How Ajackus Delivered a Custom Museum Content Management System for Al Habtoor Museum with Multilingual iPad Integration

Client

Al Habtoor Museum is a prestigious cultural destination in Dubai, UAE, offering an interactive visitor experience built around iPad-based content stations. The museum’s platform was designed and built in collaboration with Engage Works, a specialist experience design studio operating across the UK and Dubai.

Challenge

Al Habtoor Museum’s visitor experience was built around interactive iPad stations that delivered curated content — narrations, image galleries, video and audio playlists, zone information, and exhibit descriptions — across the museum’s physical zones. Engage Works had designed and developed the iPad application, but the backend content management infrastructure required a specialised build: a secure, structured admin panel that gave museum staff full control over content without requiring technical expertise.

The content structure was inherently complex. Six distinct content types — Plinths, Narrations, Image Galleries, Video Playlists, Audio Playlists, and Zone Notes — each had different data requirements, media relationships, and presentation logic. Multilingual visitors required content in multiple languages, and translation management needed to be handled manually by museum administrators, not developers. Security was also a primary concern: the admin panel required fortified login functionality to prevent unauthorised access to the museum’s content infrastructure.

On-site deployment constraint:

The platform had to be deployed on-site in Dubai, with Ajackus engineers physically present for installation, integration with the iPad application, and knowledge transfer to local museum staff — all within a defined one-week window.

Goals

The engagement required Ajackus to deliver on five core outcomes — spanning platform build, content architecture, security, multilingual support, and on-site delivery.

Journey

The Ajackus team approached this engagement as an end-to-end delivery commitment — not just a software build. From schema design to on-site deployment and staff training, the team took responsibility for the complete pipeline from admin panel to visitor-facing iPad experience.

Custom Admin CMS Design and Build

Ajackus engineers designed a custom admin panel structured around the museum’s six content types: Plinths, Narrations, Image Galleries, Video Playlists, Audio Playlists, and Zone Notes. Each content type received its own management interface, tailored to its specific data requirements — with rich media upload for galleries and playlists, structured text fields for narrations and zone notes, and relationship mapping between exhibits and their associated content. The interface was designed for non-technical museum staff: clear navigation, guided workflows, and no requirement for coding knowledge to manage or update content.

Fortified Security and Authentication

The admin panel handled the museum’s complete content infrastructure — a security-critical asset. Ajackus engineers implemented robust authentication with role-based access controls, session management, and protection against common web vulnerabilities. Authorised museum administrators could log in securely; unauthorised access was blocked at the application layer.

Multilingual Content Management

Visitor content at Al Habtoor Museum required translation across multiple languages. Ajackus built a multilingual management layer within the admin panel enabling administrators to enter and edit translations directly, without developer involvement. Translation fields were structured content-type-by-content-type, ensuring that all visible text — narrations, gallery labels, zone descriptions — could be maintained in each required language by museum staff alone.

iPad Content API Layer

The admin panel was connected to the iPad application via a data API layer that exposed structured content to Engage Works’ visitor experience system. This API was designed to serve the iPad application’s data requirements precisely — delivering the right content types in the right format for each zone and exhibit interaction — and to keep the visitor experience synchronised with any content updates made in the admin panel.

On-Site Deployment in Dubai

Ajackus engineers deployed on-site in Dubai for a one-week engagement, managing local installation, integration testing with the live iPad application, and staff training. The handover was structured to ensure museum authorities were fully proficient in managing content independently before the Ajackus team departed — achieving operational readiness, not just technical completion.

Results

Ajackus delivered a fully operational custom CMS within the agreed timeline, completing on-site deployment in Dubai within one week and achieving full staff handover before departure. The system gave Al Habtoor Museum complete content control — without ongoing technical dependency on external developers.

What went well:

Content Management

• Museum staff gained complete control over all six content types — Plinths, Narrations, Image Galleries, Video Playlists, Audio Playlists, and Zone Notes — without requiring developer assistance for routine updates.
• Multilingual content management was integrated into each content type’s interface, enabling staff to maintain all language versions independently.

Platform Integration

• The API layer kept the iPad visitor experience continuously synchronised with the admin panel — content updates were reflected in the application without re-deployment.
• Integration with Engage Works’ iPad application was completed successfully on-site, with end-to-end system behaviour verified before handover.

On-Site Delivery

• Ajackus engineers deployed and integrated the system in Dubai within the defined one-week window, meeting the museum’s go-live deadline.
• Museum authorities were fully trained and operationally independent before the Ajackus team departed.