HighEdWeb Michigan

A New Content Management System: From RFP to Launch in 12 Months

Your Speakers

Holly LaRose-Roenicke, Assistant Director

Web Communications

Aaron Maturen, Programmer

Web Technologies (ITS)

Jason Swackhamer, Director

Web Communications

About SVSU

• Enrollment: 10,500+– UG: 8,700+– Grad: 1,200+

• 77% full-time students• 70% under 25• 70% of incoming freshman

live on campus• Alumni: 38,000+• Regional institution with

some out state and international students

• Founded in 1963 (50th Anniversary)

Our Organization

President

Academic AffairsAdministration & Business Affairs

ITS

Web Programming

Training Team

Enrollment Management

Web Communications

Student Affairs Public Affairs

First . . . A little history

• Began decentralized Web management in 1994

• Typo 3 was second CMS system since 1994– Complicated to manage– Lack of consistency and

accountability– Dependence on IT for

providing functionality

• CMS compromised Superbowl Sunday, 2011

Pre-RFP Situation Analysis

• Programming staff— number and % of time

• Budget— open source isn’t free— making the case for $$

• Users — who will be using daily

• Workflow— levels of users, approvers

Key Factors in Needs Assessment

Web Maintenance

Web Communications

Manages oversight of website as a whole; sets website standards;

Advises departments on social media strategy;

Implements and trains editors on content management system.

IT

Web Programming supports University departments through customized-programming requests;

Networking supports the infrastructure to support the network and servers

Content Editors

Reviews content with owners annually, acts as department gatekeeper;

Ensures pages meet the University’s standards in terms of design and best practice;

Attends Terminal Four training.

University Communications

Sets graphic standards and message themes for University.Provides images in centralized repository

Needs Assessment

aka, What Does the CMS Need To Do?

Enterprise System— higher ed customers

Decoupled publishing— so we won’t loose live content again!

Easy to Use— Almost as easy as MS Word

Easy to Create Templates— flexible, easy for developers

The RFP

• A COMPLEX MONSTER

— 162 attributes questionnaire, 19 pgs!

• Targeted Vendors

— enterprise, higher ed

• Purchasing Led

— managed communication

• Time

— gave a month for response due to complexity

Selection Process

RFP Sent to 15 Vendors

RFP Responses Due 30 days later

5 Responded

RFPs Scored and Ranked based on 119 criteria, price

Cross-Campus Committee:

Demos from 3, selects Terminal

Four

Cross Campus Committee: low, mid and high level web editors, web programming, web communications, training

Project Planning

Decisions, Decisions

• Design (templates, CSS)

• Sitemap

• Migration Planning–All at once or phased?

–Who does it?

• Launch (how, timing)

Evaluate Current Website

Planning for Migration (Typo3 to T4)

6,102 Pages

Find patterns for categorizing content

Create rules for finding content to import into templates

Never logged in to Typo3 back end

Set up new Environment

Terminal Four (T4)

Create new templates for migrating content into

Port over CSS and page styles

Transform Hierarchy

Build New Site Structure

Used excel to define the new structure for the hierarchy

Used python to create the pages in new CMS and keep a reference of where they were in old CMS

Tip: Use this as opportunity to fix site structure (nested sites)

Content Migration

Import Content Army of minions Created an application

based on the new hierarchy to assign pages with links to old page and new page

Web crawler using python and a hierarchy Automatically imported

about 3,100 pages…

Media Asset Migration

Media had to initially be imported by a minion into T4

All of the links to images, PDFs, and files had to be relinked manually

Tip: All media will need to be imported and linked.

Quality Control

Minions were responsible for checking their assigned pages

Web Communications also spot checked pages

Tip: Have content owners check their content and website before launch

Training for Admins

“Train the Trainer”

• Training from vendor

• Training done on “training accounts”, not live sites

• Began converting our own websites

Content Editor Training

Required for Login• Login access given at end of training

- no exceptions

• Conducted using “training accounts”, not live sites

• Conducted (25) 90-minute trainings in 6 months, training 145 people

• Any changes made to live sites between conversion and training were done by minions, but from training to launch were their responsibility to update

Tips To Training Success

• Holding back login access

• Encourage users from same department to go together

• Improved documentation –ask vendors to see if they have documentation to build from

• Empower users with choices and tools to improve websites

• Continuous help “T4 Tuesdays”

Redefining Roles

Web Communications (Content)• Meet with every department annually

– Review content for accuracy

– Set goals/ priorities

– Review analytics

– Provide “report card”

• Assist Content Editors

• Provide training

• Administer access rights

Redefining Roles

Web Technologies (Programming)• Administer template improvements and technical

aspects of CMS support

• New process for project requests– New content templates

– Forms

– Special programming

• Clearinghouse for all online forms

• Cross training within department

Lessons Learned

Have a Communications Plan

• Set expectations

• Squelch the rumors

• Communicate process, timing

• Consider a content freeze

Lesson Learned

Conduct a Crisis Plan

• Brainstorm worst-case scenarios and solutions

Search broken

Links to all media files broken

Server space maxing out

Lessons Learned

Know URL StructureTip: Try not to change it!• Legacy Links are

persistent— Scheduled Emails— Google— Bookmarks

• At minimum, have a great 404 page

Lessons Learned

Anticipate What’ll Break (Forms)

• Some forms were processed by old CMS These broke

• Some were “included” with php on page These broke

• Some were external linksWorked!

Tip: Include forms in migration schedule

Lessons Learned

Triple-Check Server Setup

If you don’t want a phone call at 4 a.m., make sure that there is enough space on your server for the website.

Lessons Learned

In Summary: 3 Key Takeaways

Even though we moved fast, there were times that could have moved even faster because in the end, we needed three more months

Search engines take time to crawl

Each site should have been reviewed and signed off for accuracy by editors during the training process

12 Months- RFP to Launch

- Selection

- Editor Training

RFP Responses Due!

Vendor Notified

-Project Planning, Install, -Development

- Content Migration

- Quality Review

OCT NOV DEC JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUNE JULY AUG

- Selection

- Editor Training

RFP Responses Due!

Vendor Notified

-Project Planning, Install, -Development

- Content Migration

- Quality Review

SEPT OCT NOV DEC JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUNE JULY AUG

Selection

Editor Training

RFP Responses Due!

Vendor Notified

Project Planning, Install, Development

Content Migration

- Quality Review

Launch!

Lessons Learned

In Summary: 3 Key Takeaways

Even though we moved fast, there were times that could have moved even faster because in the end, we needed three more months

Search engines take time to crawl

Each site should have been reviewed and signed off for accuracy by editors during the training process

Questions, Comments, Discussion

Holly LaRose-Roenicke, Assistant Director

Web Communications

hmlarose@svsu.edu

Aaron Maturen, Programmer

Web Technologies (ITS)

atmature@svsu.edu

Jason Swackhamer, Director

Web Communications

jjswack1@svsu.edu@jswacky

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