Wollongong.com Web Site and Content Management System

Launch Site

Client Introduction

Wollongong.com is maintained by Crown St Mall and Wollongong City Centre, a division of the Wollongong City Council.

Project Overview

After developing the original web site for Wollongong.com in 2000, Switch I.T. was again approached to provide a significant upgrade to the web site and at the same time streamline many of the manual processes involved in the administration and marketing of the city centre of Wollongong.

The web site upgrade resulted in the following:

• Improved Interface and User Experience
  A much faster, usable and professional web site interface that is more consistent with the offline Crown St Mall and Wollongong City Centre brand.
  
  
• More Effective Communication Channel
  The web site now provides detail information on getting to Wollongong, upcoming events as well as comprehensive information on every accommodation, restaurant, sport and recreation, arts and entertainment, business and conference facility in the city centre.
  
  
• Powerful Content Management System
  The entire web site was build on our secure SwitchBack Content Management Solution. This systems allows Crown St Mall and Wollongong City Centre staff to maintain the entire web site in-house.
  
  

As well as the significant web site upgrade, Switch I.T. was also consulted on using technology to improve existing business processes within the organisation. The consultation resulted in the automation of a number of key processes including an Online Membership Maintenance System that replaces the existing paper based system.

This new approval based application allows Crown St Mall and Wollongong City Centre members to maintain their own area on the web site online. Changes to member information and even upcoming events can be edited and approved by staff with the click of a button. This upgrade ensured Crown St Mall and Wollongong City Centre staff spend minimal time maintaining member information and more time actually promoting the region.

A mail merge facility was also integrated into the Content Management System meaning the existing Contact Management System being used by staff can be replaced with a central system that maintains contact information and the web site from a single source.

Paul Fanning
Manager City Centre, Wollongong City Council

Technologies
Client Side	HTML, DHTML, JavaScript
Server Side	ASP
Database	SQL Server 2000
Platform/OS	IIS, Windows 2000
Switch I.T. Components
Content Management	SwitchBack Content Management System
Business Automation	Mail Merge Generating Component