www.perqworks.com

Perq is a web-based app for companies to create policy, and manage and track employee Paid Time Off (PTO). We created this application out of a frustration with the lack of good quality software in this niche. At Matter (www.matterco.com), we pride ourselves in our ability to create compelling User Interface and Interaction Design. Our application design strives to make the HR administrator's job easier by automating PTO leave requests. For employees, we wanted to focus employee attention on an often undervalued form of compensation, PTO. To literally highlight the value of leave time, we use a gauge metaphor to show current PTO balances, earning potential, and amounts used.

As both designers and developers, we are looking for more good, critical feedback. Try it out by entering your company's leave policy and let us know what you think.

For those interested, our application uses:

* Symfony PHP Framework (www.symfony-project.org) -- We found this MVC framework excellent. The code is well written and the documentation is accurate and thorough. We considered Rails, but were won over by the proven success of the LAMP stack as epitomized by DIGG, Yahoo, and Facebook.

* jQuery -- What a godsend... Perq relies heavily on AJAX to make the UI function fluidly. jQuery, by abstracting away cross-browser nuances, allowed more time spent developing functionality rather than fixing IE bugs.

* Doctrine ORM (http://www.doctrine-project.org/) -- SQL and Database design not being my strong suit, a good ORM is critical to the maintainability and performance of the application. The Doctrine syntax is excellent at grabbing records and manipulating them without spending time tweaking SQL statements.

* And Others... -- Our application supports calendar integration with ICS. We rely on email as a communication channel, and employed SwiftMailer (http://swiftmailer.org/). Rackspace is our host.

Again, your feedback and any forwarding of the link to small business or HR people who manage employee benefits is extremely appreciated.

-- Perq Developer