Developer Data Modeling Mistakes: From Postgres to NoSQL
TERMINALFOUR t44u 2008 - Dean Hale - CMS on a Budget
1. t 4
4us
dean.hale@sunderland.ac.uk
web development manager
2. About the University of
Sunderland
accolades 2007/8
• The best 'new' universities in the UK for the overall quality,
quantity and range of research.
• Sunderland named the leading university in the country for
widening access in Government-backed performance
indicators - an accolade it has received in seven of the last
eight years.
• School of Education sets up Children's,Young People and
Families Centre to help the Government meet the five aims
set out in the Every Child Matters agenda.
• Award-winning Moving On Up Campaign helps to set
Sunderland education agenda.
• University receives 'A' rating from Ofsted for its secondary
education provision - one of only eight given in the country.
• The Government names University of Sunderland a National
Centre for Excellence for Teacher Training for further
education.
• Tony Blair launches first higher education qualification for
councillors.
• Sunderland named leading university in Britain for equality
and diversity in the national Workplace Equality Index.
• Sunderland ranked in top 20 for personal development of
students in the National Student Satisfaction Survey.
founded: 1901 - University status: 1992
dean.hale@sunderland.ac.uk
3. what we had
main site all other sites (faculties / services etc)
owned by central marketing owned by web team (2 full time, 1 project student)
content added by marketing no designated web editors within faculties and
services - usually an add on to the job
no input from the webteam
no input from central marketing
inconsistent visual identity
inconsistent use of language
duplication of content
webteam time taken by content queries leaving less time for enhancements, features
no accountability
dean.hale@sunderland.ac.uk
4. then - main website
Maintained and hosted by an
external company
based on .NET technology
changes to layout incurs costs
very basic functionality i.e. no wysiwyg
additional costs to develop site
dean.hale@sunderland.ac.uk
5. then - faculty websites
Managed by web team
Based on ZOPE / Plone
Mysql Server
Learning curve difficult
Help and support varied
Developing new features is time
intensive
dean.hale@sunderland.ac.uk
6. the brief
Visual redesign (webteam, marketing)
Information Architecture, structure and flow redesign
Meeting user needs and expectations
content appropriate to the intended audience
Use single sources of information
no duplication
Improved website features and tools
Improve search engine optimisation and rankings
Investigate web statistics analysis and user behaviour
dean.hale@sunderland.ac.uk
7. what we found out
Visual redesign
no consistency
Information Architecture, structure and flow redesign
no sense to structure, content was just added, not proof read, or revisited for accuracy
Meeting user needs and expectations
content met the needs of the content owner and very little supplementary information - basically course based
information
Use single sources of information
lots of duplication
Improved website features and tools
no restrictions of what the users could do - full admin access to all, everything static
Improve search engine optimisation and rankings
no meta, content inappropriate
Investigate web statistics analysis and user behaviour
We use sitestat - looking at data over the past 18 months, found that users :-
search for a course ‘find it’ then look for info on the university and the region, then go back to the course if this satisfies their
curiosity then ‘maybe’ contact us
dean.hale@sunderland.ac.uk
8. why T4
Used by other UK HE institutions - easier to get the dirt on T4 :-) share good
practice, knowledge, ideas
looked at other options - plone, drupal, reddot and others
Provided the CMS facilities we required
• workflow
• audit
• approval
• rollback
• Not platform specific
• and especially history
The price was a factor
Initially went for 7500 licence, just upgraded to 25000
dean.hale@sunderland.ac.uk
9. the rules - keep it simple
Defined site owner -
For Faculties the Associate for Recruitment and Development
- you are accountable for the content added
workflow if you need it - do you need to complicate
approval if you need it - it’s your site
• Standard page layout
• Standard page template
• Standard placement of navigation links
• Standard placement of required information
dean.hale@sunderland.ac.uk
10. 4 weeks
Main website
To create completely new content, structure and styles within T4
dean.hale@sunderland.ac.uk
11. now - main website
Hosted on our servers, using
technology we support
solaris, mysql, oracle, php
and
dean.hale@sunderland.ac.uk
12. now - faculty websites
old new
dean.hale@sunderland.ac.uk
13. now
main site all other sites (faculties / services etc)
owned faculty / service
owned by central marketing T4 hosted
