Requirement

To develop a full online annual report that mirrored the branding and look and feel of their print annual report combined with the interactivity that the web allows and to give shareholders a viable alternative to receiving a print version of the report. Key functional elements included:

• A separate annual report site accessed from their investor relations site
• Rich media elements to allow site users to quickly access key messages and information in visually appealing and engaging way
• All content, accounts and notes presented in HTML that was fully accessible and met W3C guidelines
• The ability for users to select specific PDF versions of the report’s contents and download them to their desktop

Technical Solution

The majority of the report was developed in HTML to ensure a high level of accessibility and ease of access for all users.Additional elements were created using JavaScript and Flash to create interactive features and provide a more visually interesting presence for the site.

Project Mechanics

The project ran for approximately 4 weeks from initial scoping to launch and involved very close cooperation with the agency at all stages of the project.

Some key stages of the project included:

• Detailed planning with the agency to ensure that the online report would be ready at the same date the printed version was released
• Developing HTML templates and the structure of the site ahead of the content being released from the agency
• Populating content in two phases to ensure that general content was populated as early as possible and then working in parallel with the agency’s team to populate financials, notes and last minute changes
• The project delivery team working in overlapping shifts to ensure that they were available around the clock in the period immediately prior to and post launch to accommodate last minute amends and content updates

Conclusion

Delivering online annual reports requires 100% accuracy whilst delivering in very short timeframe in an environment where frequent amends and updates are a given. Our extensive experience in delivering online annual reports ensured that we were able to work seamlessly with the agency as an extension of their team to deliver the report on time and without error.

Requirement

To develop a multilingual consumer facing website to update their existing online presence and enhance and improve on the interactivity for users and data capture for the end client.

Key functional elements included:

• Developing a multi-lingual Flash based product gallery and custom functionality within the site’s CMS to administer this
• Creating modules for site administrators to track product popularity and custom reporting modules to display this in a graphical format
• Developing a custom module to allow site content to be customised and delivered via iFrames to third party sites
• Building the site to deliver content and functionality in English, French, Italian, Spanish, German, Japanese, Chinese and Korean

Technical Solution

The foundation for the application was a commercially available .net CMS integrated with a MS SQL 2005 database with JavaScript, Flash elements.

The CMS was used as a foundation for the application with a significant amount of customised .net modules created to meet the end client’s specific requirements.

Project Mechanics

The project ran for nine months from initial planning to launch and involved working closely with both the agency and end client throughout the project. Some key stages of the project included:

• Developing prototypes of the look and feel and key functionality of the site for user testing
• Revising the functional requirements of the site to reflect user testing feedback
• Working with the end-clients local markets and the agency to localise designs as required
• Planning and delivering against a phased launch plan by developing a master version of the site in a single language followed by language variants
• Providing global ongoing support of the site

Conclusion

We worked closely with the agency as their technical partner from the pre-pitch phase of the project. Our expertise in developing and delivering multilingual solutions combined with their experience as a global agency ensured that we were able to deliver the best possible solution to the end client

The final solution was exceedingly well received by the end client’s offices around the globe and showed an immediate improvement in visitor numbers and site stickiness.

Careful planning from the outset of the project and project management which closely involved both the end client and the agency ensured that the 9 month build was delivered on time and according to budget.

Requirement

To develop an English language public facing website combined with a secure employee intranet.

Key functional elements included:

• Creating bespoke modules that allowed site administrators to upload the end client’s financial performance data with differing views for the public site and intranet
• Providing a full searchable document library with an upload module for all intranet users
• Giving intranet users different levels of access to internal data based upon their login profile
• Displaying financial data on the public facing website graphically using rich media components and dynamically based on data uploaded into the intranet
• Developing a custom module to allow rich media content on the site to be completely editable by site administrators

Technical Solution

The foundation for the application was a commercially available .net CMS integrated with a MS SQL 2005 database and JavaScript and Flash elements on the front end.

The CMS was used as a foundation for the application with a significant amount of customised .net modules created to both control the intranet and also provide the site administrators with the ability to edit all content including content within the Flash used on the site.

Project Mechanics

The project ran for three months from initial planning to launch and involved working closely with both the agency and end client throughout the project. Some key stages of the project included:

• Detailed planning of the database structure to ensure that it was suitable for both the intranet and public facing website
• Developing prototypes of the look and feel and key functionality of the site for user approval and review before build started
• Working with the end client to migrate historical and current data to the site to ensure that the intranet provided maximum value at launch
• Planning the subsequent build phases for the site post initial launch

Conclusion

Our expertise in developing and delivering intranet and public facing web solutions ensured that we were able to deliver the best possible solution to the end client for both sites.

The advice we were able to give, particularly with regard to the intranet, meant that the final solution was exceedingly well received by the end client’s offices around the globe and it was immediately adopted and used.

The intranet site won the agency a major award in 2009.