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The Horizon Foundation
The Horizon Foundation
is breaking new ground in Howard County, Maryland by planning a single-source
web site that will function as the premiere resource for information about
health and human service providers, as well as a means of exchanging information
among nonprofit organizations in the area. This visionary endeavor will
involve hundreds of social service agencies in the region and is intended
to become a national web-based information and referral model.
Ellipsis Partners
has been engaged to help identify and articulate a complex set of technical
requirements and to oversee the technical development of the site. In
addition, our expertise in community building and online marketing will
be used to ensure that the tool provides interactive service to the residents
and will provide multiple access points so the services can be utilized
by all populations. In tandem, we provide The Horizon Foundation guidance
and support in the planning and maintenance of their organizational web
site.
APICS - The Educational
Society for Resource Management
APICS has a long
history of providing premiere educational products in support of production
and inventory control professionals. Over the years it has successfully
expanded its education and certification offerings across industries,
defining the standard body of knowledge that supports manufacturing, production,
etc. As it looks to the future, APICS is looking to gather valuable market
research to assist them in determining the viability of new products and
services (e.g., eLearning) for the membership and the industry at large.
Ellipsis Partners
has worked with APICS to develop online surveys to target three markets:
current members, former members and potential customers. We also facilitated
a series of focus groups to further define customer needs. The results
of this research will enable APICS to develop a marketing plan for membership
recruitment and retention, and for their existing product line. The organization
will also gain the information they need to develop new services for the
resource management industry.
Appalachian Regional
Commission
The Appalachian Regional
Commission (ARC) is a federal agency mandated to promote the economic
development of Appalachia. It sees the Internet as another way to reach
a group that finds itself geographically isolated from themselves and
the rest of the world. Ellipsis Partners facilitated a series of tasks
to define strategy, requirements and to write an RFP for an online "resource
center" that will help ARC more efficiently reach and support their
unique audience. Ellipsis Partners was also engaged by ARC to assist staff
in managing the project though vendor communications and staff training.
Through the development of a style-guide for the content management system
to advising on accessibility issues, we have helped ARC staff in multiple
ways.
The Innovation
Center for Community and Youth Development
The Innovation Center
for Community and Youth Development, (formerly a Division of National
4-H Council), is a leader in youth involvement and youth development.
The organization engaged our efforts to help in the planning and developing
of a web site to serve as the definitive source of information and tools
for Youth in Governance. The site launched this fall as www.atthetable.org,
and will serve youth development practitioners, the youth-in-governance
field, and young people through information sharing and community building
tools.
Ellipsis Partners
served as the technical advisor for this endeavor, participating in the
strategic planning, identifying and communicating technical and functional
requirements and consulting on the development and marketing of the site.
National Education
Association
The NEA called upon
our market research expertise to help define member needs for their online
community portal. We created unique data-gathering instruments, including
member surveys and focus group agenda. Using Ellipsis Partners skilled
facilitators, we conducted a series of nationwide member focus groups
to obtain a frontline perspective on the association's web activity and
future direction. This information was crafted into an executive summary
and used to define NEA's member services and online community features.
National Association
of College and University Attorneys
The National Association
of College and University Attorneys (NACUA) plays an important role in
the continuing legal education of university counsel. Prompted by changes
in member travel and work patterns, improvements in technology tools,
and the success of their initial virtual seminars, NACUA seeks Ellipsis
Partners' expertise to assess member readiness, and to develop options
for electronic delivery of the association's education programming. We
will conduct an online member survey, research the experiences of similar
higher education and professional associations, and perform a vendor scan.
These tasks will result in a recommendations report to assist NACUA in
developing its eLearning strategy.
Connecticut Conference
of Municipalities
The Connecticut Conference
of Municipalities (CCM) sought the assistance of Ellipsis Partners to
help get started with web strategic planning. After a comprehensive audit
of the site and web statistical analysis, we conducted a series of facilitated
discussions and focus groups with staff, members and volunteer leaders.
This allowed us to: (1) educate each group about CCM’s potential
with the Web (2) articulate a mission statement and goals for their web
initiative and (3) define their web direction in the context of available
resources. The outcome was a strategic direction for their web initiative,
plus recommendations for how to achieve their goals. Our relationship
with CCM continues as we design, disseminate and analyze a Municipal IT
survey for the cities and towns in the state of Connecticut.
Maryland Association
of Counties
The Maryland Association
of Counties (MACo) represents the elected county officials in the state
of Maryland and has a unique opportunity to use Internet technology to
serve its members. Our work with them includes stakeholder interviews,
member survey, comparable organization scan and site assessment, all leading
to the creation of a web strategy and RFP for development of their next
generation web presence.
National Association
of Professional Insurance Agents
PIAnet.com serves
as the association’s information resource to its members and the
general public. The association seeks to explore more of what Internet
technology can do to serve the organization, and provide service to its
state affiliates and members. Ellipsis Partners will conduct a site analysis,
stakeholder interviews and both member and state affiliate surveys to
establish the operating baseline of their web presence. Using the results
of this research, we will develop an outline of the proposed web strategy
and provide guidance for evaluating their current content management strategy.
Our final report will also enumerate the tasks that should follow this
effort in order to complete the strategic planning process.
National Society
of Professional Engineers
Ellipsis Partners
provided market research design and support for the National Society of
Professional Engineers (NSPE). Ellipsis Partners worked with the association
to develop online surveys targeting markets: current members, former members,
nonmembers and influencers, in an effort to elicit feedback on current
products and services, and to generate ideas for future or revised offerings.
The results of our work is an aggregate perspective from these segments
on NSPE’s product and services offerings, and specific suggestions
for next steps.
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