Web Content Management –

easier way to manage wild web

Dong Chen, Lead Web Developer

Office of the Chief Information OfficerI.T.S / Web Development

Bowling Green State UniversityThursday 04/20/06

Ohio Higher Education Computing Council, 2006

BackgroundAbout BGBowling Green State University (BGSU), located in northwest Ohio, was founded in 1910. A state-assisted, residential institution, BGSU has an enrollment of approximately 20,000 students on two campuses and 840 full-time faculty members. More than 200 undergraduate degrees are offered, along with master’s degree programs in 65 fields and doctoral programs in 16 areas

I.T. InfrastructureSun Solaris 9, Oracle 9i database, and Apache web server

Why Web Content Management?Create a consistent look and feel for BGSUProvide a mechanism for timely updating and maintaining accurate informationEase of use for technical and non-technical expertise associated with managing and publishing contentReduce duplication of effort by providing an automated system for sharing contentProvide flexible workflow for approval of changes to contentIncrease the ability for shared support

WCM Selection Process

Established core I.T. CMS reviewing groupList of core WCM capabilitiesCampus-wide Web steering committeeVendor onsite demoEstablished Web operations committee, co-chaired by Office of Marketing & Communications, and Office of the CIO

Web Content Management Market, 2005

WCM Core CapabilitiesHighlights

Simplify content contribution, empower non-technical usersWYSIWYG editingLocate Web content quickly and easilyStreamline approval processEnforce standardizationPublish content across multiple sitesReuse content and fine-tune page layoutMaintain connections among your content, less broken linksBetter site maintenanceSection 508 Compliance and W3C WAI (Web Accessibility Initiative)Build On Open Standards (HTML, XML, CSS, Java)

WCM Implementation ProcessAsked vendor provide onside training and BGSU branded documentationSetup WCM resource website (http://www.bgsu.edu/offices/cio/webdev/page972.html)

Campus-wide communication, ex. (workshops, consultation, training)

Balance politics and technical/staff abilityImplemented some highly visible websites first, ex. (Office of the President, Division of the Executive VP, Office of the CIO)

Additional staffingThree-tired architecture (development, testing, production)

Steps for Using the CMSEach area designates a content administrator. This person coordinates the page's "look and feel" and will be the area's only contact personThe content administrator contacts the Web team to establish a presence in the web content management systemThe content administrator contacts Marketing to specify the area’s color and templateThe content administrator contacts TSC at 2-0999 to schedule CMS training for everyone who will use the systemAfter completing the training, all trainees use the content management system within a training environment for two weeksAfter the two-week testing period, the content administrator contact the Web team again to establish their community's workflow requirementsThe area begins creating, producing, and managing Web pages using the content management system

WCM Resources

BGSU Web Development General CMS Info - http://www.bgsu.edu/webdev/Graphics standards manual - http://www.bgsu.edu/offices/mc/gsm/

BGSU case study (http://www.percussion.com/products/content-management/rhythmyx/literature/PDFs/BGSU_Case_Study.pdf)

CMS Watch(http://www.cmswatch.com)

Lessons LearnedKey Considerations:

Analyze your own website to help determine what exactly is neededLook for CMS providers that offer WYSIWYG editingAsk vendor to install the product onsite for testing before any decisions madeAsk about supportContact existing higher education customers for referenceAsk for an education discountLook to the future, ex. (XML, Web Services, RSS, Portlet)Engage your stakeholders early in the processCommunicate, communicate, communicate …

The End?

Q&AContact info:

Dong ChenLead Web Applications Developerdchen@bgsu.edu419-372-8389