The case
Sao Silvero was approached by a UK based oil and gas industry consultancy, which operated a web-based knowledge management database.
The system was a community, for want of a better word, where engineers across the world could ask assistance of their peers, with problems that they were having at the time. Other engineers with access to the system would then answer these questions, if they possessed a potential solution. The principle behind the idea of sharing knowledge, even between engineers employed by competing firms, was that all involved would benefit and problems could be solved much more rapidly and cost effectively.
Subscriptions were available to companies within the oil industry, allowing multiple employees access to the system.
The consultancy had expert knowledge in the field of engineering within the oil and gas industry. The Consultancy staff did not have the necessary IT skills to develop and manage the knowledge management system, and so contracted out this requirement to an IT development company.
However the Consultancy soon felt that the development company was performing unsatisfactorily in a number of areas, including:
- Inability to create a website to the standards that the Consultancy demanded
- Poor implementation of the site with regards to administration
- Communication difficulties with the development company
- Lack of consistent branding
- Introduction of unsuitable functionality that provided no benefit to the targeted users, such as a blog feature.
The Consultancy was therefore looking for a new web-application development firm that was able to address the deficiencies and further develop the product. It also wanted a developer that was able and eager to provide input and propose its own ideas.
Analysis by Sao Silvero
Sao Silvero then proceeded to detail how these problems could be addressed, providing a newly designed platform on which to grow the product, the solutions to some of which are outlined below.
Working with you
Sao Silvero Ltd promotes a structured and effective working relationship with its clients, which is detailed in the document, “Working with you”.
This document addresses many of the issues raised by the Consultancy from the use of a Specification to detail the project requirements, to formal communication procedures that reduce the chances of confusion and encourage frequent dialogue between all parties.
Content Management System
Even with effective communications, there are more efficient ways to manage a website than placing the whole burden on an IT developer. IT developers are normally adept at producing IT applications, but less likely to possess the necessary linguistic flair to write the content for the Consultancy, and more importantly understand the Consultancy’s business as comprehensively as the Consultancy does. Therefore the management of the content should remain in the hands of the Consultancy. To make this a realistic proposition, the management of the content needs to be made as simple as possible, which Sao Silvero can offer through the implementation of its Content Management System (CMS). The CMS, as its name suggests, allows for easy content management and more information on its specific attributes can be found on the “Content Management System” section of the Sao Silvero website.
Design
The artistic design of the site was identified as one of the more serious complaints. Sao Silvero developers pride themselves on the quality of their designs and provided the Consultancy with mock-up images of what the redeveloped site could look like.
Two concepts were developed, and have been reproduced below. The first is of the index page, and the second of a forum page, as it was thought pertinent to visualise one of the primary components of the site for the client. Click on the thumbnails to see full size images.
Figure 1. Index page concept.
Figure 2. Forum discussion page concept.
Branding
Closely related to the design of the overall site was the branding of the actual product. Sao Silvero had been asked to provide constructive input to the redevelopment as well, and the developers had concluded that the design of the original logo did not instil confidence in the user that it was a professional product.
Additionally, the product name, “Spread”, and domain name used to access the online tool, “myspread”, were slightly different. Therefore a new logo was proposed that would both complement the site redesign and reinforce the brand name. A comparison of the two can be seen below.
Figure 3. Existing product logo.
Figure 4. Concept product logo.
Sao Silvero believes it is important to propose new innovations, functionality and opportunities that actually add value, to each client. With no requirement that the client adopt any of the proposals, Sao Silvero would not otherwise be meeting its responsibility of ensuring that each client was provided with the most appropriate and able solution possible.
Unsuitable technologies
A blog feature had been added to the site by the original developers. Whilst blogs may be useful in certain circumstances, for a site that is aimed at oil and gas industry engineers getting answers to their technical problems, it proved not to be the case in this instance. Many of the engineers did not even know what a blog was, and those that did, had no use for such a feature. It simply cluttered the site and took the focus off the site’s primary purpose. Whilst Sao Silvero will advise the client of appropriate potential enhancements to each project, at no time do we promote the use of any technology simply because it is in vogue. If we do not think a feature will add any value to a site, we will not promote it.
The outcome
The Consultancy was impressed with the proposal put forward by Sao Silvero. It addressed all of the concerns raised and current difficulties experienced by the Consultancy, and demonstrated the potential of the product in the market, should it go ahead with a redesign. The Consultancy has decided to refocus its efforts on expanding its client base in order to secure the future viability of the product, before committing to a complex redesign of the web based product.