The Commonwealth Secretariat
The Commonwealth Secretariat is a large global institution that promotes responsible governance. It requires a website based upon a robust and scaleable set of technologies along with a secure hosting environment. It distributes large volumes of content to government offices worldwide.
The Commonwealth Secretariat appointed Fused Technologies (as Poptel Ltd) to develop their first content managed website using SQL Server databases. This core site grew exponentially, with different components being added by a large number of the Commonwealth's partner organisations, and different suppliers.
In 2004, it was agreed that the site should be consolidated with one main Content Management System (CMS). As many of the partner sites had invested in design and development, the Commonwealth understood that any replacement needed to represent a demonstrable improvement on the existing functionality. The system needed to provide the site manager with the necessary tools to be able to create new subsites without the need for a technical intervention. It also needed to have CMS tools that would aid a secure devolved worldwide administration. Efficient and accessible platform-neutral design and markup was also important, as the bandwidth and range of browsers used on PCs in developing countries needed to be catered for.
Specification:
From the basic Project Initiation Document, a detailed specification was drafted, using a Prince II project management methodology. The core components were agreed and a draft pricing agreement was made. At this point, a more detailed functional specification was written. Wireframes were then agreed to fix the final functionality. At this point, a detailed contract could be entered into providing firm agreements on exactly what functionality, pricing and timescales were involved. This documentation then formed the basis of the development agreement.
Development:
Initial design treatments were drafted and agreed prior to the technical development of the core website. Using the Site Framework Content Management System, the site was then configured according to the specification, and to the timetable that was agreed in the contract. The skill-sets involved included SQL Server and ASP.NET along with the new generation of web programming languages and tools (XML sXML, XSMLT).
Ongoing Development:
Within months of the launch, a number of sub-sites had been incorporated into the new website. The CYP, "Hubs and Spokes" and the Commonwealth Year Book sections were all fully integrated into the new website.
Fused Technology provide a high level of ongoing technical assistance to The Commonwealth, and are contracted to provide dedicated hosting, training, technical support, software licencing, site warranty, and regular software upgrades. The Site Framework CMS is developed according to Fused Technologies' collaborative development methodology. It is shared by more than 30 medium-large governmental / NGO / Charity clients. Any components that are developed for one client are made freely available to all others. This ensures that the system continues to keep pace with new developments. Long-standing existing clients such as The Commonwealth are using the same system that Fused Technologies are offering in competitive bids.
Conclusion:
The Commonwealth Secretariat renewed all of their ongoing agreements in 2006. At this time, the website completed a full design overhaul. This was possible without any major technical changes to the core site structure. In addition, with 205,000 unique visitors per month, contingencies have been specified to allow the site to be mirrored in Australia to cope with the increasing level of global demands that are placed upon the website.
"Having worked with many web development companies I can vouch for Fused’s professionalism in the redevelopment of the Commonwealth Secretariat website http://www.thecommonwealth.org/
As an international organisation serving 53 states the demands for a flexible, accessible easily navigable site are high. Fused thought out of the box and instead of merely producing what was asked for they went a step further.
Project management was excellent with the provision of timescales and quotes that matched reality and the development team produced a first class result with very few clichés. Advice was always forthcoming and any problems that occurred were rectified quickly.
It pleases me to say that Fused have set a standard that many web development companies can only aspire to. Well Done."
Kevin Nellies, Online Manager, The Commonwealth Secretariat