Comprehensive Digital Upgrade and Content Management System Enhancement for an Educational Research Organization

The organization’s existing website is content-heavy and complex, making navigation difficult for targeted internal and external audiences. The site fails to prominently feature active projects, lacks a streamlined content management system, and there are accessibility issues. Moreover, the current platform is outdated, hindering scalability and security, and inhibiting efficient content updates and user engagement.

A large, interdisciplinary research and education organization within a university system, supporting multiple projects and collaborations across various academic and external stakeholders.

• Redesign the website to prioritize active projects, improve visual appeal, and enhance overall user experience.
• Improve site navigation, content hierarchy, and accessibility to ensure quick and easy access to information for diverse audiences, including researchers, partners, and funding agencies.
• Upgrade the content management system to a modern, user-friendly platform that allows non-technical staff to efficiently update and manage content at scale, utilizing reusable templates and simplified workflows.
• Migrate the current platform to a newer, more secure and maintainable CMS version with improved performance, with minimal downtime.
• Develop a scalable design system and interface components to ensure visual consistency and accessibility across all pages.
• Implement advanced search and filtering capabilities to enhance discoverability of content, contacts, events, and reports.
• Ensure the website infrastructure supports ongoing updates, security enhancements, and future scalability needs.

• Content architecture that emphasizes active projects and archives of previous initiatives
• Customizable landing pages and project-specific pages with easily updateable data and contacts
• A scalable design system with a component-based UI approach for consistency and accessibility
• Enhanced site navigation with integrated menus, filters, and clear visual hierarchy
• Accessibility features adhering to standards, ensuring readability and usability for all users
• An internal search engine with relevance tuning and in-page filtering capabilities
• A user-friendly admin interface utilizing layout builder tools and pre-designed templates
• Training and documentation for content editors to manage website content independently

• External analytics tools for user behavior and engagement tracking
• Contact and team member directories with filtering capabilities
• Event management and reporting tools
• External repositories or data archives for research information
• Hosted environment that supports secure, scalable, and high-performance website delivery

• High performance and fast load times for content-rich pages
• Regular security patches and compliance with accessibility standards
• Scalability to handle increasing content volume and high traffic with consistent performance
• Responsive design for accessibility across devices
• Minimal downtime during migration and updates

The new digital platform will enhance internal collaboration, improve transparency and visibility of active research initiatives, and facilitate easier content management. It is expected to increase user engagement, with streamlined access to project data and contacts, leading to increased efficiency in reporting and collaboration. The upgrade will also ensure long-term maintainability, security, and scalability, supporting continuous organizational growth and research impact.