CASE STUDY: American Society for Precision Engineering


Problem
The American Society for Precision Engineering (ASPE) is a technical association for professionals who research, design, develop, manufacture and measure high-accuracy components and systems. Many of the organization’s core functions depend on efficient processing of member-related data. Yet, the existing database system was antiquated, inefficient and inaccessible to members, themselves. ASPE needed a better information infrastructure to more fully support its membership base.

Solution
We replaced ASPE’s former database with a system that incorporates enhanced capabilities – including interactive features that members can access via the society’s website. We worked closely with client stakeholders to define needs, examine options, specify customized features and train administrators for each of the system’s priorities, including:

  • SECURITY
    We devised a framework of multiple access levels to accommodate diverse user goals and privacy issues:
    • GENERAL PUBLIC: To apply for membership, register for conferences or submit abstracts
    • INDIVIDUAL PUBLIC: For those wishing to access or edit their own abstract submissions
    • ACTIVE MEMBERS: To search the member directory or modify individual contact data
    • ASPE COMMITTEE: To review and evaluate relevant abstracts
    • ADMINISTRATIVE: To manage all database functions
  • DATABASE REDESIGN
    Various factors influenced our approach:
    • Ease of data entry
    • Performance of output functions (email, correspondence, reports and lists)
    • Potential for web integration
    • Aesthetics
  • WEB FUNCTIONS
    • The list of requirements shifted and grew over time, as we helped ASPE envision a more robust user experience
    • Hosting plans changed (along with our underlying integration tasks), as we mapped-out a more elegant file management scheme

Results
By moving through a thoughtful, iterative development process, we met all of ASPE’s system upgrade goals. The association now operates more efficiently in supporting membership functions, conference management and manuscript evaluation. And the engineering community is better served through interactive features for information retrieval, membership application, conference registration, and abstract submission and review.


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