Glowbeam — Technical Data & Product Specification
Revision 1.0 · 2025
This page is designed for developers, partners, and anyone who wants a closer look at how Glowbeam works behind the scenes. While most people experience Glowbeam as simple charts and dashboards, the system underneath is carefully designed for verified wage data, privacy, and long-term scalability across trades and regions.
What: Verified wage transparency platform for trades and professionals.
Who: Workers, contractors, general contractors, and admins.
Why: To replace guesswork with real, verified numbers about what people are actually being paid.
How: ASP.NET Core + MySQL backend, role-based access, document-backed wage submissions, and aggregated insights.
System Overview
Glowbeam is built around four core principles: verified data, user privacy, mobile-first access, and the ability to scale into many industries and regions.
| Core idea | Collect real wage submissions, verify them with optional proof, and surface only aggregated, privacy-safe insights. |
|---|---|
| Primary audience | Tradespeople, contractors, general contractors, and analysts who care about wage fairness and market reality. |
| Platform style | Data-driven, mobile-first web application with role-aware dashboards. |
| Deployment model | Instance-based: each Glowbeam instance can target a region or industry with its own user base and data. |
Platform Architecture
Glowbeam uses a modern web stack with a modular, instance-aware backend and a responsive front-end that works well on phones, tablets, and desktops.
| Frontend | ASP.NET Core MVC (Razor Views), mobile-first CSS layout. |
|---|---|
| Backend | C# / .NET 8, layered for controllers, services, and data access. |
| Database | MySQL accessed via Entity Framework Core. |
| Authentication | ASP.NET Identity with extended user model and role-based access control. |
| Hosting | IIS-compatible hosting (e.g., SmarterASP.NET), ready for cloud platforms. |
| Charts & visuals | Lightweight JavaScript chart libraries (e.g., Chart.js / Recharts) for wage trends and summaries. |
| Data loading | Lazy loading / infinite scroll for larger lists, with simple, responsive pagination as fallback. |
| File storage | Configurable (local or cloud) storage for verification documents, with metadata in the database. |
More about the multi-instance design ▶
Glowbeam treats each deployment as an instance. An instance might represent “BC Trades”, “Ontario Electrical,” or even a completely different industry like hospitality.
Each instance has its own users, wage submissions, and verification documents, all scoped by an InstanceId.
Super Admins can create, seed, and manage multiple instances from a web-based console, laying the groundwork
for Glowbeam-as-a-service deployments in the future.
User Roles & Access
Glowbeam customizes the experience based on who you are. Each role sees different dashboards and has different rights to view, submit, or moderate data.
| Role | What they do | Key capabilities |
|---|---|---|
|
Worker
|
Individual tradesperson or employee who wants to understand if their pay is in line with local norms. | Submit their own wage data, optionally upload proof, view aggregated wage ranges and statistics for their trade and region. |
|
Contractor
|
Business owner or sub-trade employer who is responsible for paying crews and subcontractors. | Submit what they pay their teams, manage multiple trade categories, compare with local benchmarks, and use verified averages to stay competitive and fair. |
|
General Contractor
|
Project-level manager or GC who hires multiple trades and wants to understand cost differences between trades. | View trade-to-trade comparisons, analyze rate ranges across categories, and export summary information for planning and budgeting. |
|
Admin
|
Instance-level administrator who maintains data quality and user access for a specific Glowbeam environment. | Approve or flag wage submissions, review proof documents, manage user accounts and roles within that instance, and export data for analysis. |
|
Super Admin
|
Platform-level owner/operator who oversees all instances and high-level configuration for Glowbeam. | Create, seed, and manage instances; trigger database migrations; view global metrics; and support white-label or multi-industry deployments. |
Role-based behaviors and restrictions ▶
Permissions in Glowbeam are enforced using ASP.NET Identity roles combined with instance scoping. Only Admins and Super Admins can assign or change high-level roles. Workers and Contractors cannot see each other’s raw data; instead, they interact with aggregated views and summaries that respect strict privacy thresholds.
Wage Submission & Verification
Wage submissions are the heart of Glowbeam. Each entry captures a structured snapshot of what someone is being paid (or what a contractor is paying), combined with enough context to make the data meaningful.
Users can submit multiple entries across different trades or roles, and can optionally attach proof documents such as paystubs, invoices, or exports from accounting software. These documents feed into a verification process that helps distinguish real, documented wages from estimates.
How verification works ▶
- The user submits a wage entry and optionally uploads a supporting document.
- An Admin (or data-focused moderator) reviews the document and the wage entry together.