T4 hosted webteam consists of 4
Me, Shaun - design, Sanda - usability, Scott - programmer
marketing own the content
we own the system and development process
dean.hale@sunderland.ac.uk
14. training
Basic training delivered by organisation and staff development
rather than the web team
Basic training 3 hours - every content editor has to attend no
matter how advanced they think they are or who they are
Good practice, Layout of the University Web pages, Logging into the University
Terminal 4 Web Manager, General Navigation of Terminal 4, Creating and
Amending Sections & Menus, Creating & Amending Content etc
Advanced training delivered by the web team
styles, templates, navigation etc
dean.hale@sunderland.ac.uk
15. now
Contributers Moderators Power Users
Users 6 90 13
Groups 55
Websites 33
Channels 7
Content 5832
since march 2008
dean.hale@sunderland.ac.uk
16. structure
• Home
• Study • Our Faculty • Student life (mirrored from main site)
• Course Finder (listing only the Faculty's courses) • Our Departments • The University (mirrored from main site)
• Subject Areas (listing only the Faculty's areas) • Sunderland (mirrored from main site)
• Department 1
• Our Academic Quality • Department 2 etc
• Undergraduate Study • Facts and Figures
• Foundation Degrees • Facility life
• Postgraduate Study • Our Facilities
• Part-time Study • Our People
• Continuous Professional Development (if appropriate) • Our Dean and Executive Team
• Work based Learning (if appropriate) • Research Staff search
• Combines Studies (mirrored from main site)
Our Location (links to Google maps on this page for various buildings)
• Short Courses (mirrored from main site) • How to find us (mirrored from main site)
• Research (specific content mirrored from main site i.e. projects &
• Campus maps (mirrored from main site)
publications)
Faculty open days
• Staff search
(NOTE: there is currently a page for this on the main site but ideally the main site should link to a Faculty
• Centres (overall statement on the diverse range of Faculty centres)
page for this info and not the other way round)
• Centre 1
Supporting Departments (mirrored from main site)
• Centre 2 etc
Term Dates (mirrored from main site)
• Community & Industry
Faculty History
• Our work within the community
• Case study 1
• Case study 2
• Our Work with the Industry
17. structure
Main website Faculty website
Home Home
Study Study
Student Life mirrored Student Life
The University mirrored The University
Sunderland mirrored Sunderland
Fees & Finance Our Faculty
International Community and Industry
Research mirrored Research
Business Centre’s
dean.hale@sunderland.ac.uk
18. structure
content editor view
the full structure
dean.hale@sunderland.ac.uk
19. structure
Faculty of Education and Society
Main site
Faculty of Applied Sciences Faculty of Business and Law Faculty of Education and Society
dean.hale@sunderland.ac.uk
20. templates - others
banner
page
adverts
movie
footer
dean.hale@sunderland.ac.uk
23. extra bits
• course information external to Terminal4
• php, mysql
• news and events external to Terminal4
• php, mysql
• Research information (publications, research interests etc) external to
Terminal4
• php, oracle
• movies and banners are controlled via slideshow pro director
• Google Search Appliance (past 4 years) - probably downgrade to a mini
• Sitestat - including custom reports
dean.hale@sunderland.ac.uk
24. courses, news, events and open days
Course information and administrative
options
social networking options, staff
bibliographies, open day information, staff
bibliographies, alternative fees,
testimonials
news, events, open days can be shown on
different channels
dean.hale@sunderland.ac.uk
26. it seems to be working
Search Engine Direct Entry Referral
Changes since March 2008
Search engine +7.4%
Direct Entry -14.9%
Referral +7.5%
Need to continue to lower direct entry to
match other HE Institutions and continue to
increase Search Engine and referral.
Search engine average across HE institutions 35% | Direct entry average across HE institutions 36% | Referral average across HE institutions 27%
dean.hale@sunderland.ac.uk
27. it seems to be working
Search Engine Direct Entry Referral
Changes since March 2008
Search engine +7.4%
Direct Entry -14.9%
Referral +7.5%
Need to continue to lower direct entry to
match other HE Institutions and continue to
increase Search Engine and referral.
Search engine average across HE institutions 35% | Direct entry average across HE institutions 36% | Referral average across HE institutions 27%
dean.hale@sunderland.ac.uk
28. now
site and T4 have been very well received
content is being updated more regularly as the system is
easier to use
very little duplication of content
webteam can concentrate solely on future developments
but
content owners still paste from word
content owners still cannot spell
content owners still think within the box rather than outside
dean.hale@sunderland.ac.uk
