Big Brothers Big Sisters Agency Extranet
Web Site Redesign
Big Brothers Big Sisters (BBBS), founded in 1904, is the oldest and largest
youth mentoring organization in the United States. In 2005, BBBS served 234,000
children, ages 6 through 18, in all 50 states. BBBS engaged Beaconfire to design
a password-protected Web site for streamlining communication channels and
optimizing the exchange of information within the BBBS agency community.
The
Challenge: The “Agency Extranet” needed to be intuitive and user-friendly in
its presentation of customized content to multifaceted audience groups. BBBS
desired to populate this Extranet with relevant, up-to-date content drawn from a
variety of sources, including national, regional and local contributors.
The
Solution: Beaconfire guided BBBS throughout all phases of the Agency Extranet
project. After leading discussions with eighteen project stakeholders and agency
staff to outline goals and audiences for the new site, Beaconfire coordinated a
workshop to review the existing site features as well as desired functionality
for the new Extranet.
Based on these discussions, the following key features
were identified:
- Localized news and information (by agency and region);
- Administrative review of documents through an editorial approval process;
- Agency reporting based on data entered via online forms;
- Staff directory;
- Powerful all-site search tool;
- Organization-wide calendar;
- Email newsletters; and
- Online e-community tools (featuring discussion boards, polls, and surveys).
Within just five months, BBBS had an Agency Extranet site that connects and informs BBBS agencies and staff nationwide. The new Extranet was unveiled to broad acclaim during the organization’s national conference in June 2006.