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Class Afloat Website Redesign and CMS

Company Overview

Since its founding in 1972, West Island College in Calgary, Alberta has offered a variety of international study programs such as Class Afloat. Founded in 1985, Class Afloat is a program designed to cultivate leadership and international awareness. The program provides either a semester or a full year of study at the grade 11, 12 and junior college levels. Academic courses are taught aboard the S.V. Concordia, a custom-designed tall-ship that makes at least 10 international ports of call during a semester.

Class Afloat CMS

Opportunity

Class Afloat’s primary marketing strategy is focused on recruiting prospective students and their families. A secondary emphasis addresses the ongoing needs of current students and alumni. Class Afloat (CA) already uses two web sites (classafloat.com and classafloatunderway.org) intended to support both the development of their marketing strategy and the needs of students and alumni.

CA has determined that their current marketing strategy has outgrown the abilities of their primary web site. In an effort to both update and streamline their web site’s usability, CA wants to adopt a new design and incorporate a content management solution (CMS) while keeping costs down.

CA chose Swipht because our solution fit their need. Swipht specializes in cost-effective CMS’s and providing our clients with independent management capabilities.

Solution

The new approach required not only a complete overhaul of the back-end technology developed in .NET, but also the employment of strategic planning and thoughtful market research. First, we executed a competitive analysis to develop a new audience-based information architecture. Then we created a clear design for how to achieve intuitive navigation and easy access to information for prospective students and their families. During the design phase, Swipht initiated creative concepts that give the finished web site an inviting and timeless appearance. Because we used a templated Content Management System, the design needed to fit the technical limitations while also meeting the marketing requirements. Finally, we also developed a strategy to employ a secure extranet for current students and alumni.

Results

Overhauling the back-end technology in .Net will prove much more cost effective in the long run and will best maximize CA’s return on investment. In addition, using the DotNetNuke Portal Framework will give CA the ability to independently manage their site content without an expensive content management system or a high level of technical skill.

Technologies

  • VB.net
  • XHTML
  • DotNetNuke