How a Custom Team Member Portal Streamlined Communication Company-Wide

When large teams are spread between multiple offices and off-site locations, traditional communication tools just don’t cut it.

Coastland Wood Industries, one of Western Canada’s leading producers of veneer and engineered wood products, has over 300 employees working across mill sites, offices, and satellite locations. After a successful rebuild of their website in 2015, Coastland partnered with us once again in 2020 to develop an internal team member portal to support their workforce.

The primary purpose of the team member portal was to create a way for teams to stay connected during Covid with a forum for wellness checks. The custom team member portal also became a central hub for employee resources, payroll and vacation forms, internal job postings, safety rewards program, and news.

But even with an existing employee portal in place, the user experience hadn’t kept pace with the company’s growth. We partnered with Coastland once again to design and develop a custom, mobile-first progressive web app that works across devices. The result is an internal tool that employees can easily access from the homescreen of their mobile devices with built-in push notifications to deliver real-time updates company-wide.

A successful web app starts with human-centered design.

When employees are your primary users, understanding their daily challenges and needs is key to building tools they’ll actually use.

In the discovery phase, we worked closely with Coastland to map out employee workflows and uncover pain points in their existing portal. We used these insights to design a mobile-first, web-based app experience that works like a native app (without requiring downloads or updates).

Key app design features included:

• App-style navigation:
  A persistent bottom menu bar makes it easy to access key sections like News, Safety Rewards, Job Postings, and Resources with a single tap.
• Homescreen integration:
  Employees can “install” the app by saving it to their phone’s homescreen for quick access. No app store needed.
• Streamlined layout:
  Clean, card-based layouts prioritize clarity and make it easy to scan and interact with content on the go.
• Accessibility-first UI:
  Large touch buttons, simple language, and strong contrast ensure that every employee, regardless of device or tech literacy, can use the tool with confidence.

Responsive programming ensures scalable performance.

Designing a great user experience is only half the equation. Development focuses on bringing the mobile-first app design to all screen sizes using custom programming that delivers a fast and stable experience across devices.

Key app development features included:

• Push notification setup:
  As part of transitioning the portal to a progressive web app, we implemented membership-based push notifications. This allows both employees and non-employees to subscribe to relevant news and updates from leadership.
• Modular structure:
  The backend was built with a flexible architecture that makes it easy to expand the app over time, adding new features or adjusting functionality as employee needs evolve.
• Secure access:
  Employee-submitted posts require approval before they appear in the company forum, giving administrators full control over what’s published.
• Email funneling:
  Role-based permissions and secure login ensure that sensitive information (like office-specific news or forums) is only accessible to authorized users and managed by administrators.

Keeping content management simple makes updating easy.

A user-friendly web app also means content management should be easy to update and manage for administrators. For this, we custom-built the backend on WordPress, leveraging its powerful and flexible content management system (CMS).

The use of WordPress enables Coastland’s team to easily manage and update the app’s content without requiring technical knowledge. From news updates to job postings, everything is accessible for administrators, empowering them to keep employees informed without delays or complications.

Key content management features included:

• Custom-built WordPress backend:
  We leveraged WordPress’s open-source flexibility to create a tailored admin interface that simplifies content management while supporting the app’s unique needs.
• Intuitive content editing:
  Administrators can add and edit news posts, resources, and job postings with ease, with the ability to tag which employees have access to what content.
• Admin-controlled forum:
  Employee-submitted posts require approval before they appear in the company forum, giving administrators full control over what’s published.
• Email funneling:
  Submitted forms are routed to specific internal email addresses based on their type, ensuring they reach the right department quickly and securely.

The result: A scalable, people-first platform that empowers teams.

Built on thoughtful UX and flexible architecture, this custom web app balances performance with purpose. It empowers employees with easy access to the tools and information they need while giving administrators a secure, intuitive system they can confidently manage and scale.

Looking to streamline internal communication for your team? Connect with our team and find out if a custom web-app is right for you!