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Two Oregon Institute of Technology graduates won a recent Microsoft software developer challenge for their project that can help — just about anybody trying to compare and contrast information. For example, imagine looking at different loans to apply for and finding there’s lots of options including rates and when to invest. The variables create different options and outcomes, making it challenging when you copy and paste your financial formula in Excel for each situation. × So the OIT alumni created Scenario Manager, an Excel add-in that organizes those options by saving each version you create without having to copy, paste and frequently switch between the various versions. Each saved option appears in a small window on the right side of the Excel spreadsheet. Hack Productivity Challenge Even though Kimberly Carestia and Bradley Smith entered the Microsoft Office 365 Hack Productivity Challenge halfway through the competition, their project still won Best Personal Productivity Application and the Grand Prize. Carestia and Smith won the challenge to “Help people do and achieve more using Microsoft Office 365” out of 700 developers from various countries who entered the competition. “I thought of it because I really love finance. I’m always looking at numbers and if we spent X dollars on this or that, how much money will we save in a year or five years,” Carestia said. “Then you can imagine that there’s tons of different applications, it’s not just about budgeting.” She said Smith used Scenario Manager for fantasy football draft options, finding which players would be the best for the season. “I personally really needed this, it’s something that I would really use so that’s where the idea came from,” Carestia said. “I would end up copying and pasting so I would have maybe 10 columns, maybe scenario one and scenario two and so on. It just got to be really messy and harder to compare and contrast because there was just too much. So that’s how it all came about.” Smith, Carestia Smith, from Bend, graduated from OIT in 2012 with a Bachelor of Science Software Engineering Technology. Carestia, who attended kindergarten through 12th grade at Henley schools, decided to go to OIT because the university’s computer engineering and software engineering programs’ hands-on learning experience. In 2009, Carestia graduated with majors in science computer engineering and science software engineering technology, and minors in math and international development. “Going to OIT, we learned how to problem solve — how to adapt,” Carestia said. “When you learn how things are working and why the code works a certain way or why the hardware behaves a certain way, it makes it really easy to try new things and pick them up very quickly.” For Scenario Manager, Smith and Carestia won a Microsoft Surface and tickets, flights and a hotel to a Microsoft conference. The team found out they won in April, and hope to have Scenario Manager available in the Office 365 store by January. |
