Five Jars

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Director of Marketing and Communications of Association for Autism and Neurodiversity

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

AANE is a human services nonprofit supporting Autistic teens and adults, thier families, and the professionals who work with them through education, community, and support, all in an inclusive atmosphere of validation and respect.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Five Jars to accomplish?

• Create a coach and administrator interface that is a close as possible to the existing Drupal 7 site.
• Update the current Drupal 7 website to a Drupal 10 website due to the end-of-life of Drupal 7.
• Import the database from the current Drupal 7 website including coach and client information.

SOLUTION

How did you find Five Jars?

• Online Search
• Clutch Site

Why did you select Five Jars over others?

• High ratings
• Pricing fit our budget
• Great culture fit
• Good value for cost

How many teammates from Five Jars were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

The project involved repliating and upgrading the current Drupal 7 site to a Drupal 10 site and migrating the large database, prior to the Drupal 7 end-of-life support, with some usability upgrades. 

There were four phases of the project. Development Phase 1 - initial setup and migration of the user roles, users, content struture, and taxonomy.  This phase also included setting up a theme.  Development Phase 2 - content mapping and migration and creation of block types.  Development Phase 3 - forms and form submissions migrations, programming analytics, and menu.  Finally, Development Phaes 4 - creating the theme for the various users and view as well as custom coding.

UI testing was done throughout the project as was browser testing.

The project deliverables included weekly planning reports as well as monthy reports along with continual updating of the current development site and next steps in the Basecamp platform.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

The project was delivered on-time and on-budget working properly with an appearance and functionality that was almost identical to the original site, which was the goal so as not to have to retrain a large staff.

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

This was the most transparent and well managed IT project I have ever been associated with.  Whenever we had a question or asked for clarity, links, documents or some other solution was incorporated into the process.  

The communication response was rapid and the terms of the agreement were clear.

What was your primary form of communication with Five Jars?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

The most impressive thing was how clearly laid out all of the steps were in the proposal, the level of transparency during the work phase of the project, and the ease of working with the team.

Are there any areas for improvement or something Five Jars could have done differently?

The only improvement would be to clarify after launch what improvements are included in the warranty and what are not.  Although our team contributed to this misunderstanding as well.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Climate and Ecosystem Coordinator of NERACOOS

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Our NetworkNERACOOS is one of 11 Regional Associations operating within the national Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS), our mission, is to guide the development of an ocean observing system that is responsive to the needs of our users

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Five Jars to accomplish?

• Maintain the website
• make suggestions and upgrades to the website

SOLUTION

How did you find Five Jars?

Online Search

Why did you select Five Jars over others?

• Pricing fit our budget
• Good value for cost

How many teammates from Five Jars were assigned to this project?

6-10 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

● Website Support & Maintenance - Five Jars will automatically conduct some support and maintenance tasks. For instance, when a security update to Drupal core or Drupal-contributed  modules is needed, Five Jars will automatically begin work on implementing these;
● End-User Support - other tasks will need to be manually filtered and submitted by the Client. Five Jars assumes that the Client will have an end-user manager (a.k.a. “the shield”) responsible for sending support inquiries. Five Jars will work closely with the Client’s end-user manager to prioritize these items into a backlog of support and maintenance tasks and define a set of to-dos to be worked on and deployed

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

New features are being put into production and in the works.

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

The fivejars team has been highly communicative and responsive to the requests of the project and have been quick to investigate any problem and in moving items into production.

What was your primary form of communication with Five Jars?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

The company's communication has been fantastic.

Are there any areas for improvement or something Five Jars could have done differently?

Refinement of their time estimation process for tasks could be considered

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Program Officer of an education company 

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

We're a global development & education organization.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Five Jars to accomplish?

• Reconfigure site content in new interactive, dynamic ways
• Improve site construction to enhance UX, SEO, and site analytics
• Strengthen applicant and alumni engagement on the site

SOLUTION

How did you find Five Jars?

Online Search

Why did you select Five Jars over others?

• High ratings
• Pricing fit our budget
• Good value for cost
• Strong references

How many teammates from Five Jars were assigned to this project?

