About ARA
The Housing Finance and Development Centre of Finland (ARA) is a state agency governed by the Ministry of the Environment. ARA provides state subsidies and grants, oversees and monitors the use of ARA rental apartments and ARA subsidies, supervises the energy certificate process, and produces information on housing markets and energy certificates. Currently, there are approximately 240,000 ARA rental apartments in Finland, which are subject to usage and transfer restrictions overseen by ARA.
Goals
In addition to a comprehensive technical overhaul of the website, ARA set objectives to refresh and redesign the content. The goal was to make relevant information more accessible to various user groups and improve the overall accessibility of the site.
To ensure that the end result was a cohesive and comprehensive solution addressing all necessary changes, it was crucial to thoroughly map out both the objectives and the existing website content. Additionally, as ARA’s brand identity had been updated, incorporating this new look into the website was an essential part of the redesign project.
”A prime opportunity for modernizing and completely overhauling the service arose when we needed to phase out the previous web service platform. The accumulated need for updates over time could be addressed efficiently on the new platform through flexible and collaborative work with Mearra.”
– Susanna Mäenpää, Communications Specialist, ARA
Solution
The joint project for the website redesign began in May 2023. The planning phase included four workshops, one of which was conducted in person. At the start of the project, the primary goals for the website were defined, and an inventory of the existing website’s content was completed. During the workshops, the new website’s content structure was designed, and needs for site search and content filtering were assessed. Close collaboration during the planning phase and the client’s readiness to develop content based on the workshops created an exceptionally solid foundation for the project’s success.
In June 2023, ARA’s and Mearra’s project team members gathered for an in-person team day. This face-to-face collaboration further strengthened team cohesion, facilitated better acquaintance, and created favorable conditions for task planning in the coming months. Mearra introduced principles of psychological safety in project work and highlighted key aspects of agile development methods from the client’s perspective.
“Collaboration with Mearra is flexible and efficient. We work with a knowledgeable, effective, and pleasant team of professionals.”
–Susanna Mäenpää, Communications Specialist, ARA.
Towards the end of the planning phase, the UX/UI design was carried out, adapting ARA’s updated visual identity into the website’s appearance. The specifications were finalized with tailored functionality planning and navigation design.
In September 2023, the implementation phase began, with Mearra’s technical experts developing the designed user interface, customized features, and content creator views according to a tight schedule. Since Drupal CMS (Content Management System) was new to many of ARA’s content production and management staff, a brief introduction to its usage, capabilities, and features was provided early in the project.
The website delivery project was completed in winter, at which point Mearra handed over the new Drupal-based content management system to ARA. The implemented user interface was consistent with the modern web design, and, for example, site search was developed using a React component and ElasticSearch.
The new site was built on the open-source Drupal platform and hosted on Mearra’s own Silta GCP hosting environment, located in Finnish data centers and utilizing Google Cloud’s cloud capacity. Visitor cookie consents are managed using Cookiehub, and analytics are collected using the Snoobi tool, as requested by ARA.
Results
The updated and modern Ara.fi website was launched in May 2024. Prior to this, ARA undertook a massive effort to overhaul the content structures, focusing on clarity and findability. The website offers services in Finnish and Swedish, with a more limited selection available in English.
“Ara has received a lot of positive feedback on the new site. The pages are clear, and information is now easier to find.” – Susanna Mäenpää, Communications Specialist, ARA.
Mearra and ARA continue their close collaboration beyond this major project, focusing on the maintenance and ongoing development of the website. In the future, the partnership and the development of digital services will be centered around the following Mearra services: service design, UX/UI design, technical architecture design, accessibility consulting, analytics consulting, hosting services, project management and continuous development.
