Publishing system for the medical conferences leader
Story by DP Press Team
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5 min read
A pain killer for Via Medica's problem - managing 150+ conference sites annually thanks to Drupal 8 websites builder under one roof.
They share medical knowledge, we contribute solutions. Our cooperation brought forth an integrated system to build and operate the websites for medical conferences.
CLIENT
Via Medica boasts almost a quarter of a century of experience in the medical education market. It provides up-to-date and reliable knowledge to doctors, students, patients, and scientists on a daily basis. It publishes over 40 magazines. Our Customer is also one of the largest multimedia platforms of medical know-how in Poland. The company offers over 5500 video lectures, live streaming from its own webinars, conferences, and interviews with experts and authorities from around the globe.
Via Medica is an undisputed leader on the Polish market in the comprehensive organization of scientific and educational conferences. Every year it holds several hundred such events. They concern various fields of medicine and public health and are a great opportunity for their participants to share knowledge and experience.
CHALLENGE
Coordinating a medical conference entails considerable effort. It is necessary to take care of content-related issues, proper selection of experts, logistics, and marketing. To be able to promote the event on the web, a dedicated website must be created. This is already a standard in today's world. Someone has to constantly update it and fill it with content. But what if several hundred such events are organized annually? How does one get a grip on the entire thing?
Thus far, every service of this kind was created from scratch. It meant thousands of lines of code and wasted hours working on the layout, content, and graphics. Each time the editors had to think about how to clearly present the program of a given conference, create a description of the expert and react if one of them canceled participation at the last minute. Everything was done with the help of separate old CMSs and quick changes in the program of a given conference were practically impossible.
The customer knew that something better, more cutting edge, and, above all, much more efficient was needed. The company needed a tool that would speed up the process of preparing new conferences.
SOLUTION
The huge scale of Via Medica's activity on the market required the implementation of an effective dedicated tool. We came up with a system based on the Drupal 8 engine to build dedicated conference websites.
Our platform allows creating individual websites under their own domains, each with its separate content and the possibility of adapting all its elements to a specific topic and event. However, everything takes place in one spot and the defined functionalities are applied. Not only does it reduce time but also helps to deal away with chaos and avoidable efforts.
The fact that websites are not created "from scratch" is also time-saving. They immediately gain a set of basic, necessary functions. The editor only throws in further building blocks, and subsequent ready-made elements and adapts them to given needs - for example, the list of lecturers, sponsors, the program for particular days, or even suggestions for the lodgings in a given city. It allows to quickly tweak the site, even its most minute details – for example, a specific minute of a coffee break in a given panel discussion. The system also enables quick cloning of entire conferences, so that editors can build a new service based on the previous one in the blink of an eye.
The challenge for the customer was to create similar visuals for all conferences while maintaining the ability to give them individual character. Our tool is perfect for that. It allows graphic designers to build the individual character of each site.
The possibility to use the lecturers' index is also a great convenience for the customer. It is a database connected with our platform with information on individual experts, their various roles, and academic titles. The base is used by editors to create lists of event participants. It is constantly updated. Our platform has also been integrated with the video content publication system used by the customer.
The most advanced module in the system is conference program management. Introducing updates resulting from e.g. changes in the subject or lecturers is an effortless task. Everything can be done by mere drag & drop. Editors build programs from chosen modules, select a conference template, create nests in the program, additional rooms, and quickly make global changes in the program.
END RESULT
We responded to the client's needs. The challenge of quickly creating visually appealing websites for medical conferences and linking them to form one coherent ecosystem was met. We provided a platform for publication, which was perfectly tailored to the needs.
OUR CHECKLIST
- System technical architecture & documentation
- Implementation - Drupal 8 as the basis of the solution
- Functional models & design system
- Integration with customer's internal systems
- API construction for external systems
- Application testing & live implementation
- ClickMeeting system integration for online conferences
Time of execution: 6 months
Client: Via Medica - www.viamedica.pl
