A Centralized Approach to Managing WordPress at Boston University

1. WordPress as a Service
A centralized approach to managing WordPress
at Boston University
#WPaaS

2. Andrew Bauer
Inder Singh
#WPaaS
@awbauer9
@inderpreet99

3. WP at Boston University
• Large scale multi-site, multi-network install
• Highest-traffic web properties all on WP
• 8-10M pageviews per month across 6,369 sites
• Deeply integrated with campus services
(SSO, Profiles, Content Restriction, Calendar)
• Managed through Central IT (“IS&T”)
#WPaaS

4. 3 Key Components
of a great enterprise WordPress installation
#WPaaS

5. Organization
PeopleTech
#WPaaS

6. WordPress
#WPaaS

7. What is
Software as a Service?
1
Application
2
Hosted
Centrally
3
Managed
4
Turn-key
#WPaaS

8. WP 💙 SaaS
• It’s built for it! (Multisite)
• Total control over the environment
• One centralized place to support
#WPaaS

9. WP & Higher Ed
• It’s a service model we know & understand
• Central IT is not the enemy
• Siloed integrations can be tricky
• Improved clarity of support roles
#WPaaS

10. Our WP Platform
From an organizational perspective
#WPaaS

11. #WPaaS

12.
Set clear expectations
#WPaaS
1 2 3 4

13. Transparency of capabilities
#WPaaS
✅ Akismet
✅ BU Access Control
✅ BU Alert
✅ BU Course Feeds
✅ BU Custom CSS Editor
✅ BU Front-end Library
✅ BU Includes
✅ BU Mobile
✅ BU Navigation
✅ BU Profiles
✅ BU Sharing
✅ BU Section Editing
✅ BU Slideshow
✅ BU Text Widget
✅ BU Training Manager
✅ BU Versions
✅ Content Banner
✅ Enable Media Replace
✅ Gravity Forms
✅ Link Lists
✅ Post Details
✅ Random Image
✅ Safe Redirect Manager
✅ WP LaTeX

14. Transparency of capabilities
#WPaaS
✅ Akismet
✅ BU Access Control
✅ BU Alert
✅ BU Course Feeds
✅ BU Custom CSS Editor
✅ BU Front-end Library
✅ BU Includes
✅ BU Mobile
✅ BU Navigation
✅ BU Profiles
✅ BU Sharing
✅ BU Section Editing
✅ BU Slideshow
✅ BU Text Widget
✅ BU Training Manager
✅ BU Versions
✅ Content Banner
✅ Enable Media Replace
✅ Gravity Forms
✅ Link Lists
✅ Post Details
✅ Random Image
✅ Safe Redirect Manager
✅ WP LaTeX

15. #WPaaS

16.
Clearly delineate roles
#WPaaS
1 2 3 4

18.
Provide stellar training
#WPaaS
1 2 3 4

19. #WPaaS

20.
Deliver top-quality service
#WPaaS
1 2 3 4

21. Single Codebase. Consistent Voice.

22. Single Codebase. Consistent Voice.

23. Single Codebase. Consistent Voice.

24. Single Codebase. Consistent Voice.

25. Single Codebase. Consistent Voice.

26. #WPaaS
Themes
Design
Photography
Editorial
Platform
Plugins
Mobile
APIs
MarCom IS&T

27. Development
• How do we maintain this SaaS model?
• What tools do we use?
#WPaaS

28. Dedicated Environments
#WPaaS
PROD/STAGING
TEST
DEVL
SYST

29. PROD
• A multi-network multi-domain environment
• Single version of code
• Lots of mu-plugins that run on all sites
• Common plugins activated per site
#WPaaS

30. PROD
THEMES
• Two large framework themes
• Responsive Framework
• Flexi Framework
• Custom/child themes
• A distinct look for our high-traffic sites

31. TEST
• Integration testing
• Test new functionality
• Matches PROD
• Clone site tool
• Easier duplication of PROD sites
#WPaaS

32. DEVL
• Developers work area
• Separate networks and code for each developer
• Single network for all designers
• Clone site tool
#WPaaS

33. SYST
• Testing of system-level packages for the Sys
Engineers
• Allows Sys Engineers to work independently
#WPaaS

34. Tools
⚒
#WPaaS

35. WP-Deploy
• Build and Deployment tool with a web UI
• Every deploy gets logged!
• Configurations stored in Github repo, easily
rebuild/deploy
• Allows developers to manage WP packages
(plugins, themes, core)
• Integrates with Github to list branches/tags
#WPaaS

36. WP-Deploy

37. Git
• Gitflow process to manage features, hotfixes,
releases to plugins
• Github Pull requests to peer-review changes
#WPaaS

38. Automation
• TravisCI unit tests
• Used to take us over 3-4 months to upgrade
• Aiming to do upgrades within 2 months
• New Relic alerts
• Monitor overall performance based on WP
response times
• Monitor pages and APIs using Synthetics
#WPaaS

39. Slack
• Communication!
• Glue that brings developers, designers, sys
admins, IT team together
• Different locations
• Working remotely
• Channels for each large project
• Maintenance channels
• New Relic alerts
• Discuss broad changes or outages
#WPaaS

40. AWS
• Testing our open source plugins in vanilla WP
installs
• Testing plugins with newer versions of WP
#WPaaS

41. WordPress as a Service
• A centralized SaaS deployment is a sustainable,
scalable model for WP for higher ed
• Cross-departmental collaboration + careful planning
• Automate, automate, automate
• Our clients choose WordPress!
#WPaaS
ORGANIZATION
OPERATIONS

42. Andrew Bauer
Inder Singh
#WPaaS
@awbauer9
@inderpreet99
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