6-10 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

We sought a company that would collaborate with us to enhance our website featuring international educational and cultural exchange programs. We anticipated the company would provide the following services:

- Planning and project management (including collaboration/facilitation with clients)
- Discovery and requirements gathering
- Formulation of content strategy and information architecture
- Evaluation and selection for content management system and hosting
- Design and development of website enhancements
- Content migration
- Quality assurance and testing
- Training for using the CMS

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

We have observed the following outcomes during recruitment season after the launch of the redesigned site (as of 1/30/2025):

• Peak single-day traffic increased from 2,602 users to 4,481 users.​
• 57% increase in average engagement time (1.5 minutes to ~2.5 minutes)
• 17.3% increase in traffic from organic searches
• Program Finder is the 4th most popular page. Project Search is 7th.​ Both pages are new to the site.
• 121 “Contact Us” form submissions. The form is a new addition to the site.

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

Our Five Jars team demonstrated exemplary project management skills, ensuring meetings were well-organized and progress was monitored effectively over Basecamp. The website launch date was slightly delayed, but overall, they consistently delivered items on time. The team has continued to refine features and propose new ones following the website redesign launch. They were highly responsive to our needs, swiftly adapted to any changes or requests, and maintained open lines of communication throughout the project. Their agility, expertise, and responsiveness at every project phase played a significant role in the overall success of the newly redesigned site.

What was your primary form of communication with Five Jars?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

Five Jars demonstrates exceptional communication skills and problem-solving abilities. Their strong expertise in design and development was evident throughout the project. They were incredibly resourceful in researching our organization and complying with branding requirements. Managing a large, complex project, they delivered our redesigned site under budget. Their dedication and expertise truly sets them apart.

Are there any areas for improvement or something Five Jars could have done differently?

One area for improvement would be providing more comprehensive training for using our new CMS Drupal. While the team excelled in many aspects of the project, enhanced training sessions or resources for Drupal could have further streamlined our workflow and ensured smoother content migration, quality assurance, and testing. We know they are actively working on guides for clients to understand and utilize the CMS more effectively and efficiently in the future.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Owner of The Paro Consulting Group

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

We help organizations move from paper or simple electronic to digitally focused processes. We use a combination of off-the-shelf products and purpose-built tools.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Five Jars to accomplish?

• Enable organizations to quickly and easily promote their business
• Leverage technology to drive awareness to in person visitors
• Allow easy management of digital messaging

SOLUTION

How did you find Five Jars?

Customer Recommendation

Why did you select Five Jars over others?

• Pricing fit our budget
• Great culture fit
• Referred to me
• Company values aligned

How many teammates from Five Jars were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

Five Jars was tasked with creating a digital platform to market content on televisions throughout brick-and-mortar facilities. The application needed to be simple to operate, incredibly stable, and architected to allow for future growth and product enhancement.
The project's goal was to implement this solution in a wide variety of customers and be able to support custom business processes along with standard features in a way that was easy to deliver as customers adopted the technology.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

The project had a tight deadline for building and deploying an MVP, and Five Jars hit the necessary milestones while staying on budget. Customer feedback was gathered, and the Five Jars team immediately internalized the feedback and provided various options to overcome customer concerns. They acted as a partner rather than a vendor.

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

Yes, the project was always on time and budget. They sent communication reminders if we were late, getting them the necessary information and ensuring the project stayed on track.

What was your primary form of communication with Five Jars?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

Their care and effort in the project most impressed us. It was clear this wasn't just a project to check a box. Instead, they approached the project with an attitude that our success was their success. They were just as invested in the outcome as we were.

Are there any areas for improvement or something Five Jars could have done differently?

There are no areas where they could have improved or done anything differently.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Chief Communications Officer of Catholic Charities DC

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Catholic Charities DC is the largest independent social services agency in the Metropolitan-D.C. area. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Five Jars to accomplish?

• Redesign, build and host and support organization's website
• Improve navigation of website and better explain who the organization is and what it does
• Help users more easily find services provided by the organization

SOLUTION

How did you find Five Jars?

Referral

Why did you select Five Jars over others?

• High ratings
• Pricing fit our budget
• Good value for cost
• Referred to me
• Company values aligned

How many teammates from Five Jars were assigned to this project?

