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LMC

Lumbermens Merchandising Corporation (LMC) a leading Forest Products and Building Materials Buying Group in the USA owned by independent lumber and building material dealers. There are more than 1,400 LMC dealer locations all over the United States and into the Bahamas.

LMC website shown on laptop
Technologies
Azure, Kentico Xperience, Xperience MVC
Services
Content Management System, Development, Digital Marketing, Integration
Industry
Building Materials
Live Site
lmc.net

Project Goals

BizStream successfully achieved the comprehensive overhaul and modernization of LMC’s online presence. The project involved rebuilding and enhancing both the public site (lmc.net) and the authenticated member area (lmc.net/members) into a unified application using .Net and Kentico Xperience.

Other Goals included:

  • Deploy a scalable Microsoft Azure-based solution to accommodate the needs of LMC’s 1,400 member organizations nationwide.
  • Ensure deep integration with on-premise data, applications, and authorization systems.
  • Develop the solution using Kentico 11.0 EMS and the ASP.NET MVC methodology for upgradability.
  • Enhance application performance, emphasizing fast information retrieval for lists, search, and filters.
  • Provide an intuitive user experience, particularly focusing on seamless navigation.
  • Deliver a rich, product-centric search experience for logged-in dealers.
  • Ensure full responsiveness on mobile devices.
  • Achieve ADA Compliance with WCAG 2.0 AA Accessibility standards.
  • Implement personalized role-based views for Owners, Buyers, and Accounting.

Results

Outcomes of the LMC.net project have been highly positive, garnering enthusiasm from both LMC staff and the Dealer Network. The new platform enables Dealers to access the site and LMC services seamlessly on mobile devices, a capability previously unavailable. The overall site speed and performance have seen a significant boost, particularly benefiting Dealers outside the US East Coast.

0 %
Increase in Active Dealer Logins
LMC's member portal shown on a monitor
LMC's member portal shown on multiple devices

After having Kentico perform some work for us, we asked them to recommend a partner with which to continue working on our site. Kentico recommended three companies. Through the interview process, I got the best feeling about BizStream. It turned out to be the right choice for us.

We are extremely pleased with the outcome of the project. BizStream’s work is impressive, especially knowing how challenging it can be to work with someone else’s existing code. BizStream ‘went above and beyond,’ delivering something to the end user.

I would definitely encourage others to go with BizStream for development work, especially Kentico development. I was super impressed with how knowledgeable Brian [McKeiver] is and how closely BizStream works with Kentico. BizStream support was also top notch. Brian was very responsive, as was the support team.

Fran Monk
Marketing Director

Challenges

  • Creating a secure, hybrid public cloud solution that integrates with on-premise information.
  • Unifying the disparate technology of the pre-existing public and private sections of lmc.net to simplify management and updates.
  • Migrating from legacy on-premise hosting to achieve cost savings and cloud benefits.
  • Upgrading from an outdated technology stack, including legacy builds of Microsoft SQL Server, Windows Server, and an older instance of Kentico Xperience.
  • Enabling secure communication between an internal data API and the external world.
  • Personalizing content for various audiences and roles, improving content management and delivery.
  • Implementing a robust subscription feature for users to receive automatic notifications based on their preferences.
  • Managing multiple user roles and responsibilities, including user addition, removal, and editing.
  • Overcoming challenges in the User Manager feature for provisioning external users with customized admin rights.
  • Creating a customized list generation for Manufacturer Specials, allowing users to view and print selected specials.
  • Developing automated naming and categorization for specific Market Reports.
  • Offering a Custom Directory for users to access relevant contacts within the LMC network.
LMC's member portal shown on mobile devices

Solutions

  • Azure PaaS via Azure App Services for MVC live site and Kentico Xperience Admin tool deployment.
  • Azure SQL databases for secure and scalable website database hosting.
  • Azure REDIS cache for session state management, ensuring scalability and performance.
  • Azure BLOB Storage for fast delivery of Kentico Xperience Media Library assets.
  • Azure Monitoring to track site performance and uptime.
  • Azure Dev Ops for load testing, automated builds, and deployments to test and production targets.
  • Implemented the MVC development methodology with Kentico Xperience for a future-proof investment.
  • Created a new API for surfacing internal data to the web.
  • Leveraged one-time password methodology for LMC API security.
  • Implemented Vue.js and a Hybrid SPA approach for dynamic site aspects, such as the LMC Directory and Product grids.
  • Used Vue.js for Customized List Generation for Manufacturer Specials.
  • Integrated File Transfer Reports and SSRS reports for reporting.
  • Utilized Kentico Smart Search for automatic filtering and categorization.
  • Implemented Kentico Scheduled Tasks for targeted report notifications.
  • Integrated Microsoft Dynamics 365 CRM for two-way synchronization with Kentico users.
  • Unified data from LMC's Vendor Database using an Azure-deployed API.
  • Customized the Kentico Forms engine for multi-part forms tied to both Kentico and LMC's internal systems.
  • Used Kentico Xperience Activity Tracking and Google Tag Manager for site usage insights.
  • Leveraged Kentico Continuous Integration for shared development team collaboration.
  • Utilized Compare for Kentico from the Toolkit for Kentico for environment data synchronization.

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