Project Summary

Client: MSCA

Project Description: Rebuild for http://www.msca-online.com

Introduction:
MSCA is an association for people in the commercial real estate profession (like our other client, MNCAR) – specifically, people who represent properties where customers come to buy things. These properties are often in areas like shopping malls that have stores and restaurants. MSCA makes their money primarily from memberships, events, and sponsorships (most things they sell are in the plans for the website). The most valuable benefits for members is having access to their network of members (for doing business deals), attending regular events, the opportunity to get “CE Credits” (many of their members have a real estate license and to keep your license you need to collect X CE credits per year) and information via website and newsletter. For all of these things, their website is the major hub for organizing meetings and conveying valuable information and getting members in touch with one another for business opportunities.

One of the main reasons they are working with us to rebuild their website is because their current website hosting company/developers got sold to some other company and this resulted in their site being moved in the middle of the day and a lot of functionality broke and now doesn’t work. Plus, this new group isn’t helpful or responsive on new fixes or changes.

Goals for the website:
1) Build a usable and stable website that can be added to and upgraded into the future
2) Create a more modern design that is clean and professional
3) Improve the user interface and experience so the website is easy-to-use
4) Keep existing features and content (e.g. e-commerce, member account area, information on their services, products, and their industry)
5) Add new features (e.g. banners, events calendar, CE credit history)

Budget approach:
100+ hours

The client is open to presenting multiple proposals to their board of directors for approval for the build. This means that things should be estimated out as much as possible so the AT can work with the client to create these proposals strategically for the board. If the client can’t get approval on everything they want, then we may do development in phases or wait to add certain components.

Notes:
The website will be hosted with us.

Mockups are schematic and can be changed if the development team has an improved or more efficient way for implementing something.

Planned sitemap: user end

- Home page (mockup 10) – “join now” in header goes to mockup 160, the cart icon goes to mockup 410.

- Banners (Mockups 10, 13, 14): These should be slides that transitions with a clickable image, title, and one line of text editable. The “Join MSCA Now!” button will link to mockup 160.

- Dropdown menus (Mockups 11, 12) should be straightforward as they are all simple except “member login” which can be estimated with being a dropdown and separately just linking to a login page.

- “Upcoming Events” area will feature the next 3 upcoming events on the event calendar (mockup 50), that show the date of the event, the event title, a link to that event’s details, and a link to view the full calendar. Mouseover should also make the event image “light up” while the non mousedover images will stay grey.

- “Our Mission” area will just be just for text and “Learn More About MSCA” should go to mockup 160.

- Banner Ads – These are images pulled from the admin end that show up to 5 randomly and in random order every time a page of the website refreshes. If the admin uploads fewer than 5, show what’s available starting from the left-hand side of the page.

- Who We Are (mockup 20): Content-only page with full FCK editable area.

- On left side of page there should be a mini-navigation menu for the pages in that dropdown

- On the right side of the page will be HTML blocks (“Join MSCA Now!” is the only one so you can estimate just doing this one so the admin can’t add any more) or new listing notification (mockup 80-82), or Upcoming Events feature. There is no news section so please ignore “recent news” on mockup 31.

- History (no mockup): This isn’t content-only but similar to http://sr-re.com/preview/our-history (mockup 30). Please also reference admin mockups.

- Leadership (Mockup 30, 31): This will automatically show members selected from the website user database (see admin mockups section: add/edit user) in an accordion style page that has an FCK editable content area and then sub-areas that will show the groups of people. Similar to this page we did for SR-RE http://sr-re.com/preview/our-people.

- Leadership Detail (Mockup 32): Again, similar to http://sr-re.com/preview/our-people/19 with just the Name, title, linked in link (if available), email, phone, fax, and then content area.

- Committees (Mockup 40) Each committee “tab” from the left side of the page should have a full FCK content area and then a list below of the names of members on the committee and their title. The admin will be able to add and reorder the “tabs” within Committees on the admin end and specify which committee a member is in under user details.

