# Ellipse Website and CMS
URL: https://www.associativetrails.com/work/ellipsecms/
Client: Ellipse
Type: CMS
Summary: Crafty content management — Slick content management with YouTube, Wufoo and PDF generation.

Rich text editing, versioning, image optimisation, approval workflows and publication scheduling and expiry.

Sophisticated content management functionality is supported by integration with YouTube and Wufoo to provide a powerful and feature-rich CMS which is, according to its users, "a doddle to use".

The ability to take user web input and generate PDF forms has greatly helped with insurance claim procedures.

## The challenge

Ellipse, an insurance company offering group life and disability cover, have invested heavily in technology to streamline the process of obtaining group life quotes and employee insurance.

Having worked with Ellipse on aspects of their quotation system, they approached us to help make their public-facing website as slick as their interfaces for their clients and IFAs.

## The solution

The Content Management System (CMS) we built to administer the public-facing website provides Ellipse staff with a clean and intuitive interface that requires no technical knowledge or training but retains enough power and flexibility to keep the website fresh and pertinent.

Key features include:

- A Microsoft Word-style rich text editor to write page body text.
- Automatic optimisation and resizing of images, saving time and expense on specialist image editing software and training
- The ability to set up microsites for specific territories or campaigns via a simple web form
- Publisher approval workflows with email alerts
- Content publication scheduling and expiry
- The ability to specify page review dates to ensure content is regularly reviewed
- Full versioning and rollback
- The ability to manage and embed YouTube videos and Wufoo forms directly in managed web pages
- Management of fundraising campaigns
- Embedded link integrity checking
- Integration with Google Analytics for sophisticated site usage statistics
- Responsive design techniques enable clear rendering on devices with a range of screen sizes
- Public-facing web forms help speed up claims procedure - PDF forms are automatically generated with user input

> “The CMS is a doddle to use.” — Peter Fenner, Communication Manager, Ellipse

## The outcome

The main priority was to find a way that Ellipse staff could easily maintain and update the content of their public-facing website.

Certain aspects of the functionality, such as the management of charity fundraising campaigns and automated generation of PDF forms, are highly specific to Ellipse's processes and have helped save time and improved customer services.

Technologies used

Adobe Coldfusion, Microsoft SQL Server, HTML5, CSS3, jQuery, Bootstrap, URL Rewriting, Responsive design, automated PDF generation.

## Screens
- Web standards compliant front-end: The rebuilt public-facing website presents company information alongside embedded video content.
- User-managed navigation hierarchy: Staff manage the site's page hierarchy and publication status directly from this content administration screen.
- Easily manage and embed YouTube videos: Videos hosted on YouTube are browsed and managed here before being embedded on web pages.
- Manage landing page redirections and search engine-friendly URLs: Redirects between old and new page addresses are listed and managed on this screen.
- Automatic optimising and resizing of images: Images used across the site, including charts and staff photos, are searched and managed from this library.
- Link integrity checking: A link report flags external links on the site that can no longer be reached.
- Charity donation: A quoted customer can choose which charity receives a donation, as part of the site's fundraising campaign management.