Objectives
This project was primarily about optimizing existing problem areas withing the CMS tool, as well as adding some new functionality. First, the cumbersome and time consuming process of building a rich media module needed to be optimized. Second, the process for building site navigation was also very inefficient. Third, when building and modifying modules there was not a clear record of your work and what changes were going to launch with the next data push. Forth, a method of setting a timer for modules to activate and deactivate was needed.
Challenges
The CMS Tool, a proprietary application, was minimally customizable, thus limiting possible robust solutions. Given the limited options it was difficult to create a visual system for identifying which modules had been modified, were going live with the data push, etc. The module timer proved to be much more complex than originally imagined because there were several possible combinations of icon display updates, module modification cutoff time, and the data push.
Solution
Using the Tool in a test enviorment I learned every detail of how to setup a module, noting unnecessary steps and unclear elements. I then created a proposal for a modified process, automating several steps and adding functionality to skip unneeded steps. I presented the proposal to users of the Tool and to the Tool engineers to much aplomb. I reduced the number of steps from 9 to 4, and designed much faster and easier module editing. For the tracking of work and module timers I proposed a system of simple visual icon displays which would identify modified modules, current module state on the live site, modules which were going to change with the data push, and modules which were being controlled by timers.
