NBD Biblion – AIDA Online Order System
NBD Biblion offers products, services and expertise in the field of Dutch language media titles. Notably reviewing almost every book and multimedia title (DVD, Blu-rays etc.) published in the Netherlands. They are therefore one of the largest suppliers of information and purchasing advice to public libraries and (school) media centers. One NBD Biblion service is the ordering system AIDA: their Acquisition and Information DAtabase.
AIDA website users frequently need to search and order hundreds of titles (books and multimedia) every week. With this in mind, NBD Biblion therefore provides many details for each title. For example, the purchase price, book cover, format, page count, and blurb/summary. They also need a number of unique search and order features.
Search
First of all, users can quickly and easily search for titles, just by filling in words in a simple search field. Maybe best described as a ‘Google-like’ method. If this yields too many results, we also provide more refined methods. So users can search for a specific title, author or ISBN/EAN number. AIDA adds selected titles to an order basket. The system then orders these titles in a batch.
Batches
Moreover, users don’t even need to search. Because they can just upload an order list they have created. AIDA then selects and orders all of the requested titles automatically. Because there can be hundreds of orders, AIDA provides a complete order history for users. While NBD Biblion originally developed AIDA themselves, they realized that they needed improvements. They turned to BSL, who were asked to rebuild the system completely. Not only the web interface, but also the underlying database interfaces. A challenge which we grasped with both hands.
Completely new user-friendly AIDA
BSL designed and realized a new front-end for the AIDA ordering system. Firstly we designed it to match the NBD Biblion house style. So users encounter a familiar look & feel. In addition we introduced various technical changes. These include using Drupal, combining a new MySQL database with integrated links to the underlying Oracle title database.
As a result we created a completely new user-friendly AIDA. Where information is clearly presented to end-users. A site that is compatible with a range of popular browsers. Moreover, by using a Drupal CMS, NBD Biblion content managers can now quickly and easily add offers, promotional material and messages to their ‘shop window’. Authorized users can even change the site layout using the CMS. AIDA is linked to the NBD Biblion back-end Oracle systems, so users can access the full catalog of titles. Including bibliographic content and current price information. Customer orders can be placed using the new website interfaces. And then processed directly via the back-end.
At BSL, you’re at the right address for…
Drupal, a flexible CMS
Drupal is a flexible CMS, used by small companies, multinationals and all sizes in-between! First of all it allows customers to easily maintain their own website contents. In addition, a Drupal website can be hosted anywhere so is easy to manage. And our developers can use Drupal to create complex websites in just a few weeks.
Databank expertise
Thanks to our years of experience with (multimedia) database solutions and the flexibility of our modular approach, we can integrate our solutions with your current infrastructure. In this case we linked AIDA to the back-end Oracle-systems used by NBD Biblion.
Long-term support
When a software product has gone into production, users often need support and maintenance for the longer term. That is why we offer our customers a range of flexible support services. NBD Biblion has a maintenance agreement with BSL. This keeps the site up and running and secure – 7 days a week.
“There were many technical challenges during the design and realization of a good interface for the AIDA order system. Drupal was chosen for the web interface. We then had to integrate this front-end with existing back-end API services based on Oracle. A challenge that we were able to meet.”
