Blogs - May 2010

Below are the blog entries for May 2010.

New Case Study - Northeastern University’s School of Law

By Uran Piedra
Thursday, May 27th, 2010 at 3:20pm

As we mentioned a couple of weeks ago, we have been working to expand our library of client case studies. Well today, we are happy to add another case study to our collection -- Northeastern University's School of Law.

Prompted by a decision from their previous CMS vendor, Serena, to discontinue support and development for the Collage product, NU began searching for a new content management system. This case study illustrates the process of selecting a new CMS and migrating all of their content from Serena. Read the full case study  to learn how they did it.

Do you think your organization would be a great candidate for a case study or inclusion on our Real World Examples page?  Let us know what you're doing.so we can show off your work!


Category

  • News

Join Us In Ontario Next Week

By Joel Dixon
Friday, May 21st, 2010 at 4:00pm

Hannon Hill will attend the Canadian Post-Secondary Web Conference next week, May 26-28th, at Brock University in St. Catherine's, Ontario.  We are looking forward to seeing a number of our 8 Canadian higher education clients there.  In fact, members of several of these universities will be presenters at the conference including Richard Ivey School of Business (Western Ontario), University of Western Ontario, University of New Brunswick and University of Saskatchewan.  With workshops like "Content Strategy: The Key to Effective Web Content", "Mobile Marketing and U" and "Social Media & ROI", this conference is focused on education recruitment and marketing trends for colleges and university websites.  These are exactly the goals and objectives Hannon Hill's Cascade Server CMS helps over 130 colleges and universities achieve with their web presence.

We're also a proud sponsor of this conference so that first drink during the Port Dalhousie Pub Crawl is on us!  If you are going, please come by and see us!

Category

  • News

Early Bird Conference Rates Closing May 21st

By Chris Armistead
Wednesday, May 12th, 2010 at 10:00am

Many of you have already signed up for the 2010 User Conference in Atlanta, but I know there are many more who are planning on coming.  I just wanted to give you a heads up that you have one more week to take advantage of the discounted early bird rates before they go up. 

The conference sessions and client speakers are currently being finalized and while I can't give too much away just yet, I can assure you that it will be the same awesome experience you've come to expect but with some new surprises in store.  A new venue and a new Monday night event are just a few of the changes we've made to keep the conference fresh and worth attending year after year. 

In case you've never been before, take a look at the 2009 sessions for an idea of what you'll see.  Almost all the topics and client speakers will be new, but we'll be bringing back some popular favorites like the Cascade Server Roadmap and Welcome Address from our CEO David Cummings.  This event is anticipated by our staff as much as it is by our customers, and there is an added excitement about this year's event.  More details to come in the near future, but sign up today for the event no Cascade Server user will want to miss!

Category

  • News

New Case Study - University of Montana

By Uran Piedra
Wednesday, May 12th, 2010 at 11:30am

As part of our ongoing effort to spotlight the work our clients are doing with Cascade Server, we have just published a brand new case study. Case studies tell an individual client organization's story and are a great way for our clients and prospects to see how others are using and benefiting from the product.

Our most recent case study with the University of Montana describes the entire process of selecting and implementing a CMS. Faced with the challenge of a web management process that was difficult to use and manage, the IT team at the university set out to find a better solution that would alleviate this difficulty and increase adoption across multiple departmental sites within the school. Read the full case study to learn how their switch to Cascade Server has vastly improved the web management process at the University of Montana.

Category

  • News

Services Development Approach

By Kat Liendgens
Friday, May 7th, 2010 at 2:30pm

Cascade integrations range in scope from a standard, 100 hour QuickStart with pre-defined features to much larger, custom-quoted projects. The Professional Services Team uses a modified SCRUM approach for all projects, since this type of development method allows us to closely work with our clients throughout the integration process and to address potential changes very quickly. Instead of only involving the client at the beginning and end of the process, namely during requirements gathering and acceptance testing, we realize that it is much more beneficial for everyone involved to handle projects with a more agile methodology.

Here's how it works:

For custom-quoted projects, we work with the client to identify a "backlog" of the feature and functionality requests and, in collaboration with the developers, estimate the time required for each item to be completed. If the total hours estimated exceed the size of the project that the client had in mind, we work with the client to revise the scope in order to ensure that the project does not go over budget and/or the desired time frame. Of course, the client also has the option to adjust the budget and the time frame if all of the items on the backlog need to be implemented.

We group all of the features into sprints, with each sprint including a very specific functionality and feature set. Depending on the size of the project, we may have between two and six sprints. Our developers log each task in our JIRA tracking system, so that we can keep an eye on burndown charts, which immediately tell us how a project is progressing. Once a sprint is complete, we have a review meeting, in which the client can be involved. The main purpose of the sprint review meetings is to give the client a chance to see the implemented features and to determine if the deliverables work as expected. After all, it's easier and faster to make a change early on in the process than it is after the project has been completed.

This development approach cuts down on the time that our clients spend gathering and documenting requirements. And although the agile method is more powerful for custom-quoted, large scale projects, it works for QuickStarts as well.  No matter how big or small the project may be, we work very closely with the client throughout all stages of the project life cycle.


Category

  • Resources

Show Off Your Cascade Server Work

By Chris Armistead
Tuesday, May 4th, 2010 at 11:30am

One of the most visited pages on the Hannon Hill site continues to be the Real World Examples page.  If you haven't taken a few minutes to look at it, this page features examples from our current clients who have implemented some of the most sought-after functionality.  Calendars, Course Catalogs, and Newsrooms are just a few of the topics featured on this page.  In addition, we have added a section to spotlight recent sites that have gone live with Cascade Server. 

We love the examples spotlighted on this page, but we know these are only a handful of the awesome things our clients are doing.  For this reason we've created a form for you to easily let us know what your organization is deploying with Cascade. 

Use this form if you wish to be included on our Real World Examples page or if you think you'd be a great candidate for a case study.  Even if you are going live or rolling out a redesign, make us aware of it so that we can tweet about the work you've done and put you on our site.  Our customers never cease to amaze us, so we encourage you to show off what you've done.  Remember what Muhammad Ali said - it's not bragging if you can back it up.

Category

  • News