Fusion Productions: Communities of Practice 2.7

Overview

Communities are about people, not software.

Online communities offer you an unprecedented opportunity to facilitate peer-to-peer interaction within your association. No other technology has comparable power to address your members' ever-growing demands for timely, high-quality information that is targeted to the appropriate audience and customized to meet their needs.

Find the perfect fit.

Fusion's CoP platform is available in 3 editions in order to meet the diverse needs associations often have. Each edition is designed to reflect your organization's branding and is easily scalable to the next higher level. Here are just some of the features available:

AMS integration with single sign-on
Public, private and group-based communities
Personal, community, and association calendars
Social networking tools
Site and community polling
Blogs

Discussion boards and chat
File sharing and document collaboration
Built-in messaging system
RSS feeds, email notifications
Whiteboards, wikis
Tagging

If you build it, will they come?

Who will set goals for your communities to achieve? How will you organize your communities? Who will work with your members to make sure that they have the tools they need? How will you encourage and reward meaningful participation?

APQC is the leader in benchmarking and best-practice research for organizations worldwide. This organization partners with Fusion to provide consulting services to associations seeking guidance with implementing a community solution, as do other consultant partners as well as Fusion's own highly-experienced staff members.

We focus on associations and non-profits and our experience helps us effectively engage with our customers.

For more than 30 years, Fusion Productions has been enhancing growth and relevance for trade, professional, and non-profit associations across the country, representing a world-wide member base.

Showcase

AHIMA

In use since 2001, the AHIMA Communities of Practice application serves most of their 51,000-strong membership. This is one of the most highly visited CoPs Fusion has implemented, with over 600 facilitators managing some 280 communities. The special customizations such as Body of Knowledge integration, newsfeeds and single-signon integration with AHIMA's iMIS system, provides daily benefits to AHIMA's membership.

ASME

The current ASME CoP went live in 2004 and features over 6,000 registered users worldwide. These are ASME members as well as non-members. In India alone, there are over 350 users. A key offering for the association, ASME is currently upgrading to Fusion's CoP 2.7 which includes several social networking tools and features such as Facebook profile import and RSS feeds. A rebranding and renewed marketing effort will part of the new CoP.

HFMA

For HFMA, the Communities are a paid member benefit. As a result of this approach, the communities are private, small in number and are created by the association. Member profiles in the AMS are mapped to community memberships. Customizations include single-signon, community-specific fonts and headers, and imported taxonomy, among others.

ISPE

ISPE replaced their listservs with the Fusion Communities of Practice which they chose to host and maintain. The application is highly customized to ISPE's business rules, e.g. non-members have read-only access, except for the discussion forums. The ISPE COP is also tightly integrated with their iMIS installation for single-signon, member profiles, community membership and the member directory. Since launch in mid-2007, their members have found the COP to be a valuable asset.

ADEA

The ADEA Communities of Interest application is integrated into their Fusion-developed Member Portal, a .Net application which includes an Ektron CMS-driven monthly newsletter. ACGI's Association Anywhere AMS provides member authentication and other member services from within the Member Portal. The Communities of Interest features child communities, themes, and headers customized by community. There are about 2,000 users in 40 communities.

FAQ

Pre-Sales Questions

What is Social Networking?

An association of people drawn together by family, work or hobby. The term was first coined by professor J. A. Barnes in the 1950s, who defined the size of a social network as a group of about 100 to 150 people. On the Web, social networking sites have millions of members.

Who uses Communities of Practice?

There are dozens of associations and non-profit organizations worldwide that use the Community of Practice platform. Some include...

American Health Information Management Association
American Society of Mechanical Engineers
Healthcare Financial Management Association
International Society for Pharmaceutical Engineering
Association of periOperative Registered Nurses
Special Libraries Association

How long has the Communities of Practice platform been around?

CoP is a mature product that has been in production for over 8 years now. Back in 2000, Fusion Productions worked with AHIMA to develop the first CoP application. Since then, Communities of Practice has grown to what it is today.

How do I purchase Communities of Practice 2.7?

Please contact our Communities of Practice salesperson, Theresa DeConinck via email or by phone at 703-430-7459.

Can I get a one-on-one personalized demonstration?

Of course, please contact our Communities of Practice salesperson, Theresa DeConinck via email or by phone at 703-430-7459 to schedule a time.

Can I brand Communities of Practice in accordance with my existing website?

Fusion Productions will work with you to incorporate your brand, including stylesheets, images, and layout into your Communities of Practice.

Are there any non-dues revenue opportunities within Communities of Practice?

There are many ways to supplement your revenue using Communities of Practice. Some options include selling banner ads or charging a nonimal fee for access to the appliation for non-members of your organization.

How long is the typical implementation plan?

