Alongside the requirement to phase website development was the need to create a more pleasant user experience, allowing users to find information quickly and in an engaging way. Ultimately this would minimise both the costs of marketing and of processing funding applications. For potential fund applicants the revised information architecture will be easier to grasp appropriate schemes for their project. The process of establishing eligibility for funding, and creating and processing an application will be greatly simplified. Additionally supporting documentation and forms will be easy to find and download. Usability enhancements such as mapping were considered where they help the website to achieve its objectives.
Phase one also focussed on the migration new CMS technology. WREN required a powerful CMS solution to allow news updates and project status details to be managed centrally. The website is to become the central tool for marketing and the funding application process.
Open recommended that Plone be used to underpin the website. Plone is an open source website framework, with a large and growing global community of users and contributors. It is ideally suited to this and future phases of development.
Later phases are currently work in progress; will include the refined application process and core part of the extranet with WREN staff logging in to manage applications. The extranet will also feature a repository of company documentation, guidelines and images.
Also to be developed is the integration with WREN database. Collecting all data electronically makes integration with the WREN database possible.
Approach
WREN – Building a community
Digital communication strategy, extranet build and database integration.
- Related Projects
- WREN – Digital strategy