NASFAA
The Challenge:
The existing NASFAA Web site contained a wealth of content for both public and members only consumption, however, navigating the site's confusing architecture and locating content on specific topical areas was often quite difficult. In most cases updates to the site required developer assistance, as there was no underlying content management solution (CMS) and the content existed on the site in a wide array of dynamic and static formats. Beyond those issues, the overall graphic design of the site was quite outdated and there were many browser usability issues.
Here's how we did it:
- Installed and configured the Ektron CMS, an enterprise-level content management solution (CMS), to provide staff with the ability to easily manage and update both Web sites.
- Integrated iMIS, an enterprise-level association management system (AMS), to provide staff with everything needed to manage and grow the Mass Senior Care membership.
- Setup four taxonomies and integrated them into the site search feature, to allow users to conduct a content search on a very specific topical area
- Migrated over 3,000 items of content (stored in a variety of formats) from the old site to the new one, in the process tagging them with the appropriate taxonomy categories, scrubbing them clean of existing styles, updating nested links, and organizing them in the backend according to the new site architecture
- Designed and built over 20 separate layouts for the display of content
- Built a members only section, whereby all content is searchable by unauthenticated users, but for specific items only teaser text is presented along with a prompt to sign in or sign up
- Created a custom CMS application that allows an administrator to update the today's news section of the homepage and create a new issue of today's news inside the site, while also generating the today's news e-newsletter that is sent to 15,000+ members on a daily basis.
- Customized the Avectra AMS layout and features to support current operations.
- Set up the site to be Section 508 compliant, enabling users with visibility impairment to get the full benefits of the new site tools and functions.
- Coordinated several training sessions for the staff on how to use the Ektron CMS, and provided hands-on support over numerous Gotomeeting sessions.
Results:
The NASFAA Web sites was launched on December 21, 2010. The entire project was completed on budget without any cost overruns, on the exact date set early in the project and announced in various marketing efforts several months prior to the launch.
