How do you educate a well mannered, digitially connected culture to drink alcohol in moderation? 

Fi together with Forsman & Bodenfors set out to create and update the old version of the online test called "Alkoholprofilen" (The Alcohol Profile) . The test is produced by Systembolaget (Government controlled off license) together with their specialized department group called IQ and is formulated for Swedes to get a better overview of their drinking habits. Systembolaget's goal is to create a healthy drinking culture and together with the IQ organization they have taken multiple actions to get the Swedish people more aware of the effects of Alcohol. Perhaps every country could follow in their footsteps? 

The site is launching shortly, however Karl Stanton put together a little behind the scenes look at the projects technical demands and our approach to solving some obstacles.

Hello to those of you with a technical interest and that enjoy a beer on occasion,

this is an challenging but amazing project to work on. The Alkoholprofilen test has existed for quite some time, however it was in need of a fresh look, better I.A and super performance. One important tasks was to allow public access to the questionnaire from 3rd party vendors such as other alcohol researchers around the world via means of API.

Fi created an API (Application Programming Interface) which is entirely customizable by the client. We decided to develop the new AlkoholProfilen platform from the ground up across 3 main layers. The client layer and the PHP layer are bundled as a whole application which sits abstracted from the API layer. Essentially you could do the questionnaire without the need for layers 1 and 2 (see Wireframe image).

Here we go, get ready for some technical mumbo-jumbo!

#1 The client layer

The client layer is the interaction level, it’s how the user takes the questionnaire and interacts with the web service on a whole. It contains the GUI, and is built using the core front-end technologies including HTML, CSS, and Javascript. The client layer is also accessible without the presence of CSS and Javascript for true browser degradation and ultimate accessibility. Custom graphing and charting, form skinning and slider interactivity in javascript, are just some of the fundamental components that were needed to be created by the team during the development of this layer.

#2 The PHP application layer

The PHP application layer is the core of client layer’s interaction with the questionnaire. It controls all client-side requests for example; answering of questions, as well as the security and processing of all information gathered by the client layer. It stands as a bridge between the client layer and API. We can use this layer to break the linier process of the questionnaire by adding client requested features that may not necessarily be required by 3rd party vendors.

Fi built a proxy controller which allows for interactivity directly with the API across this bridge. It helped keep the top 2 layers completely removed from the API.

#3 The Web Service (API Layer)

The API layer handles all 3rd party requests. This layer is also used by Alkoholprofilen.se which is abstracted from this layer entirely. This allows other developers and platforms to interact with the questionnaire without relying on our own application layer. This layer is public and is accessed only in pair with an API key.

This layer handles core logic such as retrieving and answering questions, creating profiles, generating reports and most importantly, determining the outcome of the questionnaire. It is highly configurable by the client and this configuration is represented across all vendors’ implementations.

We will make sure to announce when the project is released so you can experience the site for yourself!