Client Brief:
The Client approached us with a requirement wherein he wanted us to design & develop a social networking website with the option provided to users for creating and managing groups. The subscription is provided through either free or paid mechanism. These memberships are approved by the group administrators.

Our Endeavor:
It was a challenging and complicated website for us to develop. We named it "Our Social Cloud". DNN, ASP.Net and SQL Server 2008 are the main technologies that we have used to develop this site where a variety of groups have been created including: - Clubs, - Associations, - Organizations, - Charity/Non-Profits, - Religious/Spiritual Groups, - Local Groups, - Sports Clubs, - Schools/Student Organizations, - Housing and Condo Associations These groups have - - Volunteers, who assist in running the group and can manage all the groups and sub-groups - members and - member guardians The website had the following features - - The users are able to select from a free or paid/subscription version. The free version has banners and ads showing on the user's profile page whereas the paid version comes without any ads. - The website allows 7 different types of security roles; each with a different set of access and update rights. - The Website supports PayPal for subscription and also allows members to create credit card transactions/payments. - The Groups are provided with the ability to create a shopping cart for their members. - The Website also allows the group administrators to send out newsletters and emails to group members. Members are able to unsubscribe as and when the need arises. - This Website has also got a shared calendar and allows uploading of events in popular calendar formats (i.e. ICAL, CSV etc.) - The Group admin is allowed to track the member information and history. - This Website can generate both administrative as well as user level reports. The reports so generated can be exported in spreadsheet or PDF format. - We have enabled multi-language support for the web pages and reports generated by the website. Administrative Functionalities: Through these functionalities the user is allowed to register with the website as a group admin, member, staff, guardian, regional coordinator etc. There is one role of a "National level admin" which can be created by the webmaster only. The National level admin can own the portal and manage all the groups as per his will. Further, the admin can generate reports, manage regions and can distribute groups under their respective regions. Each region has their own coordinator who will review all the activities of the specific groups within their region. The Group admin also has the option of creating classes. Since the website in itself has multiple portals where the group admin owns the portal to manage its members, post events, import/export events from Facebook. Users can login these accounts through their Facebook login details. Security Roles: We have implemented various security levels in this website and their access privileges are defined based on each member of the site. Security rules that are used for establishing these factors are as follows: 1. Webmaster: Through this we get complete access to the site. The Ability to track subscription/payment information, manage groups (i.e. activate, inactivate), run dashboard / reports to monitor usage and demographics, defining group type templates are also available owing to use of this security measure. Through the Webmaster we have provided default values based on the individual group categories. 2. Group Administrator: The user that creates or signs up the group will be the group administrator by default. He/she will be able to configure the basic parameters of the group, grant or remove access for group members, update shared calendar, define events, run reports. Members can place a request to join a specific group but the group administrator has to approve the access. When the group administrator creates a new group, an email notification will be sent to the group administrator giving them all the basic credentials and information regarding the group. 3. Staff/Volunteer: A Staff/Volunteer can access the group's website and send a request to join the website or can also be inducted through the setup option exercised by the group administrator. If they join in via the web, they will also perform the member security role and the group administrator may "upgrade" them to a Staff/Volunteer role. Group administrator will be able to associate a particular Staff/Volunteer to a "sub group" or "class". Members could be grouped into classes and respective staff personnel would be responsible for a single or multiple classes' activity. Upon approval, a welcome email stating the user name and password will be sent to the Staff/Volunteer. 4. Member: A Member can access the group's website and request to join or be allowed to enter the group by the group's administrator. The group administrator may approve or reject the request. If approval, a welcome email stating user name and password will be sent to the member. 5. Guardian: The guardian users can associate with one or more members and can view information of the members associated with the guardian. A guardian user can produce reports (detailed one's are produced later) for information on the members that are associated with the guardian. The group administrator should be able to make the association between the guardian and the member. 6. Supervisor: This user is created by the Webmaster and is allowed to go to the main landing page and request to have the setup preferences as a Supervisor. An email will be sent to the webmaster for the same and they will be able to see the pending request and approve or reject the Supervisor request. The Webmaster is going to be held accountable to verify and grant the role. 7. Regional Coordinator: This user is created by the Supervisor and can be associated with one or many groups within a category (i.e. karate club, youth club, social club, etc.). A distinct Group value (selected during the sign up process) will be created for the different types of groups (i.e. karate club, youth club, social club, etc.) Payment Module: Each group with their own shopping cart and products can manage through their portals and accept payments through cash/check or credit/debit card via PayPal. Other Modules: We have integrated the Data Springs modules like Dynamic Login, Dynamic Registration, Dynamic Forms, Opt-In Emails, Advance Emails, Testimonials, Blogs, News Ticker, Survey, Dynamic Info Pictures and many more. Group admin can send newsletters to users and can generate reports on a periodical basis. Each group's portal has its own document library where the admin can maintain files and folders. Webmasters are able to manage each and every activity in the website. They can also set mail templates, manage landing page items/content, testimonials, ads etc. Further, the admin can send newsletter to subscribed members. Webmaster can also apply settings at group level for issues concerning payment, commissions and can allow/deny members or any role to access modules.
Platform:
Microsoft .Net
MS-SQL
JavaScript
DotNetNuke

Application:
Website Development