IT.UCSB.EDU: Building a Central Web Presence for a Distributed IT Environment August 9, 2011, UCCSC PRESENTERS Elise Meyer, Associate Director, Office of Information Technology Ann Dundon, Web Developer, Communications Services Randall Ehren, Systems Administrator, Institute for Social, Behavioral and Economic Research Copyright © 2011 The Regents of the University of California, All Rights Reserved.
Context Copyright © 2011 The Regents of the University of California, All Rights Reserved. Many IT services provided on divisional or departmental level. Multiple IT Committees Limited Resources IT Planning Group
Requirements (1 of 2) Copyright © 2011 The Regents of the University of California, All Rights Reserved. Central place to share information A non-partisan solution that the IT community at large could own Granularity of access and permission controls
Requirements (2 of 2) Copyright © 2011 The Regents of the University of California, All Rights Reserved. Community-contributed content Discourage duplicate data-entry Inexpensive
CMS Options Considered Copyright © 2011 The Regents of the University of California, All Rights Reserved. MovableType Easy to use; limited functionality WordPress Easy to use; some security concerns Joomla Nice themes; inadequate permissions/access controls Plone Overkill for our purposes Drupal
Solution: Drupal 6.x Copyright © 2011 The Regents of the University of California, All Rights Reserved. Why Drupal? Mature product Had most of the features we needed Previous exposure on campus Active local developer community Acquia-Drupal DAMP stack on Windows server AD package includes selected modules Packaged and tested updates
Selected Drupal Concepts Copyright © 2011 The Regents of the University of California, All Rights Reserved. Core functionality and add-on modules Access control Custom content types News Resource page Group pages: author-only, wiki-style Web forms
Site Organization Copyright © 2011 The Regents of the University of California, All Rights Reserved. Information clearinghouse (end users) News IT departments IT services Information repository (IT community) Resources Information management (both) IT committees and groups Campus-wide IT projects
Information Clearinghouse Copyright © 2011 The Regents of the University of California, All Rights Reserved. News IT departments Landing page that links to remote site Department news can be pulled from remote site Locally hosted option IT Services Links to existing sites or locally hosted option Service index (uses Views module)
Information Repository Copyright © 2011 The Regents of the University of California, All Rights Reserved. Resources Wiki-style custom content type Authenticated users can contribute, edit content Access controls Finding information: views, search, tags Specialized lists IT Vendor listing
Information Management Copyright © 2011 The Regents of the University of California, All Rights Reserved. IT committees and groups Member contributed content Membership control Content access control Meeting management, events calendar IT projects Membership and access control Project members review content before publishing
Copyright © 2011 The Regents of the University of California, All Rights Reserved. Access Control Authentication: UCSBNetID/ldap_integration Authorization Organic Groups Demographics Public/Anonymous Campus (Authenticated) Group Owner Group Member Site Administrator
Copyright © 2011 The Regents of the University of California, All Rights Reserved. Displaying & Finding Information Multiple ways to display content: Views Events Calendar: Date, Views Powerful Search: ApacheSolr
Copyright © 2011 The Regents of the University of California, All Rights Reserved. Other Important Modules Content Lifecycle Management: Rules Surveys and Forms: Webforms Web Analytics: – Drupal Stats – Piwik Piwik – Top Keyword is “uccsc 2011”
Successes Copyright © 2011 The Regents of the University of California, All Rights Reserved. Vigorous adoption by IT committees Enhances information exchange Standardizes practices Better events communication and coordination Centralized access to information Stats: 400+ active users, 750 posts 17 committees with 350 members; 7 active projects
Copyright © 2011 The Regents of the University of California, All Rights Reserved. Issues Live document collaboration Notification sender (site administrator) Increasing content creation (more on that next)
What’s Next? Copyright © 2011 The Regents of the University of California, All Rights Reserved. Marketing Increasing content creation UCTrust integration
Resources Copyright © 2011 The Regents of the University of California, All Rights Reserved. Drupal developer community Web site Download Acquia Drupal California Drupal user groups UC Drupal Users mailing list
Contact Information Copyright © 2011 The Regents of the University of California, All Rights Reserved. For general information: Presenters Elise Meyer, Associate Director, Office of Information Technology Ann Dundon, Web Developer, Communications Services Randall Ehren, Systems Administrator, Institute for Social, Behavioral and Economic Research