I need help (Building a Website for Client Access)

[Scotty476]

Hello,

I am in need of some help. My company is a small wealth management firm (we invest money for people). I have been put in charge of redesigning the website. Our current site is a cookie cutter type that is not user friendly at all. Our main goal is to have our clients login to their own section where their personal documents are store in some sort of an online vault. The documents are batch produced from our Portfolio management software and are in PDF format but we have little control on how the documents are named. Our software also has some sort of xml extract utility whatever that is and our current website uses it.

I have no idea where to start or who to talk to. Is there someone who can refer me to a company that may be able to help.

Thanks,
Scotty

[Mydriasis]

Well, most likely you'll need three things:

1. the website itself: with html, css, etc. for the layout and code that connects it to number 2 (probably PHP).
2. a dynamic database: this is what the client interacts with through the website (probably MySQL).
3. a link between your portfolio mangement software and the database (probably XML).

Maybe your porfolio management software can already handle number 2 in which case you"ll only need number 1, but I dont know.

Anyways, first you"ll need to find out how one can safely interact with your portfolio management software. Contact the company directly, tell them what you want to do and ask about solutions. (most likely you wont be the first to ask)

There are lots of good companies out there that design dynamic websites. Make sure to get one that has experience with designing safe sites. This is more important than anything else, your clients trust you with their money and don't want hackers to find out whats going on with it. The "safety" that your standard webdesigner implements is good enough for stuff like pictures and letters, but not money!

Ask about other clients the company has designed sites for? Ask what safety measurements will be incorperated into your site? Contact more than one company and have them make you offers, blah, blah, you know the drill.

[mnkeybsness]

The best advice that I can give: hire a professional.

If you aren't experienced in making sites like that, it will be much faster and easier to have someone else do it. It could take you months to complete, as you're going to need to learn how to do the stuff first.

[Scotty476]

I believe the context of my message was mistaken. I fully intend to hire a professional. I was wanting to know if any of you knew any professionals that do this type of work and are trustworthy. I know what i want the site to have but i know very little about web design.

thanks

[bigandy]

the first person i'd point out is radiantm3 here.

his portfolio looks stunning - and he might even be at the stage where he's accepting new clients

[ChicoWeb]

Scotty,

We just completed a project that sounds very simliar to this. Our client delivers research documents (pdfs maily, but we have it set so they can deliever any type of file) to lawyers, researchers, or anyone who requests information from them. We have a secure area where their clients log in and they are allowed to download the documents that were made for them. We have other bells and whistles that allows them to bundle documents into a zip so they only have to click download once, instead of several times Let me know if you are interested I can get you a demo username and password so you can view what I'm speaking of.