SIFE (Students In Free Enterprise) Case Study

Public Website and Portal in SharePoint 2007

SIFE (Students In Free Enterprise) is a global non-profit dedicated to fostering entrepreneurial spirit in upcoming generations through collaboration with a network of alumni and C-Level business leaders, representing many of the world’s most prestigious firms. Within these higher-learning institutions, student teams are challenged to affect change within their local community by exchanging ideas, formulating plans and put them into practice through projects.

In 2007, SIFE engaged Habanero to design, develop and deploy a complex, functional public website and portal, both based on a common Microsoft SharePoint 2007 (MOSS 2007) platform. The new SIFE website was implemented with log-in functionality to deliver a personalized experience and content to each of the four main user groups: USA faculty, International Faculty, USA Students and International Students. Upon login, each user is presented with their dashboard containing a message board for any news from the main SIFE organization and a Discussion Board for communicating with other student teams. Links to SIFE’s social media network (Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and MySpace accounts) as well as the organization’s career connections center are also present.  

In the Fall of 2008, after using and evaluating the new site for nearly a year, SIFE again turned to Habanero to enhance the design, implement greater user-side functionality as well as the Flash-based and XML-managed interactive functions throughout each section. These enhancements were deployed in early 2009.