The AIA’s primary objective in this initiative was to become the resource of choice for architects and their clients, which was separate and distinct from AIA.org (AIA’s current public site). Other goals for the project were to:

• Develop a unique and innovative user experience that encourages exploration, establishes a sense of community and ensures that users can find the “right” information quickly and easily
• Provide online access to AIA’s image library of over 55,000 digitized slides
• Ensure user needs are met by assessment and integration of their goals into each deliverable

• Facilitated an Innovation Workshop that allowed AIA stakeholders and contributors to collaboratively “think differently” in identifying innovative ideas to solve the challenges listed above
• Gathered and documented requirements and technical design specifications
• Produced an information architecture that enables users to find information quickly and easily, and provides a scalable foundation for growth of the site
• Created innovative design concepts and design elements to make the Web site engaging and informative
• Facilitated Usability Tests with target audience users in order to evaluate the effectiveness of information architecture and design options
• Evaluated the Search and Content Management solutions and provided objective recommendations
• Implemented and integrated enterprise content management, enterprise search and information visualization tools

AIA SolosoTM provides the AIA’s current and potential membership a “one stop shop” for information and knowledge relevant to the architectural profession, as well as enhances the online collaboration between its members by utilizing several innovative concepts:

• Unique search experience that allows members to refine search results by “easy to understand” categorizations and facets
• Social networking mechanisms including personalized mini-sites that allow the community to optionally view a member’s profile information which could include a listing of Favorites, their contributed content and/or a collection of personalized slideshows that can be shared and downloaded
• Blogs and message boards
• RSS

The combination of Endeca Enterprise Search, Oracle Universal Content Management, and Thinkmap enables the AIA to:

• Provide a content repository that delivers member, organizational, and third party content through an intuitive, visually-striking, personalized and interactive web experience
• Facilitate a central contribution point for members and employees, utilizing workflow, versioning and subscription services