Web Technology Case Study
The Challenge
The Leading Element, an executive and organizational consulting group, wished to expand its business by bringing its services to the web. Although the technology they wanted to incorporate was standard, including blogging, discussion groups, a media library, and newsletters, the implementation would require a high level of customization and configuration.
The Leading Element’s relationships with its clients are often privileged and their conversations sensitive. Thus, they required a secured web space to freely conduct confidential discussions and provide their clients with access to individually selected multi–media resources. They also requested unique discussion group features, such as the ability to facilitate their clients’ discussions, and the ability for users to post anonymously (they termed this feature the ’elephant–in–the–room’).
The Solution
We started with the open source content management solution, Drupal, using many of its core features to provide base functionality: blogging, an online contact form, secured login and forums. We then integrated community–contributed, third–party modules to enhance the core features and provide additional functionality, such as podcasting, video archiving, and links to recommended readings from Amazon.com. Next, we added custom programming to provide the desired level of control over users’ interactions, both with the system and with one another. Finally, we worked with their graphic designer to customize the web interface to reflect their company’s aesthetic.
The future
The Leading Element plans to continue to make the most of web technology to enhance their services. Upcoming projects include: incorporating twitter feeds; creating a subscription service for customized newsletters; and incorporating a voting system so users can rank site content, pushing popular subject matter front and center.