BonaSource
Non-profit Association Gets Extreme Website Makeover with Microsoft Visual Studio 2005
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Company Overview
Since it was founded over 10 years ago, The Association of Internet Marketing and Sales (AIMS) has seen its membership grow to include 5,000 professionals, all of whom share a desire to network and stay informed on Internet marketing trends. Today, AIMS is Canada's largest Internet association. The association regularly coordinates education, networking and discussion opportunities for members through events and online community-building initiatives.
Business Challenge
As a non-profit association, AIMS has minimal budget for technology, and is run mostly by volunteers. In its early days, the organization had a custom website with limited interactive functions. It also relied on a third-party mail provider to send invitations to members informing them of various association gatherings. Membership information was stored on the custom website solution. A member could register for an event through the website but all subsequent communications had to be done manually by email. There was no way to automatically track or communicate with registrants via the website.
“We had to constantly cut and paste information, which was very frustrating. For each new event, we had to take our list of members who registered on the site and then manually email them with details after they RSVPd. Then we had to post the event information on our website. Managing all this information was an extremely time-consuming and error prone task,” says Kathryn, General Manager, AIMS.
This also left limited time for projects that were of more strategic value to AIMS. The association needed an automated solution to help reduce the time and effort associated with administration and event planning.
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Solution
AIMS turned to Microsoft® Gold Certified partner BonaSource for help. BonaSource implemented Wild Apricot, a web-based, Microsoft .NET-connected solution that helps users automatically manage event registration and membership databases. The solution has four components: a customizable website, membership administration automation, an event organization tool and a function that enables users to build a members-only portion for a site. Because Wild Apricot is a software-as-a-service application, its users don’t have to spend time with installation and updates and can focus on more strategic tasks.
Built using the Microsoft Visual Studio® 2005 development system, Wild Apricot is based on the Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0. Together, Visual Studio and the .NET Framework are designed to help developers to quickly and easily build customizable solutions on a secure platform.
“We used to do some Java and open source development, but we’re now totally focused on the Microsoft .NET platform. It enables us to build Web applications more quickly and efficiently, and we find it’s easier to ensure security – a very big consideration for our clients,” says Dmitry Buterin, CEO, BonaSource.
BonaSource chose the .NET Framework for a number reasons, including its ability to help speed the process of development and simplify application maintenance.
“It’s easier for us to train new people and bring them up-to-speed on the Microsoft .NET platform than, for example, on Java. It has also made us much more efficient. We no longer experience compatibility challenges when we build our applications,” says Buterin.
BonaSource developers took advantage of the integrated quality assurance features of Visual Studio 2005 to help them perform Unit testing, as well as test for security and performance, within the integrated developer environment. This has helped them work together more effectively.
“With Visual Studio 2005 it’s been much easier for us to keep everybody together and ensure they’re viewing the most current version of a project. They no longer have to send emails back and forth to stay up to date,” says Buterin.
The ASP.NET 2.0 framework for web development allows BonaSource developers to build interactive and user-friendly interfaces - and do it faster. The Master Pages function, for example, ensures a common layout across a website – change the design once, and all changes are automatically updated.
Another consideration for BonaSource was the Atlas framework. It allows developers to easily integrate ASP.NET server pages with client-side code (running in the browser), giving them a richer, more responsive user interface. Atlas also helped BonaSource simplify the way in which web and server components communicate with each other in Wild Apricot.
“Using the Atlas framework has helped us develop a new interface that enables non-technical people to interact with their member database, post websites and make website updates much more easily. This makes Wild Apricot much more usable,” says Buterin.
BonaSource was also impressed by the learning and support resources available to Microsoft developers. Taking advantage of the large .NET user community, BonaSource no longer has to develop every piece of code from scratch. Instead, it can re-use specific components and easily plug them into the platform without worrying about stability or security issues. The large pool of .NET developers also makes the process of hiring great developers easier.
