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What we have done for others.
To illustrate the depth and breadth of our customized solutions, we've put together descriptions of some of our most recent projects explaining what the Potomac Digitek team did and how it benefitted the client. Click on an item in the list below to be taken to a complete description of the project:
Special Log-in Capability for Trade Association Members
Many associations whose members are primarily companies rather than individuals don't have a way to reach all of the employees of member companies who would benefit from access to the member-only areas of its web site. Trying to issue user names and passwords to all employees would be cumbersome and unmanageable, but allowing everyone to use the same userid and password poses security problems when users change jobs. This was exactly the problem faced by the American Staffing Association (www.american staffing.net). With hundreds of member companies operating more than 15,000 offices across the United States, the organization had relied on a generic log-in for years. ASA approached Potomac Digitek with the problem: how can multiple users from the same member company be allowed to access the information in ASA's password-protected areas, without posing a password administration nightmare for the ASA staff?
The first time an employee of ABC Staffing or its subsidiaries tries to access the ASA members-only area, she will be asked to provide her email address as her username. If her email domain matches one in the approved list, she is asked to provide some basic demographic information. Once the user submits that information, the system generates a password and sends it to the user via the email address she provided – without any involvement of the ASA staff. The user is then free to change that password to something she can more easily remember, and can access the members-only area as often as necessary.
Translations to Meet the Needs of a Worldwide AudienceOne of the most valuable resources the Wood Machinery Manufacturers of America provides to its members is an online buyers guide (www.wmma.org/buyersguide). The guide allows users to search for member companies and access a list of products each member sells, and conversely, to search for a specific product and then access a list of the member companies that sell it.
But while the Wood Machinery Manufacturers of America represents American manufacturers, the association needs to provide this same information on its members to an ever-growing worldwide audience. The solution? A massive translation effort. Potomac Digitek coordinated and implemented the translation of the WMMA Buyers Guide into six languages – Spanish, French, Chinese, Portuguese, German and Italian – and presented the information in the exact same format as the English version. From all corners of the world, potential customers can tap into this valuable resource that WMMA provides to support its members.
Committee Communications and Update Tools
For a number of associations, committees are critical for forming policy, developing programming and educational opportunities, and conducting much of the business of the association. Many committees are so busy they almost need a web site of their own! The National States Geographic Information Council (www.nsgic.org) saw that its committees needed a way of communicating with the Council as a whole, and for committee members to communicate more effectively with each other.Enter Potomac Digitek. Potomac Digitek developed a Committees/Liaisons section for NSGIC's existing web site, providing each committee with its own web page that provided vital information about that committee: its mission, latest news, a committee roster, a schedule of upcoming meetings and important documents used by the committee. But when you have lots of committees, that's a lot of data to keep current – so Potomac Digitek wanted to make it easy to update and maintain. As a result, each committee chairman was given "update" authority over his or her committee's page. Using a simple update program, the chairman is able to update the latest committee news, add or delete names from the committee roster, add meetings to the committee schedule and upload documents for use by the general public or for committee members only. There's no need for the user to know any special code or request that someone else make the changes for them. A few simple keystrokes and all the committee information is up-to-date!
"Mini-Sites" for Special Communication Needs
Annual conferences and meetings are one of an association's most important ways to provide its members with networking and learning opportunities, as well as generate income to support the association throughout the year. Promoting a conference using a specially designed web site – with special features to let attendees design their own agenda – not only makes the association look good but improves attendee satisfaction as well.Potomac Digitek regularly designs "mini-sites" for association conferences, basing the site design off of the promotional materials the association prepares for the meeting, such as brochures, flyers, and mailings. These designs often feature something special about the particular venue to help get potential attendees excited about the location of the conference and the conference itself.
Online Abstract Submission and Review
Whether collecting and reviewing abstracts for research grants, presentations or publications, using the power of the Internet to help gather and assess abstracts can be a terrific time-saver. Just ask the National Staff Development Council (www.nsdc.org).NSDC relies on its web site to be the conduit for members (and non-members) to submit abstracts of presentations that people would like to present at upcoming NSDC conferences. With the NSDC Conference Committee members spread out across the nation, it had been a time-consuming task to circulate the large number of abstracts received to committee members for evaluation. Using an online abstract submission system designed by Potomac Digitek, potential presenters complete an online abstract submission form and upload their abstract. The submission is then stored in a database, and made available to the committee members reviewing the abstracts. Committee members then review each abstract and assign a rating to each one using an online scoring system.
