Client Sucesses - Old Dominion University
The Big Blue Club needed a new Website and Internet-based application to promote the Club and provide a broader range of information than the existing site could accomplish. The
existing "site" was a loose collection of PDFs and other documents that presented information in a very unattractive way. The information was somewhat outdated and incomplete.
The Club contracted with Marathon Consulting for the design and development of a comprehensive site capable of providing targeted information to both the general public and to Club donors
(members). It also needed to be tightly integrated with the odu.sports.com Website in order to allow users to gain access to existing information provided by the ODU Athletic Department,
suppliers, and other third parties.
Marathon consultants worked with the University staff to identify and prioritize the site requirements. The Club provided a conceptual design for general layout of the site and their
vision for use of the site. These requirements and features were then incorporated into a design and development plan that called for certain features and functions to be brought online in
a phased manner. This allowed the project team to focus on those features that would provide the Club with the biggest benefits in shortest possible time.
The site was developed in order to serve two goals:
- Generate interest in the Club and garner new donors. This goal was met by providing information on the Club’s mission, the importance of individual donors to the success of
ODU’s athletic programs, and other informational content. It enabled the user to make a pledge or actual gift through the Website. It also served as a portal to other functions
such as ticket and equipment purchases, scheduling information, and email to the Club administrators.
- Provide existing donors with current information on their membership status, priority ranking, and gift history. The design included access to a comprehensive database
containing information on each donor: their gift history, their ticket purchase history, and the formula used to determine their priority ranking.
Development of the site resulted in a comprehensive, Internet-based application with an expansive database, self-contained content management (CMS) capabilities, a table-driven means of
defining Priority Ranking formulas. Both the CMS and user-defined formulas enable administrators of the system to update the system without programmer intervention.