Blogs - October 2008

Below are blog entries for October 2008.

Latest Case Study: University of Alaska Southeast

By Sam Beresford

Thursday, October 30th, 2008 at 8:00am

The University of Alaska Southeast is a regional university in the University of Alaska system, with a main campus in Juneau and two extended campuses in Sitka and Ketchikan.  As the region's center for baccalaureate and graduate education, a robust and easy-to-update web presence is a must.  While UAS now has a network of websites and systems that are highly organized, centrally managed, and full of robust content, their pre-Cascade Server web presence was quite a different story.  Take a look at our latest case study, where we explore the challenges, solutions, and results experienced by the University of Alaksa Southeast as they searched for a content management system that met their stringent requirements, and their eventual adoption and current use of Cascade Server.

Category

• Resources

Meet the Team - Penny Harding

By Uran Piedra

Wednesday, October 29th, 2008 at 2:00pm

URAN PIEDRA:  Hello everyone, and welcome to another edition of Hannon Hill’s ‘Meet the Team.’ Today I'm here with one of our newest additions, Penny Harding.  Hi Penny, how are you?

PENNY HARDING:  Very well.

URAN:  So how are you liking it here at Hannon Hill so far?

PENNY:  I was a bit stressed at first, just like starting any new job, but the people at Hannon Hill are really friendly and have helped me to feel very welcome and much more at ease.

URAN:  Well, that's great! Tell me, where did you go to school and what did you study?

PENNY:  I graduated from the Georgia Institute of Technology in 2004.  My major was Science, Technology, and Culture with a specialty in media studies.  In a nut shell, I studied the varying design principles for different types of media, like television, websites, and print, and how those also change over time.

URAN:  So what kind of work were you doing before coming to Hannon Hill?

PENNY:  I spent the last two years managing the Georgia Division of Public Health website.  Before that, I worked in a position where I utilized Cascade Server, so I've actually had some experience as an end-user of the product.

URAN:  What is it that you'll be responsible for here at Hannon Hill?

PENNY:  I'm a part of the group that integrates client websites into Cascade Server so that people with a vast range of technical skills can update and manage their own websites and content most efficiently.

URAN:  That sounds interesting. Is there anything you're really looking forward to accomplishing here at Hannon Hill?

PENNY:  My main priority right now is to learn all of the ins and outs of Cascade.  After spending just a short time working within it, I've found that it's much more powerful and flexible than I originally assessed. In the long run, my goal is to help customers realize the full potential of Cascade Server, and reach out to those who don't have the technical background necessary to be able to make websites that are both user friendly and accessible.

URAN:  Well, that wraps up this edition of ‘Meet the Team’. Thanks for stopping by to talk with us today, Penny.

PENNY:  Sure thing.

Category

• News

Announcing the Cascade Server Success Community

By Sam Beresford

Tuesday, October 21st, 2008 at 5:00pm

As part of Hannon Hill's continual effort to keep our clients informed of the latest in Cascade Server news, as well to as keep ourselves informed of what those clients have to say about Cascade, we recently launched the Cascade Server Success Community.  The Success Community is being introduced in an effort to bring the Cascade Server user community together in one place.  Previously, Cascade users utilized the Cascade Features project in JIRA or the forum on Hannon Hill's website.  Now, the more inclusive Success Community offers Cascade users a centralized, easily accessible destination to request features, make suggestions, and participate in all of the valuable dialogue that these requests and suggestions create.

This shouldn't come as much of a surprise to attendees of the 2008 Cascade Server User's Conference, where we first announced it, but we wanted to take this opportunity to get the word out about the Success Community to as many Cascade Server users as possible.  The Success Community is a great tool for facilitating communication and collaboration, and is a truly progressive move in our efforts to create an ongoing, beneficial feedback loop with our most valued resource - our clients.

Included in the Success Community are the new and improved Cascade Server Forum and an all-new Cascade Server Idea Exchange, along with Best Practices, an FAQ area, and Troubleshooting guidelines.  The Idea Exchange is a great place for users to submit new ideas and suggest product enhancements for Cascade Server.  Feature suggestions can be made by any user who signs up for an account at success.hannonhill.com, and users who previously suggested features in JIRA are encouraged to participate in the Idea Exchange on the new Cascade Server Success Community.

Another exciting aspect of the Cascade Server Success Community is that it was created and is maintained entirely by eCrowds, Hannon Hill's newest product. eCrowds is an on-demand SaaS platform that combines the strength of Hannon Hill's content management expertise with social media tools like wikis, blogs, discussions, rankings, idea exchanges, and forums.

So come check out the new Cascade Server Success Community, sign up, and learn something new about Cascade today!

Category

• News

2008 User's Conference Session Material Available

By Sam Beresford

Monday, October 6th, 2008 at 4:25pm

As you may have heard (or read), Hannon Hill's 2008 Cascade Server User's Conference was a true success.  With attendance up over 50% from last year, loads of great presenters, and lots of new Cascade improvements to discuss, this year's conference truly exemplified its theme -- "People + Process + Systems."

During the conference, there were two sessions going on at all times. The Business Track included presentations on company happenings, support, documentation, and other topics geared towards end users.  The Technical Track featured sessions that covered topics such as using Cascade with SEO, database publishing, and other topics more suitable for administrators or site managers.

Although all of our clients and conference attendees are incredibly talented, we didn't expect them to be in two places at the same time -- thankfully, we've made the majority of the User's Conference presentations available on our Knowledge Base.  Included are session summaries, presenter bios, and any related material that the presenters utilized, such as handouts, spreadsheets, or PowerPoint presentations.  In the next few weeks, we'll be putting up video footage of all the presentations as well.  Check it out and catch up on what you missed!

Category

• News

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