Downloading Documents, Saving Time and Money
As the cost of printing and postage continues to skyrocket, the ability to provide downloadable documents to users is a win-win situation – the association saves money, and the user gets instant access to the documents they need. For example, take the case of the American Boat & Yacht Council (www.abycinc.org). The Council is realizing savings of more than $12,000 per year in printing and shipping costs because course attendees now download and print course materials from the web site prior to attending the course, instead of ABYC printing and shipping it to them. But that's not all. Just ask the ABYC publications department! After the Potomac Digitek team created an online bookstore for ABYC that automates almost all of its order processing and offers fee-per-download documents online, the publications department saved 13 weeks worth of work in the last year. "Saving this incredible amount of time allows our staff to be more productive in their jobs and to do more meaningful work – without losing any revenue. In fact, the fee-per-download revenue for our standards documents is way above our expectations and has eliminated the costs of copying, printing, binding, invoicing, and mailing those documents entirely," said ABYC's director of business and technology.
Educational Opportunities Brought Right to the User
While more and more professions require continuing education for their members, the time to take courses and travel to course locations is becoming ever harder to find. Increasingly, organizations are relying on online education to provide continuing educational opportunities. Online education can range greatly from short seminars to full-length classes, complete with discussion capabilities and online testing and assessment.The American Medical Directors Association (www.amda.com), an association of medical directors at long-term care facilities, uses its web site to provide a variety of online continuing medical education and self-study courses. Doctors can earn up to 2 hours of CME credit by completing self-study courses covering the various Clinical Practice Guidelines published by the association. Following his or her study of the guideline, the doctor must complete (and pass) a post-test and evaluation either online or in a hardcopy version. Payment for the course is collected upon completion of the test. Potomac Digitek developed the programming behind the current set of tests available on the AMDA site, streamlining payment processing and test administration.
Souped-Up Online Calendars
Keeping up-to-date has never been easier for Internet users when the sites they visit implement effective calendars. Potomac Digitek has developed a wide variety of calendars for clients, many of which allow associations to post updates on their own without any assistance from programmers.While most online calendars are a relatively simple collection of meeting dates and times, some can be highly complex. Take, for instance, the National Press Club Daybook (www.press.org). This award-winning calendar gives visitors a quick glimpse at what's happening on a specific day, using color-coding to help users find exactly what they're looking for. The NPC Daybook calendar was also designed by Potomac Digitek to allow the user to find all events in a particular category, such as luncheons or meetings. This site also allows users to customize the Daybook to display only the types of events specified in a user profile, making the calendar that much more relevant to an individual.
Supplying a Resource While Generating Advertising Revenue
One of the American Staffing Association's missions is to provide support for member companies, and one of the ways it does that is through an online supplier guide. That supplier guide, however, not only serves as a resource for members, it also provides a source of revenue for ASA (www.americanstaffing.net). Potomac Digitek built the Suppliers Guide to allow users to search for specific products or services, or to search for specific companies. Savings and solutions partners are highlighted as ASA membership entitles member companies to receive discounts from these partners. Each company listing includes a description of the services they provide, a link to the company's web site, and an email link to contact for more information. ASA knew the value of linking its members to these suppliers and saw an opportunity to generate additional revenue. By offering advertising space on the search return pages, individual suppliers can get additional exposure to ASA members who are already searching for an industry supplier.
Shopping the Online Way
Electronic commerce has rapidly gained acceptance in the Internet age, with people ordering everything from cars and clothing to groceries online. Setting up an online store is a terrific way for an association to market and sell products such as books, standards documents, association merchandise, conference proceedings and more. It's safe, it's secure and it's convenient.Potomac Digitek developed an extensive online store for the American Council of Engineering Companies (www.acec.org) that includes books and books on CD, as well as contracts, merchandise and surveys. Members can log in to take advantage of special discounts, and users are able to quickly identify current bestsellers and sale items. The store even includes a place for authors to find out how to sell their books through the ACEC online store. With all ordering and order processing taking place online, the online store streamlines the payment and fulfillment process for ACEC, saving the Council's staff time and money, while generating revenue.
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