Zak Springs Golf Club Website
We're going to create an example site, "Zak Springs Golf Club", as we move through the book. Rather than just arbitrarily adding features to an empty Mambo installation, we will see how the list of requirements described below translate into actual actions for configuring Mambo, and the kind of decisions that need to be made to complete the site.
Zak Springs Golf Club is a rather colorful client. Before we get started with Mambo itself, let's take a moment to understand the site we're going to build.
The Client
Zak Springs Golf Club is located near the Skull Mountains, and boasts two 18-hole golf courses, practice facilities, and extensive hospitality facilities. The Golf Club was recently bought by a mysterious businessman, Otto Simplex, who now runs the club as General Manager. The club had fallen into disrepair over the last 10 years, beset by a number of mysterious incidents and unfortunate accidents. The club was founded 12 years ago, built on land cheaply bought from the military, following the immediate and uncommented closure of the top-secret Nemesis Project. The history of the club is still evident today, since the tougher of the two courses is in fact called Nemesis. The other course is the Sinistra course. Both are now in excellent condition, and present a formidable challenge for even the lowest-handicap golfer.
The Club is looking to expand its membership, and welcome new members from a number of the large metropolises that skirt the Skull mountains.
The Club currently has no website, but Mr. Simplex views the site as key to recruiting new members to the club, and also providing a community for the members of the Club, many of whom live far from the club. In addition to securing new members, retaining the existing members is key to the growth of the Club, and Mr. Simplex feels that keeping the members remotely involved in the club, in addition to providing excellent service and facilities at the Club itself, will go some way to ensuring this.
The Club also has no dedicated IT support person, but the Assistant to the Club Secretary is regarded as the "go-to" person when there is a technical problem.
Requirements
From detailed meetings with the clients, the following list of objectives and functionality of the site was arrived at. Note that none of these relate specifically to Mambo. Fitting these requirements into Mambo will be the challenge of the later chapters. It is entirely possible that not all of the requirements will be achievable within our first attempt at putting the site together.
Key Objectives of the Site
General Functionality of the Site
Specific Functionality of the Site
- Categorized news publishing; course news, membership information, competition results
- Image gallery for showcasing holes on the courses
- Calendar for forthcoming competitions and other course events
- Discussion forum for members to interact
- Members-only areas
- Staff contacts
- Information on local accommodation and leisure partners
- Course scorecards
- Weblog for Club Professionals, offering equipment and game tips
- Weblog for Club President
- Newsletter
- Content for hospitality facilities
- Course rates
- Membership application forms, membership conditions, club rules
- Contact Details
Permissions and Privileges Required
- Administrative Staff to be able to publish and amend news items
- Hospitality staff to be able to publish and amend content for hospitality facilities
- Marketing Manager to be able to amend any content on the site
- Nominated member of Administrative Staff to have full control over site
- Ability to amend these permissions in future
- Club President to have full control over site
Curiously, that last requirement was added in handwriting by the president himself, and did not appear in any earlier document.
Might Have... One day
The Club President has an ambitious vision for the site. However, in the first version of the site, there are some things that we have postponed. Some of these include:
- E-commerce Features for the Professional's shop
- Online Handicap register
- Competition charts
This is a pretty extensive list of requirements to be going on with, so let's not hang around, since rumor has it that Otto Simplex is not a patient man.