Several members of the CMS deployment team completed a full week of Developer's Training earlier this month, and now are preparing for a Modeling & Design workshop next week with consultants from Percussion. By late August, we will have a finalized Development Plan and Project Plan, including a development timeline.

System installation also is underway. New hardware has been delivered, and IT has installed a dev instance of Rhythmyx.

There is still much work to do as we embark on this project. One of my biggest tasks right now is developing a communications plan and migration guide to help the university community learn more about Rhythmyx. So much depends on decisions we make during the next few weeks in tandem with Percussion, which is why you haven't seen a high volume of communication from met yet regarding the CMS.

As we finalize the Project Plan, that will change dramatically.

Finally -- very soon I'll be announcing the date for a Web Symposium this fall largely focused on CMS implementation. Registration will once again be hosted on the FDI website.

Our partnership with Percussion is off to a very auspicious start.

Project manager Greg Kroll and I had our implementation kick-off conference call with our project coordinator at Percussion last week. In a separate call, IT conferenced with Percussion's CTO and other technical staff, finalized our hardware needs, and placed an order.

Some upcoming milestones for the CMS implementation team:

• July 16-20: On-site Rhythmyx 6.5 Developer's Training.
• August 6-8: On-site Modeling & Design session with Percussion.
• August 27: Percussion delivers a written Development Plan.
• Fall semester: Implement web CMS to migrate and manage identified pilot websites.

Many people on our CMS team (including myself) have been heavily involved during the past month with the development and deployment of VT Alerts, which launched today. Now that we've passed that milestone, we'll be shifting our focus to the CMS project, with installation set for completion by early August in preparation for Modeling & Design work.

After several months of very hard work, and delays caused by events we never could have foreseen, Virginia Tech today finalized a contract with Percussion Software to purchase its Rhythmyx Web CMS solution. The CMS selection committee chose Percussion Rhythmyx for, among other things, its superior user interface, de-coupled delivery infrastructure (separating style and content), scalability, and aggressive product development cycle.

You can read more about Rhythmyx Web CMS at http://www.percussion.com/products/content-management/rhythmyx/literature/.

The RFP for our enterprise Web CMS was posted in December. Vendor responses were reviewed by the selection committee in January and February, and two finalists were chosen for more in-depth analysis. The selection committee included staff from IT, University Relations, the College of Science, AHNR-IT, and the New Media Center. The finalists visited campus in March for detailed product demonstrations and discussion. After favorable reviews by references at Nottingham Trent University, Bowling Green State University, and Broward Community College, the committee chose Percussion Rhythmyx.

Though a development timeline is still being finalized, initial plans are for the system to be installed within the next 4-6 weeks. The main VT.edu website and a few other subdomains will be the first migrated to the Rhythmyx CMS during a pilot phase in late summer and early fall. After initial testing, a larger-scale rollout for other campus users is intended at a date to be determined, but hopefully by the end of October.

Much more communication about Rhythmyx is forthcoming, so please check this blog often for news.

Last week, a got a letter from CASE notifying us that Virginia Tech's institutional website (vt.edu) has won a Bronze Medal in the 2007 CASE Circle of Excellence competition.

There were 41 entries in the category, and judges awarded two silvers and a bronze. CASE will announce the full list of winners in mid-June.

Earlier this year, we won two Awards of Excellence in the 2006 CASE III regional competition for home page design and overall website implementation.

I must thank my fantastic Web Communications staff and our support network (IT colleagues, New City Media, our redesign pilot partners, colleagues in University Relations, and other groups I'm sure I'm forgetting) for making these awards possible. They're remarkable validation that we're moving in the right direction with the redevelopment of the university's Web presence.

As you all can appreciate, the tragic events of April 16 and their aftermath have altered our CMS development timeline. We had expected to have a contract with our chosen CMS vendor completed by the end of April, but now it's looking more like later this month or early June.

Activity around the CMS project is back in full swing, however. We are finalizing hardware needs, developing a CMS "migration guide," preparing for template development within the CMS, and much more.

I'm also leading a Web CMS informational session at each of the FDI 2007 Summer Track programs to make faculty aware of the CMS project and the potential benefits to them and their departments.

