Case Study: The Association of Zoos and Aquariums (www.aza.org)
January 31, 2010
BALTIMORE, MD—Have you been responsible for the mating of elephants recently? Have you been bitten by a snake in the course of your workday at the zoo, and then rushed to the web to find the appropriate antidote? Are you looking for a career in animal conservation at an accredited zoo or aquarium? Or are you just concerned about the humane treatment of animals in zoos?
In any of these cases, you may have recently used www.aza.org, an award-winning web site developed by The Berndt Group, for the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA). Constructed using the Ektron CMS and taking advantage of the full feature set of that CMS, the site features beautiful design, great usability, and a ton of interactive features that go beyond the public web site via intranet and extranet capabilities.
The Berndt Group developed the project over a one-year period in close collaboration with the Association of Zoos and Aquariums. The project involved a careful audit of AZA's existing desktop database systems. Then, in combination with the full site design, The Berndt Group developed a conceptual model for providing these database services (such as tracking the population and pedigree of individual animals, and researching animal conservation programs around the world) into Ektron's CMS framework, focusing on how to obtain the most value from the existing data in the context of a full-featured CMS/Portal. The results, which have had extremely high uptake, have been gratifying all around, as the data is now thoroughly incorporated into a highly functional set of applications, content, personalization, and collaborative work area features.
The development of the AZA web site benefited from a number of careful considerations:
- First, careful planning around both public users needs and the needs of various internal audiences (zoo workers, managers of themed discussion groups, and the like) allowed the design of the site to bring a great deal of value to these groups.
- Second, our choice of the Ektron CMS was tailored to the requirements of the project, that included a substantial amount of password-protected and personalized content, both of which Ektron does well.
- Last, our highly lucid structured design process and expert project management practices held together all the details of this sprawling process, and gave our client a framework to explore their ideas in detail.
The site won an Ektron All Star Award for "Best Association Site," and has gotten consistently rave reviews from folks we've shown it to. We hope you'll check it out at www.aza.org.
About The Berndt Group
The Berndt Group has been a leading Web design, development and brand communications firm since 1991. The firm provides an integrated set of creative services, including strategic consulting, brand and application development, software implementation, web site design, and internet marketing. Based in Baltimore, MD, the firm services a diverse international and regional base of over fifty active clients, including: The National Aquarium, Johns Hopkins Institutions, SafeNet, Inc., Raytheon, U.S. Immigration, The Federal Aviation Administration, The U.S. Forest Service, The Abell Foundation, and many others. For more information, visit www.berndtgroup.net.
Media Contact
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Michelle Géczy
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phone: 410.889.5854 x 12
email: michelle.geczy@berndtgroup.net
