How to go about creating an employee "Member Area"…

[computerkitten]

I built a client's website with one of StudioPress's themes and its working great.  Its a multisite with one sub-site.  More to be created in the future.  However the client now wants to have an employee area that they login to, and they can then get access to a blog area (postings by the owner), event calendar, and other employee specific information.  I'm thinking having this NOT tied into the current company website would be the way to go.  Fearing risks of having another layer of complexity that could break the site (that may not be true its just a gut feeling).

What would be your advice to having an employee area login site for internal information?  Create it on a sub-domain?  Keep it far away and separate from their main multisite website?  Use Wishlist then?

Just looking for some feedback/guidance.
Thank you,

CK

[Chris Cree]

If you're looking to do a "membership" type of site I recommend you take a look at Premise, especially if you are using Genesis (they're both by Copyblogger Media).

Premise is Multisite compatible so you could create a member-only site on the network.

[blogjunkie]

Maybe having employee information on the member area isn't such a good idea for privacy and security issues. Perhaps suggest to the client to separate that into a different application like Highrise by 37 Signals. Then the blog posts and editorial calendar are more straightforward. If you are set on having the employee info on the site, you can secure things by making it SSL. Good luck with the project!

---

WordPress evangelist, Nike runner, Apple fanboy.
Work: ClickWP WordPress Support, Play: adventures of a blogjunkie. Talk to me on Twitter @blogjunkie

[computerkitten]

Well the employee information would be a member area... so I assume that you all agree to have a separate WordPress website built (maybe on a subdomain) for the employees of the company to be able to login to and see the owner's blog posts, event calendar, etc.

I will though check out the Highrise by 37 Signals.

Thanks for the feedback!

[computerkitten]

Also is the Wishlist plugin still the way to go for a membership site?

Thanks!

[blogjunkie]

As Chris said, the Premise plugin is pretty good. It's also cheaper than Wishlist and you can use it on multiple sites. Wishlist is also not multisite compatible. Take my opinion with a pinch of salt - I've never used Wishlist!

---

WordPress evangelist, Nike runner, Apple fanboy.
Work: ClickWP WordPress Support, Play: adventures of a blogjunkie. Talk to me on Twitter @blogjunkie

[computerkitten]

Oh okay I didn't know the Premise was a plugin so I will check that out.  Sounds like a good alternative solution to Wishlist too.  I really appreciate your feedback thank you!!

 

[Alirat]

I have set up S2member after having a look at a few membership plugins and found it fairly easy and intuitive. I don't know whether it is multisite compatible, however.

I'm not sure what your client is trying to achieve, but just having logins with with author permissions would allow the staff to see posts and editor permissions would allow them to edit. If he wants a sort of Intranet with shared calendars and documents I usually offer Google apps as a way for companies to work together. Under 10 users is free.  Understanding what the client wants is the key. Most of my clients use incorrect terminology and often give the wrong impression of what they are after and only after gently cross examining then do I find out what they really want.

[Author]

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