UCSF School of Medicine, Office of the Dean, Information Services Unit

Communications with DrupalJohn Kealy 4/19/2011

Why have a website?

• Get Out Your Message– Reach a Global Audience– Update any time

• Promote Your Services• Improve Customer Service• Gather Information and Generate Leads

What is Drupal?

• A Web Content Management System– www.whitehouse.gov– www.theonion.com– www.ucsf.edu

• Powerful and Flexible– Thousands of modules for use– Can support almost any kind of site

• It’s Open Source Software

UCSF

School of

Medicine,

Office of the Dean

, Infor

mation

Services Unit

8

Why do I care?

• Extensively used at UCSF– Main UCSF website– School of Medicine, School of Dentistry, etc.

• Very flexible and extensible– Blogs, Forums, & Newsletters– Podcasting– Picture galleries

• Support available from ITS

General Drupal Questions

Information Technology Services

UCSF School of Medicine, Office of the Dean, Information Services Unit

Current State of Drupal Webhosting at UCSF

Current State of Drupal @ UCSF

• ITS Hosting is Currently Free – May become a recharge based service

• All sites are custom builds• Multiple hosting environments• Drupal system administrator required

– Org IT Staff (Library, Radiology, SOM, & SIS)– Contractors (SON & Medical education)– IT recharge (Qb3 & Dentistry)

Information Technology Services

Costs: Large Custom Site• Examples:

– www.ucsf.edu– Dentistry.ucsf.edu– Pharmacy.ucsf.edu

• Build Cost:– 100 - 300K

• Maintenance Costs:– Content 1-3+ FTE– IT Administration .25 - 1+ FTE

UCSF School of Medicine, Office of the Dean, Information Services Unit

Costs: Medium Size Custom Site• Examples:

– its.ucsf.edu– ptrehab.ucsf.edu– Qb3.org

• Build Cost:– 50 - 150K

• Maintenance Costs:– Content 1.5 + FTE– IT Administration .25+ FTE

UCSF School of Medicine, Office of the Dean, Information Services Unit

Costs: Small Size Custom Site• Examples:

– healthpolicy.ucsf.edu– stemcell.ucsf.edu– hub.ucsf.edu

• Build Cost:– 10 - 60K

• Maintenance Costs:– Content .25 + FTE– IT Administration .1+ FTE

UCSF School of Medicine, Office of the Dean, Information Services Unit

Problems with Custom BuildsEvery Drupal site is a custom buildtherefore every site is unique:• Time consuming to build• Expensive to build• Difficult to support• Difficult to train content editors

17

Advantages of Central Hosting• Less redundant hardware• Sharing of information• Some standardization of approach

18

1919

Goals1. Create a platform that reduces the cost of creating a

Drupal Site at UCSF.

2. Provide a website hosting service that meets nearly all UCSF needs.

3. Provide that service at the lowest possible cost to the most UCSF clients

SECTION HEADING

Three Tier Webhosting

① Custom Site in “multisite” environmentCurrently Exists

② OpenAcademy SitesUnder Construction (Pharmacy)

③ SaaS SitesPending Funding

20

Why Three Tiers?

• Different needs for different organizations– Departments vs. labs– Large complex sites vs. small brochure sites– And some sites are none of the above

• Cost of hosting rises with complexity• Want to meet all CMS needs with Drupal• Path for sites to change as needs change

21

The ChevySaaS Sites

SaaS Sites: Pros

• Fast to create • Easy to maintain• Low cost• All admin support via UCSF IT• Sites can move to other Drupal hosting

options

24

SaaS Sites: Cons

• Less options• Predetermined set of modules• Predetermined set of designs• No independent development

25

SaaS Sites - Audience

• Small (under 100 page) sites– Labs– Short term “brochure” sites– Limited lifespan sites

26

The BuickOpenAcademy

openAcademy: Pros

• Fast to create • Academic focus• “Online Presence” focus

– Integrated with social media and marketing– Better analytics and analysis of site usage

• Lower cost than custom site• Sites can move to other Drupal hosting

options

28

openAcademy: Cons

• Limited set of modules• Limited set of designs• More UCSF IT support required• Requires more content staff and analysis

to make full use.• No independent development

29

openAcademy- Audience

• Large (over ~100 pages) sites • School sites• Department sites• Administrative sites

30

The CadillacCustom Site Hosting

Custom Drupal 7 Multisite: Pros

• Nearly unlimited set of modules• Nearly unlimited set of designs• Full development staging and production

environment• Independent custom development

32

Custom Drupal 7 Multisite: Cons

• Take significant time to create• High cost to create• Costly to maintain• High overall cost• Nearly all admin support via UCSF IT

– Requires dedicated site admin– Requires ongoing QA

33

Custom Site - Audience

• Anything that doesn’t fit into the standards• Sites with custom views, apps and themes• Customers willing to pay for something

“special”

34

Current Roadmap

Information Technology Services