Impact Education eCommerce Website (B2B & B2C)

Overview

Impact School Supplies, a prominent booklist supplier for some of Queensland's leading public and private schools, engaged us as their exclusive web development partner for their Back to School ordering platform, connecting Impact staff, school Teachers and Heads of Department, and parents in a single seasonal workflow.

Every booklist goes through a staged approval process. Impact staff and school staff hand booklist management back and forth to build it collaboratively, and a school's Teacher or Head of Department must approve the final version before it goes live for parents to order. The platform separately manages bulk pallet deliveries direct to schools, and a digital eBook and licence management system that tracks students as they move between classes and issues the correct textbook licences to each publisher.

Challenges

1. Staged, Multi-Party Approval: Booklists needed a genuine handover process between Impact staff and school staff, with a Teacher or Head of Department approval step before a booklist could go live to parents, without slowing down the short Back to School season.

2. Bulk School Deliveries vs Individual Parent Orders: Schools need pallet-based bulk deliveries planned separately from the many individual orders parents place, each with different scheduling and fulfilment requirements.

3. Fragmented School Data Systems: Student, class and timetable data arrives from whatever system each school already runs, including Queensland's OneSchool platform used by state schools, and the portal needed one flexible pipeline that could onboard a school regardless of its software.

4. Digital Licence Management At Scale: eBooks and digital resources need to be linked to the right student as they move between classes and schools throughout the year, with consent, removal and transfer handled correctly, and licence records issued to each publisher's own platform.

5. Integration Complexity: Reliable integration with the internal ERP system posed a challenge, particularly in handling a large volume of data (10 million rows daily).

Solution

1. Staged Booklist Approval Workflow: Impact staff build seasonal booklists per school and year level, hand them to the school's own staff for input, and require Teacher or Head of Department approval before the booklist unlocks for parents to order against a school-specific code.

2. Bulk Order & Delivery Timetable Tooling: A dedicated Bulk Orders and Delivery Timetable tool gives Impact staff and warehouse teams a single place to plan pallet deliveries to schools, separate from the parent booklist ordering flow.

3. eBook & Digital Licence Management: A dedicated system imports student, class and timetable data from each school, automatically tracks students as they move between classes, and manages the digital licences that follow them, exporting licence records to major textbook publishers including Oxford, Cambridge, Nelson, Pearson and Jacaranda.

4. School System Integration: The platform supports structured imports from multiple school systems, including Queensland's OneSchool platform, timetabling exports from TES and Timetabling Solutions, and a generic format for schools outside those systems, so a school can be onboarded regardless of what it already runs internally.

5. Student Consent & Lifecycle Tracking: Consent exclusions, student removals and transfer eligibility are tracked over time, so licence and enrolment records stay accurate as students move between classes and schools.

6. ERP Integration: Our unique data sync strategy resulted in a 100% reliable daily synchronisation of 10 million rows from the ERP, with real-time sync for new and updated customer, product and pricing data, so the Impact team can scale without concerns.

7. Key Features Implemented:

   • Staged multi-party booklist approval (Impact staff, school staff, Teacher or Head of Department)
   • Booklist management for each grade, purchased by parents against a school-specific code
   • Bulk Order management and a dedicated Bulk Delivery Timetable for pallet deliveries to schools
   • eBook and digital licence management, tracking students across classes and schools
   • Licence exports to publisher platforms including Oxford, Cambridge, Nelson, Pearson and Jacaranda
   • School system data integration, including Queensland's OneSchool platform, TES Timetabling, Timetabling Solutions, and a generic format
   • Student consent exclusion, removal and transfer eligibility tracking
   • Custom pricing rules per school and product from the ERP
   • Westpac Payment gateway integration
   • Algolia real-time product search integration
   • Order management, user and role management
   • Daily and real-time ERP data sync automation
   • Abandoned cart recovery automation
   • School and product reports
   • Technical SEO audit and implementation

Project Services Breakdown

• Custom Booklist & Back to School Ordering Platform
• Staged Multi-Party Booklist Approval Workflow Design
• Bulk Order & Delivery Timetable Tooling For School Pallet Deliveries
• eBook & Digital Licence Management (Student Tracking & Publisher Exports)
• School System Data Integration (OneSchool, TES Timetabling, Timetabling Solutions)
• Student Consent, Removal & Transfer Eligibility Tracking
• Options ERP Integration (Bulk & Real-Time Synchronisation)
• Westpac Payment Gateway Integration
• Algolia Real-Time Product Search Integration
• Abandoned Cart Recovery Automation
• Reporting & Back-Office Tooling

Results

1. Reliable Scalability: The robust data synchronisation strategy ensured that the system scales seamlessly with a 100% success rate, providing confidence to the Impact team.

2. A Faster, Accountable Approval Process: Moving booklist sign-off online gave schools a clear, staged approval step before anything reaches parents, without adding delay during the short Back to School season.

3. One Pipeline For Every School: Regardless of which system a school already runs, including Queensland's OneSchool platform, the same onboarding pipeline brings its student, class and timetable data into the portal.

4. Accurate Pricing: Real-time ERP data sync guarantees that all pricing on the website is accurate and aligned with the internal ERP, enhancing the overall user experience.

5. Ongoing Support: Continuous maintenance and development efforts are in place, ensuring the application stays ahead of the competition and remains technically up-to-date and secure.

Services provided

Website

Visit the website