Our History

The history of The Solution Design Group (SDG) is a story of three entrepreneurs, Tom Strange, Glen Porter, and Steven Peacock. The three had previously worked together in the aviation industry and had developed the market leading property and revenue management system used in airports throughout North America. They formed SDG, initially as a consulting practice, in order to leverage their technical and industry specific airport knowledge as they looked for the next problem to solve.

Through SDG‘s consulting practice, which included operational analysis, financial systems assessments, and information technology master planning, a significant problem with the management of large airport projects was discovered. Large infrastructure projects, such as the construction of a new airport runway, are often complex with multiple sources of funds.

While products are on the market to manage individual projects and schedules and documents, there are no products designed to manage the funding elements and how specific sources of funds are used. The majority of the work was being done with off-line and risky spreadsheets.

Working with two airport partners who helped define requirements, SDG developed its first product, CapitalVision® and released it in 2008, right as the great recession started to occur and many large infrastructure programs were halted. Undeterred by the market conditions, SDG forged ahead and secured several airport clients with capital programs underway that needed better financial management and reporting.

While exploring other potential markets where construction spending was continuing despite the economic downturn, SDG was successful in selling a CapitalVision®® subscription to George Mason University in Virginia. During the implementation phase, the auxiliaries staff at George Mason asked if SDG’s CapitalVision®® could be used to help them manage their larger revenue-generating contracts such as their dining and bookstore operations. SDG quickly realized that there was an opportunity to develop a solution that could serve the higher education market and leverage the corporate knowledge of revenue management systems. The result is RevenueVision®, developed in cooperation with George Mason University, and officially launched to the higher education market at the National Association of College Auxiliary Services Conference in Orlando in late 2011.

Today, both products provide value to customers in their respective industries. CapitalVision®® is being used to manage the funding elements around multi-billion dollar capital programs including the $6.7 billion airport expansion program at Philadelphia International Airport. RevenueVision®® is in use at nearly 50 colleges and universities and is rapidly becoming the system of choice for higher education auxiliary services management. SDG continues to make constant improvements and develop new features for our solutions, and stay on the lookout for new problems to solve.

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