Website Revamp for Queensland Tertiary Admissions Centre
Industry: Education ○ ● ○ Project Type: Website Development ○ ● ○ Technology Used: WordPress, PHP, Custom Plugins, Load Balancing, Caching Solutions ○ ● ○ Project Scope: Full Website Infrastructure & Plugin Development ○ ● ○ Key Improvements: Load-Balanced Multi-Server Setup, Code/Data/Cache Optimisations, Reduced Plugin Overhead ○ ● ○ Content Management Solution: Custom WordPress Plugin for Reusable Content Templates ○ ● ○ Outcome: Faster, More Stable Website With Scalable Architecture and Efficient Content Management ○ ● ○
The Client
Queensland Tertiary Admissions Centre, also referred to as QTAC, is a centralised body that coordinates university admissions in Queensland. QTAC operates online, which is why having a reliable digital platform is a must for them. However, their website couldn’t provide smooth operations. This became a primary reason why QTAC contacted LocalTeam Australia and ordered a website revamp to overcome several shortcomings of their previous platform.
The Complexity of Managing QTAC’s Website
QTAC deals with a few unique challenges that make managing their website difficult:
High-Traffic Peaks
During the peak season of the tertiary admissions cycle (December - February), the website experiences an avalanche traffic, having days when hundreds of thousands of requests are received in a few minutes.
Content Duplication Challenges
Since the platform provides information for different audiences (parents, teachers, and applicants), the same announcements can be published multiple times under different categories. That is why every time a content change was needed, it was necessary to manually update all the pages with duplicate information.
LocalTeam’s Response to Performance and Navigation Challenges
QTAC’s old website could not handle the challenges highlighted before, so after an initial scoping session, LocalTeam developed a plan and infrastructure to transform the platform in the following way:
- Now, the website is load-balanced, which helps to handle large amounts of traffic. The website runs across multiple servers to distribute user requests evenly. The idea is that each user is directed to one of several servers, spreading the requests across many servers;
- Another important change that allows servers to handle requests faster and use fewer resources was code, data, and cache optimisation;
- A custom WordPress plugin developed by LocalTeam resolved the issue with duplicate content management. This plugin allows for parts of a “template” to be extracted into the page. In this way, the data must be created only once, and then it can be easily reused on multiple pages of the website, reducing internal frustrations about modifying the website;
- The overall website stability is increased by reducing the reliance on a large variety of plugins. Now, the platform uses only stable options that do not slow down the website and custom plugins designed by LocalTeam that meet the requirements of QTAC better than off-the-shelf products.
Ongoing Support and Lasting Results
LocalTeam continues to work with QTAC, providing support to their internal teams. We help as the website changes and ensure the platform remains updated, secure and supported. While Queensland Tertiary Admissions Centre wanted an improved platform, our cooperation resulted not only in a fast and stable website, but also in our continued support. LocalTeam is fast at addressing requests, bugs, or support issues. This means that whenever QTAC needs new features or improvements, we can provide them with suitable solutions promptly.
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Client's Testimonial
The success of this collaboration is best reflected in the client’s own words. Their feedback highlights not only the technical outcomes of the project, but also the strength of the partnership and the responsiveness that continues to define our work together. Below, the Queensland Tertiary Admissions Centre team shares their experience of working with LocalTeam.
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