Newsletter for 2009, Vol. 1 - January
Brainstorming for the 2009 User's Conference
As 2009 gets off to a great start, we've got some great projects we're working on here at Hannon Hill: a Cascade Server release that's right around the corner, an exciting new product in eCrowds, and planning for the 2009 Cascade Server User's Conference.
At last year's conference, we were lucky enough to feature a wide variety of presentations from a group of some of our most knowledgeable, informative, and engaging Cascade Server users. In laying the groundwork for 2009, we'd like to hear from the people who it matters to most -- you, our users and conference attendees. Which topics were most interesting and useful to you? Which topics would you like to see be expanded upon? Were there any topics that we completely missed out on? Already have an idea for a topic you'd like to present on? Let us know the answers to all of these questions, and any other comments or ideas you may have for our 2009 Cascade Server User's Conference, in the comments section of this blog post, or pass them along to morgan.griffith@hannonhill.com.
Look Out for New Sites and Roles in Cascade 6.0
Hannon Hill is very excited about the release of Cascade Server 6.0 later this quarter, and we wanted to make sure that we give our users a heads-up about this upcoming release. The latest iteration our award-winning CMS solution will contain two major additions: New Roles and Sites. Both of these features are intended to help manage large Cascade implementations, more users, and more de-centralized, independent business units.
Cascade 5.5 added Custom Roles, which allowed administrators to toggle the available abilities of the 5 default/pre-defined roles available with Cascade. New Roles in Cascade 6.0 will give administrators the ability to create totally new roles with completely customizable capabilities to meet the unique needs of different organizations and departments. Additionally, Cascade 6.0 will introduce Sites as top-level objects that are managed in an interface similar to that of other Administration Components. Users will be able to switch between Site contexts using a drop-down menu that will reveal components specific to the selected site based on a user's role and related access rights. Sites will also allow users to inhabit different Roles in different Site contexts. Stay tuned for more details in the very near future!
Services Integration Spotlight -- Woodruff Health Sciences Center, Emory University
Following the August 2008 launch of the redesigned Emory University website using Cascade Server, the Woodruff Health Sciences Center recently underwent a site renovation as well. The redesign, which was integrated by the Hannon Hill Professional Services team, provides Emory with two immense benefits-- the ability to unite of all the insitution's divisions under one enterprise content management system, while also maintaining a consistent look and feel across its branches.
Included in the new site are multiple dynamic regions and RSS feeds that include recent Emory announcements and stories, as well as a 'Newsletters' region that highlights specific news items from the different areas of the Woodruff Health Sciences Center. Additionally, the site contains other impressive features such as an emergency alert system and a more user-friendly information architecture that enables any of the Center's constituents to find specific information with ease.
For more information about the redesign, visit Woodruff Health Sciences Center's About This Site page.