,
29
January
2018
|
13:58 PM
America/Chicago

New CAP Website Launched Today

An upgraded Civil Air Patrol website went live today — www.GoCivilAirPatrol.com.

The newly designed website folds four CAP sites into one, making the original GoCivilAirPatrol.com much more user-friendly for both existing members as well as prospective new members.

“Upgrading CAP’s websites has been a top priority for several months now, and we’re delighted to launch a new GoCivilAirPatrol.com,” said Maj. Gen. Mark Smith, CAP’s national commander and chief executive officer. The site includes a link to the news website launched in April, CAP.news.

Over the course of at least a decade, critical tools and information have been added to GoCivilAirPatrol.com, CAPmembers.com, NCSAs.com and AE.CAPmembers.com and, in the process, the ability to effectively find and use what was there became increasingly difficult. This prompted Smith to authorize the website upgrade shortly after he took command in September 2017. 

Kathy Conyers, CAP’s chief information officer, said the goals for the project included:

  • Increased public transparency regarding funding, accomplishments and general management of CAP as a nonprofit entity;
     
  • Responsive design that renders well on tablets and phones;
     
  • Cohesive branding image;
     
  • More intuitive navigation for users; and
     
  • Improved process for managing web content.

Conyers said a cross-functional CAP team, which included volunteers working with the different directorates at National Headquarters, was created to analyze and pinpoint the business and technical requirements, create a project plan and determine implementation/maintenance roles and responsibilities.

“The volunteers made significant contributions to the design,” Smith said. “I appreciate the contributions they made.”

The result of the team’s work is this revamped version of GoCivilAirPatrol.com, which includes a link to the recently implemented CAP.news from the homepage.

“I’m very pleased with this upgrade of GoCivilAirPatrol.com,” said Conyers, whose IT staff helped facilitate the project. “The new site looks great, but more importantly it gets our message out in a more cohesive way.”

Smith said the organization’s more than 58,000 members are certain to benefit.

“The work of our members is often fast paced and diverse,” he said. “Now, with these new tools and techniques just a click away, everyone — from our very youngest members to our more seasoned members — is empowered with what they need to perform their many missions for their communities.”