NOT A REBUILD. AN EXTENSION TO WHERE
THE AUDIENCE MOVED.

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Work > Middletown Centre for Autism

Middletown Centre for Autism (MCA) was established by the Department of Education in Ireland and the Department of Education in Northern Ireland to support excellence in the education of children and young people with autistic spectrum disorders. Their training, research and resources are used by parents, carers, professionals and educators across the island of Ireland.

We've worked with MCA for many years as their digital partner, supporting and extending an existing administration platform that runs the centre's day-to-day operations. When their service users' needs shifted, the question wasn't whether the platform was good. It was whether it was reaching the parents, carers and professionals it was built to serve, on the devices they were actually using.

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THE PROBLEM

The existing platform was solid. It managed courses, bookings, delegate records, trainer information and hundreds of resources, and MCA's staff used it confidently every day. But it had been built for a desktop browser, and that wasn't how a growing share of MCA's audience were trying to access it.

Users

The primary users were busy parents, carers and education professionals. Many were trying to book training, find resources or check certifications in the gaps between school runs, clinical appointments and full-time jobs. A desktop-only experience didn't fit those gaps.
Internal Systems

MCA's internal systems were already working. Replacing them or running a parallel mobile system would have meant duplicate data entry, inconsistent records and more work for staff who were already stretched.
Access Issues

During COVID-19, this stopped being a usability issue and became an access issue. MCA discovered that many of their service users didn't have a personal computer at home. They had a phone. Without a mobile experience, the platform was effectively unreachable for the people who needed it most.
Multiple Platforms

MCA's resources were spread across the legacy platform and several WordPress sites. Service users were expected to know where to look. Most didn't.

WHAT WE BUILT

What MCA needed wasn't a rebuild.
They needed to extend what they already had into the place their audience now lived, without making their staff's jobs harder in the process.

A cross-platform mobile app for iOS and Android that connects directly into MCA's existing systems, so the people doing the work and the people using the service stay in sync.

01. A single app for service users.

Parents, carers and professionals can browse courses, book training, manage their account, access certifications and pull up support resources from one place, on the device they're already carrying.
02. Bespoke API integration with the legacy administration platform.

Course information, bookings, delegate data and training records flow directly between the app and the existing system. There's one source of truth, and MCA's administrators don't have to maintain two.
03. A unified resource library.

Hundreds of support materials, including documents, videos and certification information, were pulled together from multiple WordPress sites and made discoverable inside the app, rather than scattered across separate web properties.
04. Push notifications, used carefully.

Course updates, schedule changes and new resource alerts go to users when they're relevant, without becoming noise. The aim is to keep busy people informed, not to compete for their attention.
05. An accessible UX.

The interface is built around varied digital confidence levels. Reduced cognitive load, clear hierarchy, consistent patterns across phone and tablet. The app works for the parent doing it for the first time and the professional doing it for the fiftieth.

WHAT CHANGED

01.

MCA's service is now reachable on the device most of their users actually have.

02.

Service users can book, learn and manage their development on the move, without needing a personal computer.

03.

Administrative duplication has been eliminated. The app pulls from the existing platform, so staff continue to work in the systems they already know.

04.

Resources that used to live across separate web properties are now in one place users can actually find.

05.

The platform has a foundation that lets MCA expand resources, introduce new modules and adapt content without repeated rebuilds

06.

The existing administration system is still doing its job. It's just now reaching the people it was always meant to.

“Working with Sarah-Jane and her team has been a rewarding experience, and I can’t recommend them highly enough to anyone looking for dedicated, knowledgeable, and innovative digital solutions.”

Dr Rachel Ferguson / Researcher
Middletown Centre for Autism

WHY IT WORKED

The instinct on a project like this is to rebuild. There's a legacy platform, content across multiple WordPress sites, a desktop-first experience, and an audience that needs mobile. A clean replacement is often the loudest answer.

It wasn't the right one here. MCA's existing platform was working, their staff were trained on it, and replacing it would have introduced months of disruption to the people who use the service every day. The right job was to understand what the platform was already doing well, identify what it couldn't do for mobile users, and build only what genuinely needed building. The result is a mobile experience that extends the service rather than replacing it, and a working relationship that's continued well beyond launch.