industry.

My Role

As the Lead Full-Stack Developer on this project, having taken over from a previous technical lead with no documentation or tests, I was responsible for architecting and implementing a comprehensive business management system that handles the complete operational workflow of a window treatment company. My responsibilities included:

• Laravel and PHP upgrade - Laravel 4.2 to Laravel 10, PHP 7.1 to PHP 8.0
• Database Design & Optimization - Architected complex relational database schemas handling quotes, orders, products, pricing matrices, customer data, and booking systems with proper indexing and performance optimization
• API Development & Integration - Built RESTful APIs for internal system communication and integrated third-party services including payment gateways, PDF generation, QR code systems, and marketing automation platforms
• Frontend Development - Developed responsive admin interfaces using Laravel Blade templates, SCSS/LESS preprocessing, and JavaScript with Webpack compilation for asset management
• Business Logic Implementation - Implemented complex pricing calculation engines, product configuration systems, discount management, and multi-option quote generation with detailed line-item tracking
• Authentication & Authorization - Designed role-based access control systems with multi-factor authentication using Google2FA, session management, and granular permission structures
• Document Generation & Reporting - Built automated PDF generation systems for quotes, orders, invoices, and reports using DomPDF and Snappy, with customizable templates and branding
• Testing & Quality Assurance - Established comprehensive testing frameworks using Pest PHP for unit and feature testing, with automated CI/CD pipelines through Bitbucket
• DevOps & Deployment - Configured Docker containerization with Laravel Sail, automated deployment scripts, and environment management for development, staging, and production

Technologies I worked with

• PHP / Laravel
• MySQL / SQLite / Redis
• JavaScript / Node.js / NPM
• Webpack / Laravel Mix / Cross-env
• SCSS / SASS / LESS / CSS
• Docker / Laravel Sail
• Pest PHP / PHPUnit
• Rector
• Bitbucket Pipelines / Git / CI/CD
• DomPDF / Snappy PDF
• QR Code Generation / Bacon QR Code
• Intervention Image / Image Caching
• Maatwebsite Excel / Excel Import/Export
• Google2FA Laravel / Google2FA QRCode / Multi-Factor Authentication
• Laravel Sanctum
• Guzzle HTTP / Axios / RESTful APIs
• Pusher PHP Server / Pusher JS / WebSockets
• Laravel Pulse
• Clockwork
• Mailgun