- Join MSCA (Mockup 160): content-only page as seen in mockup with buttons to purchase each member type

- Events Calendar (Mockup 50): this page should be like (http://www.mncar.org/event/calendar): A calendar users can navigate by month that lists the event title for the corresponding date its available. Note that free events should say “FREE” above the title and be shown in a different color. On mouseover, the user should see the event image, date, title, brief description, a register button and CE credits (if any are set up for that event). The user should be able to click the link at the top to download all events into their Microsoft Outlook calendar (I’m not sure if the DT knows how to do this easily but perhaps this comment I found on a random forum will help: http://www.webdeveloper.com/forum/showpost.php?s=595a8600d1268446fb1c33160d8e85a1&p=918310&postcount=5).

- Event Detail (mockup 51, 52): this will show full details of the event. If the user isn’t logged in, they will see the login or buttons to register as a nonmember, or sign up as a member. If the user is logged in they will just see a “register now” button. Also, please note the “add this event to my outlook calendar” which should add only this event rather than the full calendar.

- STARR Awards (Mockup 60): Similar to committees, this will be a full FCK content page where multiple “tabs” can be added within Annual STARR Awards for future years.

- Event Feedback (Mockup 70-71): a feedback form that has FCK content at the top of the page and then an event dropdown selector and a bunch of fields the user can fill out and then submit. Please note this page is not labeled correctly in the mockup, it should be “Event Feedback” here and everywhere else referenced on the website.

- (Mockup 71): just shows what the other answers for “would you like to remain anonymous?” and “would you like someone to follow up with you…?” would look like.

- After filling out the user should go to an editable content page saying: "Thank you for your feedback and attending our event. We look forward to seeing you at our next event!"

- Property Listings (Mockup 80): At the top of the page is FCK content for the listings page (the MNCAR link will go to http://www.mncar.org/propertysearch.htm) and the page should show a list of all property listings put into the system by a member or purchased and put into the system by a nonmember. The user should be able to filter by “type of listing” (Regional, Community, Neighborhood, Outlet, Mixed Use, and CBD).

- Listings Detail (Mockup 81): The detail page will show up to 5 thumbnail images the user can select between and full information that was filled in for the property. If information wasn’t listed for a field, there’s no need to show that field at all for the listing.

- Add New Listing (Mockup 82): This content should be editable on the admin end and members should log in b/c then they can list a property for free, otherwise, nonmembers have to purchase a property listing.

- Resources FAQ (mockup 90): Standard FAQ module

- Resources Newsletter (mockup 100): content-only page that has a search field. For the search the system should return a list of newsletters that contain any of the words being searched in the newsletter title or text of the newsletter. Their newsletters are in PDF format. If this is difficult and takes a bunch of time, of course estimate it separately.

- Newsletter Year (mockup 101): these pages will automatically show whatever newsletters the admin has uploaded for that year in .pdf format so the user can download them.

- Resources Publications (mockup 110): FCK editable content followed by the rest of the page automatically created from what is entered into the admin end.

- Mouseover (mockup 111): This mouseover is for the 2010 “state of retail” annual reports only, which users must order to have physically mailed to them. For the other two sections those years will just link to the actual .pdf file with no mouseover.

- Resources Industry Links (mockup 120-121): Page with accordion-style content that are links to other websites which have titles and link descriptions

- Resources Jobs (mockup 130): this page shows a list of all jobs that have been entered into the system by a member or user or admin, filtered by “classification.” If there are more than 2 jobs for a specific classification, then pagination should be used to avoid having the “all classifications” page be too long.

- Search members looking for jobs (Mockup 131): this tool is to search members who have marked themselves as “looking for a job” and the classifications they are seeking to work in. The page should just show a list of those members with each of them clickable to their profile.

- Post a Job (mockup 133): FCK editable letting users know that if they are members they can post for free and nonmembers know that they can purchase a job listing or become a member to do so for free.

- Resources Sponsors (mockup 140): Content-only page

- Content-only page organized in this way to easily put in thumbnail images of the sponsors.

