AIMS Canada

AIMS is Canada's largest association of Internet Marketing and Sales decision-makers, with over 6,500 members nationally. 

Objective: AIMS Canada required a website that:

• could be updated quickly and easily without technical assistance;
• retained their current web design;
• provided on-line self-service to their many members;
• replaced and enhanced the functionality of 3 independent systems used to manage their existing membership;
• could be hosted in a secure “virtual” environment at a very reasonable cost (less than $100/mo.);
• did not require multiple software products and licensing fees; and,
• would integrate easily with 3rd party transaction processing systems or other online service providers.

AIMS needed to add content management capability and membership management services without changing the existing website look-and-feel or site hierarchy; a new creative design was not in scope for this project.

Solution: we took the existing website and “retrofitted” it with our JADE web management system. The resulting website:

• allows AIMS to manage every visual element on the web pages, in addition to conventional content management, without any IT assistance;
• employs user roles with specific abilities and restrictions as to what they could do to the website;
• is hosted in a secure virtual environment which is both secure and very cost-effective (approximately $50/mo.);
• does not rely on a complex mix of software products with multiple licenses / upgrade paths; and,
• integrates seamlessly with AIMS’ existing transaction processing service provider for e-commerce purposes.
  

In addition, the JADE platform is fully capable of supporting other languages; AIMS can plan for future bilingual services without changing their web platform.

Other Components: Using JADE, DJiNN provided additional online tools for AIMS:

• automated response emails that can be managed with the JADE system;
• the “ADL” - an archive of regular discussion list emails - managed with JADE;
• powerful site search capability;
• an online event management system employing JADE’s content management capabilities; and,
• an extensive membership management system with various member attributes that can be managed by members themselves via the website, or by the AIMS administrator.
  

Using JADE, AIMS can create any custom business tool they require and be able to manage content within it. They can also integrate with external databases and information service providers with ease.

Technology: The following technologies are employed within the AIMS website:

• JADE web management system
• MySQL RDBMS (database)
• JSP presentation layer (web pages)
• Lucene search engine technology
• Apache/Tomcat web server platform

Project Statistics: The project was completed within 120 days on time and on budget.