National Association CMS: Digital Renewal Strategy & Implementation

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Services : Full Stack Development

National Association CMS: Digital Renewal Strategy & Implementation

Technology Stack

Project Overview

 

Mantrax recently proposed a CMS (Content Management System) for a National Association facing numerous pain points. Members were frustrated with the online experience. The existing member portal has frustrated members due to usability issues, navigation challenges, and a need for more intuitive features. This dissatisfaction hampers member engagement and overall perception of the association’s value.

The Goal

 

To find a resolution, the following projects were initiated:

  • Phase 1: Functional Research to understand stakeholder’s pain points with the online platform.
  • Phase 2: Complete modernization of the legacy platform.

Project Challenges

01

Stagnant Membership

The recent stagnant membership growth is partly due to a subpar member portal. Attracting and retaining new members is challenging without a user-friendly platform that boosts engagement and interaction.

02

Risk of Member Attrition

Emergence of alternative platforms for key functions like recruiting and visibility poses a major threat. Members may be drawn to rival platforms with better experiences and solutions, risking membership loss.

03

High Operating Costs

Inefficiencies in the current member portal have raised operational costs. Members frequently seek staff support, adding workload and expenses, and diverting resources from strategic initiatives.

Phase 1


Functional research to create CMS

In Phase 1, we facilitated member feedback collection through a neutral platform. This input was then combined with system diagnosis and external research, comprising six functional analysis activities.

30 Member Interviews

Consolidated member interviews with actionable insights & prioritized implementation lists.

System Review

Consolidated member interviews with actionable insights & prioritized implementation lists.

Website & Portal Content Audit

Consolidated member interviews with actionable insights & prioritized implementation lists.

Website Analysis

Consolidated member interviews with actionable insights & prioritized implementation lists.

User Activity Assessment

Consolidated member interviews with actionable insights & prioritized implementation lists.

Global Industry Research

Consolidated member interviews with actionable insights & prioritized implementation lists.

The result was a complete 360-degree analysis of member experience

 

Phase 2

 

End-to-end modernization of the legacy CMS

Phase 2 of the modernization journey represents a pivotal step towards aligning the association’s digital ecosystem with contemporary standards. By focusing on user experience, linguistic inclusivity, data security, and advanced functionality, the organization is poised to set new benchmarks in member engagement and digital transformation. This strategic initiative underscores the commitment to excellence and responsiveness, ensuring that the member portal remains an indispensable asset as the organization continues to evolve.

Core Objectives

The second phase of the member portal modernization initiative encompasses a comprehensive development scope that aims to revolutionize the digital landscape of the organization.

Universal style guide creation

Crafting a universal style guide that harmonizes the design language across both national and district websites. This cohesive visual identity fosters a seamless and recognizable UX.

Bilingual interface

Implementing bilingual support for French and English languages, catering to the diverse linguistic preferences of the association’s members

Enhanced UX & scalability

Upgrading infrastructure for improved user experience, scalability, availability, and adaptability. This empowers the portal to evolve with organizational needs

Revamped web design

We’ve completely revamped national and district websites with data-driven single-page web applications, boosting engagement and data accessibility.

Member profile & data migration

Seamlessly migrating member profiles and sensitive PII data, adhering to industry-standard data governance policies with a strong focus on security and compliance

Dynamic availability calendar

Introducing an availability calendar tailored for members, enhancing their ability to engage with key events and activities efficiently.

Configurable content framework

Introducing a flexible content framework for national and district-level customization, empowering administrators to engage specific audiences.

Granular content control

Enabling granular content control via role-based access, providing administrators with effective tools for content management at various levels.

Services Provided

Functional Research

UI/UX Design

Full Stack Development


Quality Assurance

Project Management

Database Design

Training

Change Management

What our client says

The team at Mantrax combines a deep, thorough knowledge of leading software development solutions with first-rate technical skill and dedication to their work. Their people know how to balance speed, costs and quality in a product, and – when facing unknowns and making decisions that will impact the future of your organization – they offer honest, accountable and credible counsel delivered in an environment of open and ongoing communications.
Ian Gillespie
Director of Communications, Directors Guild of Canada

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Multi-Tenant SaaS Application for Sports Club Management with Global Users

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Author Archives: Chinkal Patel

Multi-Tenant SaaS Application for Sports Club Management with Global Users

Project Description

In 2018 Mantrax delivered Cricket Club Manager, a custom web application and mobile app to help sports club owners minimize administrative tasks and enhance the member experience.  Our client required a design and delivery of a minimal viable product to strike the right balance between speed-to-market, feature robustness, and cost.

