University Communications & Marketing has been working on creating the first drafts of the template design that all sites will follow for non-academic entities, academic entities, and the main USF site. Meetings have been conducted with a few small departments to present the preliminary template design resulting in positive feedback. UCM will continue designing templates which will then be formally presented to larger groups once more details of the CMS vendor have been determined.

Although the CMS demos have been completed, the formal process of selecting a vendor has just begun. UCM, IT, and Purchasing have been working together to finalize the Invitation to Negotiate (ITN) document to post for vendors. The ITN is a mandatory process that must be done in order to procure a CMS vendor. The ITN document provides information to the vendors on requirements and asks them to provide the best solution for our needs. This process also allows the Selection Committee to review proposals that all have consistent formatting making it more efficient to evaluate.

The initial timeline for the ITN process is as follows:

• March 6: ITN release
• March 16: Vendor questions due
• March 23: USF responses due
• April 2: Proposal deadline
• Mid April: Evaluations complete and Presentations
• May 7: Bid awarded

Once a CMS vendor has been chosen, details will be worked out on implementation timelines and procedures. At that point, a tentative production schedule that details the order in which university colleges and divisions will move into the new content management system will be created.

Concurrently with the ITN process, UCM and IT will be building a test site to allow for usability testing. The testing and evaluation will give the team direct input from our target audience on how real users will use and navigate through the site. Testing will consist of creating five to ten scenarios for the participants to follow. The user’s process will be observed and they will be asked to complete an exit survey on how they feel the site performs. This is tentatively scheduled for mid April to allow students to participate before final exams.

Our challenge:

The current USF website is made up of hundreds of disparate sites that seem to have little relation to one another. Many of these sites are filled with out-of-date information, broken links and inappropriate content. Unfortunately, even relevant content is often so poorly organized that people who visit the website find it difficult to get the information they need.

So how do we fix it?

The first step is recognizing that the USF website is a marketing tool—in fact, it’s USF’s number one marketing tool. We all need to remember that the purpose of the USF website is market the university to our primary audience: prospective students.

We know that prospective students are looking for very specific information when they visit university websites. Primarily, they are looking for information about academic programs, admissions requirements, and cost to attend / financial aid.

Prospective students are also interested in knowing what kinds of jobs they will be qualified for after they complete a specific degree program, as well as information about campus life, housing, dining, parking, internship opportunities, student employment and other resources.

Finally, prospective students enjoy viewing videos and photos of the campus, learning about student activities and events, and reading news stories and profiles about faculty, current students and alumni who have found success at USF.

Are there other audiences besides prospective students?

Of course. We also need to market the university to parents, donors, alumni, job seekers, legislators, vendors, patients, event attendees and other individuals who interact with and support the university.

Note that all of these secondary audiences are EXTERNAL, as opposed to our internal audiences, which include current students and university employees. While the USF website will certainly include content relevant to current students and employees, such as maps and dining venue hours, INTERNAL information for these audiences should not be posted on the USF website.

If I can’t put internal information for current students and university employees on the USF website, then where CAN I post it?

With few exceptions, nearly all content for current students and university employees belongs in the MyUSF portal. Within the portal, students can communicate with faculty, access / attend online classes, and conduct a wide variety of university business, such as checking the status of their financial aid awards and monitoring their progress to graduation.

Likewise, employees should conduct all university business within the portal, including accessing enterprise business systems such as GEMS and FAST, searching for Human Resources forms, monitoring leave balances and much more.

Are there other types of content that DO NOT belong on the USF website?

Yes. Instructional content—course-related content produced by faculty for current students—does not belong on the USF website. Information Technology will provide space on separate servers for this type of content.

In addition, applications—also known as online forms and the databases that support them—do not belong on the USF website. Again, Information Technology will provide an appropriate solution for this content, to be determined on a case-by-case basis.

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I understand that I need to edit my content. How do I begin?

The first step is to carefully review your current web content. There are two goals here:

•  To eliminate all out-of-date, inaccurate content.
• To relocate any content that is not appropriate for the website, such as content for internal audiences, instructional content and applications. (See above.)

The next step is to think about what you are trying to achieve. Do you want to motivate your audience to apply for a job, purchase a ticket, or pay a bill? Then you need to develop content that motivates your audience to take those specific actions.

