CIPS Website (web3) and EPiServer CMS Development

CIPS is the Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply - a global professional body of members serving the procurement and supply profession.
The Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply have worked closely with PSP-IT for over eight years on a range of IT projects including a bespoke CRM, Outlook Email Tracker and Intranet development.

CIPS commissioned PSP-IT to design and develop the new iteration of their core website www.cips.org. Their ever growing web presence is an essential business tool to communicate with their members around the world.

Requirements

CIPS have always had a website at the core of the organisation and were fully conversant with its use as a communications and networking tool. For members outside of the UK it formed the first point of call for communications and information gathering. Therefore the success of a new website was absolutely key to the success of the organisation and its business objectives.
CIPS needed a website development team that they trusted to deliver on their objectives so it made sense to turn to PSP-IT who already had a track record of performance in other CIPS IT projects.

The requirements for the new website were as follows;

  • Full E-Commerce facilties in a range of international currencies
  • Link to Supply Management magazine
  • Members Knowledge Base
  • Password protected Networking and membership area
  • Membership joining and renewal capabilities
  • Events database with E-Commerce facilities to purchase event tickets
  • Online shop for CIPS publications
  • CIPS Corporate Ethics Information
  • CIPS Corporate Ethics register database and search facility
  • Procurement and Supply Jobs board
  • CIPS Professional Register database and search facility
  • Full SEO services
  • Robust Content Management System that provided a tiered administration permissions to change and update content
  • Ongoing support and maintenance

Solution

As with all of PSP-IT’s web development projects, we use a defined project structure to build the website. This process is managed by our dedicated customer services team who liaise with other departments within PSP-IT to bring each project on time and to budget.

The initial phase of each project gathers clients requirements and presents an initial mock-up of a new home page and two other pages. This allows for feedback and questions before a full functional specification is produced collaboratively covering in detail all the requirements for the project build.

The completed functional specification is reviewed and signed off and the main site build is undertaken.
After the website has been built, it is reviewed and tested by the customer services team before it is presented to the client in a formal meeting. The client completes UAT (User Acceptance Testing) and then discusses any remaining queries before the site is signed off and goes live. The whole process is designed to be as smooth as possible and allows for lots of interaction with the client at every stage.

This completed website had been developed using EPiServer (now know as Optimizely) CMS (content management system) platform. The use of the EPiServer platform allows CIPS to manage their own site content quickly and efficiently. Appointed administrators can create, upload and delete site pages. The EPiServer system also includes a comprehensive user management system, allowing CIPS to control who they wish to have editing rights on the system.

Benefits

For CIPS the new website is a mission critical business tool that allows them to connect with their global membership at any time of day or night.

The website is a key revenue generator for CIPS bringing in revenue from membership, events, qualifications and publications on an ongoing basis.

The website also disseminates key information relevant to the procurement and supply community – topics such as Corporate Ethics, Personal Development, Standards and Qualifications and the Professional Register are easily available, clearly searchable and crucially easy to update by the CIPS team using EPiServer CMS.

Supporting the website is the EPiServer CMS – a powerful CMS and editing tool which allows constant updating and change keeping the site fresh and relevant to the global CIPS community.

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