NCMA
A new website for The National Childminding Association
(NCMA) to support its 40,000 members
http://www.ncma.org.uk/
NCMA (the National Childminding Association) is a
charity and professional association. They work with registered
childminders, nannies as well as other individuals and
organisations, such as local and national government, to ensure
families in every community in England and Wales have access to
high quality home-based childcare, play, learning and family
support.
Challenge
As a membership organisation, NCMA had placed
the web at the centre of their strategy. They needed to continue
giving excellent value to members, provide an accessible service
and develop a self-service online offering to help reduce
overheads. The NCMA use the IRIS Integra CRM to manage membership
but their old Content Management System (CMS) was not suitable for
integration and didn’t provide the flexibility that web editors
needed. The NCMA were looking for a reliable web development
company who could implement a best-of-breed CMS and undertake web
CRM integration as well as deliver CMS training, and provide
strategic input with emerging areas such as online communities and
mobile services. The overall goal was to to deliver an
accessible, usable membership site able to scale as the
organisation grows.
Approach
After a formal selection process,
Fusionworkshop were selected to implement and integrate Alterian
CMC. NCMA had a challenging schedule for launching the website and
the team at Fusionworkshop drew up a project plan that would ensure
a cohesive delivery.
NCMA and Fusionworkshop project teams worked
closely, with regular contact to deliver Phase I. Fusionworkshop’s
PRINCE2-based approach ensured that project highlight reports were
delivered. Weekly project conference calls and direct access to
developers helped the project to progress to schedule. The CMS was
implemented and configured by Fusionworkshop, with Alterian
plug-ins developed to deliver further functionality. Fusionworkshop
used a proven method to integrate with the CRM in a secure and
flexible way. To enable three key NCMA staff to begin early content
migration, Fusionworkshop provided Alterian Editor training and
guidance in HTML migration techniques.
The new website, based on the Alterian Content
Management System, includes a secure member area which utilises
an IRIS Integra integration to provide personalised content
for members. The site has been built with an emphasis on
user-experience and is a central part of NCMA’s membership
communication strategy.
Results
Following extensive testing the website went
live on schedule and received excellent member feedback. Phase I
has delivered the MyNCMA members portal for membership-specific
information and resources. Integration with IRIS Integra has
enabled membership validation and account self-service. Phase II
has already delivered online membership renewals, integration with
Sage Pay payment gateway and IRIS Integra CRM for membership
renewals.
Planning for Phase III is already well
underway with further benefits to be delivered for members such
as:
- Online shopping with cross-selling capability
- Community features such as social media bookmarking and
sharing
- Join online for individuals and organisations
- Enhanced membership self-service with certification
We wanted to partner with a company that
not only knew the technology but was able to translate that into
business benefits where it mattered – with our customers.
After a long procurement and due diligence process NCMA chose
Fusionworkshop. During the procurement process they were
always pro-active and showed a real “can-do” attitude. This
was followed up by excellent delivery during the implementation
phase, from understanding our business requirements to
deployment. We are looking forward to working with
Fusionworkshop during further enhancements of our online presence.
- Owen Brady, NCMA
Web Content Management
Fusionworkshop implement and configure Web Content
Management Systems, specialising in complex integration
projects.
Call us on 02920 66 66 55 to set up your Sitecore or
Alterian demo.
