National Stone Institute Digital Platform Completion, Integration & Support

The National Stone Institute (NSI) is in the final stages of a significant modernization of its digital ecosystem, including a new Natural Stone Catalog, a new Learning Management System/Natural Stone University, and the planned integration and transition of its primary website.

With the current development partner transitioning away from web development, NSI needs an experienced team that can step into an active project, understand and preserve the work already completed, finish and stabilize the remaining WordPress components, coordinate effectively with the AMS/SSO team, manage testing and launch, and provide reliable support after deployment.

AS Creative Services proposes serving as that partner.

AS Creative Services has provided website design and development services since 2007, with a significant focus over the past decade on associations and membership organizations. Our experience includes WordPress development, AMS integrations, membership workflows, learning platforms, data migration, commerce, search, event technology, and ongoing digital support.

Our approach to NSI is focused on continuity rather than reinvention. We do not propose rebuilding work that is already functioning. Instead, AS Creative Services will assess the current environments, establish clear ownership of the remaining work, complete and stabilize the Catalog and LMS, coordinate the WordPress side of AMS/SSO integrations, support the main website transition, manage QA and production readiness, and provide NSI with a long-term technical partner following launch.

1. 1Preserve and build upon the work already completed.
2. 2Complete and stabilize the Natural Stone Catalog and LMS.
3. 3Support completion and integration of the primary NSI website.
4. 4Create a disciplined process for AMS/SSO coordination, testing, and issue ownership.
5. 5Provide NSI with continuity and ongoing WordPress and digital support following launch.

The existing project scope places responsibility for non-SSO technical and content work with the incoming partner, including content population, search implementation, LearnDash configuration, commerce workflows, QA, accessibility, plugin management, security, backups, and production readiness. AS Creative Services is well positioned to assume these responsibilities.

A critical component of this engagement is a clear boundary between WordPress development and AMS/SSO responsibilities. Robert will remain responsible for AMS and SSO implementation; AS Creative Services will own the WordPress side of those integrations.

We prepare the WordPress-side test cases and test data; Robert executes AMS/SSO-specific testing where AMS access or live validation is required; we remediate WordPress, frontend or plugin-side issues identified through that process.

Dependency & Blocker Management

This distinction is incorporated into regular project reporting. Where possible we develop temporary workflows or contingencies so AMS dependencies do not prevent unrelated development from progressing.

AS Creative Services will provide a senior technical/project lead for the engagement. During active development we recommend:

• Weekly project status meetings
• Focused technical meetings with Robert as needed
• Shared issue tracking
• Clear task ownership
• Documented integration dependencies
• Written acceptance criteria for critical workflows
• Launch-readiness reporting
• Rapid escalation for launch-blocking issues

During the initial transition we will work closely with Drew, Dan, Robert and other stakeholders to preserve technical and institutional knowledge from the current project team.

Because AS Creative Services is entering a project already in progress, the final level of effort will depend upon the condition of the existing WordPress environments, quality of the current implementation, outstanding QA issues, AMS/SSO dependencies, and the amount of work remaining on the primary NSI website.

Billing Approach

• Phase 1: $5,000 fixed fee
• Remaining implementation: billed against the approved project budget based on actual effort and agreed priorities
• Overall project range: $40,000–$60,000
• Budget ceiling: work that would exceed $60,000 requires approval before proceeding

Following the Phase 1 assessment and receipt of full access to environments, repositories, documentation and issue lists, we will confirm the remaining level of effort and establish final priorities within the approved budget. Material new functionality or significant changes outside the existing project scope will be identified and approved separately before development begins.

• AS Creative Services will receive access to the existing WordPress environments.
• Source-code repositories will be provided where applicable.
• Appropriate hosting and administrative credentials will be provided.
• Current plugin licenses and third-party services will be identified.
• Existing technical documentation and issue lists will be provided.
• The current development team will reasonably participate in transition and knowledge transfer.
• Robert will remain responsible for AMS and SSO implementation.
• AS Creative Services will not be responsible for schedule delays caused exclusively by unavailable AMS functionality, data, credentials, or AMS-side development.
• Existing work can be continued without requiring a substantial rebuild.
• Required NSI content and stakeholder decisions will be provided in a timely manner.
• Material additions to the existing approved project requirements will be treated as additional scope.
• Third-party software, hosting, licensing, and service fees are not included unless specifically identified.

Upon authorization to proceed:

1. 1Provide AS Creative Services with access to the Catalog and LMS environments.
2. 2Provide repositories, hosting information, plugin/license information, documentation, and existing issue lists.
3. 3Conduct a technical transition meeting with Drew, Dan, Robert, and the AS Creative Services team.
4. 4Begin the Phase 1 technical assessment.
5. 5Establish shared issue tracking and AMS/SSO testing procedures.
6. 6Confirm detailed implementation priorities and the project schedule.
7. 7Proceed directly into Catalog and LMS completion.
8. 8Coordinate main-site and AMS integration work according to the agreed launch schedule.