Pacific Fisheries Resource Conservation Council -
Fisheries and Oceans Canada

Project Background

The PFRCC's mission is to advise the governments of Canada and British Columbia, as well as the Canadian public, on the conservation of Pacific salmon stocks and habitat.

In 2003, the organization decided to overhaul its website. The former site contained a wealth of information related to salmon conservation. But most of it was difficult to locate because the structure of the site was complex and there was no search engine.

In addition, the PFRCC constantly produces or receives valuable information about salmon conservation. But the former website was a collection of static HTML pages, which made it very difficult to maintain. As a result, much of the information available on the website was out of date.

The website redevelopment project was funded by Fisheries and Oceans Canada, a major stakeholder of the PFRCC.

Project Objectives

• Re-think the entire website structure.



• Include a web-based content management system that offers a simple way of maintaining the website without the help of a webmaster.



• The content management system should also allow outside contributors to submit new information to the PFRCC.



• Provide users with a better and easier method of finding information. In particular, include a database-driven search engine.



• Design a more intuitive navigation system.

Requirements and Challenges

• Information contained in the website should be searchable. Content should be stored in the database.



• The web-based content management system should allow PFRCC staff members to maintain the website easily. In particular, they should be able to:
  
  
  • upload documents and register them in the database to make them searchable
  • group documents inside common "topics", which would then appear in the public section of the website
  • add or remove news releases and news articles to/from the website in a timely manner


• The content management system should be customized to reflect the specific submission, review, and approval rules of the organization. Complex workflows should remain intuitive.



• The new website should be simple and user-friendly, to appeal to a diverse group of visitors: school children, teachers, scientists, fishermen, government officials, environmental activists, etc.



• The new website should be accessible and accommodate as many different computers and bandwidth situations as possible.



• The system should be multi-user. Participants with different levels of permissions should be only allowed to use the sections of the web site that are relevant to them.

Solution and Outcome

• Thin-client web solution. Web server: Apache. Scripting language: PHP. Database: MySQL. To ensure maximum computer accessibility, minimal reliance on JavaScript, no Flash.



• A rigorous approach has been followed throughout the project, using the industry-standard UML methodology. Usability tests have been conducted to verify the validity of the chosen solutions.



• Project was completed in March, 2004. Client is currently adding content to the new website, using the web-based custom content management system.