Jasons Travel Media 

Jasons Travel Media was founded in 1967 and no other travel publisher has the coverage, range or depth of travel publication and tourism information as Jasons Travel Media. The Jasons database is the largest in the industry and contains over 26,000 detailed tourism operator listings, thousands of travel articles and hundreds of maps. Jasons Explore! reaches a customer database of over 127,000 registered users. Jasons has a team of 75 employees in New Zealand, Australia and the South Pacific.

This project included the analysis of current systems against the long term business strategy and then working with the client to prioritise functionality in an Agile development environment. This was to allow the rapid deployment of a new 'look website' that included content management and workflow practices, custom statistical reporting and the use of various AJAX and other highly interactive web solutions (i.e. Google Maps) for an enhanced end-user experience.

A highly complex project, multiple development teams worked on different systems, requiring a high level of collaboration and risk management. The technical risk involved was significant due to the need to integrate and maintain existing systems that were under performing. While an Agile approach to development was required a global overview of systems was first undertaken with the Architecture and staged development of the project(s) negotiated and reviewed.

The use of HTML mock ups was used to help mitigate deliverable risks and provide forecasted budgets. This was also necessary to ensure Change Management was strictly adhered to.

Financial reporting was provided in real-time so the correct steps could be reviewed if major deviations to the base specifications were required.

The systems and website are critical to the success of the business and as such the negotiation and development of support for Infrastructure and Software was identified and delivered at any early stage of the Project Lifecycle.

Results delivered are to:

* Add unique features for the users/customers, including the Fast-Find Search Tool (predictive text box) and the interactive map search. Hence users can find accommodation and activities listings for 3909 separate towns in New Zealand, Australia, and the Pacific within four clicks.

* Provide quicker accessibility and higher readability of the clients' listings with larger photos, better slideshow options, and location maps on every listing.

* Create an attractive website layout with a robust system to add rich, functional features

* Increase website traffic and the number of customer enquiries

* Build a robust reporting system that monitors the website performance constantly

* Enable Jason's staff to manage site content across New Zealand, Australia and the South Pacific more easily; supporting Jason's to be at the leading edge of the 'infomediary' industry.

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