Last Call Media

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a program manager at a nonprofit arts organization. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Last Call Media?

We engaged Last Call Media to redesign an existing platform that was a primary tool for my department’s work. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Last Call Media redesigned our web platform and created a decoupled website with a separate front- and backend. On top of that, the team developed an API for an API partnership program. In other words, they also redeveloped the entire structure of our website. Their resources created the design system, and Drupal was used to build the site’s backend and API. For the fronted, they used React. 

At present, we have an ongoing support and maintenance agreement with Last Call Media. 

What is the team composition?

The team composition has changed because we’ve had some turnovers with the client and engineering teams. Since the start of the project, we’ve worked with at least three project managers, including Karen (Product Manager). We’ve also collaborated with 8–10 engineers and a couple of UX designers. However, we currently only interact with one dedicated project manager and one engineer. 

How did you come to work with Last Call Media?

Last Call Media responded to our RFP alongside other agencies. The company chose them because of their expertise in front- and backend development and experience creating a decoupled website architecture. Website accessibility was also essential for us; their team seemed to have expertise in that area. 

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve invested around $250,000–$300,000. 

What is the status of this engagement?

I joined the project in 2021, but the engagement with Last Call Media started in August 2020. The partnership is ongoing. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? 

Our website has been relaunched, and it’s a membership site where people can create profiles. Given that, our key success metrics include the number of people creating and updating profiles and increased general traffic. We’ve seen an increase after the launch. On top of that, we’ve received feedback from users who have enjoyed the redesigned website. It’s much more user-friendly and intuitive. 

Moreover, we’ve been collecting feedback through on-site surveys. We’ve checked our net promoter score from users, and we’ve been rated quite highly since the site’s redesign. Overall, we’ve got mostly positive feedback from users and an increase in site activity. 

How did Last Call Media perform from a project management standpoint?

Some of the project managers have been solution-oriented. Our communications have been virtual since we work remotely with Last Call Media. We use a combination of check-in calls and asynchronous communication via Slack and email. For project management, we use Jira.  

Are there any employees from the service provider's team that you would like to give a shout-out to in this review?

Karen has been great at taking over the project midway through, shepherding it to a point where we can launch, and nurturing it through the post-launch phase. We’ve had some challenges with the timeline, but she’s been helpful and solution-oriented. She also has great technical skills as a project manager. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Last Call Media has access to various expertise under one roof. We’ve collaborated with their designers on a few UX design-focused project pieces. Our team has also done an accessibility audit, and they have a teammate who specializes in that. They even have technical engineers on board who handle technical infrastructure projects. 

Since they have a variety of skill sets in the same place, they can assign appropriate team members to the job depending on the project type. This has been their key differentiator. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

The project management aspect of the engagement has been slightly challenging. Although we’ve had some great project managers, we’ve been assigned to a few different ones. This has caused some pain points for our timeline and budget, which have been stretched out more than anticipated.

Simply put, the team should standardize their project management practices to improve their performance. If the project management team changes, they should be more proactive about the onboarding process, especially regarding understanding our end users and business requirements. 

To be fair, they’ve been responsive to our pain points regarding time tracking on our tickets. They’ve updated their hours reporting system, which is now useful. In other words, they’ve taken our constructive feedback wonderfully. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Have a good shared understanding of your end users, business requirements, and use cases. Getting on the same page with Last Call Media at the beginning of the project will be helpful. Establish that baseline understanding of your needs and mission. If needed, show the team your day-to-day. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the marketing director at St. Vincent de Paul. We’re a non-profit organization in Phoenix, Arizona that provides human services to people in need. Whether they’re struggling with poverty or homelessness, we work to provide meals, shelter, support, and medical care.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Last Call Media?

Our website is an important tool for us when it comes to recruiting volunteers, fundraising, and making viewers aware of the services we provide. Because of that, it needs to serve as a fundraising, program, and volunteer recruitment tool. We also wanted the site to appear professional and modern, with some automation functionality. Last Call Media was bought in to help us with that.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They examined our existing website in Drupal that was created by another company, and they’ve since taken it over completely. One of the significant projects they’re working on currently is automating our donation pickup system.