- Upon approval, the wage entry is marked as Verified; this status can be used to filter charts and analytics.
- Proof documents remain private and are never shown publicly or in aggregated outputs.
- Admins can leave internal notes documenting why something was approved, rejected, or flagged.
This process gives Glowbeam an additional layer of trust compared to purely self-reported wage surveys, while still protecting individual privacy.
Insights & Dashboards
Glowbeam turns thousands of individual wage entries into clear visuals and summaries that make the data easy to understand. Dashboards adapt to user roles, showing just the level of detail that’s appropriate and useful.
• Average, median, and range (min–max) for a selected trade and region.
• Breakdown of verified vs. unverified entries.
• Filters for trade, city, rate type, time window, and verification status.
• Tiles that let users submit new entries directly from the dashboard.
Analytics behavior and privacy thresholds ▶
To protect privacy, Glowbeam does not show detailed statistics where there are too few data points in a category. For example, if only one or two wage submissions exist for a specific trade and small region, the system may either hide that breakdown or combine it into a broader grouping.
Analytics are always aggregated. No individual wage entries or user identities are displayed in dashboards or exports intended for general users.
Regional Heatmap
The wage heatmap is one of Glowbeam’s most visible features: a view of how pay levels vary across different regions for a given trade.
- Color-coded intensity to indicate higher or lower average rates.
- Filterable by trade, region, and rate type.
- Public visitors may see a blurred teaser, with full values available to registered users.
Current and future heatmap capabilities ▶
The initial version focuses on simple region-level intensity (for example, city or postal area averages). Future iterations are planned to include richer interactive features such as zoom, layer toggling, multi-trade comparison, and exportable datasets for advanced users or partner integrations.
Admin & Super Admin Tools
Behind the scenes, Glowbeam provides admin tools that keep data trustworthy and the platform healthy over time.
| Area | Admin features | Super Admin features |
|---|---|---|
| User management | Assign roles, lock/unlock accounts, view basic activity within an instance. | Manage admin accounts across instances and set global policies. |
| Data quality | Review wage submissions, approve or reject documents, flag or remove problematic entries. | Review high-level metrics across instances to spot anomalies or abuse. |
| Instance control | Not applicable at instance level. | Create new instances, trigger database migrations, seed or reseed demo data from a web UI panel. |
About the instance control panel ▶
The instance control panel is accessible only to Super Admins. It provides buttons to:
- Create new instances for regions or industries.
- Run Entity Framework Core migrations against the backing database.
- Seed or reseed demo data, including sample users and wage entries.
This allows Glowbeam to be demonstrated, tested, or rolled out to new sectors without manual scripting or command-line tools, even from a mobile device.
Design & Branding
The visual identity of Glowbeam is built around the idea of a focused beam of light: a clean, dark interface with bright highlights that draws attention to important numbers and insights.
• Dark-first theme, with optional light mode for documents and embeds.
• Support for both dark-background and light/transparent logo variants.
• Rounded cards, soft shadows, and careful contrast for readability.
• Mobile-friendly layouts designed to feel comfortable on small screens.
Planned & Upcoming Features
Glowbeam is evolving. Several features are on the roadmap and may appear with “Coming soon” labels inside the app.
Future roadmap (high level) ▶
- Cross-trade comparison tools: See how rates differ between trade types within the same region (e.g., painters vs. drywallers).
- Premium analytics tier: Deeper breakdowns, more advanced filtering, and exportable datasets for power users.
- API access: REST API endpoints for mobile apps, partner integrations, and third-party tools.
- Employer-level insights: Optional, anonymized metrics about consistency and competitiveness of pay across employers, where appropriate and legally sound.
- Geospatial upgrades: Richer, map-based interfaces with drill-down capabilities and layered filters.
Privacy & Security
Glowbeam is designed so that users can speak honestly about wages while remaining protected. Data security and privacy are treated as first-class features.
Privacy commitments ▶
- All traffic is served over HTTPS.
- Passwords are stored using secure hashing via ASP.NET Identity.
- Individual wage entries and proof documents are never displayed publicly.
- Analytics use aggregated data only, with minimum sample thresholds to prevent re-identification.
- Design takes into account future compliance with privacy regulations (e.g., PIPEDA, GDPR).
Version & Contact
| Platform revision | 1.0 (November 2025) |
|---|---|
| Core build | ASP.NET Core 8 prototype with EF Core + MySQL backend. |
| Schema version | v1.0.0-alpha (instance-aware wage and verification model). |
| Website | www.glowbeam.ca |
| Contact | support@glowbeam.ca |