The Website Replacement Project

by Corrine Thomas

18 April 2014

In my role as Operations Director I am currently overseeing the implementation of a new website for the IIBA UK Chapter to provide our members with an enhanced user experience and the board with a more efficient platform from which to administer and communicate with our membership. In the UK we are at the forefront of the technology plans for the whole of the IIBA.

Work on the website replacement was started by David Avis, my predecessor as Operations Director and Joe DaSilva, our previous Chapter president. It was clear at the time that the current website was not serving the needs of the UK Chapter and its members due to limited capabilities of the platform and constraints around what updates can be made to the current site. The project was kicked off by capturing a set of requirements which were used to select a supplier to develop the site for us. We had a shortlist of suppliers from which we chose the one that was able to satisfy us that they could meet our mandatory requirements, represented best value for money and we were confident that we could work with very collaboratively. During the requirements elicitation ideas were also documented for the look and feel of the new site plus desired user experience.

Since development of the new site commenced early in 2014, we have worked collaboratively with our supplier using user stories, a survey to provide input on the look and feel for the site and run a series of focus groups with a number of volunteers. The new website will be released in two stages; the first release will cover the migration of all existing data, the key back-end processes we need to run the Chapter and the current static content. This will be followed within a couple of months by the second release where all remaining processes will be put in place plus enhanced content. Prior to the second release we plan to run further focus groups and will complete an Information Architecture review. Our aim is to have a website which is an informative and interactive community hub for the IIBA UK Chapter. If you have any ideas on content for the new website or would like to participate in the usability testing please get in touch.

Corrine Thomas
Operations Director
Corrine_Thomas@uk.iiba.org