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

Union Professionals Community Portal Case Study - Trade Unions Congress

Overview

Unionprofessionals, from the TUC, is an online support service that enables people working for UK unions to exchange news, views, ideas and best practice.

http://www.unionprofessionals.org.uk/

Objectives

TUC wanted to develop an online community portal for union professionals. The 'Union Professionals' site, funded by the Union Modernisation Fund* (UMF) main aim was to provide information on targeted professional development opportunities, backed up by an online meeting place for professional networking.

Solution

BOCC creating an integrated online community portal, combining networking, collaboration and sharing capabilities between union officers. The portal includes a number of advanced Web 2.0 features and technologies.

The site includes the following features:

  • A secure community extranet site, within login integration and credential checks with a third-party system;
  • A searchable database holding profiles on union officers and staff;
  • Seamless integration of a third-party email-marketing tool using data replication and matching to authenticate users;
  • Discussion forums area for colleagues to collaborate on topics and issues;
  • Registration of interests to receive alerts and updates;
  • Course information fed directly from the existing unionlearn website;
  • Events area to keep up-to-date on the latest conferences and meetings, as well as the ability to submit your own event for inclusion.

 Technologies

The system utilises:

  • BOCC CMS (content management system)
  • Microsoft™ SQL Server 2005
  • Adobe® ColdFusion®
  • Web services
  • Data replication and integration
  • 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

*Note: The UMF is a Government grant scheme established by the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform to provide financial assistance to independent trade unions in support of innovative projects, which speed unions' adaptation to a changing labour market and new ways of working. Union Professionals was one of the first round funded projects.