6-10 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

The development and design of a WordPress-based site that included photo/video gallery capability, two-way communications: a registration function, calendar, language translation, integration with our fundraising tool and database and analytics capabilities. We also requested the building of six templated pages, training on how to use and maintain the site, and hosting, backup, security compliance, and maintenance/support. 

All of our requests were delivered to our satisfaction. Additionally, Five Jars offer a successful solution to helping users to our site find specific services. This Program Finder is a database of our 50 services categorized by location, service, age of clients and other categories. It has turned out to be one of the most-viewed sections of the site.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

• A website that fit all our requirements was successfully delivered on time and on budget. 
• The interaction between the Five Jars team and our staff, along with virtual training sessions and a written manual have allowed our staff to easily update and maintain the site independently.
• Since launch, usage of the site has increased.
• The number and value of monitary donations to our nonprofit have increased since launch.

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

One of the most successful parts of the project was interaction with the project manager and business manager. Our project was assigned a project manager, who scheduled and ran meetings, answered questions, offered guidance and kept us on track It was a pleasure working with her. We also were assigned a business manager, who scheduled monthly meetings to check in and ask for feedback. She also was a pleasure to work with.

We used Basecamp to communicate, and our requests and questions were responded to promptly and fully. They provided a timeline for the project. The discovery phase took longer than planned, but the rest of the phases were completed in a timely manner and the project itself was completed by the deadline we set.

What was your primary form of communication with Five Jars?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

The Five Jars team seemed genuinely interested in our organization and mission, listened intently to our needs, and offered ideas and suggestions to meet our goals. Our staff is not a technical staff, and Five Jars was patient with our many questions. Five Jars works primarily in Drupal, but they took on our WordPress project and hired a developer with that knowledge to work on our project. 

Are there any areas for improvement or something Five Jars could have done differently?

There was nothing of significance that they could have improved upon. They were a pleasure to work with.

One of their strengths was listening. They listened closely to the evaluation of our previous site and our wants and needs. But we also were eager to get their ideas and guidance. So during the discovery phase, we mentioned to them that we hired them for their expertise and that we were very open to their suggestions. They responded very well to that comment. Going forward, they continued to listen but openly offered guidance and ideas, most of which we incorporated. 

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Communications Director & Associate Curator of ISSUE Project Room

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

ISSUE Project Room is a pioneering Brooklyn-based performance nonprofit founded in 2003, presenting projects by interdisciplinary artists that expand the boundaries of artistic practice and stimulate critical dialogue in the broader community.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Five Jars to accomplish?

• Update ISSUE's CMS from Drupal 7 to Drupal 9
• Migrate all content and maintain front end design
• Troubleshoot and test new website

SOLUTION

How did you find Five Jars?

Online Search

Why did you select Five Jars over others?

• High ratings
• Close to my geographic location
• Pricing first our budget
• Great culture fit
• Company values aligned

What was the size of Five Jars’s team?

30-40

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

Web studio Five Jars accomplished a necessary update of ISSUE's Content Management System Drupal. They performed an update from ISSUE's depreciated use of Drupal 7 to Drupal 9, refactoring our entire website. The studio performed a data migration of all web assets into Drupal 9.

• Five jars analyzed content types and taxonomy vocabulary structures, checked what fields were used.
• Prepared migration mapping and determined if there are blockers for migration.
• Analyzed the structure of user accounts, roles, and permissions. Made sure all of them could be migrated.
• Analyzed views to make sure there were no blockers for migration.
• Analyzed used contrib modules. Made sure all of them supported Drupal 9. Found alternatives or prepared patches if some of them still didn't support Drupal 9.
• Analyzed the codebase of the custom modules used on the project. Prepared a migration plan for the custom code and logic.
• Analyzed the codebase of the custom theme. Prepared a migration plan for the custom code, libraries, and templates.
• Created all needed content types
• Migrated user accounts and roles
• Migrated media
• Migrated content types and content
• Migrated views
• Migrated blocks
• Migrated custom code
• Migrated custom theme with required libraries and templates

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

• Update Drupal 7 to Drupal 9
• Rebuild entire website for Drupal 9
• Test new website and publish results

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

Alex, Iryna, Michael, and Vasyl were all incredibly professional and great communicators. Alex performed personal one-on-one progress meetings throughout the process and Iryna used Basecamp to communicate highly specific testing and project updates throughout the process. Occasionally, I was able to communicate directly with Developers (Vasyl) when time-sensitive testing or updates needed to take place. All deliverables were completed on time in a highly professional and efficient manor.

