Transcript Content Management Systems

Web Content Management
Update
University of Louisville
April 12, 2005
Content Management Systems
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Content management systems are used to
systematically create, organize, publish,
manage and maintain web-based information
and resources.
Content Management at UofL
Content Types
Software
Academic Resources
Blackboard
ULink Portal and PeopleSoft
Self-service
Document Imaging and
Archiving
Document collaboration and
sharing
Departmental web creation
and maintenance
PeopleSoft Portal
OnBase
DocuShare
???
UofL Departmental web sites
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Inconsistent in look and feel
Navigation changes from page to page
Content often out of date
Variable quality of content
Content difficult and labor intensive to maintain
Web pages not designed to be handicapped
accessible
Goal
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1. Provide tools, resources and support for
departmental web creation and maintenance
that will:
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Simplify creation and maintenance of web sites
Ensure a consistent look and feel
Provide for handicapped accessibility
Enable maintenance by causal web users
Support editorial processes (content approval and
scheduling workflow)
Content Management System
Features
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Page templates
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Structured data entry
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Create consistent look and feel across a set of pages
Maintain navigation across site
Build in accessibility
Use web standards
Create and maintain content without use of HTML
Ease maintenance for non-technical content owners
Workflow process
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Allows for approval from editor before publishing
Scheduling of content can automate removal
CMS features (continued)
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Separation of content from presentation
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Allows reuse of content with telephones,
handhelds, and other devices
Provide built-in applications types
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Mail forms
Departmental calendar of events
Departmental news
Photo Gallery
Advanced search
Evaluation Process
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Organize CMS Team
Interview CMS users and stakeholders
Examine technical requirements
Develop strategy and evaluation criteria
Survey available software
Implement pilot project
Develop recommendation
Review with advisory groups
Evaluation Criteria
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System Capabilities (required)
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Compatible with proposed Linux environment
Load Balancing and Scalability
Supports LDAP authentication
Distributed administration
Granular (role-based) privileges
Evaluation Criteria (continued)
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Product Features (required)
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Accessibility Support (section 508 and WAI)
Flexible and fully customizable templates
Capability to assign different look and feel by unit
Content approval workflow
Ability for casual users to maintain content
Evaluation Criteria (continued)
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Product Features (required)
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SSL compatible
Unlimited license for servers, users, and URLs
Ability to interoperate seamlessly with other UofL
web environments, portal, etc.
Availability of commercial support
Evaluation Criteria (continued)
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Product Features (desired)
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Content Scheduling
Human readable and publishable URLs
Version control
Advanced Search capabilities
Support web standards (XHTML and CSS)
Undo
Evaluation Criteria (continued)
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Product Features (desired)
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Automatic generation of navigation
Through-the-web editing
Online help
Available training
Content syndication
Wide user base
Inexpensive to deploy
Evaluation Criteria (continued)
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Built-in Applications
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Mail form
Departmental calendar of events
Departmental News
Photo Gallery
Search Engine
Site map
Survey/polls
Forum
Popular CMS Products
ContextXML
Uses XML with XSLT to store and deliver content. Focus
on content re-use. Commercial $100K+ licensing
Documentum
Focus on massive sites for storage and publications of
internal corporate information.
Commercial $500K+ licensing
Drupal
PHP based small to mid-size CMS.
Open Source licensing
eZpublish
PHP based small to mid-size CMS.
Open Source licensing
IBM CMS (Websphere)
Large scale CMS. integrates with Lotus Notes, DB2, and
Websphere applications server.
Commercial $250K+
Popular CMS Products (cont’d)
Interwoven
Large scale system focusing on versioning, workflow,
and templating.
Commercial $400K+
Mambo
Focus on corporate web sites, PHP based CMS.
Open source licensing
Midgard
Popular Australian-based enterprise content
management framework (tool set).
Open source licensing
Microsoft CMS
Enterprise CMS based on Microsoft web server,
sharepoint, and .NET technology. Commercial $100K+
licensing
OmniUpdate
ASP updating server for web sites. Commercial peruser licensing model.
Popular CMS Products (cont’d)
Plone
Flexible enterprise content management system based
on Zope’s content management framework. Open
source licensing.
RedDot
Enterprise content management system with a
sophisticated editing capability. Commercial $150K+
licensing
SiteRefresh
Flexible Java based web publishing toolkit. Commercial
$25K+ licensing
Typo3
Popular European-based open source CMS.
Open source licensing
WebGUI
Modular object-oriented “application framework” for
content management. Open source licensing.
Results of Product Survey
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Very wide variety of options and
approaches
Options range from individual blogging
software to comprehensive enterprise
application systems
CMS products are often dependent on
additional vendor product sets such as
Lotus Notes, Microsoft Sharepoint server,
etc.
Results of Survey (continued)
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Commercial options
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Expensive and proprietary
Primarily targeted at business, e-commerce sites
Open source options
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Good fit with existing network and server
environment (Linux, apache)
Open, flexible and customizable
Good fit with departmental publishing needs
Top Candidate
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Plone CMS
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Open source
Highly customizable
Support for large enterprise departments
Enable rapid implementation
Maintenance by casual users
Wide user base
Commercial support available
Plone Characteristics
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Compatible with UofL environment
Cross-platform support: Linux, Windows,
Sun, Apple, BSD
Support for LDAP authentication
Ability to distribute administration and
privileges
Content scheduling and approval
Ability to import/export websites
Plone Characteristics
(continued)
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Standard templates validate to web
standards (XHTML and CSS)
Standard templates implement accessibility
standards (WAI and 508)
Supports load balancing and scalability
Existing experience
Commercial support
Plone Characteristics
(continued)
A sample of Plone users include:
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Duke University
North Carolina State
UNC, Chapel Hill
Rice University, Houston
Loyola University, Chicago
NASA Mars rover - http://mars.telascience.org/home
Sigma Xi, research Society - http://exchange.sigmaxi.org/
Implementation
Considerations
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Establish production environment and LDAP
connection
Identify technical support staff (1/2 FTE)
Develop user support staff (1/2 FTE)
Additional Helpdesk resources
Develop documentation and training
Develop sample templates
Develop custom support offerings
Summary
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A content management system can help University
departments develop consistent web sites, meet
accessibility standards, ease maintenance of
content by casual users, and implement editorial
processes to maintain content quality.
The Plone CMS is currently the top candidate.
Implementation will require:
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Integration with enterprise infrastructure, including LDAP
Technical support staff (1/2 FTE estimated)
End user support and training (1/2 FTE estimated)
Additional HelpDesk resources
Discussion
This presentation is located at
http://docushare.louisville.edu/dscgi/ds.py/Get/File-8560/
Mike Dyre
[email protected]
852-7770