Content Management Case Study - Bournemouth University : The Hub

The Problem

The Student Union at Bournemouth University (SUBU) had hundreds of students wanting to volunteer themselves for opportunities around Dorset. With staff having to manually process and match volunteers with organisations, administration of the volunteering service was very laborious, time consuming and ineffective. Communication between both parties also proved troublesome and led to numerous phone calls/meetings to resolve issues which wasted staff time. The knock on effect created a lengthy and cumbersome process which didn’t operate efficiently.

The Solution

In May 2004 phase one of ‘thehub’ project began.  The Adido team worked closely with Bournemouth University’s Student Union (SUBU) staff over a six month period to build a bespoke content managed website, enabling online registration of opportunities and interest for volunteers and organisations.

The Dub3 powered website allowed new information to be communicated effectively to all stakeholders. Launched as thehub, it provides an on-line volunteering database. Volunteers can register their details, interests and skills. Organisations can advertise their volunteering opportunities. The system can match the two, and volunteers can independently search and apply for any opportunities that interest them.

The system has enabled the Volunteer Support Office of the SUBU to efficiently manage its work. Paperwork in the office has decreased by approximately 70% as nearly all information is now managed on-line. The department is able to use the system for reporting figures on number of volunteers registered, number of organisations and number of projects and many other statistics. Email lists can be easily generated enabling effective communication.

How We Achieved It

• Dub3 Content Management System (CMS) was developed and implemented to allow effective communication
• Bespoke web development tools were used to automate and improve the administrative processes
• The Adido Solutions team gave ongoing support to SUBU admin team staff
• The online volunteering and information service became available to a wider student and business audience

The Benefits

• Dub3 CMS allowed the website to be simply and easily updated keeping volunteers and organisations up to date with the latest information
• Online registration simplified and improved efficiency in matching volunteers with organisations; opportunities and interest were automatically cross referenced by the system and potential matches alerted via e-mail
• Accessing information becomes easier for both volunteers and organisations as Dub3 automatically builds pages to be accessible and usable
• Increased accessibility enabled SUBU to increase the marketing as the volume of opportunities that could be processed by the existing staff increased

The Bottom line

During the 12 month Phase One project the following was achieved:

• Paperwork in the office has decreased by approximately 70%
• Time savings of over three days a month, reducing the staff costs of the project
• Increased registration to use the service; 237 Volunteers and 79 Organisations
• Increased number opportunities; 134 volunteers have been placed
• Tangible reports to monitor progress; these have recorded a 100% increase in activity over the previous 12 month period
• Improvement in volunteers’ skills and employability
• Created a system which others want to copy; Phase two is due to go live in December 2005, and Phase three, a commercial spinout is under discussion

What They Said

Summary

The above case studies show how our innovation and adaptability have helped Dorset based businesses and organisations allowing them to make a real difference to the way they operate using the Internet.

Each of these websites have been built using a version of our website management system, Dub3, to allow each of the companies to maintain their websites effectively months after delivery, thus improving and increasing the services they offer to their clients.

We believe that through our innovations we have improved the lives of those using our web solutions from both an admin and end user point of view. This has then delivered time or money savings, improved job satisfaction for users and increased overall business efficiency.