Before our work with them, those making donations would have to make calls, fill out a lead form, and communicate heavily with us to schedule a date for us to pick up their donations. Last Call Media is helping us build a calendar on the site where donors can book pickup dates with us. Right now, they’re in the process of hooking the calendar into Salesforce to fully automate that process. 

What is the team composition?

We work directly with our project managers, Alex (Director of Operations, Last Call Media) and Alexandra (Marketing Designer & Strategist, Last Call Media).

How did you come to work with Last Call Media?

They were referred to us by another consulting agency. We enjoyed our early collaboration with them, so we’ve stuck with them since.

How much have you invested with them?

In our first two years, we spent about $20,000–$30,000 annually. This year, we’re spending closer to $60,000 because we have some major projects in the works.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started the collaboration in April 2017, and our teams are still working together.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

With all of the upgrades they’ve made to our site, we’ve noticed increased efficiency and better customer service from our team. They’re creating a similar calendar for our volunteers now, which will also free up time for our volunteer coordinators and provide a better experience for those looking to help out.

How did Last Call Media perform from a project management standpoint?

Our project managers are very responsive and capable of accurate scoping out work while keeping within budget and getting proper approvals to keep us on track. If I need something to be completed, they’ll set up a ticket through Jira.

Then, we communicate through that platform, which has worked well because it keeps our project information organized and separate. Starting three months ago, due to our increasing engagement with them, we’re starting to have weekly update calls with their team. That’s been helpful, too. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re knowledge, good communicators that are easy to work with. It’s their priority to devise smart solutions that will make our site more efficient and powerful. They always look for the solution that will be most helpful to us, rather than just trying to get all the required work done.

For instance, we were recently discussing changing our forms, and they suggested that we move them to a third-party app for increased flexibility. That allows us to more easily manipulate our site and forms but did not benefit them. They’re always looking out for the customer in that way.

Are there any areas they could improve?

In terms of the timeline, there were points in the development where we stalled. I wish we could’ve moved more quickly through those, but it was a lot to juggle at that time for all of us.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be clear about your goals and scope from the beginning. That will save you time later on in the project.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the VP of advertising and marketing for a creative design company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Last Call Media?

They came on for us after our initial development team was not able to complete our build and we were looking for another team to take that over and get us back on track.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

When I first started working with Last Call Media, they provided more of a development role for my organization, getting that initial project back on schedule and ultimately launching the site.

After that, I went in-house with the company I was previously contracting for, and they went into more of a maintenance role and we set out to do some refinements on the site. At that point, they were more of a full-service agency, so we would tell them what we were looking to accomplish, and they would storyboard it out, give us an estimate and then build out whatever it was we were adding to the site.

Originally, we provided them with detailed wireframes, and then as we went on in our engagement that transitioned to more loose wireframes basically describing our intent and then leaving it up to them to see if there is a more efficient way to execute based on the architecture of the site, which was built on Drupal and Drupal Commerce.

What is the team composition?

I have two main contacts with their company, as well as a head project manager

How did you come to work with Last Call Media?

We initially interacted with them when our development team fell through on our website build and we had to find someone who could come in and finish the project in a very compressed timeline.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in June of 2016 and the project lasted a few months, although we still work with them in an ongoing maintenance capacity.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

They were able to complete the initial scope of work that the previous team was not able to complete so we were very pleased with their success on that. It’s a user-generated content site so they’ve also helped us prevent or address people spamming the site with everything from inappropriate content to actual hacking. We’re very satisfied with their services.

How did Last Call Media perform from a project management standpoint?

They were very responsive, and they allow us to sort of log stuff in person with them rather than through their project management tool, which I really appreciate. Their team is very organized and document everything, but they have the flexibility to accommodate us as well.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re just really good partners. They always look for creative solutions to fit within our limited resources. Whether it’s a budget or time constraint, they always give us options and recommendations, so that we can decide together what’s the best way forward. It’s a very thorough approach to doing business.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I’m not a fan of using the project management softwares they use to log issues, but they’ve always been flexible enough with communication that that has not been a serious issue. From a cost perspective, they are at the higher end of the spectrum but do provide detailed solutions in the end.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Compared to other developers and teams that I’ve worked with, I find them to be by far the most straightforward and effective.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the digital content manager of a cultural institution in New York.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Last Call Media?

