AAPACN Showcase

Background

American Association of Post-Acute Care Nursing (AAPACN)

Founded in 1999, the American Association of Post-Acute Care Nursing (AAPACN) is a non-profit membership organization dedicated to supporting long-term care nurses and professionals who provide quality care for nursing home residents across the nation through our two associations, American Association of Nurse Assessment Coordination (AANAC) and American Association of Directors of Nursing Services (AADNS). Now with more than 16,000 members, including registered nurses, nurse assessment coordinators, licensed practical nurses, directors of nursing and more, AAPACN is committed to the success of the entire interdisciplinary team and delivers accurate and timely information, educational opportunities, advocacy in legislation, and a peer community of support.

Challenge

Integration Experts

As the premier network for long-term care nurses and professionals, AAPACN's goal is to provide its members with access to critical resources for career development. In order to achieve this, AAPACN, decided to redesign its AANAC website in 2015 to offer members and partners a user-friendly online experience. AANAC wanted the new website to integrate with its existing association management system (AMS), Protech Associates' UX online and incorporate Protech's MX Online.

These integrations would automate interactions previously managed manually by association staff or through a separate web portal, including making online purchases, ordering courses, and retrieving benefit information. However, the content management system (CMS) AANAC was using at the time, Sitefinity, required complex coding modifications to run MX Online and also did not offer a seamless mobile experience.

Challenges

Outdated website
Inability to implement MX Online eCommerce solution
Lack of mobile functionality

Solution

DNN Experts

The association worked with its AMS provider to identify a new CMS platform that could easily incorporate MX Online and provide a superior member experience - DNN Evoq. As a result, AANAC looked for a website developer that possessed experience not only with DNN, but also with AMS integrations.

AAPACN turned to Engage, experts in the design and development of web and mobile software solutions for businesses, organizations, and nonprofits. Engage's professional services team designed an updated, more modern website on DNN Evoq and migrated AANAC's existing content to the new platform. Engage integrated the association's existing AMS and implemented MX Online so that all membership data and online interactions run seamlessly between the website and the backend database.

Engage also implemented a responsive web design so that users can achieve a consistent browsing experience on any mobile device or desktop computer.

Solution

New, modern website built on DNN Evoq
Integrated with UX Online and MX Online solutions
Responsive design
Clean back-end management

Results

Streamlined Administrative Tasks & Streamlined User Experience

AANAC's new website has significantly enhanced the association's value to members and streamlined administrative processes for staff. The site's intuitive navigation, visually appealing design, and mobile capabilities offer members and partners an improved, flexible user experience and easier access to AANAC's extensive professional resource library and career-building activities.

Engage Software built an advanced Google Map integration giving end users access to find points of interest across the different regions focusing on making sure the experience was intuitive and easy for the user no matter if they were using a laptop, tablet, or phone. The Google Maps gives the user a broad scope of all the activities' locations in relationship to other places in the park. Then, users are able to dive in deeper to discover more activities near them or in the region they plan to visit next. Using Google API and address information, we were able to add additional mapping capabilities, such as driving directions and pin location for points of interest.

With the advent of AADNS in 2016, AAPACN leveraged the work with Engage on the AANAC website to build an additional website for Directors of Nursing Services. This website also integrated with AAPACN's AMS and used the MX Online web parts for membership data and ecommerce.

Integrated with the MX Online eCommerce solution, the websites now enhance member engagement and offer greater control over the online experience. Users can easily and intuitively make online purchases, update member profiles, pay dues, connect with partners, and register for conferences, webinars, and courses. By automating these processes, time-consuming backend operations are reduced, and association staff are free to focus on more vital tasks.

Susan Turman, chief operations officer of AAPACN said, "With these projects, we wanted to not only provided members with a better, more flexible online experience, but also streamline and automate processed between our website and our AMS. Thanks to Engage's extensive experience with working with associations and the DNN platform, we were able to seamlessly connect all the critical components of our organization. We now have a modern website design and connected community to better support our members in advancing their careers."