Leveraging AngularJS, LCM built a seamless custom subscription purchasing workflow app to guide the user through the dynamic purchasing workflow by feeding and pulling data as necessary to and from HubSpot, their marketing automation tool; SalesForce, their CRM; and Zuora, their subscription management service.

The custom subscription calculator in the AngularJS app pulled in data in real time from Zuora, using Zuora’s APIs, so users were presented with the most up-to-date pricing. Once the purchasing workflow was complete, the user’s card was charged and they received an email with their receipt and license key moments later, all without needing to speak to a DeepIS representative.

We used our expertise in Agile methodologies to bring order to complexity and the product to launch. We began by building and prioritizing a backlog of tasks, and getting high-priority tasks into a ready state by defining appropriate definitions of done. We focused on implementing strategies for limiting the work in progress present in the project when we started. We forecasted a few sprint goals, informed by our backlog development and resulting strategies, and quickly went into heavy development.

Immediate visibility for stakeholders into development progress became of major importance for their own ability to make quick business decisions concerning their investment. In order to maximize the value of the work, we adapted our initial Scrum iteration approach into shorter, one-week sprints of continuous delivery to get small groups of completed tasks out faster. This soon evolved into more of an ideal Kanban flow, allowing a continuous awareness and continuous delivery of the right value.

Working with Yale ITS and the Press, we successfully implemented a nightly sync that queries their SQL Server for changes made in the last 24-hrs and updates the records in Drupal in under 15 minutes every night at midnight.

We joined the project to get it across the finish line. We refined the existing agile approach for a better-organized project backlog and a more deliberate iteration strategy.

Our solution included working with in-house developers to migrate and upgrade numerous features and systems to work with the most current major Drupal version. Tailored reporting capabilities were developed, giving real-time statistical and sales figures for their support team and company executives.

In addition to a full branding treatment, we developed a solution for students to reserve and configure when and where their items would be picked up and delivered.

An iPad point of sale interface was also developed for employees to process payment for each customer during pickup time as well as to manage all business workflow. All College Storage soon became the premier moving and storage solution for students in Western Mass.

We developed a faceted search tool for their catalog to solve the challenge of filtering through the options to get to a specific product. By structuring and categorizing the products and content of this store appropriately in the database, we were able to implement faceted searching functionality, not only for the store, but for other content as well.

We worked with Competitive Advantage to update the design of their website, port it to the most current version of Drupal, and migrate away from their former eCommerce system to Commerce. Improvements to the checkout workflow were implemented, product images were updated, and full content control was given to Competitive Advantage to maintain product copy.

We worked with a very detailed set of specifications on this project. The team at YUP were very clear about the data structures and attributes that were needed. Drupal’s Organic Groups were the perfect solution for the needs of this project. Some parts of the site needed to be accessible to accounts with codes from a specific book. Other parts of the site needed to be available to students with access to any book.

We built two separate registration forms with different fields on each form. On the site, users self-select the form that they need to fill out. Successful registration requires a valid access code for student accounts, which are then automatically activated. Instructors are able to register without entering an access code, but those accounts need to be reviewed and activated by the site administrator. Automated emails are sent during and after registration, and notifications are sent to users when their account is about to expire.

After registration, all of the information entered during registration is visible and editable by both the user and the administrator on the user’s account page. Some custom work was needed to make this page display the correct fields in a user-friendly format. We used the Yale authentication system as the basis of the site authentication functionality; it was important, though, that the login screen not look like a Yale login screen, since most of the site users would have no direct connection with the Yale community. 

Access codes needed to be generated within the system by the site administrator for the two existing volumes of the text. All codes needed to be associated with a specific volume of the text (Book 1 or Book 2), and not be able to be transferred to a different account or otherwise be re-used. Since Books 3 and 4 were in production at the time of this project, the system needed to allow the administrators to generate the codes for content that did not yet exist so that those codes could be printed in the books. A user account needed to be able to have multiple access codes to different content with different expiration dates.

Current users would need to be migrated to the new site and matched with codes that would provide access to the correct volume and for the correct amount of time. Yale was able to perform the user migration on their own, using documentation and training provided by LCM.

A new sitemap was devised, consisting of both categorization pages as well as merchant pages. Each page of the site has the ability to “feature” certain coupons, which are chosen automatically or overridden by an administrator. We leveraged Drupal to aggregate new coupons, categorizing and qualifying them automatically, as well as weeding out any duplicates as they come in. Due to the high volume of content on every page, we implemented a performance plan that met stringent testing requirements.

The Society of St. Vincent de Paul (SVdP) is a non-profit organization dedicated to serving the poor and providing others with the opportunity to serve. The digital experience SVdP offers to their community of supporters is an important part of achieving their mission. Last Call Media has been handling the ongoing feature development, the necessary support, and regular maintenance of the SVdP sites for the past several years.

Online donations made easy

Any time the SVdP team initiates a new campaign, whether fundraising for Thanksgiving, COVID-19 relief or homelessness prevention, a new web form needs to be created on stvincentdepaul.net. 

Last Call Media worked with SVdP to create an elaborate system for the site that relies heavily on a combination of web forms, Salesforce and Braintree. The web forms are integrated into the Drupal 7 site, Salesforce serves as the source of truth for creating and managing new contacts, while Braintree is used for processing online payments. Once we completed building the system, we began the process of rolling out functionality to enable SVdP to launch targeted giving campaign pages on their own. 

The new functionality enables the SVdP to independently handle any new campaign and helps the team keep track of all the different data points  while making the online experience of the supporters quick and simple.

A streamlined process for scheduling pickups 

In addition to web forms for financial donations, SVdP faces an additional layer of complexity when scheduling pickups of donated goods like furniture and clothing. 

Previously, SVdP used a system of phone calls, taken at their call center, which were then recorded in Salesforce. These were then manually screened and assigned to driver routes each day. Because there is a limit to the number of pickups SVdP could perform in one day, there would often be situations where a person’s pickup had to be rescheduled because it was accidentally added to an already-full route.

Last Call Media worked with SVdP to streamline that process. We used Checkfront to automate the booking process, presenting a customized version of the booking interface within an iframe on SVdP’s Drupal site, connecting it to their existing Salesforce account, and cutting out the need for people to call into SVdP to schedule a donation pickup. We were even able to add a unique custom receipt URL, so after completing the booking process users are directed to a Drupal webform where they have the option of donating to SVdP to support their free pickup service.

The new process greatly decreased the amount of time the SVdP team needs to spend on each of these donations. Now they are able to schedule more pickups per zip code area per day and have confidence in the system they need to rely on every day.

Automated transaction reports  

When we started working with SVdP, their finance team needed to run several reports manually and cross-reference the data in order to begin the process of analyzing transaction reports. 

One of our projects together, as part of our ongoing support and maintenance relationship, was to improve the sites reporting capabilities by aggregating transaction data from their formerly separated eCommerce sites into one exportable master transaction report. 

Last Call Media turned a lengthy manual process into an automated one that makes a .csv available within a few clicks.