We had a website redesign and development completed and launched by another company based in Philadelphia, but they don’t do maintenance once they’ve created the site. We were basically looking for a maintenance partner who we could work with to fix bugs that came up after launch and also for enhancements to the site that we decided to implement further down the road.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We have a ticketing system with Last Call Media, so whenever an issue arises or there’s an enhancement we would like to have done, we submit that ticket and they get to work on it. The site was one of the early adopters of Drupal 8 because we wanted to be in a better position to upgrade in the future.

One of the bigger projects we’re working on right now is that our museum is closing for two years for construction, and we need to implement a few updates to the website that I can’t do through the CMS myself that all need to launch the morning of November 4th when we close.

What is the team composition?

We have one main project manager and an account executive at the manager level, and then a couple of developers who work on our projects from time to time.

How did you come to work with Last Call Media?

The company that originally built our site provided us with a couple of options for maintenance partners, so I called and interviewed a couple of them, and Last Call Media was the most professional and straightforward. They gave us a clear idea of what the working process was going to be like, so we decided to give it a go.

How much have you invested with them?

We spend about $40,000 a year, although this year it’s closer to $55,000 because of the extra changes before we close.

What is the status of this engagement?

We signed with them in the fall of 2016 and are continuing to work together.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

We’ve been able to troubleshoot some really complex issues that have arisen in our collection search tool. It was a really complex system to build originally, but Last Call Media was able to wade in and figure out some of the issues that cropped up a couple of years after launch and update the technologies.

So they’ve been able to help us out of some really tight spots that affect the overall functionality of our tools. Sometimes it takes a while to figure things out, but they always stick with it and solve the problem.

How did Last Call Media perform from a project management standpoint?

I usually communicate with our project manager directly via email if I want to tell her about a big slate of projects we have coming up or if I have a question about billing or anything like that. We use JIRA for our ticketing system, which works well for our bug fixes and enhancement requests.

Since we don’t often have emergency fixes that we need, we only pay for a couple of days to a week’s response time. Because of that, sometimes things that are more urgent do take longer than we’d like to fix, but I understand that we’re only paying for a certain level of service.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their work is satisfactory, but to their credit, they do always figure out the problem. We’ve never had a problem that they haven’t been able to solve. Their work is good in that regard. It’s just the timelines that can sometimes be an issue.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Communication around billing and hours can sometimes be a little less clear than we would like, but they are working to improve that. We bugged them about it so they actually took the initiative and are now testing a system where I can log in and see how many hours have been spent on each ticket, and see how many hours we have left, which is really helpful.

Being bounced around between developers, though, it is still difficult to tell how much time is being spent just getting caught up on the website for each of them.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I would just suggest that you be in close contact with them as soon as you know you’re going to need something to make sure that you have enough lead time to get the project completed before you need it.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the marketing and communications director for a fine arts museum.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Last Call Media?

Our old site was custom-built in 2008, so we wanted a brand new one in Drupal. We only have communications people and museum educators here, so we needed a firm to do all the technical work.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

After we hired Last Call, the three leads came to meet our team, see the museum in person, and start the discovery process.  They interviewed a large group of our staff members, including senior management, to try and understand our culture and goals. Our team filled out a questionnaire about who we are, what we wanted, and what we expected from the site, and Last Call took all those answers into consideration during the first phase.  Instead of building on the old site, they designed entirely new wireframes and concepts for the Drupal site.

We wanted something simple, clean, and that would highlight our museum’s artwork through an image-heavy layout. We collaborated extensively with them, and they built the site in about five months, since we needed it finished before our launch in August. Last Call did all of the technical work and we provided the content creation.

The search function on the old site was pretty much unusable, but it functions far better on the new site and is much smarter and more intuitive.  Last Call also created an events calendar, which is a vast improvement from what we had before.

The site has launched, but Last Call continues to make minor changes and tweaks. We don’t technically have a service contract with them, but we plan on partnering again for a new dev project, and Last Call is committed to maintaining a positive relationship.

What is the team dynamic?

I met the senior producer, the UX designer, and the art director, but I don't know how many developers work for them.

