Implementing Large University Sites in Cascade Server CMS by Greg Polit

Tools and Techniques for Implementing
Large University Web Sites

Greg Polit
Director, Informational and Emerging Technologies
IU Communications
e-mail: gpolit@iu.edu

September 17, 2012

About Indiana University

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

Hannon Hill Users Conference September 16-18, 2012

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
Up until recently we continued to follow a workflow that
hasn’t changed in over 100 years
• 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
Hannon Hill Users Conference September 16-18 2012

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


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

http://www.iu.edu/~bulletin/iub/music/2012-2013/
Hannon Hill Users Conference September 2012

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: gpolit@iu.edu
twitter: @gpolit
www: communications.iu.edu


Implementing Large University Sites in Cascade Server CMS by Greg Polit

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