National Medical Society of NHS & Private Medical Consultants Website &
CMS
British Society of Interventional Radiology (BSIR) Website
The British Society of Interventional Radiology is a highly respected, nationwide
medical association representing a range of medical professions including NHS hospital
consultant staff. The aim of the Society is to promote interventional radiology
and support education and research within this field.
SynergiDesign has developed an innovative technical specification for the bespoke
content management system and website application for the new BSIR website, which
was launched at their Annual Conference in November 2009.
"This complex project has been undertaken with professionalism, efficiency, friendliness
and understanding. They have done their best to accommodate changes to the specification
along the way without incurring large additional fees. Everything asked of them
has been performed to and indeed above expectations in many cases."
David West, Chair of the British Society of Interventional Radiology website
committee
Web project management brief
The website committee of BSIR wrote a demanding specification with challenging requirements,
sending invitations to tender to many large web design companies across the UK after
which a shortlist of companies gave presentations of their plans to the full BSIR
council. SynergiDesign was selected following a highly successful presentation
which gave the Society the confidence that the company had a clear grasp of their
requirements.
The brief included all the normal requirements of a Society website:
- search for a doctor / consultant facility within specified mile radius and medical
specialisms, NHS consultant or private consultant etc.
- e-commerce for various goods and services including annual membership dues,
- annual meeting registration,
- abstract submission processes
- on line voting systems
- multiple micro websites within the main website to provide patients with dynamic
information about their specialty.
Of crucial importance to the Society was the facility to update the content and
structure of the site easily, quickly and flexibly and innovatively be of a dynamic
nature. They specified that each section of the site should be editable by either
all or certain groups of members via a wiki-type amendment system, the editing to
be online and instantaneous with a full audit trail of changes made, by whom, when,
and why.
The site also incorporates forums, full membership management tools and email marketing
included. Reports should be issued on many aspects of the membership, doctor search,
voting etc and general use of the site including finances.
SynergiDesign utilised technical and ease of use solutions that would enable
the website to achieve all the aspirations of the medical society.
Above all, SynergiDesign’s priority was to provide BSIR with a professional website
that would meet the specific needs of a large medical organisation and allow them
to self manage content, facilitate the enhancement of the collaboration of research
and the aid the running of the medical society with many NHS hospital consultant
staff comprehensively through a highly individualised, bespoke CMS (content management
system).
Individualisation of web project management brief
One of SynergiDesign’s strongest priniciples is to respect the fact that the
requirements of every business are different. Their web project management experience
allows them to interpret each customer’s different requirements and match them with
the appropriate technology to facilitate the creation of stunning, individual, efficient
websites.
Meeting the Medical Organisation’s needs
SynergiDesign discussed the aims of the new BSIR web application with the various
medical committees, prioritising easy and rapid communication and collaboration
amongst members to enable them to keep abreast of new developments and to disseminate
new ideas, medical findings, collaboration etc. directly on to the site.
BSIR were confident that SynergiDesign thoroughly understood their business needs.
The type of website required was a large and complex one and SynergiDesign took
the time to explain to BSIR how technology could provide the answer to their requirements
and provide for them the ability to:
- Manage membership online with a members database which is open to all who have full
membership
- organise events
- Collabaration methods via Wiki amendment facilities, forums etc.
- Manage financial transactions
- Facilitate online voting
- Utilise an advanced reporting system – site traffic, doctors search report, member
url click report, content update report, membership report, financial transaction
report
- Perform email marketing campaigns
- Create microsites - the construction of Minisites allows content editors to create
“microsites” for relevant specific initiatives / specialist areas / departments.
Users can create an allocated microsite without having the need to have a complex
nested navigation..
- Collaborate on medical findings via commentary, pictures, video etc.
- Load and run videos
Wiki-type facility
Further, fully bespoke CMS functionality comprised a Wiki-type facility which enables
front end editing by all members for their medical specialist areas of the site
.The BSIR Administrator can give selected individuals or groups access rights to
their specialist page/s which will allow them to add, edit or delete content without
having access to the back end CMS. This provides a familiar interface which is easy
to operate and ensures pages are updated regularly with relevant content. A secure
login restricts the access to the named individuals only.
They can then, for example, add pages, meta tags, keywords and navigation titles,
etc. as well as informational content.
Rollback functionality allows any changes to revert back to any stage of editing,
so no content can be lost and a warning is given before any deletions are accepted.
Any changes made can be viewed before final completion.
Patients’ section
The patients’ section contains up to date, authoritative information on common conditions
which are treatable by interventional radiology and descriptions of the procedures
involved. The information is regularly revised by BSIR members and patients can
search UK-wide by postcode for an interventional radiologist with the expertise
they require.
All in a secure, controlled, robust and reliable environment.
Web site design– project outcome
BSIR now has a website with an influential online presence, providing a range of
sophisticated facilities for its users encompassing the latest .net technology,
yet being slick and simple to run for its administrators. SynergiDesign’s experience
of handling large ,complex website projects ensured understanding of the scope and
variety of the Society’s needs, for example to handle conferences and educational
activities efficiently, support its membership and to accommodate growth.
"The site is truly amazing in its functionality enabling the society to run its
business smoothly and effectively. The ability for all members to actively contribute
to the content of the site is set to utilise to the full their combined expertise
in developing an information resource beyond compare for both patients and doctors.
Without the functionality inherent in this web design the site would be static and
quickly become dated and useless.
I highly recommend Synergi design to any society, particularly those that wish
to enable active participation of its members in the content of its website.”
David West, Chair of the British Society of Interventional Radiology website
committee
The BSIR website was launched at their national conference in November 2009.
Technology