How did you come to work with Last Call Media?

We went through a nationwide RFP process but weren’t expecting to work with an out-of-state company. However, Last Call’s proposal looked so good that we had to do an interview with them, even though they’re two time zones away. We started with nine companies and selected four for in-person demos, and Last Call were good listeners and problem-solvers. Plus, their price was highly competitive, so we chose them.

What is the status of this engagement?

We had our first meeting in February and the site launched in August.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

We haven’t tracked in-depth yet, but people seem to be registering for museum events much more than they were on our old website. We’re also planning on using them again for a project next year, so that says something to the quality of their work.

We want to revisit how images appear and function on our site because we’re not entirely satisfied with the results. Some of that may be due to us not communicating as effectively as we could have what our expectations were. We’re confident that Last Call will be able to take care of that problem and move us in the right direction.

How did Last Call Media perform from a project management standpoint?

We had weekly video conferences through Google Hangout, and we sometimes utilized Basecamp. When the website was in development, we were able to leave comments on every page and feature, which was incredibly helpful.

Last Call is highly responsive and available for communication via email, message, or phone. They answered all our questions and never talked down to us.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We don’t have much technical expertise on our end, but Last Call never made us feel dumb. They were good at translating technical information and bridging the gap between our technical expertise and theirs. They didn’t try to force anything on us that we didn’t want, and they’re terrific at following up.

Are there any areas they could improve?

We moved through the process so quickly that we both probably could’ve been clearer about what stage we were at.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be clear and ask, at every stage, what's done and what needs to be done. If you don't have a lot of technical expertise, make sure you communicate clearly what you want and what you’re expecting. Last Call does a good job of communicating, but the client still has responsibility to be clear.

BACKGROUND

Introduce our business and what you do there.

Asia Society is the leading educational organization dedicated to promoting mutual understanding and strengthening partnerships among peoples, leaders, and institutions of Asia and the United States in a global context. Asia Society works across the fields of arts, business, culture, education, and policy, and has 12 locations in the Asia, Europe and the United States. I am the Associate Director of Technology for Communications, Marketing and Online. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenges were you trying to address with Last Call Media?

Migrating our large CMS from Drupal 6 to Drupal 8. We have a large website representing Asia Society’s global initiatives and 12 centers throughout the world, all which host events and exhibitions to varying degrees. We also publish regular editorial content. Our Drupal CMS must provide granular controls over editorial permissions. Editors to our website have varying levels of experience in web and design, so while we need to allow ownership over each section of the website, the communications department needs to control brand and editorial style as well.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They handled the migration of content from Drupal 6 to 8, developed custom publishing workflows and implemented a pattern library for our front-end developer to work with. We rely heavily on the Groups module, which was not fully supported in Drupal 8. Last Call Media worked to bring the Groups module up to speed to meet our needs. They also converted our editing process to rely more on Blocks. 

What is the team dynamic?

Kelly [Jira and Agile Coach, Last Call Media] was our main contact for budget and project planning. During development, we had a direct access to Jeff, the lead developer on our project, who managed another developer and QA. As the launch date approached, Last Call added additional resources to make sure we met the deadline.

How did you come to work with Last Call Media?

Asia Society was already working with Last Call Media on a similar project when I was hired. My predecessor knew them through a professional connection. 

We've continued to work with them because of their professionalism and quality of work. 

How much have you invested in them?

We’ve worked with them on multiple projects since 2010. Total we have spent approximately $500,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The upgrade launched in October, 2017. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrated the impact of the engagement?

For previous projects, we saw significant growth in traffic to the sections of our site targeting local audiences for our 12 centers as well as improved workflows for our CMS editors. 

Since the most recent upgrade from Drupal 6 to Drupal 8 the load time of our website has improved dramatically. It is too early to tell overall impact but initial response internally has been great. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Kelly and the whole team is very responsive. They also have a lot of experience working with nonprofits so they understand the pace and obstacles that can come with that world. 

I appreciate how transparent their approach is. They don’t try to sell all the bells and whistles but rather find the best approach for each challenge with regard to resources and scope of the project.

