endorsedCompleted

Website and CMS Development for Children's Publisher

Services Covered:

Website Development • CMS Development • API Development • DevOps

Industry

Publishing

Duration

108 months

Budget

1M - 10M

Start Date

1 January 2008

Team Size

6-10 Employees

Engagement Model

Offshore

Project Capability Score (PCS)

73/100

Good

Project Capability Score (PCS) estimates how capable u2i is of successfully delivering a project like this, based on its past experience, track record, and ability to handle similar work. Learn more about PCS

Client

Confidential

New York City, United States of America

Project Summary

u2i served as the primary web developer for a large children's book publisher from 2008 to 2017, building new Ruby on Rails sites, maintaining PHP sites, integrating APIs, and customizing a flexible CMS. They implemented responsive, expandable systems, provided DevOps support for games, and helped the client adopt an agile process in which managers also developed. The work supported an active community and large user engagement on the publisher's sites.

Key Challenges

Replace and improve on work from a previous vendor while reducing costs
Salvage and modernize an older site and establish a sustainable path forward
Build a scalable, flexible CMS and integrate APIs across products

Project Deliverables

Custom and highly flexible CMS for multiple sites
Responsive websites built with Ruby on Rails and maintained PHP sites
API integrations connecting user data across systems
Message boards/community forums built from scratch
DevOps support for games and other systems
Transition plan and handover to a lower-cost maintenance team

Project Solution

Over nearly a decade, u2i acted as the publisher's primary web developer, building new Ruby on Rails sites and maintaining legacy PHP sites. They customized a powerful, flexible CMS to integrate many features and user data across the platform, implemented API integrations, and provided DevOps support for games and related systems. They also helped choose commercial and custom tools, ensured responsive and expandable builds, and managed the transition to a lower-cost maintenance team.

Project Outcome

A community of hundreds of thousands of users with over 10,000 monthly posts on the message boards u2i built
Increased site responsiveness and flexibility, enabling fast marketing-driven changes
Successful adoption of an agile process where managers also acted as developers

Platforms

Tech Stack

Ruby on Rails
PHP
REST API

Client Endorsement

Overall Review Rating

4.88

Timeliness

Cost Rating

Willing to Refer

Quality of Deliverables

“The community of users has grown and is active on message boards u2i built from scratch. They helped adopt a successful agile process and each manager also acted as a developer on each project. They set a high standard for any other vendor.”
Anonymous
Digital Product Director
Date: 03/30/2018