This means that every word, link, photo, video and graphic element on every web page should serve a very specific purpose—to motivate your target audience to do what you want them to do.

It also means that any extraneous information needs to be edited out.

But isn’t it helpful to include tons and tons of additional information?

No. One of the most significant problems with the current USF website is that it is filled with irrelevant content. When you feature multiple navigations, long lists of “related links” and broad paragraphs of text, you make it difficult for your audience to find the information they need to take action.

Redundancy is another significant problem on the current USF website. When you post the same set of links in four different places on one web page, or post the same content over and over again on multiple pages, you confuse your audience.

Likewise, when you recreate content that already lives somewhere else on the USF website—say, parking information—you not only clutter up your web page, but you also run the risk of failing to note when the original content changes, leaving you with a web page filled with out-of-date, inaccurate information.

What do I do after I edit my content down to the essentials?

Now it’s time to get organized. Stay tuned to our next blog post for more information.

What’s next?

Information Technology and University Communications and Marketing are currently creating a production schedule that details the order in which university colleges and divisions will move into the new content management system.

Several units have already volunteered to go first, among them the College of Education and Human Resources.

 If you would like to add your unit to the queue, or if you have additional questions about this initiative, contact Kathleen Long at kathleenlong@usf.edu, or Stephanie Harff at sharff@usf.edu

UCM and IT have been presenting the Web Re-branding/CMS Communications to departments and colleges across campus:

Presented to:

• Provost’s Retreat
• Council of Deans
• ACE Council
• A&P Council
• CTIR
• ITMC
• STAC
• Professional Communicators Group
• IT Standards Board

Met with:

 Academic

• College of Arts and Sciences
• College of Marine Science
• College of Education
• College of the Arts
• Patel Center for Global Sustainability
• Air Force ROTC
• Undergraduate Studies
• Office of Student Success
• Physical Education Department

 Non-academic:

• Administrative Services
• HR
• Student Affairs
• USF System
• IT
• UCM
• Media Innovation Team
• Provost’s Office
• SDS

 Areas using the Interim Solution:

• Wellness Education
• Campus Recreation
• Undergraduate Admissions
• Computer Store
• Ethics Committee
• ATLE
• University College and College of Ed
• Housing
• Business and Finance
• iWINLAB – Engineering
• Budget and Policy Analysis
• Department of Child and Family Studies
• Admissions

Advisory Committee

• College of Business
• College of Education
• College of Engineering
• Library
• Office of Research and Innovation
• College of Arts and Sciences
• Office of Undergraduate Admissions
• College of the Arts
• Administrative Services/HR
• Provost’s Office

Vendor demos are underway!  As you may recall, the CMS Workgroup whittled down the list of almost 30 CMS solutions to nine, and seven demos have been scheduled:

• doCMS – 1.11.12
• ektron – 1.18.12
• SiteFinity – 1.25.12
• Alfresco – 2.1.12
• OmniUpdate – 2.7.12
• Jadu – 2.8.12
• TerminalFour – 2.8.12

From this list, the top three will be selected, and then the final CMS solution will be picked.

So what do we have planned next year?

Vendor demos will take place throughout the month of January. Demos will include an overall look at the CMS, as well as a Q&A that will allow attendees to ask specific questions, with the goal of ensuring that the final solution meets the needs of the university community.

The nine finalists include:

• dotCMS
• Terminal4
• Alfresco
• Acquia
• Jadu
• Orchard Project
• Ektron
• Omniupdate
• Sitefinity

If you have any questions, or would like to be invited to attend the vendor demos in January, please email  Carolyn Mourey.

During the past few weeks, the CMS Workgroup evaluated 28 potential CMS solutions, and has narrowed the field to nine products. The solutions were evaluated using a detailed matrix, and the nine finalists scored high in terms of meeting project requirements.

The Workgroup also developed preliminary wireframes, which they plan to review with the advisory committee in January. The wireframes will serve as the basis for template development, which will begin in early 2012.

The CM Advisory Committee has new members. The new members include Kim Tucker, CMO, College of Education; Kelley Curtis, Webmaster, College of Education; Hal Dunn, Web Designer, Research and Innovation; Jennifer Carlevatti, Associate Director, Undergraduate Admissions. We appreciate their involvement and look forward to their input.