- Contact (mockup 150): Contact page with editable text and address block as well as editable staff block. Not in mockups but please add a manageable “reason for contact” to the form.

Planned sitemap: Member Area

This area is available for members who are logged in to the website. On the left side of each member-only page is navigation to the other member-only pages. At any point if a member navigates away from their member-only area they should be able to get back to it by clicking on their name in the upper-right.

- My Profile (mockup 210): This page is where a member can see all of their information and edit it. The “edit profile” button goes to a page that’s not mocked up but that page should just prompt for all the information in the admin mockup for “add/edit user” except without the Committee, Leadership, and login fields. For fields concerned with “home address and district” and “RE license Number” please have red text that says “This information will not show on your public member profile.” The user should be able to upload their photo to their profile (or change their photo). Next to that field for photo upload, it should say in red: “If you’d like your photo included in the MSCA printed directory, please email a high resolution version to [email protected].”

- The two “? Why MSCA needs this” hints should be editable by admin in settings

- “Renew My Membership” should take them to the cart with their membership type already selected (as it affects price and is info the admin has to enter for that member on the admin end) in it and ready to purchase.

- “Member of MSCA Logo” will take the user to a content-only page editable by the admin for all members.

- “Looking for a job?” Should prompt the user to specify up to 3 company classifications from dropdowns (similar to how it’s done on mockup 400) and the page should contain content only content above that for the admin to edit.

- If the “I do not wish to receive…” checkbox is checked, then the member should be prompted with a message "Are you sure you do not wish to receive monthly program information, release of newsletters and other important MSCA information via email?" with “yes” or “no” options to confirm. If they still select “yes” then an email notification is sent to the admin letting them know. If we proceed with newsletter functionality, then the system would not send a notification but just mark the member appropriately.

- The upcoming expirations should only show if the member has a listing that is in the expiration period as entered by the admin in the “settings” of the admin end

- Note: when a member changes their profile, the admin needs to receive a notification (see notifications at end of Project Summary).

- Public Profile (Mockup 211): This is what other members should be able to see when they search for and click on a member. It should only show the information from these fields, everything else is private.

- Search (on mockup 210): Member Directory Search that will search members with “active” status by “Member or Company” – only mockup 210 has the correct text that should show by default in the search field. The “Advanced Search” link under the search box should link to the Member Directory page (mockup 270).

- Express Code (mockup 220): This page has editable content the admin can edit and then shows the user their “member express code”. This code should be automatically created by the system as 5 digits of lower case letters and numbers. The reason for the code is that when a member is making an event purchase, they can add other members to the purchase and use the express code to verify those other people are members and get the member price without having to login and make a bunch of separate purchases for each member.

- Purchase History (mockup 230): This page should list all of the distinct items purchased by the member online. It only needs to show date, the description of the item, and the amount of the item.

- My Invoices (no mockup): should be an extra tab in the menu. Done like Gruen Marketing: http://gruenmarketing.com/billings/unpaid

- CE History (mockup 240): This section of the member account should show (by year) which CE credit events the member has attended. The system should only show an event here after the member’s participation is approved or unapproved (“didn’t attend”). So until that processing takes place on the admin end, the event wouldn’t display here. For each year, there should be a total of all CE Credits earned. For only the year 2011, the date range should be the website launch date, until the end of 2011. The user should also be able to download the .pdf of the “CE Certificate” that the admin uploads when processing.

- Property Listings (mockup 250-251): An area with a member can manage the properties they are listing as they are allowed to list properties for free. It should work similarly to how our admin manageable pages work (manage property listings)

- Job Listings (mockup 260-261): Pretty much the same thing as for property listings except these listings require different information and no images. Note that the “company classifications” on mockup 261 should all be hard coded into the system as they are used throughout in various places. Please see http://www.test.frontierwebdev.com/msca/FilesForDT/MSCACoClassifications.htm

- Member Directory (mockup 270): this area of the member-only area is for members to search and find other members (results should only be for “active” members) based on: member name, company, classification, and clients represented. These should be the values for the “type of search” dropdown. The “member directory search tips” should be a content-only page editable via the admin end.

