Drupa l a t UN C Charlotte

Mark Shropshire - mdshrops@uncc .eduBusiness & Technology App lica tions Ana lystStudent Union, Ac tivites and Recrea tion IT

• Using Drupa l since 2005 in Student A ffa irs

• Sma ll pocke ts of Drupa l on campus since then

• Departmenta l Drupa l theme deve loped in early 2010

• UN C Charlotte rolled out www.uncc .edu (home page and upper tier pages) with Drupa l 6.x in Aug 2010

• Many departments now interested in Drupa l and making p lans to migra te

Student Union, Ac tivities and Recrea tion Drupa l

• Drupa l 4.6-6.x (G e tting exc ited about D7!)

• Sing le site and multi-site insta lls

• We build web sites and web app lica tions with Drupa l

Student Union, Ac tivities and Recrea tion Drupa l

• Infrastruc ture - OS X Servers (Deb ian Linux too)

• La test Drupa l 6.x p la tform inc ludes: Standard modules, insta ll profile , fea tures (b log , events, e tc .), Drush and other scrip ts to dep loy.

Drupal at Appalachian State

UNC Cause Conference

November 8, 2010

Drupal at Appalachian State

• Drupal 6 Web Content Management system • Focused on overall web content management -

not just the CMS software • Full central web support • Turnkey web site creation and site migrations • Centrally managed Drupal codebase • In-house design, information architecture, and

custom module programming support • 140 completed sites in production / 24 sites in

development (as of Nov 2010) (current list at cms.appstate.edu)

Hardware and Hosting

• Dell blade server

• 2 Blades - Dual Quad Core Nehalem - 96gb RAM

• Storage - Netapp SAN - 1.5TB space connected via Fiber Channel

• VM Ware ESX 4

• VM Ware V Center Server / V Sphere Client

• RHEL 5.5 w/ advanced application stack channel

Codebase Management

• GIT repository is used to manage our codebase (previously used subversion)

• Changes and updates are tested on the CMSPilot dev server

• Once testing is finished, its committed to the repo and a new version tag is created

• Updates then pushed out through to deployed production sites

Meet with the Client

• Will this be an ASU themed site, or will it require a custom design?

• New Site: What pages will they need? • Existing Site: Will any content be changing? • What programming will they need to make

updating the site easier (i.e. news, event calendar, photo gallery)

• Are there any deadlines that need to be met? • What URLs will be used for the site?

Project Management

• Add project to webteam Open Atrium project management site

• Create development site

• Develop site plan for organization of content into most user-friendly format

• Input menu structure into development site (for larger sites)

• Obtain client approval on site plan

Site Building

• Migrate content into development site

• Set up any custom content types that are needed

• Obtain client approval on completed development site

Site Review

• Web Policy Violations

• Strong Recommendations

• Best Practices / Personal Preference

Web Policy Violations

• EO policy link

• Privacy statement

• ALT attributes for non-background images

• Alternate content for multimedia resources

• Readable by Jaws/Fangs

Recommendations

• Page title changes • Contact information • Appalachian State University clearly identified • Disclaimer link • Copyright information • No grammatical errors • Clear link destinations • Operable links • Site works in all supported browsers

Best Practices

• Consistent, easy to use navigation • Clearly written copy • Logical organizational structure • Meets information needs of audience • Logical folder and file naming convention • Appropriately sized images • Validated HTML and CSS • Maps link to official campus map

Site Deployment

• Submit development site to site review committee for feedback and comments

• Complete required site review changes • Set up URL redirects (existing site) • Submit ticket to deploy the site • Set up access via roles:

– Site Manager – Moderator – Author

User and Role Management

• Single signon authentication is handled through Cosign

• Most users are given the Moderator role

• Site Manager role is given to ITS consultants

• Admin role is reserved for ASU Web Team and main web consultants for each college

Training

• Signing in

• Adding a page

• Editing a page

• Menus

• Blocks

• Adding custom content

• How to access online help

Follow Up

• Add moderators and authors to Drupal email listserv

• Add site to CMS completed website progress list

• Follow up on website project and Drupal training to ensure client satisfaction

Challenges

• Reservations about migrating to Drupal

– Previous system changes

– Capabilities

• Large sites that are not able to be completely migrated

• Users who want full admin access

Benefits

• Security & Stability: Limited production server access and managed codebase

• Consistency: The design and organization of the University’s websites are more consistent, making them easier to use

• Updated Content: Drupal makes it easy for the people that best understand the content to keep websites up to date, so the information is more accurate and current

Thank You…

Questions?

App State Web Team: Stephen Taylor (University Webmaster) – taylorsa1@appstate.edu Michelle Melton (Lead Site Migrator) – meltonml@appstate.edu

Zach Seifts (Drupal Programmer) – seiftsze@appstate.edu Ericka Hudspeth (Site Migration Assistant) - hudspethea@appstate.edu Ivan Ditscheiner (Docs and Help Guides) - ditscheinerid@appstate.edu