Content Company case study -- American Hospital Association

case study — American Hospital Association

In 2001, the American Hospital Association had 62 URLs leading to 37 distinct websites for the association's personal membership groups and industry news. The sites were designed and managed independently, with minimal sharing of information of process.

The AHA engaged Qwest Interactive to produce a portal, powered by a content management system, Interwoven TeamSite. The AHA's goals were:

to bring all of its Web properties together
to enable content owners to manage their own information
to create opportunities for knowledge sharing among content owners and content reuse for various audiences

Content Company, working with Qwest, helped the AHA develop the strategies and understanding necessary to make the CMS/portal effective. We:

helped educate content owners about content management and worked with them to understand overlapping information areas
developed site types, target audiences and content types
developed a controlled vocabulary, to increase the content's dynamic delivery opportunities and maximize searchability
collaborated with Qwest's information architecture and design team to develop best-practice navigation and visual design for the portal, to extend the AHA's brand and to improve usability for its sites

As a result of this effort, the AHA went on to develop an industry-leading portal, HospitalConnect.com, that aggregates content and personalizes it to users based on the taxonomy we developed. Site visitors get information that is relevant to them, information that may have originated in any part of the AHA. The AHA's sites are now updated, with a consistent look and feel, and contribute positively to the association's brand identity. The portal has been honored by ComputerWorld magazine for its innovativeness and use of technology to drive organizational progress.

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