Each organization has different requirements and we like to work with you to formalize those requirements to make your implementation as successful as possible. A starter edition installation and configuration sometimes can be launched in approximately a week. A highly customized Enterprise Edition installation and customization typically takes between two and three months.

Does Fusion Productions offer training?

Yes we do and highly suggest it. Part of making a Communities of Practice application successful is getting your users and facilitators excited about the application and well trained.

Are there community or user limitations?

No, your organization can have as many users or communities as necessary.

Can I migrate from Starter or Standard Edition to Enterprise?

Yes, you can. Communities of Practice is designed to easily move from one edition up to another.

Does Fusion Productions have hosting options?

Yes, we can host your Communities of Practice website. Please contact our Communities of Practice salesperson, Theresa DeConinck, for pricing.

Technical Questions

Can I customize Communities of Practice?

Yes you can. Communities of Practice is designed so that your code is not shared with any other organizations. This allows for any customizations to be made.

Does Communities of Practice integrate with my AMS?

Yes, Communities of Practice already integrates with major AMS vendors. If you are running an AMS that is currently not integrated with Communities of Practice, we will work with your organization to integrate it.

Do you support single sign-on?

Yes, integrating authentication with other online applications is often a requirement. We can incorporate many different single sign-on technologies to meet your organization's requirements.

I have custom 3rd party applications. Can I integrate these with Communities of Practice?

Yes, Fusion Productions will work with you to integrate your existing applications within Communities of Practice.

I have a need for additional modules that are not listed. Is there a way to have these developed?

Yes, Fusion Productions will work with you to determine your needs for additional functionality within Communities of Practice.

Is the source code available?

We typically do not publish our source code. However, under special circumstances, we can make exceptions.

What level of effort is required for installation and configuration?

Fusion Productions handles the initial installation and configuration of the Communities of Practice for you. However, for a successful launch many design and customization decisions need to be made by your organization.

Is Communities of Practice 100% browser-based?

Yes, all functionality in Communities of Practice can be accessed through a browser.

What broswers are supported?

All major browers are supported, including Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox. We do not use any browser specific controls.

Instant Demo

Fusion Productions Communities of Practice

Experience CoP

You can easily dive into CoP by signing up below... and gain access to the demo in seconds!

Webinar

Demystifying Communities of Practice and Social Networking

A webinar exclusively for association executives

Facilitating member networking is a key value proposition for associations. Helping your members connect is worth more than you realize, and it's easier than you think to get started.

If you are a CEO, Senior Staff Member, Volunteer Leader, or a Stakeholder in your association's membership, this webinar will help you:

Connect more of your members in more ways
Engage with your members at greater levels
Stimulate member activity
Provide a single, standard forum for written and verbal collaboration
Support your members as they work to advance in their careers

Stream the webinar [Flash Player Required]
Download the webinar [48.5 MB wmv]
Download the slides [3.5 MB pdf]

Next Step

To experience the Fusion Communities of Practice platform, take the Instant Demo.

Questions?

Contact: Theresa DeConinck
E-mail: tdeconinck@fusionproductions.com
Phone: 703-430-7459

Features & Pricing

Which Edition Is Right for Your Association?

All editions are world-class solutions. Each one includes a combination of collaboration tools and social networking to support your association's growing needs. As you'll see in the comparison chart below, the edition you need depends on the size of your association, which features you need, and the level of customization and integration you require.

Starter: For small associations that desire growth.

Standard: For associations that want complete functionality but not complexity.

Enterprise: For associations that require integration and customization.

	Starter	Standard	Enterprise
Pricing	$7,000	$25,000	Contact Us
Discussions
Resources
Site, Community & Personal Events
Email Blast
Content Tagging
Content Ratings
Internal Messaging System (CoP Mail)
Search
Contextual Help
Announcements
Member Profiles
User Authentication	Signup	Upload Capability	AMS Integration
Public and Private Communities
User, Facilitator and Admin Guides
Graphic Treatment to Match Client Web Site
Suggested Contacts
Extended Profiles
Site & Community Members Directories
Error & Issue Tracking
User and Group Permissions
Site & Community Reports
Module Administration
Frequently Asked Questions
News
Links
Photo Album
Chat
Polls
Banner Ads
Whiteboards
My Links
My Calendar
My Photos
My Files
WYSIWYG Content Editor
Advanced Search
Notifications of Internal Mail
Member Search
Integration with AMS
Third-Party Newsfeeds
Taxonomy Support
Blogs
Document Collaboration
Child Communities
Integration with WebEx/LiveMeeting, etc.
Static Content Generation
Themes

How does Fusion's pricing work?

One-time fees.
Yearly maintenance and hosting charges apply if Fusion hosts, starting at $150/month for the Starter Edition.
No limitations on the number of users.
No limitations on the number of communities.
Customizations will incur additional development charges.