The CMS project team is making steady progress in its development of Ensemble, the name we have given to Virginia Tech’s enterprise CMS, powered by Rhythmyx. Several of us are actively producing content and creating Web pages.
During the development process, however, the team has encountered technical challenges that are typical of such a major enterprise project. Those issues have delayed progress on migrating www.vt.edu and other pilot sites to Ensemble.
Because of those delays, we are postponing the Web Development Symposium and rescheduling it for Thursday, December 6, from 1-5 p.m. We want to present a CMS that is in production and “fully baked” – neither of which will be the case by Nov. 1. While we regret the postponement, we believe it will be to everyone’s benefit to allow the CMS project team to fine-tune Ensemble before its debut.
We realize some of you may not be able to attend on the new date, and for that I sincerely apologize. If you cannot attend on December 6, please go to www.fdi.vt.edu and cancel your enrollment in order to free a seat for those on the waiting list.
Our CMS development hurdles have done nothing to dull our excitement about Ensemble and the benefits it will bring to the university. If anything, during this process we have discovered that Rhythmyx is even more robust than we realized.
Thank you for your ongoing patience as we develop a CMS solution that befits our great university. I am very eager to share Ensemble with you all.
P.S. Ensemble CMS courses are being planned through FDI for the spring semester to introduce the web community to the system and train those who want to use it. There also will be an application and review process announced at the symposium for those departments that are interested in using Ensemble CMS.
P.P.S. Here’s the tentative agenda for Dec. 6:
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Overview of Ensemble CMS
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Ensemble CMS technical infrastructure
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Demo of Ensemble CMS
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Presentation of CMS Migration Guide
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CMS training opportunities
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Other CMS resources
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Open session Q&A