CMS Project Overview
History of the Web at UNF
The Web at UNF grew out of several years as a collection of disjointed and unrelated sites. Marketing and Publications embarked on a plan to "brand" the Web site with a consistent look and feel, but it was difficult to manage such a task due to undocumented ownership and inconsistencies in web development. In June of 2006, the Web Advisory Committee (WAC) commissioned a study of the current web site. The report identified problem areas that needed to be addressed so that the webmaster could be effective in enforcing policy as defined by the WAC. The problem areas were:
- Ownership
- Continued use of the old UNF Logo
- Orphaned files
- Broken links
- ADA compliance
- Tens of thousands of static web pages, requiring manual updates with HTML editing software by web administrators skilled in the use of programs like Dreamweaver
- Much obsolete content and many broken links
- Difficult and inconsistent Web site navigation
- Impractical to make global web site changes
- Inconsistent "branding" of UNF
- poor design throughout the Web site
In response to the study, the WAC created a Content Mangement System (CMS) sub-committee to develop functional specifications and identified 12 potential vendors for estimates. The resulting information was presented to the Administrative Systems Council (ASC) which strongly supported the recommendation to acquire a CMS. The ASC recommended that this project be owned and funded by the Institutional Advancement division of UNF.
The Executive Summary written in 2006 examined the need for an effective campus-wide system to automate the maintenance of UNF Web site content and proposed the acquisition of a CMS system. The key findings were that a CMS would provide solutions to the problems facing UNF's Web site.
The Solution
An interdepartmental task force detailed UNF's requirements for a CMS. This functional specification was included as part of a request for information (RFI) sent to 40 top CMS vendors. The RFI resulted in sufficient funding for a Request for Proposal. The CMS vendor field was ultimately narrowed by the task force to 3 companies who made on-campus presentations of their solution for all interested parties. These presentations were videotaped and shared with the entire campus community, who were given the opportunity to provide input to the task force. The winning solution was the Ektron CMS-400.NET system.
