- Contractee: ImageX
- Client: California State Employees Association (CSEA)
- Related Organizations: Hellosign
- Roles: Senior Business Analyst; Product Owner; Information Architect; Content Strategist; UX Strategist
- Technology: Drupal; Azure B2C (SSO); Fastly CDN; Hellosign (document signing); eMembership MMS (a custom member management system); Solr Search; Redis; Google Tag Manager; Google Analytics; Progressive Web App (PWA) Framework
The California State Employees Association (CSEA) is a non-profit organization that serves over 200,000 members, including state employees, retirees, and their families. The primary goal of the project was to redesign and continuously improve the CSEA website to better serve its diverse membership. This involved creating a robust digital experience that would facilitate member engagement, streamline access to resources and benefits, and support the organization’s overall mission to advocate for workers’ rights. My involvement included defining the information architecture, implementing advanced content management strategies, and optimizing the user experience across multiple microsites and content types. Thereafter, I helped CSEA and our team to make improvements to the website, microsites, and integrations—particularly to help with Chapter microsites and other improvements that were saved for after the initial rebuild. I left the project in good hands by conditioning the team to use Agile methods to effectively manage and groom a backlog with great participation from CSEA.
Challenges
Complex User Experience Needs: The CSEA website serves multiple user groups including members, potential members, retirees, and staff across various microsites. Each group required distinct access permissions, content visibility, and tailored UX strategies.
Content & Data Structure Complexity: The website needed to support structured content types for events, conferences, posts, member benefits, and microsites, requiring a complex data model and robust information architecture.
System Integrations: Integration with CSEA’s eMembership system and Azure B2C for SSO needed significant customization, along with a high level of security and reliability.
Microsite Management: Implementing microsites with group-specific roles and permissions for localized content management by designated webmasters while maintaining overall website integrity and branding.
Performance & Caching: Managing high data loads and ensuring fast page load times through efficient use of caching mechanisms and a content delivery network.
Solutions
Advanced Information Architecture & UX Design: Created a comprehensive IA that structured the website’s complex content and navigational needs, facilitating a clear user experience for different user groups. Developed user roles and permissions matrices to ensure appropriate content access and management capabilities.
Custom Content Types & Taxonomy: Developed structured content types and a well-defined taxonomy system to manage and categorize the diverse range of information. Implemented a multisite architecture using Drupal’s Group module to support distinct microsite functionality.
System Integrations: Successfully integrated the website with the eMembership system for syncing user data and Azure B2C for SSO, enhancing security and user experience. Configured automated workflows for updating data and maintaining integrity across systems.
Performance Optimization: Employed Drupal’s caching mechanisms, Solr search indexes, Redis, and Fastly CDN to optimize performance and manage high data volumes. Utilized automated deployment workflows and rigorous testing protocols to ensure stability and reliability.
Progressive Web App (PWA): Implemented a PWA framework to provide enhanced mobile functionality, particularly for conference attendees, with plans to extend features for offline content and notifications.
Results
Improved User Engagement: Enhanced member benefit engagement and microsite utilization. Specific KPIs included member acquisition and retention, with engagement targets reaching over 90%.
Scalable Content Management: The new architecture allowed for efficient content updates and management, reducing administrative overhead and enabling CSEA staff and microsite webmasters to easily maintain content.
Increased Website Performance: Achieved faster page load times and reduced server response times through optimized caching and CDN usage. Regular deployments and performance monitoring ensured continuous improvements.
Enhanced User Experience: The user-centric design, advanced search capabilities, and personalized content delivery created a more intuitive and engaging experience for CSEA’s diverse audience.