implementing large university sites in cascade server cms by greg polit

September 17, 2012

Greg PolitDirector, Informational and Emerging Technologies

IU Communicationse-mail: [email protected]

Tools and Techniques for Implementing Large University Web Sites

About Indiana University

• Eight campuses ( seven administered by IU )• 110,000+ students• 19,000+ employees• $3+ billion annual operating budget

September 16-18, 2012Hannon Hill Users Conference

About IU Communications

• Mission: Communicate the tradition of excellence and future promise of Indiana University

• Includes an internal fee for service add agency ( project management, creative, Web development )

• 100+ staff, 20 in our Informational and Emerging Technologies team

• Offices on two core campuses


About IU Communications

• Partner with central IT on Marketing & Communications systems and services including:– Web Content Management– Digital Asset Management– Digital Signage– Constituent Relations Management System– Tablet Publications Platform


CascadeServer @ IU

• CascadeServer selected as IU’s WCMS through RFP in 2008

• Converting University Academic Bulletin’s from print to WCMS version was one of the pilot projects

• In 2010 the first all IUPUI Campus Bulletin launched ( 20+ schools, IUPUC )


Web Sites Created by IU Communications

• Dozens of large Web site implementations with original design and unique backend functionality

• Many awards including two Webby Awards for School of Informatics and Computing


Original Print Bulletin Workflow

• Print Bulletin– Corrections to previous version of the bulletin

were done on paper and sent via campus mail – Final version was sent to a commercial printer

• Web Version– Introduced in 1999– Created by a copy/paste from the print version– Labor intensive, error prone, not user friendly

September 16-18 2012Hannon Hill Users Conference

Up until recently we continued to follow a workflow that hasn’t changed in over 100 years

The New WCMS Workflow

• Workflow– Content is organized by an information architect– Previous Bulletin content is entered as a starting

point– Content is edited with WCMS

• Content is edited by content owners ( schools ) • Schools may delegate edits of certain sections

to departments/units within that school – Content is published as Web and PDF versions

Hannon Hill Users Conference September 16-18, 2012

Bulletin Course Descriptions

• Courses – Courses are entered as structured data– Course folder includes a dynamic course listing

• Bulletin course pages– Course listing is inserted into a page– XSLT is used to format the course listing



• School/Department pages– Similar to bulletin pages course feeds can be

inserted into other CascadeServer pages– Course feeds could also be inserted into non

WCMS pages



• SIS export (Student planner)– CascadeServer database publishing is used to

publish courses to a MySQL database – A php script generates a text file that is

imported into PeopleSoft – SIS validates content against existing data and

adds course info to the student planner


Mission Accomplished?

• Over 60 academic bulletins published • All seven IU campuses • Over 22,000 course descriptions • Over 32,000 pages of content• Move from print to web bulletins ( change

from 2 year to annual publishing cycle )• Significant cost reductions• Process improvement


The Bulletin Pilot Project Issues•2,000 page index limit•Performance issues•Web PDF vs. Print PDF•Time consuming setup

Solutions•Database publish ( SIS courses )•Web services ( template copy )•Index optimization ( analytics )


Web and PDF Bulletins

September 2012Hannon Hill Users Conference

http://www.iu.edu/~bulletin/iub/music/2012-2013/

Course Feeds on School Web sites


http://www.music.indiana.edu/departments/academic/strings/courses.shtml

Print PDF vs. Web PDF


SIS Course Export ( PeopleSoft )


• Database Publish ( MySQL )• Database Extract ( text files )• Course import and data validation • Error reports and data correction

Course Descriptions


Course folders and cascading metadata


Adding course feeds to bulletin and departmental pages


Developer Tips


• Use the nomenclature of "_folder-name" for supporting assets (e.g., _php, _internal )

• Use a custom metadata set for folders with a "Show in Navigation" radio button (Yes/No values)

• Use same concept when multiple navigation types are needed (e.g., "Show in Audience Navigation")

• Apply similar metadata set to pages, allowing for them to be indexed but not display in navigation

Developer Tips


• Favor Structured Data/be wary of the WYSIWYG– Always use data definitions and custom

content types extensively, even if it's just for a single page

– WYSIWYG entry is prone to error

Developer Tips


• Minimize the number of assets being rendered – Use a Content Type index if possible (exclude

blank asset factory items)– Use relative indexes when building navigation

• Attach indexes to a Template Region (rather than page's Data Definition)

• Create templates with many regions, as opposed to rendering everything in the main region

Developer Tips


• Set up a post-processing stylesheet ( attach to the template itself, not a region)– This stylesheet runs against the page after

all other regions have been rendered– Save rendered content as a variable and

output the content elsewhere • Set up a configuration set that includes only

the page's default region and has no transformation (invaluable for debugging)

IU’s new Communications System


• Goal: Consolidate existing news and internal communications systems for IU

• Phase one ( due in 2012 ) includes:– IU, IU Bloomington, IUPUI Newsroom – Six school newsrooms– Four internal communications Web sites

• Requires migrating three different WCMSes to CascadeServer

Functionality


• News release may be published to one or more Newsrooms, each having distinct look and feel

• News releases need to be syndicated to university unit and departmental Web sites

• News releases need to be e-mailed to media outlets

News Release


Syndicator


News Team indicates which topics are relevant and what external Web sites should get the news release

CascadeServer web service creates the respective teasers.

Units can come in and change story order and teasers without having direct access to news releases.

Import Content from Legacy WCMSes


Share Content Across Sites


Internal Communications Sites/Newsletters


http://inside.iu.edu/about/newsletter-archive/inside-iu/2012-09-12.html

External System Integration


• HTML e-mail, text only e-mail and Newsletter versions distributed by our e-distribution/CRM software ( WhatCounts/Talisma )

• Photos & Videos managed by our Digital Asset Management System ( by NetXposure )

• News published to Digital Signage ( FourWinds ), and external Web sites via syndicator

Questions

Greg Polit

e-mail: [email protected]

twitter: @gpolit

www: communications.iu.edu


implementing large university sites in cascade server cms by greg polit

Technology

course folders

bulletin pages course

web bulletins

pages of content

web development

wcms content

structured data course

school content