Cintana (ASU)
ASU’s academic content platform faced performance bottlenecks as users and data grew, weak role-based access that caused security gaps and admin overhead, manual AWS deployments that bred delays and errors, disorganized content with weak tagging and search, and security/compliance risk around authentication and encryption.
Key metrics
- 1,951+
- Learners supported
- 91%
- Active user engagement
- 3,169
- Courses managed
- 40
- Partner institutions (93% active)
Main features
What the platform does
Role-based access control
Content tailored to users' roles (e.g., admins, students).
User authentication
Secure access via ASURITE IDs.
Institutional data management
Institutions can manage and update their own data.
Reports
Admins can generate reports based on user activity, courses and content.
Global links feature
Links courses to organizations, highlighting relevant ones and sending email notifications when a global link is created.
Content access feature
Allows or restricts content access based on the organization.
How it played out
Challenges, approach and results
Lack of scalability
Performance bottlenecks as users & data grew.
CI/CD automation
Automated AWS pipelines, no manual deploys.
Faster deploys
CI/CD cut failures & downtime.
Inefficient user management
Poor RBAC caused security gaps & admin overhead.
Automated DB migrations
Custom scripts cut downtime & data-loss risk.
Stronger security
Structured, secure access control.
Disorganized content structure
Weak tagging & search hindered navigation.
Enhanced RBAC
Fixed routing bugs; secured role-based access.
Better organization
Efficient search, filter & manage.
Manual AWS setup & migration
Manual deploys bred delays & errors.
Optimized content
Metadata tagging, advanced search & filtering.
Optimized performance
Scaled capacity, kept stability.
Security & compliance risks
Needed robust auth, encryption & compliance.
Security enhancements
Stronger encryption, auth & compliance.
Seamless experience
Faster access for all users.
Tech stack
- Vue.js
- TypeScript
- Pinia
- Node.js
- Express.js
- PostgreSQL
Platform overview
Inside the finished platform
Impact
CINTANA became a scalable, high-performance academic repository — empowering institutions, administrators and students with a structured, secure, future-ready learning environment for ASU's growing network.
The engagement
What happened, in order
- Client or institution
- Cintana (ASU)
- Problem
- ASU’s academic content platform faced performance bottlenecks as users and data grew, weak role-based access that caused security gaps and admin overhead, manual AWS deployments that bred delays and errors, disorganized content with weak tagging and search, and security/compliance risk around authentication and encryption.
- Project scope
- Built a centralized platform for storing and managing academic content — courses, degrees and teaching resources — across affiliated institutions, with role-based access control, ASURITE-based authentication, automated CI/CD AWS pipelines, automated database migrations, metadata tagging with advanced search/filtering, and stronger encryption and access control. Stack: Vue.js, TypeScript, Pinia, Node.js, Express.js, PostgreSQL.
- Verified results
- 1,951+ learners supported, 91% active user engagement, 3,169 courses managed, and 40 partner institutions (93% actively participating).
Related services
Capabilities used in this work
Custom Software Development
Purpose-built applications for programs and products that off-the-shelf software cannot serve, built to be maintained by your team.
See Our Custom Software ApproachSystems Integration & APIs
Connect legacy systems, cloud platforms and critical data so information moves reliably across your organization.
See Our Integration ApproachData, Analytics & AI
Turn scattered records into governed, reportable data — and apply AI only where the use case and the privacy rules both hold up.
Learn About Data & Responsible AI
Let's modernize what matters
Tell us about the systems, products, integrations or operational challenges in front of you. A specialist will read it and reply with a considered next step — not a sales sequence.