To help ensure the smooth integration of information in Wild Apricot, BonaSource implemented Microsoft SQL Server™ 2000 database software. SQL Server 2000 provides organizations with a scalable and reliable administrative and data analysis tool.
“The .NET support in SQL Server helped our developers provide Wild Apricot users with a stable, secure, scalable and reliable database,” adds Buterin.
Business Benefits
Since implementing Wild Apricot, AIMS has been able to automate routine administrative tasks, leading to increased efficiency and member satisfaction, as well as cost savings.
“Built using Microsoft software, the BonaSource solution has made a big difference in our efficiency levels. We now have a successful method to handle administration, all of which can be done through the new website. We also have a much better way of organizing our meetings and events,” says Lagden.
Increased Efficiency
Previously, in order to encourage event attendance, AIMS had to send reminder emails to registrants by pulling their names from the website and uploading it to the email provider. Wild Apricot has since eliminated this time-consuming process.
“Now I can specify if I want reminder emails automatically sent to people who are registered for events, or to people who have not yet registered. I can even specify how many days in advance I do this,” says Lagden. “Because the system also houses the member database, we immediately know if they’re eligible for our special member rate versus the general public rate,” says Lagden.
Database searching has also been simplified. Where once volunteers could only search the AIMS membership list by member or company name, Wild Apricot provides staff with functionality that enables easier, faster and more effective searches.
“Wild Apricot automatically checks all the fields. I can search on anything. For example, if I want a list of all our premium members, all I do is type in ‘premium’ and they all come up,” says Lagden. “Wild Apricot has definitely improved our efficiency. I can concentrate on what I need to do, which is planning events, finding speakers and talking to members, as opposed to managing the website,” says Lagden.
Improved Member Satisfaction
Previously, AIMS had no way to track or store previous conversations with its members. Taking advantage of Wild Apricot, and its ability to help volunteers store notes on member interactions, AIMS is able to offer better service and increase member satisfaction.
“If a member calls me, I can quickly access the notes from the last call we had. This enables me to be more professional and make a personal connection with members. For an association, that’s important,” adds Lagden.
Cost Savings
As a non-profit organization, AIMS has a limited operating budget. With Wild Apricot in place, AIMS is benefiting from an affordable, hosted solution that requires little on-site support, and which can be automatically updated.
“I'm 99 per cent confident that there will be long-term cost savings with the solution, because the monthly fee is so reasonable. If we had implemented a custom website instead of Wild Apricot we’d have spent approximately $5,000 to $10,000 every two years on upgrades and maintenance. Also, I don’t have to re-invest in additional functionality every year like it happens with many software packages – you buy it once and then either pay every year or use an outdated system. With Wild Apricot, I have access to new features when they are added,” says Lagden.
Microsoft Visual Studio 2005
Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 is the world’s most popular development environment for designing, developing, and testing next-generation Windows®-based solutions and Web applications and services. By improving the development experience for Windows, the Web, mobile devices, and Microsoft Office, Visual Studio 2005 helps organizations deliver a variety of solutions more productively than ever before. Visual Studio Team System expands the product line with new software tools that enable greater communication and collaboration throughout the development life cycle. With Visual Studio 2005, businesses can deliver modern service-oriented solutions more efficiently.
For more information about Visual Studio 2005, go to:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio
For More Information
For more information about Microsoft products and services, call the Microsoft Sales Information Center at (800) 426-9400. In Canada, call the Microsoft Canada Information Centre at (877) 568-2495. Customers who are deaf or hard-of-hearing can reach Microsoft text telephone (TTY/TDD) services at (800) 892-5234 in the United States or (905) 568-9641 in Canada. Outside the 50 United States and Canada, please contact your local Microsoft subsidiary. To access information using the World Wide Web, go to: www.microsoft.com
For more information about BonaSource Inc. solutions for non-profit industry, call (416) 410-4059 or visit the Web site at: www.wildapricot.com
For more information about AIMS Canada products and services, call (416) 519-8559 or visit the Web site at: www.aimscanada.com
