Since January, we have been working hard to add newly written content and migrate thousands of existing Web pages into the new content management system (CMS). In addition, the Web staff have been learning the new Ingeniux CMS, further customizing the software, and working through the many bugs that arise when rolling out new technology.

New Site Launch Date
Since the end of the academic year is quickly drawing near, we want to minimize any potential impact to faculty and current students by switching to a new system at a critical time of year.  We have revised our target site launch date until mid-May following final exams. This will also allow us more time to complete our content migration and work through any remaining technical issues.

Making Updates to Existing Web Site (in the current CMS)
If you need to make important changes to content that is in the current CMS, you are free to do so. Laura Rossi and I continue to make content updates to the current live site as needed. However, if you make any content updates in the current CMS, please remember to use the process we outlined in our January project update regarding tracking those changes .  This is the only way we can be sure that the changes you are making to the current site will be added to the new system. This notice does not apply to Web sites managed outside of the CMS by software like Adobe Dreamweaver or Microsoft Frontpage.

Content Review With Departments
Since we are migrating content from dozens of administrative departments to the new site, we simply do not have the time or ability to meet with each department on an individual basis prior to the launch of the new Web site.  We know that many departments are anxious to get our assistance on technical, content, and creative concerns.  As soon as we have the new site live, and training completed for departmental Website managers and editors, we will be happy to assist those departments needing our help. We ask for and appreciate your patience.

Training on New Content Management System
The Web staff will begin conducting group training sessions on how to use the new CMS immediately following the launch.  Training sessions will likely begin in early June and continue on an ongoing basis over the summer and fall.  We will endeavor to provide as many as possible, including some evening and off-hour sessions to accommodate schedules.

Next week, we will provide you with an update on important information about the new site’s architecture and navigation (the ‘what will live where map’ and how those decisions were made). That update will also include information about the publishing process.

I came away from the week of training even more impressed with Ingeniux, especially it’s flexibility and robustness as a CMS. The first day we covered all of Ingeniux’s terminology and their use – site controls, components, page types, navigation types (taxonomy vs. standard navigation), among others. We covered workflow and permissions as well as the underlying technology that powers Ingeniux – XML, XSLT (stylesheets), and schemas. It was a lot to pack into five days.

The biggest thing I came away with was the need and importance of proper planning at the beginning of the project even before we build out our site. Something that Ingeniux emphasized at every turn.

We spent the last day building out our site specifications document, which details how different site elements will be used in Ingeniux. We still have to finish the spec and review with Ingeniux as we only got as far as 3-4 page types (we’ll likely be in the range of 20 page types when all is finished).

The site spec documents what will be reused throughout the site, what elements will only be required in certain pages or sections, e.g., audience gateway pages. The site specifications document is used to clearly articulate all of this information, including site-wide conventions and in turn is used to build out our site schemas. For example, a site will typically reuse multiple elements site-wide like a body copy tag, page title, abstract or short description, page images, related links, contact information, header, footer, photo gallery feature, video player, flash elements, callouts, breadcrumb navigation, among others. We specify all of this in the site spec so we can plan for the efficient reuse of many different site elements.

Once the site specifications document is finalized, it is at the point we begin building out the many different page types by building out our schemas and stylesheets (XSLT). Once they are built out we then can begin filling the site with content.

We’ll next see someone from Ingeniux in late November or early December when we have a trainer on campus to assist us in setting up site permissions and workflows and to provide site administrator training.

The CMS finalists were Ingeniux (based in Seattle) and Hannon Hill (based in Atlanta). Both CMSs have a strong foothold in the higher education space with hundreds of college implementations between the two companies. Both CMS companies spent a full day on campus in April where they met with the Web staff, key staff from Information Technology, and provided two-hour demos of their CMSs in front of our selection group.

We started the CMS selection process with a clear understanding of our CMS functional requirements and objectives. These were communicated early on in the Web redesign project in the original RFP and then again during the CMS selection process. Both vendors submitted full proposals, which covered in detail how they matched up against our functional requirements. Their on-site demos also addressed how each product addressed our requirements. Both Hannon Hill and Ingeniux met most of these requirements, but in the end, Ingeniux came out on top.

We spoke with seven colleges that are currently using Ingeniux (from more recent implementations to long-term clients of nearly eight years who have gone through multiple product releases and redesigns). In all cases, the schools were very satisfied with the Ingeniux product and with ongoing support, maintenance, and product upgrades (and the ease of upgrading to new versions).

Why Ingeniux?
What impressed us with Ingeniux was the usability of the user interface. It’s definitely a very easy system for content contributors to learn and use. This is something else we heard from the college references we spoke with and this is very important to us given Saint Anselm’s distributed workflow and content production by multiple departments. Ingeniux also offers very detailed and flexible content workflows for content approval.

Ingeniux’s Web editor also works on a PC and Mac and in multiple browsers, including Internet Explorer, Firefox, and Safari. It also does not require the install of a Web editor (it’s entirely AJAX-based), so long gone will be the days of needing to call someone to install your Active-X based Web editor.

