Company: LawLogix Group, Inc., Phoenix, AZ
Company Description: LawLogix assists millions of people every year through its innovative Electronic I-9 Compliance, E-Verify & Immigration Case Management Software. Founded in 2000, LawLogix is the only company in our industry with attorneys dedicated exclusively to analyzing the latest developments in I-9, E-Verify & Immigration law to provide organizations with the most legally compliant solutions on the market.
Nomination Category: Information Technology Awards Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Information Technology Department of the Year

Nomination Title: LawLogix Information Technology Department

Tell the story about what this nominated department achieved since January 1 2012 (up to 525 words). Focus on specific accomplishments, and relate these accomplishments to past performance or industry norms. Be sure to mention obstacles overcome, innovations or discoveries made, and outcomes:

LawLogix provides case management and employment compliance software to major corZorations and law firms worldwide.  The industry landscape that LawLogix operates in is rapidly changing through the introduction of Comprehensive Immigration Reform (CIR) and the launch of the new Form I-9 by the USCIS.  To enable LawLogix to better and more quickly respond to this changing environment through our software products, the LawLogix Information Technology Department worked in 2012 to re-architect all three of our products, including the start of an upgrade to the code base from 4D to Python and the completion of an upgrade to new hardware.

Through the upgrade to Python and the deployment of new hardware, the LawLogix Information Technology Department achieved the following results for the business and our clients:

1. 50% reduction in bugs.  After the introduction of Python, the IT Department was able to adopt a test driven development process (TDD) to centralize product development and quality assurance (QA), allowing developers to write test scripts which are integrated in the Python code to create a seamless quality process.

2. Faster feature development.  With Python, LawLogix developers can now leverage existing libraries and plugins, rather than coding everything from scratch as was previously done in the 4D environment.  For example, using Python libraries to create widgets for our new Dashboard feature saved a minimum of 50% in development and testing efforts. In addition, the upgrade to the Python code base automated version control, which was previously a manual process.  The result of both efforts is faster feature development because developers can focus on writing the business logic for new features rather than having to code every feature from scratch.

3. More efficient code review processes.  With the previous 4D code base, code review was very manual and time consuming.  After the upgrade to Python, code review became a lot more efficient because the IT department was able to leverage communication tools, such as Github, to facilitate communication between developers during peer review.  This saves 15% effort across the board as peer review is included in all development processes.  The deployment of communication tools, not previously possible, facilitates communication between developers.  The result in this new Python environment is faster code review and a lower incidence of bugs.

4. Transition to a more scalable and extensible code base.  The upgrade to Python makes the LawLogix code base more scalable, enabling faster feature development through this more intuitive programming language.

5. 100% employee retention and effective new developer recruitment.  Developing features on Python is fun, and tends to be a preferred platform for developers relative to 4D.  The transition to Python contributed to our high employee retention rates, specifically on the developer and quality assurance side, as well as our ability to attract new talent.  For example, in 2012, we had 100% developer retention and hired three new developers, reaching 100% staffing levels.

In 2012, the LawLogix IT Department started an ambitious project to upgrade our product code base from 4D to Python, which produced great results for the business and our clients, including faster feature development, fewer bugs and higher employee retention rates.

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Provide a brief (up to 125 words) biography about the leader(s) of the nominated department:

Jon Runburg, Vice President of Engineering

Jon Runburg manages the four departments that constitute the complete LawLogix engineering team, and is responsible for all product development.  Jon has managed small and medium businesses for 25 years and his unique blend of management and engineering qualifications help the company deliver technically excellent, easy to use and flexible solutions to more than 136,000 users worldwide.  Under his leadership, LawLogix’ technology has helped the company earn many industry awards, including the Inc. 5000 5 years running. Jon earned his B.S. in Business/Web. Commerce from the University of Phoenix and has extensive expertise in Quality Assurance, Data Collection and Information Security. He is currently working towards his CISSP certification.