Requirement

To develop a corporate brand website in SharePoint 2010 as this is the mandated technology platform of the end client.

Key functional elements included:

• Providing a rich and interactive user experience
• Developing dynamic user editable widgets incorporated into the website to allow them to individually control sections of content displayed
• Bespoke admin editable modules to dynamically manage brand and product location information
• Customised SharePoint modules including document and picture libraries and validation

Technical Solution

The foundation for the application was SharePoint 2010 integrated with a MS SQL 2008 database.

Standard SharePoint functionality was then customised to meet the end client’s requirement including; creating custom lists, customising the workflow and customising themes for the administration pages so that they reflected the overall site design.

Project Mechanics

The project ran for approximately eight months from initial scoping to launch and involved very close cooperation with the client and end client at all stages of the project. Some key stages of the project included:

• Developing a full functional and technical specification in conjunction with the end client’s project managers and marketing team
• Developing all bespoke modules so that they could be re-used within other development for the end client if required
• Creating detailed installation and user manuals
• Co-ordinating with the end-client’s IT company to deploy the solution on their internal environment.

Conclusion

The project was delivered not only on time but also under budget and our involvement as developers was noted as a critical success factor during the end client’s project post-mortem.

As a result of the project Kieon is now working on a number of additional SharePoint 2007 and 2010 implementations with the client and end client and the project itself is being considered as a SharePoint 2010 implementation case study by Microsoft.

Requirement

To develop a unique Facebook competition that promotes Britain as a destination to visitors from Australia, Canada and the USA.

Key functional elements included:

• Developing a competition mechanism that allowed users to register for the competition, be matched to a second registrant and then have to find their respective profile on Facebook.
• Building the entire application so that from registration to matching and emailing users it was automated and required no intervention from the client or end client.
• Ensuring that all entrants’ Facebook identifying data was masked so that it was impossible for users to cheat.

Technical Solution

The application was built in .NET 3.5, MS SQL 2005 and JavaScript and Flash elements for the front end and with integration to Facebook and Campaign Monitor (an email distribution firm) via their respective API’s.

The application was integrated with Facebook to pull user data, including the user’s profile image and Friend IDs, into a database upon registration. On a daily basis users were matched with one another and then emailed their matches via Campaign Monitor.

Additional functionality included allowing users to upload an image to replace their Facebook profile image and a moderation module to allow users to report issues and for administrators to react accordingly.

Project Mechanics

The project ran for four months from initial planning to the competition closing and involved working closely with the agency in order to create an application that hadn’t previously been developed for Facebook. Some key stages of the project included:

• Detailed requirements gathering and prototyping to ascertain if the application could actually be developed in the form proposed
• Developing a process to match users that ensured that both their Facebook identifying data would not be visible to other users and also to ensure that users could not be matched to anyone from their existing Friends list within Facebook
• Complete integration with Campaign Monitor to automate the creation and distribution of emails to users on a daily basis once they had been matched by the application
• Building an administration module that allowed the client and end client to view and moderate user comments and requests
• On-going application maintenance and support and implementing and supporting a load balanced cloud hosting solution

Conclusion

By working closely in partnership with the client from the outset of the project by first creating proof of concept prototypes we were able to develop an application that not only completely met the original brief but evolved during the project to create a richer, more user friendly experience.

The competition was extremely successful and user registrations greatly exceeded its original target. In addition the client received enquiries from other brands to develop similar applications for other market segments.

Requirement

To develop an e-commerce website to promote and distribute the end-clients materials to the UK motor trade.

Key functional elements included:

• Creating an e-commerce platform that mixed payment by credit card and an offline payment processing process within the same platform
• Building an administration area that allowed multiple third party partners direct access to site with a full audit trail for the end-client
• Integrating QAS address verification software and a SagePay payment gateway within the system

Technical Solution

The application was based around a bespoke .NET e-commerce engine built on the .NET 3.5 framework.

