This site was interesting as Skills Canada already had a web presence but thier website was a little outdated. They were using a flash menu that was no longer supported so they needed something quick. The interesting part was that they had accumulated quite a bit of content dating back to 2000. We were tasked with coming up with a new design for the site as well as incorporating all thier most recent content. The site had to be dynamic and easily updated. They also wanted a portal structure integrated so that for the events and competitions they held, both teachers and members had an easy way to sign up and get information.

The Skills Canada Alberta Portal has been running for a number of years. This lastest version saw Skills Canada Alberta using the designer which implemented their main site to flesh out the design of the backend portal. Lost Dog then took this design and applied it to the portal for a new look.

For the portal, a secure login (https) was presented as well as a flow diagram for how the many pages and logins / reports would work together. The technology used was a .NET solution focusing on ASP.net pages. Originally cost was an issue so a hosting package was chosen that supported MSAccess for the underlying data strucutre, since that time it has been upgraded to SQL Server.

Now that the site is finished, our team is currently responsible for updating any changes to content. Depending on the wishes of Skills Canada Alberta, this may continue or it could be passed of to thier organization.

The way the portal itself was developed, this is something that could be refined and packaged for use by other provincial skills organizations.

Management of the domain name as well as hosting services are provided by our team as well.

The site is primed and ready for the future Provincial Skills Competitions in Alberta. Testing is ongoing and users are currently signing up and affiliating thier schools with Skills Canada Alberta.

The site involves thousands of students and schools across Alberta and is being well used. This really pushes the automation for Events and Competitions for Skills Canada Alberta to a new level.