Case Studies /
School Nutrition Association
2014 Gold MarCom Award Winner - Website Redesign with Ektron CMS & Aptify AMS
Background
The School Nutrition Association (SNA) is a national, nonprofit professional organization representing more than 55,000 members who provide high-quality, low-cost meals to students across the U.S.
Solution Highlights
- CMS Upgrade & AMS Integration
- Continuous Security Monitoring
- Focus Group, Information Architecture, & Usability Testing
- Hosting
- IT Strategy
- Microsite Consolidation
- Mobile-Friendly, Responsive Design Implementation
- Network Management
- Network Security
- Social Media Integration
Technologies Used
- .NET/SQL Server
- Aptify AMS
- AWS
- Ektron CMS
- Microsoft
- Microsoft Azure
- Microsoft Exchange
Goals
The redesign was to provide SNA’s members and visitors a user-focused, engaging, mobile-friendly website that adheres to modern web standards. Additionally, it aimed to improve search functionality, increase average time spent on site, as well as the average number of pages visited.
Challenges
SNA was looking to leverage its online presence and social media platforms to engage its large base of members and other constituents, but its old website was limited by:
- The lack of mobile accessibility;
- Search functionality that made it difficult for users to look for specific content;
- The lack of effective, user-friendly information architecture and navigation; and
- The multiple microsites for meetings and events that needed more continuity and centralized management.
Results
In 2014, SNA’s website was selected to receive the Gold MarCom Award. The new website accomplished SNA’s redesign goals, bringing:
- A clean, fresh, and vibrant look with dynamic visuals;
- A mobile-friendly site that gives users simplified access to information regardless of their devices;
- Simplified website maintenance and content updates through a centralized CMS and consolidated microsites; and
- Increased interactivity through quick access to SNA’s social media channels, enhanced search, and intuitive navigation.
ATS continues to work with SNA to monitor site performance and provide support for ongoing maintenance.
Solutions
The ATS web design and development team collaborated with SNA’s team to:
- Conduct a full discovery process, including focus groups and usability testing;
- Deliver a modern look and feel combined with mobile-friendly features;
- Implement a new information architecture with topic and audience-based navigation for enhanced usability;
- Upgrade the site to the latest version of the Ektron content management system (CMS) and integrate it with the Aptify association management system (AMS) for membership management and engagement;
- Incorporate powerful social sharing for improved content distribution; and
- Develop a microsite schema within the parent SNA website for its numerous conferences, events, meetings, providing continuity and centralized management.
The site has been very well received by our members. We are really happy with schoolnutrition.org, its brand new design and the MarCom Award.
Maria Robertson, SVP, Communications