New Platform for UK News Group

Who? What?

Award winning multi media publisher Guardian News and Media (GNM), needed to develop a new platform for their online arm, as well as moving and managing the content of their existing sites. ThoughtWorks and the Guardian teams joined forces to tackle the challenge.

Read the full case study here.

Why?

The Guardian wanted a cutting edge website that would deliver maximum value to their users and partners, enabling web 2.0 functionality and the communities that build up around it. They knew they needed a new platform to support the change so they called in ThoughtWorks and started work together.

How?

Following a rapid inception phase, the architecture, a light-weight Java and OpenSource framework was agreed and an 8 month project worked on the redesign and rebuild of the site. A new content management platform was created and the first site, Travel, which acted as a pilot, was developed on the new platform in three public releases.

During the initial project a specific Agile methodology was developed by the joint team to blend ThoughtWorks' Agile best practices with the in-house culture and the team's experiences. This methodology has gone from strength to strength as the joint team migrated the rest of the sites to the new platform, flawlessly transferring all the major sites on time and on budget, even adding new functionality along the way, to keep up with the fast pace of online innovation.

What does the client say?

"We adopted an evolutionary approach to guardian.co.uk; occasionally we chose to expand our ambition, for example we made the decision to include video half way through the project. ThoughtWorks responded positively and flexibly – qualities which are characteristic of their approach."

Mike Bracken, Technology Director, Guardian News and Media

Key results

• 800 000 articles successfully migrated to the new platform
• Maintained KPI of 700 pages per second
• Content management for editors improved with new suite of multi-functional tools
• Enhanced user experience through dynamic page generation and interactivity
• Enhanced targeting opportunities for advertisers and third parties, and revenue opportunities for the client
• The platform has been established as the strategic basis for all the group sites.

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