VMC Web Development

We have gotten feedback from the first group we released to last week and overall the comments are very good. The majority of the input has focused on lack of content. As you can imagine, we are working hard to get content for the site.

Melissa Carro is our content writer/editor who also does an awesome job of organizing the information. Mel, as we call her, is an extremely competent professional and a hoot to work with. I hope everyone gets a chance to work with her over the next several months.

Ryan Huber is working on the design and the functionality. Jonathan Dees is doing most of the programming. Jason Coles is doing whatever needs to be done, so he is a master of many things.

Life is crazy here, but we hope to get this out to all VMC Web Developers in the very near future. Right now the different browsers are the challenge. Who knows what tomorrow will be.

Talk to you all again soon. Have a great day.

Terry

Just a quick note to let everyone know that we are progressing well with the new VMC Consumer Web Site.  It was released today to a small internal audience for testing.  We will collect feedback from that group over the next few days and then, if all goes well, we will send it to you, the VMC Web developers, to get your input.

We are excited not only with the new look, but with some of the features like “Find a Clinician” and “Driving Directions.” Both tools have been enhanced to work with the specific product lines.

This, as you can imagine, has been a huge job, but promises to help us get our services out to the public in a better format.  One that is written in common language, organized intuitively for its users, and maintains a focus on the user.

For those unfamiliar with the team responsible for the new site, it is a large one.  Besides the VMC personnel, there have been scores of patients (current and past) and segments of the Nashville public.  It has been tiring, but very exciting.

I look forward to sending you all the link and hearing your feedback.

Have a great day!

Terry

Just a quick note to let all of our SiteBuilder users know I will be writing a special category of my blog just for you. I have mentioned to everyone that there is great new stuff coming for the VMC Web site and this section will highlight what is also happening with SiteBuilder.

Don’t panic, SiteBuilder will still be what it is today, but there will be another SiteBuilder with even greater flexibility. Initially it will only be available to patient-focused sites, but the research, education, and staff pieces will follow as soon as possible.

Over the years, all enhancements to SiteBuilder have been driven by you, the user. This will continue to be the case, plus you can use this blog to give me even more input. Yeah!

I keep all your input. If you have asked for something new and it hasn’t happened yet, don’t panic. We will get to the most requested.

So stay loose and keep visiting this blog.

Terry

I want to introduce myself and tell you what I am thinking regarding this blog.

My name is Terry Smith. I am working on my twentieth year at VMC. You can read my bio for more information, especially if you have insomnia. I am charged with overseeing all Web development for the medical center.

Part of ‘overseeing’ Web development includes being a resource to all VMC Web developers. I may not know the answers to your questions, but I will do my best to find them for you.

I am also charged with developing the main sections of the VMC Web site, or at least my team is. I have been fortunate to put together a team that is awesome. They include Jonathan Dees, Jason Coles, and Ryan Huber. Besides being awesome professionals, they are a hoot to work with.

In the near future you will be receiving links to our new VMC “Consumer’ Web Site. It was developed to simplify access to medical services by our patients, potential patients, and their families. We know that we, VMC staff members, are also our patients from time-to-time, so we want your input as well.

We will continue to maintain the main .edu Web site, but will refresh it later this year (2007). This is a huge undertaking and will be done in stages. There are many questions still to be answered and I will use this blog to give you all the answers we come up with, but don’t hesitate to give me your input. I may be sorry for saying this, but I know it will improve VMC. So, have at it!

I also want to use this blog to get and share your input with other VMC Web developers. I feel we, VMC, will be successful because we asked several consumers what they wanted of a consumer web site and now we want your input about the VMC.edu site. I can’t guarantee we can make them all happen, but we will continuously gather your input and do what the majority of staff members says is important to them.

For our SiteBuilder users, the Web Team will create a template similar to the new consumer and .edu sites. It will be just a matter of selecting the template and your site will be automatically converted. In the future there will be an advanced SiteBuilder tool developed. It will allow developers to move content modules with some other custom features. The consumer SiteBuilder tool will be built first.

As with SiteBuilder today, the new SiteBuilder’s base features will be free. We will have pricing schemes for us to build and maintain sites as well. Sites will be migrated to the new look over several months beginning with the consumer side. This will not be a forced migration, so don’t panic. Stay tuned for more information.

If you’ve made it this far, thanks for reading and I’ll look forward to working with you all in the future. Oh, I want to keep this blog informal, so please feel free to do the same.

Thanks!

Terry