The challenge
The organisation needed a tailored digital platform for research, publications, events and member activity. The build also had to connect with the client’s business systems and create accounts automatically through an API-led workflow.
The important design problem was not simply arranging pages. It was defining how public content, member access, account data and event journeys should work together without creating unnecessary friction for users or administrators.
Our approach
The solution is a modular membership platform with a clear content model, role-aware access and a dedicated integration layer between the website and the client’s business systems.
Discovery focused on mapping content types, user journeys, permission rules and third-party dependencies before any development began. That produced a written scope covering data ownership, account lifecycle and error handling.
Technical implementation
- Third-party API integration with automatic account creation driven by the API data.
- Online event booking and publication purchasing through the same member experience.
- A two-way sync with the CRM via API — posting data out and pulling data back.
- Card payment processing, plus custom payment modules controlling member access.
- A second custom API integration for online publications with a third-party vendor.
- Scheduled checks monitoring membership status and event changes.
Production discovery documented data ownership, account lifecycle, identity rules, error handling, retry behaviour, logging and the operational response when a third-party service is unavailable. These details are what make an integration reliable after launch.
The outcome
What we learned
The most valuable part of the project was the integration discovery phase. By documenting every data flow, error scenario and fallback behaviour before writing code, the integration was reliable from day one. Operational cost stays low because failures are handled automatically rather than creating support tickets.