The Consulting Services Department specializes in assisting clients who wish to expand their "live" system with new capabilities or to support a new organizational initiative. Their job is to identify opportunities for clients to expand the use of software that will increase the overall return on investment (ROI) of the system, introduce best practices from other like organizations, or reduce or eliminate other antiquated processes done outside the system.

Generally the Consulting Services Department is introduced to a client in conjunction with the Support team, after the client has gone live with the system. One consultant will be identified as the primary contact between the two organizations to provide leadership, management, and consistency. Over time, this person will become an expert on the account.

The Consulting Services Department is committed to our clients' success. The Consulting Services department will do whatever it takes to blend a new requirement or initiative into a solid, supportable enhancement to the system.

Conducting Business
Avectra consultants treat each project as mini-implementations. If the project warrants it, they provide design analysis services to create a blueprint to implement a custom project successfully. This includes identifying requirements, proposing a long-term solution, and committing to a timeline for delivery. For smaller efforts, they will construct a use-case test plan so both sides understand what constitutes "done" and "success."

Like the implementation teams, they utilize Implementation Central to track and manage all their projects and tasks. Here they can assign additional resources to work in conjunction with the consultants to ensure timely delivery.

Other than for support-oriented questions, which are covered under the clients’ support agreement, the Consulting Services Department becomes the partner to explore new opportunities and uses for Avectra software.

Services Provided
The Consulting Services department is composed of seasoned consultants and expert developers who help clients find efficient solutions for any unique informational needs. Ranging in complexity from simply adding a field to building a new module or Web site, the consultants specializes in leveraging clients' existing Avectra system to bring the new capability online quickly and effectively. Services fall into the categories of development: consulting, training, and strategic planning. Each service is uniquely tailored to fit client needs and requirements.

The products and services offered by the Avectra Consulting Department include, but are not limited to:

Products

• Additional netFORUM User Licenses
• netFORUM Toolkit License
• netFORUM hosting & support in the Avectra Super Network (ASN)
• netFORUM Mobile (mWeb)
• netFORUM Outlook Integration
• netFORUM Business Intelligence Solution
• netFORUM Kiosk Solution

Services

• Report development
• Application development
• Integrations with third-party software including XML
• Dues modifications
• Import or export of data
• Data conversion or cleansing
• Financial accounting consulting
• Long term strategic technology consulting
• System Health check for premise based clients
• Onsite netFORUM optimization services
• Application and technical training

In conjunction with the Avectra Web Services department, the Consulting Department also provides:

•  Development or expansion of e-commerce solutions
• Full Web site design services
• Content management training and service

Avectra Specialized Services
Avectra possesses several areas of expertise that are unrivaled in the market––ASP.NET Web-based development, netFORUM eWeb solution development (External Web/Members Only), and XML Web services integration work.

ASP.NET Web-Based Development
The Consulting Services Department can quickly build ASP.NET, 100% Web-based, thin-client technology solutions using the netFORUM Toolkit. The netFORUM Toolkit utilizes the Microsoft .NET platform and is truly state of the art. To achieve rapid development, netFORUM is capable of generating operational Web screens (accessing and updating data) just by pointing netFORUM at an existing database design. Once netFORUM has generated the new system, the Consulting Services Department can continue to use the toolkit to design the screens, build an attractive style sheet, and build in business rules––all without any programming. The R&D team is introduced to add any additional changes that require the .NET C# language or XML. Together they can handle even the most complex logic easily or integrate an application to a completely disparate system.

netFORUM eWeb Solution Development
At the core of netFORUM technology is the unified architecture between iWeb (internal Web) and eWeb (external Web). This enables unparalleled opportunities to expose iWeb capabilities, traditionally only provided your staff, to your members or constituents on eWeb. In fact, Avectra actually created eWeb+ modules that already have the “plumbing” between iWeb/eWeb evoked that just need to be turned on and manipulated to match a client’s specific business need.

Unlike traditional systems which require development on the "back end," the "front end," and the “bridge” between the two systems, netFORUM is inherently connected and allows processes and capabilities to be brought quickly and remain supportable––as business rules change, the changes flow to the eWeb site.

The Consulting Services Department is uniquely qualified to help client identify good processes to expose to their members and bring online. Some examples include:

• Job Board Development
• Membership Directory
• Extensive E-commerce
• Committee Management
• Chapter Management

XML Web Services Integration
Spurred by the great development of platform tools like the .NET framework and the world-class excellence of XML implementation experience, the Avectra Consulting Services Department is conversant in the areas of deploying web service methods and in constructing and architecting standards-compliant implementations using the W3C specifications like XSLT, SOAP, WSDL, XML, Digital Signatures, and the WS-I specifications like WS-Addressing, WS-Security, WS-Routing.

Web service standards initially provided a means to exchange only data between Internet-accessible products and services. But as the data exchange requirements began to rise, and the frequency of those exchanges grew astronomically, the Web services standards world grew to include more functionality. While the growth of Web services has been unparalleled, the growth of the evolving specifications that support Web services has also seen unparalleled growth. What began initially as an oversimplified specification has grown into several specifications of which WSDL, SOAP, and XSD are paramount to conducting safe, secure Web service calls.

Recognizing the importance of the data exchange and the metadata surrounding that exchange, Avectra has extended its netFORUM application offering to include a scalable, robust Web service interface––the nuts and bolts of which rest entirely on the taxonomy of business objects already built in netFORUM. xWeb is the Web service interface for netFORUM and provides Web service standards-based functionality that conforms to WSDL, SOAP, XML, and XML Schema specifications. Since the historical evolution of these standards has yielded more specifications of varying complexity, Avectra will continue to evolve and provide industry standards-support to xWeb, incorporating functionality that continues to be the xWeb flagship offering––condensing the complexity of Web services to yield the greatest value for netFORUM clients and third-party vendors.