Kelly and Jeff  [Lead Developer, Lat Call Media], are also very involved in the Drupal community. Having them as a resource saves a ton of time researching and testing the many different approaches available in Drupal and contributed modules. 

Most importantly, they are just great to work with. They have an easy going rapport while being professional.

Are there any areas they could improve? 

Not much honestly. If I’m going to get nitpicky there was some cross-browser testing that was done late in the project, so we did have a bit of a scramble to get that sorted out before launch. There were a couple of miscommunications which resulted in extra time and resources but all instances were nominal and rectified quickly. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the director of web and digital communications at Wentworth Institute of Technology. We are a higher education institution in Boston.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Last Call Media?

A year ago, we changed our CMS to Drupal. We needed people with more experience in Drupal to help us support the system and do some cleanup work, in hopes of better leveraging the platform.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

When we moved to Drupal, many facets of our website were development but weren't quite up to my standards. When we started working with Last Call Media, they provided a lot of cleanup work. That involves making the user interface friendlier to users and content managers. They are also helping to clean up URL structures and getting permissions on the backend fixed. The team has also helped develop some additional functionalities and helped with SEO for the site.

As an example of their more complex work, we have around 30 active users. We have to be careful about who has access to each part of the site. Last Call media has helped us to figure out the groups and how we're going to leverage those to be more effective. When the site was originally created, this part of it was not very well thought through.

Additionally, the site was originally set up so that title tags would generate URL structures, leaving us with URLs that were over 300 characters long. We're planning to change that with Last Call Media and update all of our current URL, which is an intense project.They have helped us develop some modules and strategic processes to help us figure out how we’re going to do that as efficiently as possible without breaking links on our site currently.

What is the team dynamic?

Based on the type of project that they’re working on, they pull in team members as needed. I work primarily with 4 people, but there have been 2-3 additional people as needed.

How did you come to work with Last Call Media?

I met Last Call representative at a conference. I liked how they worked. I did a follow-up phone call and found out they could fit our need. We had a couple of other companies come in and present with us. Last Call had great experience with Drupal, including the day to day operation side of it, which is what we really were needing. We already had the strategic look at Drupal covered, but we needed people that could actually dig in and say, “This is how we need to make Drupal work to accomplish your goals.”

How much have you invested with them?

We have invested between $50,000-$100,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in February of this year, and the work is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

I’m so happy with their work. Right after we engaged with them, we experienced a hack from an external site. We were able to contact Last Call Media, and they immediately responded. They took care of the vulnerability and did the cleanup work very quickly. The stability of the site and the user interface have improved.

How did Last Call Media perform from a project management standpoint?

They are very much on top of things. They are great communicators. We talk weekly about the status of the project. They are essentially our primary support for Drupal right now. They are very responsive. Alex [Account Manager, Last Call Media] is fantastic to work with. She answers questions and gets back to us quickly. She makes sure everything is checked off when something is finished. We use Jira and Slack.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They work hard to make sure that we’re happy and that we get what we need. They are partners rather than somebody I’m telling what to do. I’m not a Drupal programmer. I’m able to rely on them to give me the best advice.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I need clones of each of them. They’re fantastic. I couldn’t ask for better service or support.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Brainshark provides a self-readiness platform to Fortune 100 companies. We’ve been based in the Boston area for a long time, so we have a great customer base. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Last Call Media?

In March 2016, before I came to the company, Brainshark made the transition from Sitecore to the current web platform, Drupal. I quickly learned after I inherited the platform that our webmaster wasn’t remaining current it.

We weren’t able to accomplish some of our goals as quickly as we’d hoped because the learning curve of the platform is fairly steep. We needed a partner who we could turn to when projects which required extensive Drupal expertise came up.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Last Call Media has helped with some special projects around landing pages. We wanted to make sure that when someone downloaded something from our website, we’d be able to offer complementary content to them based on similar topics. We implemented this when we first went live with Drupal.

Last Call helped us leverage more features within the platform, consulted us on different issues regarding internal setup, and also aided us in either overcoming or bypassing those problems.  

We made a recent marketing automation platform transition from Eloqua to Marketo. There was a lot of landing-page migration as part of this process, as well as other updates on the website. Last Call helped extensively with this.