The Problem

Cricket is the fastest-growing sport in Canada and cricket clubs are forming across a wide range of sectors from for-profit recreational clubs to corporate clubs and university and college clubs. With memberships growing, club administration required better tools to help manage day-to-day tasks such as player availability and match schedules, and last-minute match updates.

Our Solution

Budget

Because managing membership fees was an ongoing challenge for sports clubs, a limited budget was available for a custom application. The minimal viable product we developed met budget constraints as well as client objectives.

How We Made It Possible

After careful planning, we chose to build the application on the LAMP stack (Linux, Apache, MySQL, and PHP) due to its ubiquity, availability of support, affordable hosting options, and mature frameworks. After developing the application, we worked on social media marketing to increase the adoption rate, club sign-ups, and traffic. Cricket Club Manager is now being used by almost 100 clubs worldwide.

Services Used

  • Full Stack Development
  • Strategy & Implementation Consulting

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ERP Re-Implementation for a Multinational Manufacturing Client

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Author Archives: Chinkal Patel

ERP Re-Implementation for a Multinational Manufacturing Client

Project Description

A manufacturing client required project management support to re-implement IFS ERP system to eliminate extensive customization.

The Challenge

The client implemented the ERP system IFS in 2016. In 2020, four years post-implementation, the Client’s pain points included:

01

Only utilizing 50% of the purchased IFS functionality.

02

Only utilizing ~50% of the customizations implemented in 2016.

03

Experiencing downtime associated with ‘core code customizations’

04

Unable to leverage new developments released by IFS due to heavy customizations. Operating on IFS version installed in 2016.

05

High resistance and nervousness from the business to start any new initiative on IFS.

Client Project Objectives

  • Eliminate 50+ Core Code Customizations and help the business transition to standard IFS functionality.
  • One-year timeline to transfer IFS functionality currently utilized by the business in IFS APPS 8 to the latest version IFS APPS 10.
  • Manage budget.

Mantrax Project Objectives

  • Deliver Client Objectives without the project taxing the Client’s day-to-day operations.
  • Client’s business team (NOT the Project Team) to lead decisions on processes. Project Team to present options on how to leverage Standard IFS Functionality.
  • Deliver a positive and seamless project experience for the Client Project Team and the impacted Client stakeholders.

Want to Discover Client's Full Success Story?

Download Case Study

Services Provided

What We Did

Vendor Selection

Mantrax helped select an IFS partner through a methodological selection process including RFQ cadence, vendor interviews, customer referrals and pilot projects with short listed vendors. 

Gap Analysis

Mantrax worked with the IFS consulting partner and internal Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) to structure the gap analysis between current IFS version and targeted IFS functionality. Barrday's goal was to transition to standard IFS functionality, as a result, it was important to structure the gap analysis in a manner that highlighted technical, functional, business process and change management tasks necessary to support the full implementation.

Internal Capability Development

Mantrax worked with Barrday to assess current and future state internal IFS capability and capacity requirements. To help fill gaps in capacity and capability, Mantrax developed and managed the full recruitment and onboarding process to strengthen the internal IFS team and to prepare for re-implementation.

Tactical Product Management

Mantrax provided tactical day-to-day project management services to help drive objectives to completion. Project management services included standard project services, as well as team member coaching and active risk management to help ensure project timelines were achieved. 

Vendor Management

As part of the project management services, Mantrax managed all external vendors directly to align on project objectives, to structure weekly work plans and to manage the overall project budget. 

Results

100%

Elimination of Core Code Customizations

50%

Reduction in Project Resource Allocation

100%

Project Scope Delivered

$200K

Annual Savings in Operating Expenses

Tools We Used

Full Stack Development

Strategy

Implementation Consulting

Assess
Decide on the new technology stack which was best suited for their business.
Plan
Create a list of all database objects (tables, stored procedures, user-defined functions) which needed to be migrated.
Develop
Have a senior developer work on this project - one who knew the PHP framework as well as the new framework chosen for this application (Angular / Express JS)
Build
Rebuild the application one screen at a time (to get a realistic estimate of time and effort remaining). In parallel, migrate the database objects to a newer supported platform.
Maintain

Maintain the current production application to ensure business continuity.

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but Don’t Know Where to Begin?

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