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Background
The Chicago Jewish Day School (CJDS) provides a community through which Jewish children are taught general education in addition to Jewish cultural studies. CJDS is "committed to transmitting an in-depth knowledge of sacred Jewish texts and rituals, tradition and customs, and Jewish history. Our students gain fluency in reading, speaking and understanding Hebrew language and literature, both classical and modern" while maintaining an "[equal dedication] to excellence in our general studies program, encompassing language arts, mathematics, social and natural sciences, the humanities and technology. Their dual curriculum is impressive and all-encompassing in an effort to help mold their students into future leaders in the Jewish community and our country.
An outdated website was being used and CJDS communicated their desire for a more current online representation in order to spread the school's message and provide availability for those farther away from the school's neighborhood. A vast amount of information is available on the site, as parents are encouraged to assume an active role in their child's education and integration into the Jewish cultu
Objectives
A website that would communicate their mission statement and school values in addition to provide information on academic material, a calendar of events and admissions information request was important to The Chicago Jewish Day School. Knowing this, they contracted SYDCON to perform the necessary tasks involved in their website's development:
- Front and back end programming
- Coursework, school information, videos, and admissions guidelines in a viewable database
- The ability to monitor, edit and add to the site by an administrator through a Content Management System (CMS)
- Donation Form
- User registration
- Member area for parents to view privileged information
Methodology
SYDCON uses the existing scripting language from the previous website if applicable so as to maintain consistency within the website and its programming. Our programmers have extensive experience not only with ASP but other scripting languages as well, achieved through countless projects.
The technical aspects of the project were communicated to The Chicago Jewish Day School, including their specific desires and accompanying description of the necessities involved in a properly-working website. The development of the website was started once a contract was drawn up and agreed upon.
A development team of one programmer was assigned to the project and its respective tasks:
- Maintain the site goals communicated by the client
- Start the development of the CMS
- Add coursework, school information, videos and admissions guidelines to the database
- Display company information and other database content on the developed front end which contains separate areas for all information, making it easy to access and navigate
- Allow for donations through the authorize.net E-Commerce interface
- Test the completed website with client
- Launch the website on time after assuring the client's satisfaction
Technical Approach
This project scripted code in ASP, CSS and HTML languages to enable site interaction with users and the MSSQL backend. The backend was used to drive the website content and display information. An administrator has total control over the website via the CMS. We interfaced our custom-developed Donation Form with the authorize.net E-Commerce API that allows website users to donate funds to the school.
Results
The client is satisfied with their website.
- The Chicago Jewish Day School website is used by current and prospective parents of students
- Users are able to obtain information and register for classes with ease
- The custom-developed Content Management System works flawlessly, allowing easy staff maintenance
- The ideals and education method of the Chicago Jewish Day School are visible online, resulting in increased exposure and enrollment
Our work for the Chicago Jewish Day School relied on the following:
- CJDS staff and their ability to articulate their desires for the website and its final product
- SYDCON and Monroe Star's communication with CJDS during website design and development
- The ability of Monroe Star to work collaboratively with SYDCON and visually design the website
- The reliability of SYDCON staff to develop a website that is flawless in its working