Once we complete the vendor contract, CMS development will be fast and furious. Our goal at this point is to migrate the main vt.edu website and perhaps 2-3 sub-domains before the first day of Fall classes, but so much depends on how quickly we install the CMS and complete developer and end-user training. Thereafter, other CMS "pilot" sub-domains will migrate to the CMS on a schedule to be determined.

Regarding training, we are working closely with FDI and HR to develop a CMS Certification program, with the intention of offering classes through FDI beginning sometime in October/November. We also will offer a CMS Orientation class in which we will demo the system, present the benefits of using the CMS, review the process of migrating websites to the CMS, and discuss the many support resources behind the CMS. We hope the presentation of this information will help departments determine if/when/how they would like to jump on board the CMS train.

I am extremely eager to share much more with you about the CMS project. Once that contract is signed, expect a flurry of communication and other activity.

The position of Web Developer within University Relations has opened up. Details below.

Web Developer
University Relations

Virginia Tech’s award-winning Web Communications team is seeking a motivated Web Developer to conceive, develop, and produce web layouts and templates, graphic identity elements, and interactive features for the university’s Web presence. This person will help ensure compliance with university guidelines for Web design, content, and functionality, and help improve production efficiencies by working closely with web developers across the university community in the development of vt.edu.

• Bachelor’s degree or educational background in a related field such as web design, graphic design or fine arts, or related work experience.
• Excellent art direction and design skills specific to the online medium.
• Strength in user interface design with an emphasis on creativity, usability principles, information architecture, navigation and the end-user experience.
• Proven experience in creative and conceptual problem solving.
• Extensive experience programming, scripting and coding with XHTML, CSS, HTML, XML, PHP, Dreamweaver, and JavaScript.
• Expert knowledge of the Adobe Creative Suite and Flash.
• Accessibility proficiency; should be able to apply Section 508 and W3C guidelines.
• Excellent communication skills.
• Strong attention to detail.
• The ability to work well in a team environment.

Access the Virginia Tech Jobs website at http://www.jobs.vt.edu to submit an application (resume or cover letter also requested). Search on posting number 070453. If available, please include a link to an online portfolio documenting strong creative and design principles for the Web.

Individuals desiring assistance/accommodation in the application/interview process should contact us at 540/231-9331 voice or 540/231-6258 TDD.

AN EO/AA EMPLOYER COMMITTED TO DIVERSITY.

Greetings everyone.

Since updating the look of the VT Event Calendar earlier this year, I've been asked how other groups can get the same look for their calendars too. I've also gotten some questions about Survey.vt.edu.

So, without further ado, here's how to make your calendar and/or survey look like calendar.vt.edu:

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The new web site covering the Branding initiative, the new Virginia Tech Identity Standards and Style Guide, and downloads of logos, etc. et al has been launched: http://www.branding.unirel.vt.edu/

This site updates the look of the previous Branding site, pulls in several sections from the University Relations site, and makes available the new and updated information from the newly-published Style Guide.

The downloads site, now including PowerPoint slides, newsletter templates, and brochure templates, is still protected and requires faculty/staff status and a valid PID to log in for access. http://www.branding.unirel.vt.edu/downloads/login.php

The Web Development Toolkit, with access to the variety of templates, is linked from the site but remains on the University Relations website: http://www.unirel.vt.edu/web/

The CMS selection committee has completed its review of vendor proposals, which culminated last week with day-long visits by two finalists. We will be completing reference calls in short order, and IT Purchasing is set to begin contract negotiations with the finalists ASAP.

At this point, we need to keep the identity of the two finalists confidential to secure our position in the negotiation process. But I can assure you that both systems meet the requirements laid out in the RFP, and either solution will deliver a vast improvement over our current Web publishing environment and position us for smart, managed development of the university's Web presence.

While the selection committee has been hard at work, a separate CMS Project Team has been working for several months to ensure a solid foundation for implementation once the vendor is chosen. A scope document was completed early this year during the Initiating Stage, and we are head-long into the Planning Stage. Sections of interest in the scope document:

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Hello everyone, 

Over the past week or so I've learned about two serious issues with the templates.

I am working on solutions, but in the mean time please read about these issues so you can minimize their affects on your website.

Many thanks to VT template users and my FDI class participants for pointing me in the right direction on this.

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