Their work has been more on the development side. We have an internal design team who worked on prototypes for our pages. Last Call has typically taken those designs and implemented them from a web development perspective. We’ve had more flexibility since they’ve been around, and they’ve helped bring our internal developers’ vision to fruition.

What is the team dynamic?

I’ve worked closely with Kelly [Senior Digital Producer, Last Call Media]. I’ve also worked with another of their consultants for the marketing automation project.

The web manager we had at the time also worked with their team, but I was managing the project from a distance. I was brought in on weekly calls to get updates on various items. The web portion was recently transferred from me to another person.

How did you come to work with Last Call Media?

We identified the need for bringing in a firm that could work as a partner in terms of web development. We reached out to Acquia, and they sent us recommendations for 2–3 firms to look at. We had initial calls with all of them, but I knew immediately that Last Call would be our first choice.

We got a big-agency feel from other firms because when they came in, they brought a lot of broad ideas on how they could help us change the entire website. However, we were really looking for a day-to-day partner who could help us figure out our web strategy on the go. I felt we would be treated like an client, and not a partner, by the other 2 candidates.

Other companies also tried to add some extras into the offer, which may or may not have been needed. They didn’t really understand what we were looking for. Last Call never gave me the impression that they were petty because they were fair in their assessment of our needs. They based their quotes on their understanding of what we wanted instead of upselling for their own benefit.

What is the status of this engagement?

We formally started working with them in July 2017, but engaged with them earlier than that.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

We are driving better conversions on our landing pages as a result of Last Call’s work. We’re engaging more people on the website instead of watching them download something and never returning.

During our transition to the new marketing automation platform, having them as a partner helped us finish a lot of time-sensitive projects. Their inclusion spared internal resources from having to spend time on things they had less knowledge on. Last Call completed on time what those resources wouldn’t have been able to.

How did Last Call Media perform from a project management standpoint?

Their project management is great, and it’s one of the things we were looking for. We receive weekly updates on our retainer hours, ticket statuses, and overall progress. I can log into their system at any time and figure out what’s going on with a specific project.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We’ve found the partner we were looking for. People are now able to call us at a moment’s notice and ask for help. Last Call’s professionalism and knowledge of the product also makes them stand out. I’ve never had to worry about them being able to work on a particular project. I know they will ask me the right questions, get the data they need, then do exactly we we asked for.

Are there any areas they could improve?

My experience with them has been great. I want to mention a point of improvement, but I really can’t think of any.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

Hire them, and don’t think about it.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We are a higher education institution. I run the organization's web operations.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Last Call Media?

We had been using a solution from a separate supplier and wanted to move to an open-source content management system, which would give us more control and flexibility. The supplier we had originally wasn't specialized in Drupal or any open source solution, so we looked for an alternative.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Last Call Media was outsourced for helping us with the initial development of the website's Drupal infrastructure. Last Call Media took part in everything from the discovery process, through to the planning and development. We handled the design internally, also taking care of the content architecture. Last Call Media worked within our pace, in order to get those elements taken care of. It was a collaborative effort, with Last Call Media taking care of all technical efforts.

We built a way of presenting all available university majors, minors, PhDs, and so on. For each area of study, we showed all the available degrees that a student could enroll for. In order to pull all the content in the format that we needed, from a design standpoint, we needed to build an API which connected the front-end to the back-end. It was an impressive piece of technology.

Last Call Media helped us restrict the types of content we were creating. Based on their previous higher education clients, they helped us avoid creating too many types of content, which would have become hard to manage over time.

Last Call Media assigned up to 5 individuals at peak capacity, including 4 developers (2 senior) and a project manager. We met with all of the resources beforehand in order to understand their approach and vision. At the project start, we already knew everyone who would be involved with the project.

How did you come to work with Last Call Media?

We reviewed 3 candidates, with their location being the main factor. I wanted to work with a development company in our area so that we could have in-person meetings. We didn't look outside of Massachusetts, but we found 3 good options in the Boston area, as well as Last Call Media, in North Hampton. We offered each candidate the same opportunities to present their services and understand what we wanted to build. We looked at each company's portfolio, talked to their past clients, ultimately selecting Last Call Media based on their experience and passion. The other partners had a more out-of-the-box approach; they weren't as agile and adaptable to our needs. At that point, we had more of a concept, so we needed some flexibility from the developer's side in changing our path and adding things that we hadn't considered. Last Call Media has a relatively young team, which could work with us long-term.