Ingeniux also has a very robust taxonomy engine, which supports site-wide content sharing utilizing content keywords and tags. This is very important to make content easily shareable between department sites, e.g., if we produce a news or magazine feature, we should be able to easily share this content with an academic or administrative department (and vice versa). Being able to easily tag content is also important if you want to link to similar content of interest to Web visitors in sidebars or at the end of a page. For example, “Learn More” or “Related News” or “Also of Interest.”

We were very impressed with how Ingeniux easily allows you to share content in multiple lengths, e.g., some content authors might just want to utilize a headline in a sidebar, another user might want to use a headline and teaser text, and so on. This can easily be accomplished with Ingeniux.

Ingeniux is a “baked” CMS and publishes full pages out to a separate Web server verses being a “fried” CMS, which queries page content from a database each time it is requested by a Web visitor. Now there are benefits and drawbacks to both approaches, but a couple benefits of a “baked” CMS are that pages are served up faster and hopefully there is better search engine optimization (SEO).

Ingeniux also allows you to serve up multi-format output, meaning we can serve up PHP, ASP, JS, or ASPX pages through the CMS. This is a real plus and allows us more flexibility.

What also tips the hat toward Ingeniux is their commitment to ongoing product development based on the needs of their higher education clients. This can be seen in more recent offerings like their enterprise blogging platform (BlogXite) and their enterprise rich media module (PodXite). Both “Xites” are available as part of Ingeniux’s Developer 360 program, which we will be participating. Lastly, Ingeniux has also recently launched Cartella, an enterprise level social media/networking platform. We don’t plan to implement Cartella in our redesign project, but it’s great to see that Ingeniux has developed products in this area as well. In each case, these applications integrate with Ingeniux’s core CMS, so content produced in one is available for site-wide content distribution.

More information about Ingeniux will follow as we begin implementing the CMS. Thanks again for the efforts of everyone at the college, including the CMS Selection Group, Information Technology, and everyone who attended the on-site CMS vendor demos.

As was announced previously in this blog, a campus group is assisting College Communications and Marketing will CMS selection. The CMS is the software used by the college to manage Web site content.

Ingeniux has more than 100 college implementations of their CMS, including Stonehill, Franklin and Marshall, Bates, Roanoke, Swarthmore, University of the Pacific, University of Puget Sound, and University of Pittsburg, to name a few.

Hannon Hill has more than 100 college implementations of their Cascade Server CMS, including North Carolina State University, William & Mary, Bowdoin, Brandeis, Duke, Emory, Hofstra, and Northwestern, among others.

The following faculty, staff, and students are assisting College Communications and Marketing with reviewing three-to-four content management systems. The CMS Selection Group will review content management system proposals, participate in on-site demos for each system, and provide feedback and recommendations to College Communications and Marketing regarding CMS selection.

CMS Selection Group Members

Doug Minor, Communications and Marketing (chair)
Adam Albina, Information Technology
Katherine Bentz, Fine Arts
Lauren Chooljian, Student, History
Lorie Cochran, NHIOP
John Dillon, Geisel Library
Fr. Mathias Durette, O.S.B., Student Affairs
Lisa Gowern, Events Management
Nancy Griffin, Admission
Keith Hrasky, Admission
Rui Li, Information Technology
Anne Lord, Alumni Relations
Br. Issac Murphy, O.S.B., Monastery
Jessica Pappathan, Chapel Art Center
Michelle Rocheleau, Academic Affairs
Laura Rossi, Communications and Marketing
Bob Shea, Dana Center
Cory True, student, politics

College Communications and Marketing is very appreciative of this group’s assistance during this phase of the redesign project during what is a very busy time of year for everyone.

The BarkleyREI team has been a joy to work with. They have a very talented team and we are very pleased with the progress made so far.

Last week BarkleyREI presented their initial Web redesign strategy via conference call and Web presentation. We’re currently reviewing the document with internal stakeholders and will include an overview of the site strategy in this blog in the next couple of weeks.

BarkleyREI began their strategy presentation by saying the following:

“Arriving on campus we had certain perceptions about a small, Catholic, liberal arts college, but after hearing the many stories and experiences of faculty, staff, and students, you blew us away. Saint Anselm College is truly a special place. I want my kids to go there.”

So What’s Next?

As part of BarkleyREI’s work, we’ve asked them to review our current Web staffing level, how the site is currently managed and supported, adequacy of training provided to faculty and staff, and current Web budget. The goal of this exercise is to better understand the resources required to maintain and support an interactive, engaging Web site that incorporates multimedia technologies and content. BarkleyREI will present their recommendations to us later this week.

We’ve also asked BarkleyREI to recommend three content management systems (CMS), based on what they’ve learned during the discovery and strategy phases. In the coming weeks, we will seek the assistance of a core group of faculty, staff, and students to help us with CMS review and selection. The review and demonstration of each CMS product will be done through an open process. Once the CMS demonstrations are scheduled, campus-wide e-mails will be sent to faculty and staff inviting people to participate in each session. We’re also hopeful people will use the commenting features of this blog to provide feedback during the CMS selection process.