Additional elements were created by integrating JavaScript with both the frontend and the underlying application and database.

Project Mechanics

The project ran for three months from initial planning to launch and involved working closely with agency, the end client and the end client’s fulfillment partners. Some key stages of the project included:

• Detailed requirements gathering with the end-client to properly understand the mechanics of their processes and systems
• Developing a solution that allowed different fulfillment partners to place orders through the system and track these separately
• Integrating the application with the payment gateway and fulfillment partner’s systems
• Creating modules to track orders placed through the system and encrypt and securely send email reports to the end-client on a daily basis
• Ongoing application development and support

Conclusion

The site has been extremely well received and has been successful both technically and through meeting its operational goals and Kieon is now working with the client on the next phase to expand its functionality and reach even further.

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.

Requirement

To develop a rich media based website to reflect the end client’s luxury brand position whilst at the same time ensuring that is was completely editable by their internal team.

Key functional elements included:

• Significant use of custom animation and video to meet the agency’s creative vision
• A series of Flash product galleries to dynamically showcase the end client’s jewellery
• A full product administration module to allow site administrators to easily maintain product information and details
• Bespoke search functionality for products within the site
• Content delivered dynamically based upon the user’s detected location

Technical Solution

The site was built using a combination of Flash, Paper Vision and HTML to create the look and feel that the agency demanded.

A bespoke content management system was developed using .net and MS SQL 2005 to allow site administrations to control all aspects of the site.

Project Mechanics

The project ran for four months from initial planning to launch and involved working incredibly closely with the agency’s designers to achieve the effects that wanted to display. Some key stages of the project include:

• Significant prototyping and iterations of the key pieces of functionality including using stop-motion animation to illustrate one section
• Developing three dimensional animated content sections in Paper Vision
• Optimising site load and resource requirements to ensure that the site would work well on the widest possible range of user machines
• Building a completely bespoke content management system that not only allowed users to add product information but also general page content, video and even the initial site loading images

Conclusion

We worked extremely closely with the agency’s designers from the outset of the project to bring their creative vision to life. With frequent conference calls and web meetings we were able to become a seamless extension of their team without compromising on any facet of the work.

Our strong experience with working with major brands and managing very creative projects offshore ensured that we added significant value both to the site itself and the project overall.

The project ran extremely smoothly, delivered on time and within budget with both the agency and end client being extremely happy with the final result.

Requirement

To develop a public facing website in Arabic and English to deliver content to the telecommunications sector in the end client’s role as industry regulator and to showcase best practice in the use of the web for both the public and government within the country.

Key functional elements included:

• A fully localised Arabic/English site with the entire site, copy and assets reversed to work right to left as well as left to right
• Creating modules for site administrators to be able to add content simultaneously in Arabic and English and for it to be displayed dynamically accordingly
• Developing a bespoke, dual language document management tool for public consultation and all legal documents produced by them as a ministry
• Building custom modules to enable site administrators manage video, images and sound files and display them dynamically upon the site

Technical Solution

The foundation for the application was the agency’s proprietary .net CMS integrated with a MS SQL 2005 database. The frontend was built using HTML, JavaScript and Flash.

As the CMS used as the core of the application was originally developed to work in European languages only it required a significant amount of customisation to allow it to work with Arabic content.

Project Mechanics

The initial phase of the project ran for three months from initial planning to launch. Some key stages of the project included:

• Developing custom functionality for the site’s CMS to enable it to deliver both static and dynamic content to the site
• Building HTML templates for end client approval in Arabic and English
• Planning and delivering against a tight launch plan requiring the Arabic and English sites to be launched simultaneously
• Providing ongoing support of the site

Conclusion

Our expertise in developing web solutions in Arabic ensured that we were not only able to develop a completely dual language website both more importantly to be able to work with the client’s existing CMS to enable it to work with Arabic content.

Detailed planning combined with a flexible approach to how the project as phased ensured that we delivered on time and within budget despite the challenges such projects typically present.