| Enterprise
Portal - Automated Graphic Systems,Inc (AGS) |
Overview
Automated Graphic Systems, Inc (AGS) is a subsidiary of CGX Media
a publicly traded Company. It is a custom manufacturer of print
and electronic media, serving the association, publishing and corporate
markets. Today, AGS is recognized as a leading multimedia solutions
provider, with a team of over 300 dedicated craftspeople.
Challenge
The end client of AGS - The Institute for Educational Leadership,
has been researching the needs for an online Educational Leadership
portal website. The IEL Leadership Portal will provide information
regarding online and offline resources, leadership (theories and
approaches), management, schools/institutions, and special interests.
IEL would like the portal site to be entirely database driven with
a content management system whereby IEL staff can make updates,
post new items and/or remove items from the site.
IEL’s primary audience for the portal is policymakers, but
the IEL vision is that the new portal website will eventually address
the needs of several types of end users: 1) Policymakers 2) Teachers
3) Superintendents 4) State Education Agency Staff 6) Higher Education
and Professional Associations 7) Principals 8) Teacher Leaders 9)
General Public, including Business and Community Leaders and 10)
Parents.
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Solution
PositiveEdge analyzed the requirements of the system and decomposed
it into following functional components:
Our response is a phased response that encompasses:
1. Site architecture consulting – guidance on portal
navigation needs, sub-navigation needs and features.
2. Design – design of the portal look and feel, resulting
in HTML/CSS templates that can be integrated with the content management
system.
3. Content Management system – designing, specifying
and then programming the content management system based on
the needs of IEL staff and end users. |
| PositiveEdge
worked with AGS to develop a functional specification and
to implement a complete web based content management solution
for both the Internet and Intranet sites. The solution is
capable of organizing and automating the management and publishing
processes of content across both the Internet and Intranet
sites. They wanted Service Areas and Staff to be responsible
for the maintaining of their own information, without having
any prior knowledge or experience of HTML.
The entire portal can be managed by logging into a secure
administration area with specific administrator permissions
to maintain the content of the site. A range of Publishers
and Editors are able to add and edit content within specific
areas of the sites. |
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| Technologies |
The system
utilizes Microsoft SQL Server 2000, Macromedia ColdFusion
Application Server and Microsoft Internet Information Server
as key technologies. The system integrates with email servers
and the existing internal systems.
The actual development was done using Fusebox methodology
known as the Fusebox Lifecycle Process (FLiP) - an elegant
way of managing the software development process. Pages output
to browsers are Extensible HyperText Markup Language 1.0 and
Cascading Style Sheets 2.0 compliant.
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Benefits
With the help of a user-friendly, web-based system for adding and
editing Web pages, Policymakers no longer wait weeks for site updates,
but instead, update the site themselves in minutes. Combined with
a new design for the site that better matches their overall message
and print collateral, Policymakers now have a true asset for increasing
awareness of their programs and services. |
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