Well … how did we get here?

If you’ve found this blog, you’re likely well aware of the enterprise web CMS project underway at Virginia Tech. The university will be issuing an RFP (request for proposal) very soon, but work toward a CMS began more than a year ago.

Here’s a recap of how we got here. (I apologize up front for this being a long entry.)

In Fall 2005, Virginia Tech – led by University Relations and in partnership with Information Technology – began an enterprise web redevelopment project which included in its scope the implementation of an enterprise CMS.

Early in Spring 2006, the Web Redevelopment Steering Committee and other knowledgeable parties pulled together a CMS Team comprised of representatives from around the university. The team was tasked with identifying requirements for a CMS, particularly from a user’s perspective. CMS team members conducted a number of interviews with various parties, including:

From within Virginia Tech:

• Representatives from the offices of Undergraduate Admissions, Bursar, Financial Aid, Registrar, and Development
• The Library Services webmaster
• A designer from IDDL
• Webmaster from the English Department
• Webmaster from Multicultural Affairs

• Duke University
• University of the Pacific
• University of Alabama, Birmingham
• Columbia University

Based on findings from those interviews and other research, the team composed a high-level requirements document which stated and prioritized the key needs for a CMS. This document was presented to the Steering Committee and the Web Redesign Advisory Committee (comprised of representatives from every college and major administrative unit). After reviewing their feedback and making some changes to requirements, the initial task of the CMS Team was concluded.

A two-month break in activity followed, to allow University Relations and IT to shift 100% of its focus on the university’s web redesign launch in July.

In August, an expanded CMS Team came back together to identify and evaluate possible CMS solutions for the university. The effort merged with that of the Agriculture, Human and Natural Resources Information Technology unit (AHNR-IT), which last year had begun its own search for a CMS solution to support its many clients, including the 100+ offices of the Cooperative Extension. 

For more than two months, the CMS Team evaluated several solutions, both proprietary and open-source. After dismissing open-source options for myriad reasons (primarily related to the time and human capital required to build and maintain an open-source CMS), and paring the proprietary options based on the requirements developed last spring, we worked with test instances of a handful of CMS products (which will go unnamed for obvious reasons).

The CMS Team conducted a series of tests (including end-user tests) in September and October, with the hope that one of the CMS's would clearly distinguish itself as the ideal choice for Virginia Tech based on our requirements, and justify a sole-source acquisition. Results of our testing, however, led the CMS Team to recommend an RFP. 

The product testing process was not wasted. It gave us a much better sense of what the university needs, and has allowed us to prepare an RFP with very specific requirements that should yield the best possible product for Virginia Tech.

We have discovered one certainty: No CMS will be a silver bullet. Rather, our objective is to choose a product that will satisfy the university's biggest needs, prove very easy to learn and use (and therefore meet with wide acceptance within the university community), and demonstrate the ability to grow with us for many years to come.

Stay tuned for the RFP release, which will be posted in the near future.