What was your primary form of communication with Five Jars?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

They were very transparent, personable, and communicative throughout the entire process. I was able to give feedback and they were responsive to very specific requests and needs in a timely way. Ultimately, I found their accommodating and communicative style a huge asset especially when working in a non-profit and events sector.

Are there any areas for improvement or something Five Jars could have done differently?

I found the Five Jars team's project management and results all to be commendable.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m an executive at a human services nonprofit organization. We focus on many categories, including health and wellness, childcare, and overall community socialization.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Five Jars?

We needed help with website hosting, maintenance, and updates implementation, so we hired Five Jars. Throughout the partnership, our engagement grew to a complete redevelopment and relaunch of our website with two main objectives.

Firstly, we wanted to find a more modern way to display our information and bring five independent websites under one management umbrella. Secondly, we wanted to find ways to ease the transaction of our members. Our website is our number-one transactional portal, so we wanted to meet our members’ needs and provide them with a stronger and more robust UX.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Five Jars has helped us revamp our website in Drupal. They’re the preferred service provider for our different organization chapters across the country. Thus, they took part of the code from other website iterations to rebuild our site. Still, they customized various sections to meet our needs.

During the revamping process, most of Five Jars’ work focused on web development. However, we also tasked them to create a clean design, so they helped us with the design process as well. We were very interested in our membership portal and our schedules, so we spent time finding ways to create an easy joining process and figuring out the best way to show our schedules.

Now, we continuously go to Five Jars for website maintenance and hosting. Moreover, they help us with our ongoing development needs as we find new things to enhance or change on our website.

What is the team composition?

We work with Alex (CEO) on a regular basis when needed. Still, he has a very capable team that has worked with us. Their team has included two different project managers and a technology lead.

How did you come to work with Five Jars?

As mentioned above, Five Jars is the preferred vendor for our organization, so one of our chapters recommended them.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them for maintenance services in 2019.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Although the project hasn’t been seamless — mainly because no technology project is seamless — Five Jars has taken us to the place we needed to be. Our click-through rate has increased every month, and we’ve managed to decrease the steps needed by users to get to a transaction. Therefore, we’ve also seen an increase in traffic and the number of transactions, as well as a decrease in our bounce rate.

How did Five Jars perform from a project management standpoint?

We have very good communication with Five Jars, so we’ve been able to stay connected on the project; their team has spent a lot of time listening to our needs. Additionally, they’re great from a budgetary perspective, and they set clear expectations. For example, they tell us if something is within or outside the scope before we start any project.

From a time management perspective, we’ve had delays on both ends. Still, our communication is so clear that whenever we’ve strayed from the projected timeline, we’ve always understood why, and we always have a clear path forward.

For the most part, we use Basecamp for communication and project management because we document everything there. We work in very different time zones so Basecamp has become a very important tool for us. Additionally, we communicate via Zoom calls whenever we reach a major decision point.

What did you find most impressive about them?

One of the benefits of working with Five Jars is their responsiveness. Whenever we’re in a crisis, we can reach out to them immediately, and they address issues very quickly.

Are there any areas they could improve?

There’s nothing I would have Five Jars improve on.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Have clear and direct communication with them and keep everything in Basecamp. Moreover, be very intentional about your process. Five Jars is very good at following processes, so if you stick to the process and have open communication with them, they’ll work well for you.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the senior director of digital experience for the YMCA of Greater Seattle, which is a nonprofit organization. We operate 14 facilities and offer a range of services. We offer health and fitness-related services, such as gyms, swimming pools, and nutrition advice. Additionally, we provide child care, mental health, suicide prevention, and social services.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Five Jars?

We engaged Five Jars to provide a range of services that don’t fall within our expertise or capacity, such as UI/UX design and web development.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Five Jars helps us with various tasks, including website development, UI/UX design, and website maintenance. We have a pretty extensive backlog, so we typically work on 2–3 projects simultaneously. So far, they’ve helped us with Drupal development, PHP, MySQL, JavaScript, and other frontend mock-up languages. They also work with partner associations throughout the YMCA to give us insight into what they’re doing so we can incorporate it into our efforts. 