Requirements Finalization: Done
Features Checklist: Done
List of Solutions: Done
Wireframes: Almost Done!

Major headway has been made the last few weeks regarding the Great CMS Project. A lot of the goals set out for the first portion of the project have been met and now the group is moving towards finding a solution.  Using the finalized requirements document and features list, each group member evaluates three CMS solutions.  Members compare the requirements to what each CMS offers and ranks them accordingly: 3=High; 2=Medium; 1=Low; 0=N/A.

The weighted score is then compared to all the products, and the top 3 will be brought in for a demo.

There are many products out there, and by having the CMS Workgroup rank the requirements they tirelessly brought together, USF will be able to find a great CMS solution to fit the needs of the community.

It has been a busy few weeks for the CMS Workgroup!

Our members have been reviewing the feedback provided by the CMS Advisory Group from the Oct. 7 meeting, and are adding relevant recommended items to the requirements document. Once the workgroup has finished, the document will be finalized and reviewed by the Vice President of Information Technology, Mike Pearce.

In preparation of the final document, the Workgroup is creating a very concise checklist to use when comparing different CMS programs/solutions that are currently available.  The goal of the checklist is to provide an easy way for group members to see what certain programs/solutions have and compare it to what we need (as noted in the Requirement document).

Everyone is very excited to be approaching these next few steps in the Great CMS Project!

The CMS Workgroup was tasked with a challenge this past week: finalizing the requirements document. The document was reviewed at last week’s meeting, and a revised document was placed on the team site for review by the advisory committee. A separate technical requirements document is being developed as well. These documents will point the workgroup and the advisory committee in the right direction as we start tackling the next few steps in the Great CMS Project.

What’s Next? Lots of stuff!

The advisory committee will meet Oct. 7 to review the requirements document and provide feedback. With their input, the requirements document will be complete and we can embark on the next phase of the process: the development of the business case. (Need more info? Gartner loves Business Cases!)  From there, we’ll start reviewing potential solutions (vendors, products, different kinds of software) that fit the requirements.  We’ll be looking for guidance from members of the workgroup and the advisory committee, as well as consulting Gartner research for options.

We’re making headway with the CMS requirements.  Each week, the CMS workgroup gets closer and closer to finalizing the requirements for the upcoming CMS. The last two meetings have been dedicated to fine-tuning the list, moving items around, and discussing what is possible and plausible.  These discussions will continue until mid-October when the requirements list will be finalized (yay!) and the workgroup will move on to the next step.

“I heard something about an Advisory Group?”

Yes! The CMS Advisory Group is a team of collaborative individuals providing input, suggestions, and other feedback to the workgroup. This team is chaired by Stephanie Harff and Kathleen Long and meets monthly to review the progression of the project.

Members include:

• Michele Dye, College of Arts and Sciences
• Eileen Thornton, Tampa Campus Library
• Janet Gillis, College of Engineering
• Lorie Briggs, College of Business Administration
• Wayne Espinola, Administrative Services
• Michael Abrahams, College of Arts and Sciences
• Paul Trusik, Tampa Campus Library
• Travis Thompson, Office of Decision Support
• Nina Contreras, College of The Arts

On a side note, readers can subscribe to the IT blog’s RSS feed to stay informed on all our posts. A nice option as we are posting regularly!

Defining the requirements is essential to starting any project. It’s also one of the most challenging steps, as the workgroup has to organize, understand and assess all issues relating to the project. At this point, the CMS workgroup has defined basic requirements that are essential to the overall project, as well as a wish list for items we know we would be icing on the cake.

A few of the essential requirements that are being discussed include an image library provided by UCM; mobile browsing; spellcheck and word count functions; submission previews; and slideshows!

One new issue that came up during last week’s discussion: standardized URLs. The CMS workgroup discussed moving URLs to one standard (ex: www.usf.edu/hr) rather than what many departments and colleges have (ex: www.hr.usf.edu) in order to unite everyone behind USF.

Each week, we are concentrating on different requirements, exploring them step by step in order to finalize the requirements list.

New topics are discussed each week, so stay tuned.