Xamk's renewed online service is a dream for the end-user and content producer

South-Eastern Finland University of Applied Sciences Xamk, is one of Finland’s most popular universities of applied sciences. It operates on four campuses: Kotka, Kouvola, Mikkeli, and Savonlinna, and its mission is to promote and support the vitality of Southeast Finland through education, research, and development.

Xamk offers education leading to a Bachelor’s degree and a Master’s degree, as well as extensive opportunities for continuous learning. In addition, Xamk conducts impactful research and development work and produces new innovations for the benefit of society and business life.

The Xamk.fi online service is a key communication channel for a wide range of stakeholders: prospective and current students, corporate partners, RDI actors (Research, Development and Innovation), business life actors, and the university’s own staff. The aim is also to reach international students better than before.

Xamk’s previous website served well for its time, but technical debt had accumulated. The aging platform, WordPress Classic Editor, and its ending support created a compelling need for renewal.

Besides just a technical update, Xamk wanted to approach the renewal more broadly. Xamk recognized the strategic need to serve its diverse target groups even better, based on their motivations and needs. The goals of the renewal were:

• Eliminate technical debt and move to a modern, flexible platform.
• Improve the user experience by clarifying navigation and structure.
• Enhance and facilitate decentralized content production.
• Create more secure and integrated user management.
• Build a site that supports customer journey thinking and future digital development steps.

Xamk did thorough groundwork before selecting a technical partner. They defined the customer personas and journeys, external partners created a fresh new visual identity, and assisted with the requirements specification.

Modern technology ensures smooth content management

We implemented a modern and user-friendly online service for Xamk that meets the needs of all target groups. The site was built using the Gutenberg editor, and we paid special attention to the editor experience and ease of content production. We utilized ACF’s Inner Blocks feature and block styles available in Gutenberg, which make it easy to modify the site’s appearance and content.

Content producers’ work is significantly facilitated by a visual editor that shows the content preview exactly as it appears on the website. This WYSIWYG functionality ensures that content producers can add elements such as text, images, and hero sections, and see in real-time how they are positioned on the site and how they look to the end user. Our focus on user-friendly and accurate preview makes content production smooth and intuitive.

We have also created versatile tools in the Xamk website editor for creating various content highlights. Content producers can easily and flexibly use highlight blocks throughout the site, where dynamic content such as training programs, projects, articles, and events can be compiled. This enables the efficient and versatile presentation of the site’s content to different target groups.

Ecological infrastructure: Google Cloud Platform and Hamina data center

Xamk’s service uses Google Cloud’s infrastructure, which combines performance, data security, and environmental responsibility. For the project, a cloud environment was chosen where energy efficiency and the use of renewable energy can be verified. Using the Hamina data center provides an opportunity to host the service domestically, minimizing latency and reducing the carbon footprint.

So, how did the cooperation work out in practice? Ville Kupila, who led the project from Xamk’s side, felt the cooperation was smooth:

“In my opinion, the process went very well and flexibly from start to finish, and the bi-weekly development cycles paced the management of the large project. We appreciated the clarity of the operating model and a certain kind of minimalism: communication and discussing matters were efficiently centralized to a common channel and documentation was not excessive. This was an agile and pleasant way to proceed with the project,” Ville summarizes.

Ville felt that the collaboration also offered him new perspectives and lessons learned.

“Personally, the collaboration with Hion was very interesting, and I learned a lot from the perspectives of your developers. The cooperation also inspired me in a new way towards WordPress development. As the site administrator and chief editor, I particularly value that I had a skilled partner at my disposal with whom I could discuss technical solutions and implementation – right down to the details,” Ville says.

Because Ville also acts as a link to the needs of other Xamk units and conveys their wishes, he appreciated that he could discuss different visions and ideas with us.

“A good culture of discussion and mutual understanding was created between us. I can honestly say that this has been one of the most interesting projects I have been involved in during my career.”

The Result: A website that helps serve the customer better

Xamk has been very satisfied with both the progress of the website project and its end result. Special praise was given to project management, technical implementation, and the possibilities the new site provides:

“First of all, the project stayed on the agreed schedule from start to finish. It didn’t change shape along the way; instead, we got what was ordered. This in itself is a significant success, as it is not a given in large projects.”

“Overall, the site and its tools strongly support the goals of our customer journey and persona work. While implementing this strategic work in practice requires ongoing reflection, technology does not pose obstacles. The site now offers excellent tools for further developing content and structure, focusing on the communication of high-quality education, strong RDI activities, and diverse services.”

“Technically, the new site is excellent: it is fast, responds well, and appears to function reliably and securely in its server environment. All metrics indicate that the site performs well. The code quality also seems good, and no technical challenges have arisen.”

The new online service has received praise from both students and Xamk staff.

In the autumn 2024 student survey, the majority (82%) of respondents felt the site provides information about study options and applying very well. Also internal users have been satisfied with the site’s fresh look, technical performance, and especially the ease of use of the new content tools.

Ville agrees that using the site is pleasant compared to the previous one.

“With the new tools, it is easy and fast to create drafts and present them to others. By utilizing solutions such as synchronized blocks, block patterns, and other solutions you implemented, we can quickly create even large page layouts. Overall, content production is completely different and more efficient than before.”

The successful website renewal provides Xamk with an excellent and flexible platform for digital communication and service. The development of online services is a continuous process, and our close collaboration with Xamk will continue with site maintenance and further development, ensuring that it serves future needs in the best possible way.