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.

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.

Case Study

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

“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

Goal:

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.

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.

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.

ATS Team