How much have you invested with Last Call Media?

The cost of Last Call Media's services was in the low 6-figure range.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Last Call Media in July 2015, with an initial discovery process for the technologies we would be using. The planning stage and development started in the winter of 2015. Our minimum viable product was built in June 2016, after which we had 2-3 additional sprints of one week each, and a training period for our internal team. Our goal was to manage code for ourselves. The site was launched in August 2016.

Last Call Media has remained a consulting partner for us. We go to them whenever we are unsure of how something should be built. Last Call Media will either handle the coding or guide us in implementing the necessary changes. We've made many improvements since the site was launched, creating new features, content types, and views.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

Last Call Media's expertise was priceless, in terms of figuring out where Drupal should be used and how. Last Call Media helped us create a site that can be successfully managed by our internal team. The new site is a scalable solution that will grow with us instead of break under the pressure of success. 

How did Last Call Media perform from a project management standpoint?

We used Redmine for project management, which is Last Call Media's internal tool. They also joined our GitLab, and we communicated through email, Slack, Skype calls, and Google Hangouts.

What did you find most impressive about their practice?

They really went out of their way to understand what it was we were trying to do. We had some very clear expectations and some very strict limitations, too, which made the project more difficult that it appeared. They did an excellent job of walking us through the whole process.

Are there any areas Last Call Media could improve?

Last Call Media is a young team of talented individuals, but business expertise for working with clients takes a lot of time within the more traditional markets. We've had many conversations around setting up expectations. Last Call Media is good in this respect, but whenever we didn't specify all the details for a particular task, we needed to go back and make changes to the result.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Rainforest Alliance works with farmers, foresters, and tourism business owners around the world to make their business practices more sustainable. Our overall goal is to conserve the forest. I’m a senior manager of web strategy and development.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Last Call Media?

We upgraded our global website, rainforest-alliance.org, from Drupal 6 to Drupal 7 around 2013. That was the first big project we hired them to do.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Last Call helped us with a complete redesign of our website and transitioned us from Drupal 7 to Drupal 8. My team did the frontend programming and Last Call Media did the backend programming. Last Call Media did the implementation and the complete rebuild, not just a migration, in Drupal 8. We worked with another agency to do all of the frontend design and visuals. Last Call implemented those elements, though. We also have frontend designers on staff, but we’ve always hired our backend developers on a consultant basis.

How did you come to work with Last Call Media?

They used to be consulting programmers for an agency I inherited about 5 years ago. They later branched off to create their own web development company. We’ve been with them ever since. When we did our bidding process, it was a tough decision, because we found 2 other really good Drupal development firms.

How much have you invested with Last Call Media?

In total, we’ve paid about $500,000 for their services. The most recent redesign was a sizable chunk of the total.

What is the status of this engagement?

We have them on a monthly retainer to do basic development work.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that would demonstrate the success of their involvement?

Aside from having a completely updated website, they've been able to help us prioritize our efforts on a more long-term basis. Our older site presented some real limitations and we did not have the time or skills necessary to revamp our the site alone. We imagined working with another company could be disastrous, so we entered the situation with a healthy degree of skepticism. I'm happy to report that Last Call proved us wrong. Working with them wasn't flawless, but it has been extremely productive. 

How did Last Call Media perform from a project management standpoint?

I’ve only worked with a handful of primary contacts. There was 1 project lead, but their developers are a lot more sophisticated than others, so we have a lot more contact with them than other clients do. We don't need as much account management on their side because we all speak the same language. There were probably 5 to 6 people working on our last project at any given time. It was a 6- to 9-month project, so it took a while.

What did you find most impressive about Last Call Media?

The one thing I always tell people is that Last Call Media has the most pleasant developers I've ever worked with. Their interpersonal skills are definitely one of their strengths. They can talk to you in a clear way without being awkward or condescending, which is kind of rare to find in developers. They also are really good communicators.

Are there any areas Last Call Media could improve?

Not that I can think of. We’ve had a pretty good experience with them.