DFAIT

About the Client
The Canadian Embassy in Beijing was established in 1971 to represent the interests of the Government of Canada in the People's Republic of China. Growth in Canada-China relations led to the establishment of the Consulate General of Canada in Shanghai (1986), the Consulate General of Canada in Guangzhou (1994) and the Consulate of Canada in Chongqing (1998). Canada is represented in Hong Kong by the Consulate General of Canada in Hong Kong.

Challenge
The existing Canadian embassy and consulate websites were extremely slow to update and maintain. Much of the information was out of date and did not conform to the Government of Canada's common look and feel standards. The embassy website along with the consulate website for Guangzhaou and Chongqing needed to be dynamic and respond to the needs of Canadians living in China and to the

Chinese who were interested in Canada. The Canadian embassy and consulates needed a trilingual website to represent the two official languages of Canada (English and French) along with Mandarin Chinese, the embassy and the consulate in Guangzhou and Chongqing needed separate sites and each department (Trade, Development, and Visa) needed control of the information posted to the website.

Solution
The requirements from the embassy required nine different sites, an English, French and Chinese website for each of the embassy in Beijing, and the consulates in Guangzhou and Chongqing. The Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (DFAIT) selected ElementCMS to represent the Government of Canada in China. ElementCMS was a "Made in Canada"; out-of-the-box solution supported the trilingual needs of the client and was built with modules for the government's look and feel standards. The powerful group management features allows the members of the different departments to enter in information relevant to Canadian citizens and Chinese citizens from the content experts.

Outcome
Staff and diplomats at the Canadian embassy and consulates now have control of their data, and experts in each department can deploy information to Canadians visiting and living in China and to Chinese citizens in a organized, timely fashion. The Government of Canada in China can now have a seamless interface to other Canadian embassies and to the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade.

Site Information
URL: http://www.beijing.gc.ca/
Site Type: Internet