client overview
Developed a Web Portal for Brokers & Clients to Manage SMART WordPress Websites with Full Customisation Capabilities
Our client is a leading Australian mortgage aggregator whose network of over 2,900 contracted brokers provides credit assistance for residential and commercial finance products. To support this expansive broker network, the client operates SMART Online — a dedicated platform hosting 900+ individually branded WordPress websites, one for each active broker across the country.
Brokers access their SMART Online admin panel via Single Sign-On through their AFG Suite login, where they independently manage content, upload images, publish blog articles, and switch website templates. Invezza was engaged as the long-term technology partner responsible for operating, maintaining, securing, and continuously improving this large-scale multi-site WordPress infrastructure.
Industry
Project Duration
12+ Months
location
Australia
Budget Type
Retainer
Team Size
8 Members
Engagement
Managed Services
Background and Strategic Fit
The SMART Online platform had expanded to support over 900 individual WordPress broker websites, each independently configured, branded, and managed. Sustaining this infrastructure at scale required a disciplined operational partner capable of handling everything from routine patching to emergency outage resolution — without disrupting active broker sites or the mortgage clients they served.
When Invezza was engaged, a thorough analysis of the SMART Online environment revealed a number of operational gaps that were creating unnecessary risk and overhead for the client:
- 900+ broker sites with no centralised, automated uptime or health monitoring in place
- Manual SSL certificate renewals creating recurring compliance risk at every renewal cycle
- Ad hoc plugin upgrade processes with no rollback strategy or controlled batch rollout
- Broker onboarding and FLEX CSV profile sync lacking a standardised, auditable workflow
To address these challenges, Invezza proposed a structured managed services engagement centred on three pillars: proactive monitoring, disciplined patch management, and process standardisation — shifting the team from reactive firefighting to predictable, risk-managed platform operations.
Why This Project Mattered
AFG’s broker website network is a critical customer-facing asset supporting over 2,900 contracted brokers. Downtime, broken authentication flows, or outdated plugins on any broker site directly impacted broker productivity — and ultimately, the trust that brokers and their clients place in AFG’s digital infrastructure.
Invezza’s managed services engagement provided AFG with a resident technology partner who understood the SMART Online stack deeply and could respond to operational issues immediately — protecting platform reliability and reinforcing AFG’s commitment to its broker community.
Services Offered
Challenges
01
Multi-Site WordPress Operations at Scale
Governing and maintaining 900+ individually configured WordPress broker websites as a single coordinated estate required a rigorous operational framework that had not previously existed. Each site had its own content, plugin versions, and broker-specific configurations — making even routine updates a high-risk, high-coordination exercise.
- Coordinating simultaneous plugin and WordPress core upgrades without disrupting live broker sites
- Detecting and remediating broken links and configuration drift across hundreds of individual websites
- Maintaining platform-wide consistency while preserving each broker’s individual content and customisations
02
Broker Identity & Single Sign-On Management
Broker credentials, access rights, and profile data were synchronised across multiple systems — FLEX, AFG Suite, and the SMART WordPress platform. Any inconsistency or delay in this pipeline could prevent brokers from accessing their own admin panels, causing immediate operational disruption and support escalations across the network.
- Ensuring reliable SSO authentication flows between AFG Suite and the SMART WordPress admin panel
- Keeping broker profile data accurately in sync when FLEX CSV exports contained partial or updated records
- Handling website deactivation cleanly when a broker’s hostname was removed from the FLEX CSV feed
03
SSL Certificate & Compliance Governance
With 900+ broker domains each requiring valid SSL certificates, the issuance and renewal process was a recurring risk area. Expired or misconfigured certificates could trigger browser security warnings, undermining the trust of both brokers and their mortgage clients when visiting the site — a situation entirely avoidable with the right governance process.
- Designing a repeatable, auditable SSL certificate issuance and renewal workflow for the full broker portfolio
- Tracking certificate expiry dates and proactively scheduling renewals before any site was impacted
- Coordinating domain-level renewals without causing downtime or DNS configuration errors on individual broker sites
Key Project Goals
Everything we built and operated was aligned to five core outcomes that AFG needed to achieve for their broker network
Solutions Provided
Invezza began with a full audit of the SMART Online infrastructure — mapping all active broker sites, reviewing the CRON job schedule, documenting the SSL certificate issuance process, and cataloguing the existing plugin upgrade workflow. This analysis established the operational baseline for a structured managed services plan.
Our team introduced a tiered operational model covering proactive monitoring, scheduled patching, and on-demand support. Plugin and WordPress core updates were applied to the master SMART copy first, validated comprehensively, then rolled out to broker sites in controlled batches of 100 — eliminating the risk of mass failures and enabling rapid rollback when needed.
Every broker-facing process — from FLEX CSV synchronisation to SSO provisioning, from new site builds to content admin access — was mapped, documented, and optimised. The result was a platform that could support AFG’s growing broker network through predictable, process-driven managed services rather than ad hoc manual intervention.
Key Functionalities
Power the SMART Online Platform with Reliable Multi-Site WordPress Operations, Automated Workflows, and Broker-Centric Administration
A managed services platform built to support 900+ broker websites, thousands of daily admin sessions, and continuous operational compliance
Platform Operations
- Master Site Upgrade & Validation
- Batch Plugin Rollout (100-site batches)
- Automated CRON Job Scheduling
- Broken Link Detection & Remediation
- Monthly OS, PHP & DB Patching
- Maintenance Mode Management
Broker Administration
- FLEX CSV Profile Synchronisation
- SSO Login via AFG Suite
- New Broker Site Build Workflow
- Broker Website Activation & Deactivation
- Employee Account Management
- Content & Template Self-ServiceAlert Centre
Monitoring & Compliance
- SSL Certificate Issuance & Renewal
- Uptime & Outage Monitoring
- Zendesk Ticket-Driven Feature Requests
- Audit Log for Admin Activities
- SEO Element Change Tracking
- Security & Access Control Review
Technology Stack
Frontend
Backend
Database
Cloud
DevOps / Infrastructure
Results
Following Invezza’s engagement, the SMART Online platform operated with measurably greater reliability and operational discipline. Broker sites were consistently patched on schedule, SSL certificates renewed proactively, and the plugin upgrade process — previously ad hoc and error-prone — became a structured, risk-managed monthly activity with a clear audit trail.
The platform grew in capability and stability, enabling AFG to onboard new brokers faster and with greater confidence. Brokers reported fewer disruptions to their admin panel sessions, and the FLEX CSV synchronisation with SSO provisioning operated reliably across the full broker fleet. Invezza’s managed services engagement became a strategic cornerstone of AFG’s digital broker support operations.