Planned sitemap: Checkout

- Checkout (mockup 410): The way checkout/purchasing will work is that MSCA has a bunch of items they can sell and they sell each of them in slightly different ways. The user should be able to purchase items either as a member or a nonmember with different pricing (see below). The only type of item the admin will be adding to the system is Event items but everything else is fixed. The side block on the right-side of the page should allow the user to add that item to their cart or go to the page on the site for that item.

Once a user checks out, they should be taken to a summary page that they can print. There is no mockup for this, so it’s up to the DT on how to do it.

Below is a list of all items that can be purchased:

- Membership checkout (mockup 400): When a new member signs up the user should go to this page so the system can capture required information before they purchase their membership. When a member signs up, the system should send an email to the admin to approve the signup before actually adding the user as a member to the system. The admin should be instructed to supply the member ID and password during this step. If the same first and last name exist in the system already then the system ideally would recognize this and give the user an error “First and last name already exist in the member database, please call our staff directly at 952-345-0452 to reactivate your old account.” Missing from this mockup are five fields between “Company” field and “Company Classification” field:

o Company Address 1

o Company Addres 2

o City

o State [dropdown]

o Zip

- Membership renewal (http://www.test.frontierwebdev.com/msca/FilesForDT/MoreCheckoutMockups.htm): This page should prompt the user whether they want to renew their account or a different member’s account (in which case they need to put in that member’s express code).

- Event Registration (http://www.test.frontierwebdev.com/msca/FilesForDT/MoreCheckoutMockups.htm): When a user signs up to an event they should be able to add attendees. They should be prompted to either add a member (requiring express code), a nonmember (just requires name, company, and email address), or add themselves.

- Starr Award registration (http://www.test.frontierwebdev.com/msca/FilesForDT/MoreCheckoutMockups.htm): For this purchase the user needs to just fill out if they want to purchase a ticket for 1 person or a table for 4 people or for 8 people and supply the names of attendees (only 1 main “Primary contact” name is required, the rest are optional).

- Retail Report (http://www.test.frontierwebdev.com/msca/FilesForDT/MoreCheckoutMockups.htm): The retail reports that cost money are physically shipped to customers so shipping information needs to be obtained.

- Property Listing (only nonmembers purchase this, it’s free for members) (http://www.test.frontierwebdev.com/msca/FilesForDT/MoreCheckoutMockups.htm): The mockup contains the same info the admin can edit on the admin end.

- Job Listing (only nonmembers purchase this, it’s free for members) (http://www.test.frontierwebdev.com/msca/FilesForDT/MoreCheckoutMockups.htm): The mockup contains the same info the admin can edit on the admin end.

Planned sitemap: admin end

The admin end is represented with notes in the Admin Mockups and is pretty straightforward but it has many sections. Please note the following:

The notifications the system should automatically be sending to admin and user:

Admin should be notified when:

· A contact form is submitted.

· A purchase is submitted.

· Event Feedback form is submitted.

· When a new member signs up or renews, the admin should get a notification. If it’s a new membership, the admin will have to add the member into the system (see project summary description for mockup 400)

· When a retail report is purchased an additional notification should go to admin letting them know the report needs to be shipped out and showing quantity of report and shipping address.

· A member changes any data on their member profile: The email notification should list what was changed and what the member changed it to. This should also include a notification if the member changes or adds a new profile image. I believe this is how Jays Co. system works for their customer information profiles.

· A member or non member has a property listing that is expiring soon (in “settings” section of the admin, the admin should be able to specify how many days before expiration this email should go out)

· A member or non member has a job listing that is expiring soon (in “settings” section of the admin, the admin should be able to specify how many days before expiration this email should go out)

· A member adds or renews their property listing.

· A member adds or renews their job listing.

· A member is “looking for a job?” by clicking that button on their member profile

· A member checks the “I do not wish to receive…” checkbox

User should be notified when:

· The admin changes any information on a member’s profile.