Below are the blog entries for January 2010
Keys to CMS Project Implementation Success - Part 4
By Kat Liendgens
Wednesday, January 27th, 2010 at 11:30am
In Part 3 of our Keys to CMS Project Implementation Success, we discussed the importance of successful requirements gathering prior to embarking on a project. The planning stage plays a crucial role in the success of a project because it allows you and your project stakeholders to accurately determine the appropriate direction and requirements for the project before getting started. When done correctly, this can lead to better adoption across the organization and less chance of project scope creep. Once you have clearly identified the project scope, it is important to think about the timing of your Quickstart and training.
Timing of the QuickStart
It is best to begin your QuickStart as soon as you are ready to start moving your website over to the content management system. If you are re-designing your site simultaneously, however, you should wait until you have the templates of the new design ready to go before scheduling the QuickStart.
Timing of the Training
While it may sound obvious, a major key to a successful project roll-out is user buy-in. Making sure your users are adequately trained before beginning the project will ensure that your developers are comfortable enough with the system to jump in and begin working on portions of the site right after the project. We recommend training developers and administrators, rather than end-users, because your technical staff can easily turn around and train end-users on the system. For more information about our training options, please contact our Services Team.
Stay tuned for the final part in our Keys to CMS Project Implementations Success blog series, in which we'll discuss post-project actions.
Related Content
- Keys to CMS Project Implementation Success - Part 1
- Keys to CMS Project Implementation Success - Part 2
- Keys to CMS Project Implementation Success - Part 3
Category
- Resources
Watch us Migrate our own Website to Sites in Cascade Server
By Chris Armistead
Wednesday, January 20th, 2010 at 12:00pm
After the success of our recent Cascade Server 6.4 Webinar, our customers and prospects alike expressed an overwhelming desire for Hannon Hill to continue presenting webinars on the most timely and relevant Cascade-related topics. In that spirit, we are proud to present our next webinar demonstrating a live migration from the Global Area to Sites in Cascade Server.
Being Client Advocate at Hannon Hill means speaking to clients on a daily basis, listening to feedback, and using that feedback to shape practices that will lead to improved client satisfaction. Something I have heard from our customers time and again over the past year has been a mixture of excitement and apprehension about migrating to the Sites content model in Cascade Server. While some of our customers have already taken the leap, many of them are still operating in the Global Area. To encourage our customers to migrate, we decided the best promotion would be to migrate a Site ourselves.
As most of you know, we power our own website with the Cascade Server web content management system. Since some of our customers have been uneasy about their own Site migration, we will demonstrate this process than by performing a Site migration on our own website. Our next webinar will focus on exactly that-- we will migrate our own website for the first time, live.
Space is limited, so please reserve your spot for the Global Area to Sites webinar that will take place on Tuesday February 2, 2010 at 2PM EST. In addition to the demonstration, we will discuss reasons for migrating to the Site content model and best practices for doing so. After performing the migration, you will be given the opportunity to ask our staff questions regarding Sites and the migration process in Cascade Server. We are very excited to present this webinar and encourage you to sign up for the webinar today.
Related Content
Category
- Events
What Total Cost of Ownership Really Means
By Morgan Griffith
Thursday, January 14th, 2010 at 10:00am
When it comes to web content management systems, total cost of ownership (TCO) is a topic of frequent discussion. Unfortunately, the more you research, the more it becomes apparent that the definition of "total" is still up for discussion.
Especially when reading content regarding open source software (OSS), cost of ownership is rarely looked at in an aggregate way. Because OSS systems limit acquisition costs by foregoing the standard licensing fees found with proprietary systems, the initial lack of investment required by OSS solutions is marketed as one of the primary selling points.
The problem with this logic is this: rarely are license fees the only cost incurred when procuring a content management system. Especially when you're dealing with open source solutions, the lack of initial acquisition costs is more than made up for by the heavy investment made on the human side of things.
When you work with a proprietary system--and hence, the vendor that develops the product--you typically get more of a package deal than when choosing an OSS application. Product support, maintenance, and new development are all included in the up-front costs, which your potential vendor should make you aware of. With OSS systems, the burden is often placed on the user to maintain and develop the system.
Furthermore, if you're interested in dedicated product support or professional services to help you get implemented or answer questions, there typically isn't a dedicated resource provided with OSS systems. For example, the Texas state legislature notes that "the money an agency may spend for technical service, support, training, customization, and testing open-source applications may exceed its current known proprietary systems."1
Our suggestion? When you're shopping for a web content management system, above all else, do your research. The key goal here is to easily manage web content while mitigating potential risk when choosing the solution for your organization. You may find that you are able to get what you need out of an OSS and the lack of a dedicated support or services team isn't an issue for your organization. Whatever you decide, be sure to thoroughly evaluate the real potential costs to be incurred when choosing a proprietary solution vs. an OSS solution.
___________
1Interim Report 2008, House Committee on Government Reform, Texas House of Representatives
Related Content
Category
- Commentary
A New Year's Reminder of our Client Resources
By Chris Armistead
Wednesday, January 6th, 2010 at 3:00pm
With our first blog of 2010, we here at Hannon Hill wish to express our sincere hope that everyone had safe and restful holidays. Much of the user community has likely returned to work this week, eager to hit the ground running on new projects and initiatives involving Cascade Server. As we all look forward to the new year, we wanted to remind you of some of the resources Hannon Hill provides to help answer your questions, maintain your momentum, and connect you to other Cascade Server users.
One of our most valuable resources to our customers is the Success Community. This is a place where customers can not only pose new product ideas in the Idea Exchange, but ask questions in the forum for other users and even Hannon Hill staff members to answer. A new feature of the Success Community is the job board which was created thanks to customer suggestions. This is a place where members can post and/or search for jobs where those with Cascade Server experience are being sought. If it's been a while since you visited the Success Community or if you have not yet joined, we encourage you to log on or create your free account today in order to take advantage of this resource.
Another great tool for Cascade Server users is our Knowledge Base. Currently, our Engineering, Services, and Marketing teams update content from our KB on a weekly basis to keep the documentation up to speed with the constantly evolving product. The Knowledge Base also features the first half of our 2009 User's Conference videos as well as many other helpful videos. The recent 6.4 Webinar along with future webinars with be located on the main site itself.
In addition to these customer resources, we also wish to remind you to subscribe to our blog, so that you will be the first to know about Hannon Hill and Cascade Server news. We wish you the best of luck in your endeavors this new year, and we hope this reminder of Hannon Hill's customer resources will lead to even more future success with Cascade Server.
Category
- Resources
