Membership-Driven Website for Optometrists

We created a user-centric site for the Order of Optometrists of Quebec (l'Ordre des optométristes du Québec), which included membership registration and renewal features for optometrists, essential health information and a complaints process for patients, and onboarding information for students and candidates. The project helped transform the Order from a paper-oriented organization to a digital organization.

The Order of Optometrists of Quebec is a professional standards association for optometrists practicing in Québec. They provide continuing education, discipline, and training for optometrists to ensure compliance with Québec's rules for practicing optometry. The Order conducts inspections and investigates complaints and ensures that the public is not misled by individuals who may make false claims about providing eye care services.

The existing Drupal 7 website was built in 2012. It was outdated, difficult to use on mobile devices, and provided limited functionality to the general public and the Order's members. Evolving Web was tasked with creating a new Drupal 8 website that provided a better user experience and filled the gaps in the membership workflow. They also wanted to improve their branding and update the site according to mobile-friendly practices.

The main challenge for the Drupal 8 website was integration with Sigma, the Order's membership management solution. Synchronizing member data and validating each member's continuing education credits required detail-oriented API customizations. We had to be careful to validate data correctly in Drupal so that it could be added safely to Sigma. We created tests and worked in conjunction with the Sigma team. We also helped the Sigma team improve their API to make future integrations more seamless.

We built a Drupal 8 website with a refreshed design that responded to mobile, tablet and desktop devices. Along with migrating key content from Drupal 7 into the new Drupal 8 site, we also implemented new layouts and designs that enhanced the overall brand. Although primarily a French-language site, we made the English content more accessible from strategic website entry points, which allowed the Order to better serve its users and members.

• An improved user interface that draws on existing branding elements for the organization
• Improved access to information for the public and the Order's members
• Added geolocation of clinics, which allows users to quickly "Search for an Optometrist" in their location
• Created a member dashboard that allows members to see their continuing education progress, access user-friendly membership registration and renewal forms, and perform additional tasks 
• Built an approval process for credits, allowing the Order to easily verify member qualifications
• Added a business registration process that enables the Order to validate businesses more efficiently
• Added an Assistant Optometrist member category, with the ability to access and update personal information
• Used Solr Search to improve global search and flexibility
• Provided back-end integration between their customer relationship management (CRM) tool and Sigma's API to verify members' accomplishments

The Order had been using Drupal 7 for the previous version of their website and wanted to build on the great experience they had with the platform. Drupal 8 handled integrations well and its content moderation workflow allows administrators to verify and add content to the website systematically. Drupal is also flexible and robust enough to adapt to the Order's additional content and functional needs as they arise.

Users are able to find the most important information more quickly, and members are able to quickly locate how to do their top tasks. The updated visual identity resonates with members, and the new user interface allows the marketing and communications team to easily publish new content that looks great and is in-line with the brand.

Our solution eliminated the manual tasks that the Order's staff had to do to maintain and renew memberships. At the same time, the tighter integration with Sigma improved the user experience for members by automating portions of the continuing education process and the process for updating personal and clinic information.

The project was a great success. We continue to provide ongoing support, maintenance, and feature improvements for the Order.