Bevan Rudge on drupal, usability, open source, tech...

Online retailers BWMsnow and SKATEgear require the professional services of a Drupal vendor or developer to take over the maintenance and future development their websites.

BWMsnow is NZ's largest online retailer of snowboard gear and has been operating for more than 4 years internationally, focussing more heavily on the NZ market in recent years. BWMsnow was NZ's only online retailer of snowboard gear until recently. BWMsnow is a NZ limited company which continues to grows significantly every selling season (March to June).

SKATEgear is considerably younger and smaller but growing very quickly. SKATEgear is a NZ limited company. There are 2 individuals that operate SKATEgear jointly, one of whom operates BWMsnow solely.

The websites are running in a multisite configuration on Drupal 5.7, ecommerce 3.4, 25 'vanilla' contrib modules, 10 custom or customized contrib modules (customizations are clearly documented) and a custom theme and theme variant. Paypal is the merchant gateway for credit cards. Payments are also accepted by bank transfer.

Currently the sites are operating smoothly with no major issues and are hosted on a drupal-optimized server in Christchurch managed by Egressive, where a subversion SCC repository is also provided and used. Every now and then issues arise or enhancements are requested. The clients need assurance that the sites will always work as expected, that enhancements/bug-fixes won't break any existing features and to know the total cost of maintenance and development. An established QA team and/or process will be a significant advantage. Some enhancements that currently need research, estimation and possibly development are;

• Charge for shipping
• Enable shipping to Australia
• Restore and fix flash gallery module for image galleries
• Enhancements to the cart and checkout steps

I developed the sites and have maintained them. I am no longer able to continue meeting the growing needs of these growing businesses due to other commitments. I maintain a good personal and business relationship with the individuals involved. I will be advising BWMsnow and SKATEgear on vendors and developers where possible and will help the successful vendor/developer to orientate themselves with contacts, access, the website, configuration, database, code base, customizations and other nuances.

Extensive experience with Drupal and a portfolio of Drupal work are expected. Experience with ecommerce module, paypal APIs or other ecommerce sites is a significant advantage. Vendors/developers in Christchurch are preferred, but not required. An established QA team and/or process will be a significant advantage. Excellent communication, project and client management skills are required.