Hosting and Administering Multiuser CMSs for Higher Education

Eric Scott Sembrat October 2016

edUi Conference

Save Us, Self Service!

Eric SembratWeb Manager at Georgia Tech

Graduate Student at Georgia State

Lives in Atlanta, GA

Ziggy.DOGHubble.DOGSara.FIANCEE

@esembrat

webbeh.com

edui@edui: ~$ ./agenda-for-today

1Common Problems with WebThe issues we all face on a daily basis - documentation, best practices, and security.

2Self-Service Web 101Get the details on what self-service is, who is leveraging it, and the benefits.

3How do I Self-Service?A quick synopsis of the project plan for selecting a self-service application.

4Growing Your ApplicationNow that you have an application, how do you maintain and extend it for your unit?

Oh, Our Common Web Problems

When looking at larger decentralized organizations, there’s a common thread in issues and problems facing web development.

the web isn’t alright

BrandingExperienceSecurityTechnology

4 areas of concern:

Branding

brandingeducation

is more important than ever.

brandinghowever, most DIY

attemptsare

dreadful

exampleslet’s see some

Typically require technical expertise to accurately implement.

branding resources

Tend to lag behind centrally-maintained trends and best practices.

Experience

web editorssmall scale units have

which aren’t regular web users or which have many more job duties.

teachable?CSS, Javascript, PHP, CMS APIs…

or, is there a better way?

Security

securitytoday, we’re forced to confront

from all areas of web.

Server LayerWeb Application LayerWeb Application PluginsUser Accounts DDoSPhishing

expertsdo we force our web users to be

in updating and security management?

accessor, more importantly

to security and updates?

should we even give end-users

why not centralize?

Technology

websiteshow do we keep

up to speed on best-practices?strict for legal requirements? ready for upcoming trends?

responsivetake the last big seismic shift:

media queries?do your small website owners write

httpswhat about?

Self-service to the rescue

oncewouldn’t it be great if these challenges could be fixed

for all websites under an umbrella?

self-serviceenter

self-servicewhat is

anyways?

self-serviceseparates the

setup & configurationfrom the

site maintenance

Sets up configuration.

application maintainers:

end-users:Selects and configures appearance.

Creates and edits content.

Enables features and plugins.

Applies security + app updates.

Adds new features and plugins.

Develops campus-specific features.

Conducts training.

provisionedwebsites are

not constructed.

user-createdcontent is

using curated/approved assets.

who uses this?

(and more)

Select a CMS for development

planningthe key challenge is

and

logistics

planningwho is this intended for?what is my end-goal? what is my success metric?where will this system live? what systems are available?what framework/system will I use?

logisticswhat features are needed? what plugins are required? will I need a theme? will I need custom plugins? what about training? what about documentation?

costand, above all

(what can we afford?)

product pricecost is either determined by:

development price

or (usually)

each have their pros and cons.

product cost

each have their pros and cons.

development cost

how to findafter answering all the questions

possible solutions?

1talk to peer institutions research their solutions, challenges, projects, andfuture outlook.

2initiate a beta test group find test users in yourprimary audiences to serveas pristine guinea pigs. their feedback is genuine.

3find potential solutions after research, come to thetable with options for a solution. (cost, features, flexibility, etc)

4test, react, and analyze let your beta testers explore. let them break things. see ifwhat your goals are match reality. make notes. interview. keepmetrics.

5touch base with reality look at results and summarize all major keypoints, challenges, and successes for each tool.

6take a break. you’ve done a lot so far.

7weigh each option. score solution by itsstrengths and weakness. compare with current on-campus solutions.

8fin.

you now have a list of solutions that fit your requirements.

customizationarmed with data, now it’s all about

Customization and growth

campus integrationthe time-consuming creature

developmentusually involves

work

things to consider:

what custom services exist? what are the branding requirements? what units will need to work with? new campus initiatives?

what custom services exist?

consider faculty databases, news/event services, user authentication, etc.

integratingthe value of

should outweigh resources

standardizethese services would

practices and workflow.

buy-inand create the almighty

for prospective users.

what are the branding requirements?

legal requirements for accessibility. branding campaigns, logo usage, and header/footer requirements.

edge-caseskeep in mind

for the odd-balls.

what units will need to work with?

think about organizations that have complementary services, such as the domain registrar.

partnersthink of

and affected units on campus.

new campus initiatives?

look ahead to upcoming trends, policies, campaigns, initiatives and plan accordingly.

Case study:Georgia Tech

pwp.gatech.edu

goals:

Outlet for Lab/Center/Personal Websites Standardize and Extend BrandingMitigate legacy CMS security vulnerabilities Meet need of a blogging platform

Provide easier CMS than on-campus Drupal

who did we look at?

Georgia State UniversityOpenScholar Drupal Multisite

how did we choose?

Our test users and their responses.

what did we develop?

GT theme (GT Boilerplate). GT branding plugin. GT CAS plugin. GT Site Maintenance plugin.

GT news/events plugin (WIP). GT directory plugin (WIP).

current challenges

Maintained by 0.2 FTE time over 3 staff. Enhanced security measures. Back-porting Drupal to WordPress.

questions?

Eric SembratWeb Manager at Georgia Techeric.sembrat@coe.gatech.edu

@esembrat

webbeh.com