OCC Develops Web-based Applications for Leadership Consultancy
Improves efficiency of staff with fast and easy updating of website content
Minimizes downtime internally and externally for 3 business critical systems
OCC took part in a rigorous selection process to become The Thinking Partnership’s technical partner. The leadership consultancy were looking for a professional, reliable organisation with a portfolio of technical skills to host, maintain and develop the three web-based applications, which are central to their business, and a new corporate website as part of a major rebrand.
The Thinking Partnership works with clients to accelerate the growth of their leadership capability through assessing and developing an individual’s character strengths and intelligences. Their distinctive approach helps organisations to develop their ability to tackle challenges that cannot be resolved using familiar solutions, instead, require a change of hearts and minds to create deeper change and values. Their clients include FTSE100 companies in the UK, Europe and the Americas, spanning a variety of sectors including telecoms, manufacturing, financial services, as well as the public and not-for-profit sectors.
Translation of designs to website
The two key challenges for OCC were to develop a website that translated designs created by The Thinking Partnership’s graphic designer into a functioning website, at the same time as creating a simple content management system which staff could use to update content with minimal training or support. All of this within a tight deadline, timed to coincide with the launch of the new brand!
The website was developed using Umbraco, an ASP-based content management system. Umbraco uses Extensible Stylesheet Language Transformation (XSLT) technology which allows dynamic pages to be built through the administration pages of the site. Our choice of tools allowed us to build a fast, attractive and easy to administer site in a very short space of time. When we changed the domain names we ensured that the site did not lose its Google rankings.
Complex migration of 3 systems
Shortly after launching the website OCC were tasked with migrating The Thinking Partnership’s web-based applications from their previous supplier to a new hosting supplier, as well as taking over ongoing support, maintenance and development.
The three systems are critical to The Thinking Partnership’s business and it was essential to minimize the amount of downtime, both for internal users and for external clients using:
- Relationship Q, a unique online tool designed to help people create more effective relationships in the workplace
- Capability Q, a 360 degree performance management system
- The Thinking Partnership’s assessment database.
This was a complex challenge as the systems used elements of proprietary software developed by the previous supplier which had to be installed and set up correctly on the new server. OCC managed and co-ordinated the project, liaising with the previous supplier to ensure the project’s successful completion.
The Thinking Partnership’s Systems Manager, Charlie Worters says: "We have made the right choice in partnering with OCC. They are responsive, reliable and deliver on time, while remaining refreshingly calm.”
