Fusion Productions - Integrating Meetings, Learning & Technology

Organization

Established in 1972, Dallas-based Meeting Professionals International (MPI) is the largest association for the meeting profession with nearly 19,000 members in 66 chapters and affiliates. As the global authority and resource for the $102.3 billion meeting and event industry, MPI empowers meeting professionals to increase their strategic value through education, clearly defined career pathways, and business growth opportunities.

In the past Fusion has been responsible for the development and management of MPI's online presence (www.mpiweb.org) in 1997 to 1999, growing volume to over 85,000 visitors per month; consulting in Association Management System (AMS) requirements and vendor selection and negotiation; development and implementation of technology integration requirements; and technology enablement for MPI's Pathways to Excellence Strategic initiatives.

Challenge

MPI needed to define technology and integration requirements for its Pathway to Excellence initiative (digital Body of Knowledge mapping and creation of a self-service competency analysis) which is one of their three primary strategic initiatives. Also, Fusion was asked to help define the critical strategies for each of the strategic initiatives/goals.

Solution

Fusion provided expertise and resources that assisted MPI in the design and development of its technology strategy and implementation with the goal of driving the new MPI business strategy/value propositions while enabling MPI staff to continue daily operations.

Specific scope included strategic consulting and analysis services in the development of requirements, strategies, best practices, and user expectations. Services included working with MPI staff, volunteer leadership, and members/users in the development of value propositions and requirements, business processes that support the plan, best practices reviews and assessments for application, and other business services to support MPI's overall business priorities for the MPI technology strategy and implementation. Fusion also served as advisor in reviewing and refining the MPI RFP, reviewed respondent proposals, interviewed finalists, and provided recommendation and contract negotiation.

Early on, Fusion designed and built the original MPI .org site which debuted in 1996 and included: Discussion boards, e-commerce, meeting registration, bookstore, and a interactive annual meeting website — first site in the meetings and hospitality industry. Site traffic grew to 80K plus per month within 24 months.

Fusion provided systems engineering and technical resources experienced in identifying, designing, and developing business requirements and functional specifications, systems analysis, database modeling, systems architecture, and information design and architecture. Also included in this specific engagement was building the content management platform, and integration with the AMS chosen and existing applications. This was by design to ensure an integrated capability to enable staff to manage site content, hosting and maintenance from MPI headquarters.

Fusion’s project manager supported and coordinated project activities with the Advisory Task Force. Test plan were developed with the Advisory Task Force. Ongoing support included periodic project review and launch assessments. This included:

• A work plan that furnishes measurable milestones for tracking and reporting project progress.
• A clear definition of task responsibilities for each project team member, the project manager, Advisory Task Force, and management approval personnel.
• Tracking progress against the plan, identifying or gathering issues, and seeking issue resolution.
• Providing a method for the orderly control of change and testing/validation process.

Results

The implementation plan was recently approved and funded by MPI board of directors. Presently, Fusion is working with MPI in program development of career pathways, application development of competency models and platform including skills libraries and self assessment application.

Follow-up work includes developing a knowledge audit and taxonomy, and deployment of content management deployment.