For new feature developments, we typically provide a proposal with a description of the problem we’re trying to solve, and they walk us through potential solutions. Then, the team provides us with a statement of work (SoW) that includes an overview of the various solutions, their approach, and rates. 

From there, we go into a regular sprint cadence where we prioritize the work and map out a delivery timeline. They see the project through from inception to completion, taking care of the UI/UX, development, and maintenance components. For one project, they revamped the UI for our member registration page. 

For another project, we wanted to make it easier for our end users to find our offerings on the company website. We worked with Five Jars on improving our website’s filters and searchability features, and they helped us restructure our website data to adhere to the filters. Additionally, they created mock-ups for new UI functionality to direct users to the new features and filters. They also took advantage of existing Drupal features to better organize our activities in the backend.

What is the team composition?

We work with three teammates on an ongoing basis: a project manager, a lead developer, and a developer. For more involved projects, we work with additional team members. 

How did you come to work with Five Jars? 

We found Five Jars through a recommendation from one of our partner organizations. 

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve invested $100,000–$150,000 in the partnership with Five Jars.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Five Jars in September 2018, and the partnership is ongoing. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Since we’re a global organization, we use standard website templates, which creates limitations for optimization. We have to rely on creative solutions to set ourselves apart, and Five Jars has helped us do that.  

For example, when we went through A/B testing for our new member registration UI, we noticed a 290% increase in conversion rates when compared to the standard UI template. Additionally, their work on our searchability features and filters resulted in increased engagement and better conversion rates. 

How did Five Jars perform from a project management standpoint?

From an administrative and project management perspective, they’ve been great. Five Jars is very accommodating and responsive despite the time difference. Whenever we come across something that needs immediate attention, we reach out via Slack, and they address our needs promptly. The CEO of Five Jars has even jumped on calls with us to talk through our more complex questions. They use Basecamp and Jira as their primary project management tools.  

What did you find most impressive about them?

Five Jars excels when it comes to customer service. They’re always willing to work with us and accommodate our budget, which is important. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

My only suggestion would be to adopt a more modern project management solution because I’m not a fan of Basecamp. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I recommend defining your goals and communicating your acceptance criteria. It’s also useful to craft user stories and explain them to the team. 

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

YMCA of the North is a leading association within the greater YMCA movement. I am the VP of Digital and Strategy for YOTN.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Five Jars, and what were your goals?

Our goal was two-fold:

1. create a better CX by delivering a more consistent UI for our customers
2. improve the AX (admin experience) so that our site is easier to manage

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

We've worked with Five Jars for many years as a standout Drupal partner for three simple reasons: they employ smart people, they write good code, and they consistently provide reliable support. Better still, they have helped us overcome countless challenges while opening doors to new opportunities.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

This project involved bringing three elements together and to make them work in harmony ...

1. Design System - We developed an Atomic Design system for the YMCA which has been codified in Storybook
2. Layout Builder - We integrated Storybook into Layout Builder (and VueJS) to ensure brand consistency before customizing the LB UI to streamline and simplify it for less technical admins
3. Custom Theme - We created a highly-customizable theme that allows us to easily update the overall look and feel of a site, and to create unique subsite experiences within it.

How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

There are approximately five vendor team members assigned to this project at any given time: 1x Project Manager 3x Developers 1x QA

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

We are in the process of slowly rolling this out to customers; however, MVP tests were quite favorable and indicate these enhancements will be very well received. The internal reaction has been overwhelmingly positive. Business unit stakeholders and content administrators are incredibly excited, while other YMCA associations have started taking notice.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.

We manage projects in an Agile manner, with weekly stand-ups and two-week sprints. Tasks and schedules are managed in Jira, while Slack, Teams, Zoom, email, and more are used to facilitate communication.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

Five Jars has more than proven its ability to maintain service and composure through good times and bad. And they have proven to be loyal partners and steadfast friends through it all.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

No. Five Jars has shown an uncanny ability to be flexible and supportive in a dynamic work environment. And when mistakes do happen, they help us get back on track without pointing fingers or playing games. They are a standout organization and part of the YMCA family.