There’s no dispute. CPR’s website offers a collaborative platform for corporate general counsel and their law firms.

Challenge

The International Institute for Conflict Prevention and Resolution (CPR), a legal think tank and a pioneer in the field of commercial dispute prevention, management and resolution, required a new website for more effective dissemination of ADR-related business tools and resources and for the marketing of CPR’s membership, products and services. At the time, the design of CPR’s website was outdated and did not provide a positive user experience. In the absence of an overall site strategy, the site lacked intuitive navigation, with many workflows requiring more than five mouse-clicks.

My Approach/Role
As chief web strategist for CPR, I was singularly responsible for developing the overall website strategy and for the hands-on direction of all phases of web development, including vendor selection, identifying functional specifications, conducting user needs assessment, drafting requirements document/statement of work (SOW), overall site design, site mapping and wireframe construction, content development, custom database interface, alpha and beta testing, implementation, and launch.  I handled all contract negotiations, securing significant discounts of 50% or more, and effectively directed external web development team and internal IT consultants to deliver site under budget and within months of contract signing.

My process included:

• Requirements Analysis
  Researching best practices for new web technologies and developing the website strategy by conducting user analysis.  The latter included identifying business needs and objectives, determining usage patterns and other stakeholder requirements, and authoring the functional specifications. Crafting a requirements document/SOW for the website redesign.
• Technology Interface and Wireframe Development
  Designing wireframes and navigation diagrams. Defining user roles and accessibility. Leading a technical team of IT consultants and web development expert in the design and implementation of the interface with CPR’s membership and ecommerce database.
• Content Development, Design and Programming
  Supervising the development of the overall site design, skin and graphic elements, home and secondary page layout. Creating and uploading more than 235 pages of static and dynamic content.
• Implementation and Analysis
  Supervising alpha and beta testing, user feedback evaluation, implementation, and launch. As Webmaster, performing ongoing management of web content, website expansion, system upgrades and enhancements, and troubleshooting.  Conducting on-going web tracking and statistical analysis (utilizing Google Analytics, competitor analysis and other tools) to measure and analyze the effectiveness of website workflows and messaging. 

Solution
I delivered an extensive rebuild and redesign of CPR’s website, www.cpradr.org, achieving a robust web portal that optimized the user experience. CPR’s 2008 website represented a major step forward in CPR’s use of technology as an effective engagement platform. It quickly transformed the organization’s presence on the web and its user-friendly format made CPR’s site a valuable research tool for ADR practitioners around the world. In 2010, I implemented additional enhancements, tools and other capabilities to increase website visitation, better engage users, and streamline website workflows. To accomplish this, I partnered with IBM web consulting team to explore best practices and dissect CPR’s web architecture and opportunities for SEO enhancements. Utilizing Google Analytics, competitor analysis and custom visitor tracking tools, I also conducted analysis to measure and analyze the effectiveness of website workflows and messaging. In constructing the most recent site, efforts focused on: 1) refining the site design for consistency across pages; 2) simplifying and expanding access to content; 3) enhancing functionality and navigation for the user; and 4) ensuring SEO compliance across the site.

Outcome
Transformed CPR’s intellectual property into a web-based legal research repository replete with strategic workflows, collaborative tools (blogs, podcasts, videos, RSS feeds), and robust content management system (CMS).  In addition to a vibrant new look, the website featured a powerful new way to navigate and search, making it easier for users to learn about and access CPR’s wide range of services and tools. In two years, increased registered users on primary site by nearly 600%.

Design Partner: iBelong Networks