Project Overview
The Work & The Why
Before the portal, Wonder Voyage ran every voyage by hand across Google Drive, email and phone calls. For each new client, staff built the folder structure manually, then chased down, renamed and filed every waiver, form and report.
We built a portal where that work happens automatically. A client registers once, and the system creates their voyage record, builds the Drive workspace and activates their login. From there, every form they submit lands in the right place, and the Wonder Voyage team works from one consistent structure instead of rebuilding it for each trip. Two custom plugins round it out: one keeps every voyage's emails on a schedule tied to its own departure date, and the other opens and closes client access as trips begin and end.
Project Highlights
- Self-provisioning workspaces: one client registration creates the voyage record and the client's login, then an automation scenario builds the Drive folder tree and activates the account.
- Paperwork that files itself: waivers are e-signed online, then renamed and saved to the right voyage folder with no hand filing.
- Documents generated from forms: prospectuses, surveys and guide reports become formatted Google Docs and PDFs in each voyage's folder.
- Proven at volume: about 3,000 form entries processed across 18 forms since early 2022.
- Two custom plugins: an email engine that schedules every voyage's messages from its own departure date, and a lifecycle manager that opens and closes client access as trips begin and end.
Gallery
The Work In Action
What We Built
Features & Functionality
Site Build & Performance
Custom voyage data model
Each trip is a custom Voyage content type built with Meta Box. A 12-field group captures trip type (Pilgrimage, Mission, Adult, Educational, Legacy), location, dates, season and organization contact details, and read-only participation counts update from the signed waivers.
Role-based access
Trip leaders are WordPress users in a custom client role, and a conditional field lets churches add office staff when several people need access to one voyage. Meta Box relationships tie clients, voyage coordinators and guides to each voyage, which drives portal access, email recipients and role cleanup.
Trip-date email automation
Every voyage gets its own email schedule, counted back from its own departure date instead of the calendar, replacing an earlier Mailchimp RSS setup that sent on fixed dates. Each email stores its position and a "months before trip" offset, a daily job sends whatever is due, and late sign-ups are caught up with one email every three days. Clients and coordinators each get one copy, coordinator subject lines carry the voyage name, sending stops a week after the trip, and an admin screen previews every voyage's schedule with test sends.
Client role lifecycle
Access follows the trip. A returning client chosen on the registration form gets the client role added without losing any other role, such as guide or coordinator. When the final survey arrives, or 30 days after the trip ends if it never does, the voyage is marked complete and the client role is removed unless that person has another active trip. Thirty days later the voyage moves to the Trash, where it can be restored, and nothing is deleted automatically.
Reliable background jobs
Daily jobs run from a real server cron instead of WP-Cron so they fire on time, and every email send is logged as sent or failed. Both plugins are documented and keep their settings in constants and filters, so changes do not mean digging through code.
User Experience
One login for the whole trip
Clients sign in to one place to see their voyage details and their Wonder Voyage voyage coordinator, instead of piecing it together from emails and shared folders.
Participant list
Clients can see everyone on their voyage who has a signed waiver, so leaders know who is confirmed.
Emails that match the inbox
Clients can read the emails sent for their voyage, as each one goes out. The portal only shows what has actually been sent, so it always matches what is in their inbox.
Shared access for office staff
Office staff who help run a trip register through their own short form and get their own logins, so no one shares credentials.
Content & Features
Electronic waivers
Participants complete the waiver and sign electronically, with an audit trail attached, and several participants can be covered in one submission. Each signed PDF is renamed by voyage, location, date and signer and filed in that voyage's Waivers folder.
Trip prospectus
A planning form where clients describe their group's goals, pace, sacred sites, activities and service interests, with separate question sets for different kinds of groups. Each submission is saved as a PDF in the voyage folder.
Surveys and guide reports
The final client survey, the client and guide connection survey and the guide final report each fill a Google Doc template and save to the voyage folder. The guide report handles additional staff and attached expense reports.
Safety net for misfiled surveys
If a final survey is submitted from the logged-out page without a voyage ID, an alert goes to the Wonder Voyage team and Flying Donut Media so it can be filed by hand instead of getting lost.
Marketing & Integrations
Workspace automation
When a new voyage is created, automation builds its Google Drive folder tree, copies in the expense report, itinerary and voyage document templates, saves the folder IDs back to WordPress, embeds the client's folder on their voyage page, publishes the voyage and activates the client's account.
Google Drive and Docs
Every voyage has its own folders (Portal, Guide, Voyage Coordinator, Housing and Waivers), and forms generate formatted Google Docs and PDFs straight into them, so Wonder Voyage keeps working in the tools it already uses.
Mailchimp
Client and additional staff contacts are synced to Wonder Voyage's mailing list as they register.
Client Love
Flying Donut Media created a custom client portal for Wonder Voyage, and it has become one of our most valuable tools. What began as an online filing cabinet has evolved into an exceptional platform for real-time communication, keeping our clients informed, connected, and equipped throughout their journey. This tool continues to serve us so well after all these years, and it's a testament to Jason's creativity and understanding of our needs.
Ready to Build Something Worth Showing Off?
Every project here started with a conversation. Let's start yours.