Drupal has enjoyed widespread user-driven adoption in the education space, but what does it take to go from grassroots traction to a sustainable/standard option campus-wide? The central IT web team at Cornell has gone through the entire journey, starting with having to deal with Drupal as one of many technologies popping up organically all the way to promoting Drupal as a centrally-brokered platform for web development at the University. Video here: https://events.drupal.org/baltimore2017/sessions/cornell-university-case-study-drupal-centrally-brokered-platform-web

1. Drupal as a Centrally-Brokered Web Platform
CASE STUDY

2. 3-MINUTE VERSION OF THIS TALK (TL;DR)
• University IT has a distinct set of challenges
• Need to support a wide range of clients: can’t easily say “no”
• At the same time, strong push to standardize and economize
• Drupal presents great opportunity, but also some challenges
• Figuring what to standardize, where, and how, is key
• Flexible and scalable infrastructure lets you focus on that
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3. JOSH KOENIG
My Perspectives:
• Pantheon Co-Founder
• Head of Product
• Long-time Drupal Evangelist
• Agency Principal (Chapter Three)
• @outlandishjosh

4. RYANN LEVO
My Perspectives:
• Hosting Engineer - Cornell IT
• Architected “The Cornell Stack”
• Presenter at Cornell Drupal Camp

5. SHANNON OSBURN
My Perspectives:
• Assistant Director - Cornell IT
• CIT Web Group (Custom Development)
• Focus on PM and business
• Organizer of Cornell Drupal Camp

6. IT AT CORNELL
● IT across Cornell is huge:
everything from network
jacks to graphic design.
● Operates on a cost-recovery
model.
● Web Group provides a
number of different services.

7. • Kind of like an “Internal Agency”
• May get brought in to do the
whole project.
• Also may just be asked to
provide hosting / support.
• Specializing in PHP for Apps
• Drupal hits a “sweet spot”
CIT - WEB TEAM SERVICES
Web
Design
Custom
App
Hosting &
Support

8. The Drupal Advantage for Cornell
● No license fees or fixed costs to adopt
● Already widely used — lots of prior art and best practices
● Flexibility to customize / no vendor lock-in
● Blend sites and apps together
○ Bringing together “both sides of the house.” Business is
skyrocketing :)
○ Much faster time to market
● Campus community is a boost
THE DRUPAL ADVANTAGE FOR CORNELL

9. EARLY DAYS OF DRUPAL

10. COMMUNITY ADOPTION

11. THE TIPPING POINT

12. CENTRAL PLANNING

13. Federated Stakeholders
EDU CHALLENGES

14. Sites of all sizes
EDU CHALLENGES

15. Managing TCO
EDU CHALLENGES

16. WEB TEAM WANTS
● Outsource to experts where
they are experts/leaders.
● But without losing agency!
● Focus on delivering
strategic value.
● Leverage the most scarce
resource of all: our time.

17. FINDING PLATFORM / CLOUD VALUE

18. GOING TO MARKET ON CAMPUS

19. SUPPORT FOR ALL KINDS OF USERS
DIY for
Developers
Partnerships &
Consulting
Full Service
Solutions

20. DRUPAL 7: CATCHING UP

21. DRUPAL 8: ARCHITECTING AWESOME

22. GROWING OUR COMMUNITY

23. Thank you for attending!
That’s a wrap...
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