Selected work / Custom CMS + Web Platform
CGEF
One platform for the content, members, and events behind an organization.
The public website is only part of CGEF's web platform. Behind it is a custom content and membership system supporting public information, members-only resources, organizations, contacts, events, registrations, permissions, and day-to-day administration.
01 / The starting point
The relationship started with an existing website.
Our work with CGEF began in 2015 by taking responsibility for an existing website. That provided an opportunity to understand how the organization used the site, what administrators needed to manage, and where the existing system created limitations.
As those requirements became clearer, the project grew beyond maintaining the existing implementation.
2015
Relationship begins
Took over maintenance and development of an existing website.
2018
Platform rebuilt
Designed and built a custom CMS and web platform around CGEF's requirements.
Current
Ongoing maintenance
Continuing to maintain and evolve the platform as organizational needs change.
02 / Rebuilding the platform
By 2018, the right answer was a rebuild.
In 2018, the website was rebuilt around a custom content management system designed for the way CGEF actually manages its online presence.
Rather than treating the website as a collection of public pages, the new platform brought content, membership, events, permissions, and administration into the same system.
A website can become operational infrastructure for an organization.
03 / Content management
The CMS was built around the organization.
The CMS was built from scratch specifically for CGEF rather than adapting the organization's content to the assumptions of a generic publishing system.
Public content and members-only content can be managed through the same administrative environment, with access controlled by the user's role and permissions.
Custom development made sense here because the platform needed to connect publishing with membership, events, and administration—not only present pages.
04 / Member management
Membership is part of the application, not a separate list.
CGEF's membership structure involves more than user accounts. The platform manages member types, companies, contacts, permissions, and access to information intended specifically for members.
The system models both member organizations and the people associated with them. Authentication connects that structure to the website, allowing members to access protected content based on their access.
05 / Access control
Different users need different levels of access.
The platform supports different levels of access depending on what the user needs to do—from reading members-only content to administering the CMS and events.
Member
- Authenticated member access
- Members-only content
Administrator
- CMS administration
- Content management
- Event administration
Super administrator
- Full administrative access
Conceptual access model, not an implementation diagram.
06 / Events
Events needed to be managed, not just published.
Events are a significant part of CGEF's activity, so the platform needed to do more than publish dates on a calendar.
The custom events section allows events such as luncheons and conferences to be managed through the administrative system while supporting registration through the public/member experience.
07 / Connected features
The surrounding tools belong to the same platform.
Beyond content, membership, and events, the platform also brings several supporting capabilities into the same maintained system.
Maps
Maps integration within the platform.
Webinars
Webinar content and functionality within the same system.
Search
Site search across the platform.
Industry news
RSS-based industry news alongside CGEF's own content.
08 / Ongoing maintenance
A website becomes more valuable when it can keep working.
Building the system was only one part of the work. CGEF has continued using the platform as its website, content system, membership interface, and event platform while the underlying project has continued to be maintained.
Long-lived software needs to remain understandable and maintainable as browsers, infrastructure, integrations, content, and organizational requirements change around it.
The relationship began in 2015. The current platform was rebuilt in 2018. We continue to maintain it.
09 / Platform
Purpose-built where the requirements justified it.
CGEF runs on a custom PHP and MySQL application built around the organization's content, membership, event, and access requirements.
The important part is not the technology label. It is that the platform has remained maintainable enough to continue supporting the organization as those requirements evolve.
Custom CMS
PHP
MySQL
Member management
Authentication
Permissions
Event management
Event registration
Members-only content
Search
Maps
RSS
Webinars
10 / The takeaway
The website is the visible part of a larger system.
CGEF demonstrates the difference between building pages and building a web platform.
Visitors see content, members, events, resources, and registration. Behind those experiences is the administrative system that keeps the information manageable and gives different users access to what they need.
That is often where custom web development provides the most value: not in making a website more complicated, but in making the work behind it simpler.
Related work
More project records.
Need more than a website?
Build around the way the organization actually works.
Content, members, permissions, events, integrations, and administration do not always fit neatly into an off-the-shelf website. When the requirements go deeper, we can build the system around them.