Tuesday 6 January 2009
The Big Oxford Computer Co. Ltd.

CMS Case Study - Trade Unions Congress (TUC)

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Overview

The Trade Unions Congress (TUC) is the voice of Britain at work. With 58 affiliated unions representing nearly seven million working people from all walks of life, they campaign for a fair deal at work and for social justice at home and abroad.

http://www.tuc.org.uk/ | http://www.unionlearn.org.uk/ | http://www.unionprofessionals.org.uk/ | http://www.tuctutors.org.uk/

Objective

BOCC has been working with the TUC since 2001 when we were initially appointed to redesign and redevelop the current Internet site and provide a new content management system so that staff could update and maintain the site easily. Since that time we have expanded the online presence of the TUC quite considerably - developing a family of Internet and Secure Extranet sites. The TUC needed a new website solution that had the ability to integrate with their existing membership database and included a customisable content management system that they could build upon.

Solution

The TUC website is fully managed and maintained by a customised version of BOCC's content management system (CMS), tailored to the TUC's requirements. The CMS features internet, secure extranet and microsites. Working closely with both the Media and Communications team at the TUC, BOCC produced and created the technical specification, visual design, information architecture / structure and functional modules for the Unions website. 

BOCC completely redeveloped the website visual design and updated the structure and navigation menus in 2006 – all without the need to redevelop the underlying content management system. The main capabilities and features of the website and CMS include:

  • Combined development of Internet and Secure Extranet sites driven by BOCC CMS;
  • Complete flexible for TUC to update site content and create new templates using the CMS;
  • Ability to upload Microsoft Word documents, which are then converted to HTML at the front-end of the sites;
  • User registration features for email alerts regarding regions, subjects and topics;
  • Integration with several back-office membership databases and CRM systems;
  • Development of a secure online payments facility and online authorisation for publications;
  • Specific ‘Campaigns’ area for highlighting new campaigns, which are created and added by TUC staff;
  • Discussion forums and message boards for sharing information across regions;
  • Both online and email newsletters for a variety of departments – where the newsletter templates can be created by TUC staff and uploaded using the CMS;
  • Integration of Google Mini Search.

Technologies

The system utilises:

  • Microsoft™ SQL Server 2005
  • Adobe® ColdFusion®
  • Integration with Google Mini Search Appliance
  • Replication of data, which then integrates with TUC back-office systems
  • Secure replication of data to and from internal systems via a virtual private network (VPN)
  • Hosting on fully managed dedicated web servers at BOCC
  • SSL (Secure Server Certificate)
  • Extensible HyperText Markup Language 1.0
  • Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) 2.0 compliant