Case Study: Sierra Nevada Corporation Website

Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNCorp) delivers innovative, customer-focused, end-to-end solutions for Space, Aviation, Electronics and Systems Integration. For both public and private sector clients.

• Redesign the site, sncorp.com, based on their premium design agency’s work
• Go live with the new design as fast as possible
• Build the long-term solution, integrating the site with a content management system (CMS), within 30 days

SNCorp hired the design agency to achieve the first two phases. Starting with a beautiful design for their new branding needs. Then, they built and implemented a fully functional, static web site. Phases one and two… complete.

SNCorp understood that a static web site would be quicker to build than a dynamic web site. This allowed them to get to market quickly. They also knew they needed a dynamic site for their long-term solution.

SNCorp chose Umbraco as their CMS. Umbraco CMS is open source, written for, and runs on the Microsoft .NET platform. It has a flexible and intuitive environment for working with any type of content. End-users need not know HTML, JavaScript, CSS nor any other programming languages. This would allow SNCorp to achieve its main objectives:

• Convert a complex, visual design into a dynamic, CMS web site
• Allow existing staff to edit and add content, requiring no coding skills
• Change content in a single location yet affect multiple web pages
• Leverage their existing .NET code base and Microsoft security technologies

Other popular CMS products, like WordPress and Drupal, don’t support this. With their planned, iterative solution two-thirds complete, SNCorp needed an Umbraco CMS expert. That's why they reached out to Fyin.com. SNCorp hired us based on our extensive Umbraco CMS experience. We are an Umbraco Gold Partner. We specialize in converting an agency’s custom design into a simple, easy-to-manage environment for non-technical staff.

“Fyin.com made it easy and intuitive for SNCorp to build future components for their site using Umbraco CMS. All while keeping with the intended design.”
Andrew Barta, Umbraco Trainer

• Set up an environment to work without disrupting the live site
• Set up build and deploy servers in a real-time, staging environment
• Built in continuous integration to see and share site changes immediately
• Created and configured new web site using Umbraco CMS
• Imported all HTML code, images, and other assets from sncorp.com

After setting up their infrastructure it was time to configure their custom editor experience. With our expertise plus the rich Umbraco custom editing environment, we make it easy for end-users to manage a complete site. Point-and-click, drag-and-drop, no coding required. We:

• Analyzed the HTML code to understand what changes to make
• Inserted Umbraco snippets into HTML code to create dynamic functionality
• Centralized all call-to-actions, page banners, navigational menus, social media URLs and global site settings
• Configured search and indexing features for visitors to find what they needed on the site
• Integrated with Microsoft security

We accomplished this with two Umbraco developers, over a single agile sprint. From the start of the project to a month later, we delivered on SNCorp’s goals. And, on-time, on-budget, without disrupting the live site.

• All content stored in a single location. They no longer needed to search for and update the same or similar content, previously sprinkled throughout the site.
• An intuitive, customized editor to manage their site. Current, non-technical staff could now use Umbraco’s hierarchal browser and editor to place snippets onto any page (and create new ones, too).
• A rich, yet simple image editor to crop and adjust images right in place with the content. No need to use a 3rd party image software program (though they certainly could).
• Faster page loads by about 1 to 1.5 seconds
• Any content can be rolled back to a previous version
• Multiple marketing features configured for SNCorp to implement later, as they grow their solution
• SNCorp confident in growing their site. We trained their technical people how to update their site using Umbraco CMS

“The Fyin.com team is amazing! We needed a custom Umbraco CMS implemented for our branded design... and quickly. Not only did they deliver a fast, powerful system- it's incredibly easy to manage. Thanks Fyin.com!”
Adam Carter, Digital Communications Manager, Sierra Nevada Corporation