Using the Sitecore platform for efficiency and cost savings

John Turnbull

18/10/10

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#SitecoreDT10

Business drivers• Existing CMS was clunky and inflexible• CMS / web-hosting contract to expire in March

2010• High cost of missing this deadline• Website convergence and rationalisation –

needed a platform we could share• Procurement began in early 2009, when we

were BERR

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Our requirements• A more dynamic and engaging site• Greater flexibility and functionality• Ease of use for devolved web editors• More control for central team• Scaleability – grow to accommodate partners• Lower cost

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Complications!• June 2009, BERR and DIUS merge to become

BIS• Need to merge two departmental sites plus

interim BIS site• Seize the opportunity: greater scope to improve

look and feel – new Department requires new design

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The way we were…

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…and where we’re at

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Over to Robin...

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Delivering the siteUsing Sitecore

Robin Salter

9Eduserv.org.uk

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• A leading Sitecore partner• 10 years experience providing information services to public

sector• Commercial ethic but not-for-profit registered charity• Aim is to support the effective application of ICT in

education and more broadly• Development Team of 15 with expertise in .NET and

Sitecore

Eduserv

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Why Sitecore?• Our specialism• World leading enterprise CMS • Comprehensive ‘out-of-the-box’ functionality• Designed to be extended

• API• Configuration

• .NET based• Support and community • Roadmap

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Addressing BIS’ Goals• Delivering on functionality, control, flexibility and ease of

use • Using Sitecore’s extensibility - examples

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BIS Partners• BIS work in tandem with a wide group of bodies• Requires a multi-site solution• BIS and partners can all have a distinctive web presence,

hosted in a single site

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• Illustrating the basic CMS rule• Content – single• Display – Multiple

• Managing the content• Delivering on BIS’ extra requirements

• Other site features

Next

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Managing the content

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• Sitecore separates work in progress from live contentPublishing

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Simplifying Publishing

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Keeping Content Current• Content Owners List• Each item:

• Content Owner – drop-down• Review Date

• Review e-mails• Review reporting• All partner-specific

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Page Not Found? – Try the National Archive• Plug into Sitecore’s not found processing• Automatic re-direction if your old bookmarked page has

been removed but can still be found in the archive

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Managing content change• Out-of-the-box

• Users and Roles – apply security for content access• Easy set-up of workflow – Submit / Review / Accept or

Reject• Based on type of content• Apply security for use of workflow commands

• Email to fixed address to prompt check in Sitecore

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Managing content change – Going Further - 1• Apply more complex custom rules to workflow

• Certain roles must submit certain document types for review

• e.g. The ‘BIS Accredited Editor’ role cannot directly publish office documents (various file suffixes for Word, Excel, PDF, PowerPoint documents) but must submit for approval, typically by the ‘Pubs Team’

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Managing content change – Going Further - 2• Informative e-mailing to the content editors and central teams

• URL of page• Submitter’s name and email address• Importance of change (Major / Minor)• Comment entered (when submitted or rejected)

• All separately configurable by partners• Own team addresses, email title and content

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Managing content change – Going Further - 3• Apply workflow dynamically via configuration to allow

partners to have completely different workflow for same content types

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Managing content change – Summary• Tools available for a very effective change management

process• BIS and each partner can work autonomously

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Scheduled Publishing

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Other features of the site

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Web Forms for Marketers

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More control of look and feel• 1) Create folder in Sitecore media library• 2) Upload stylesheet and image files to folder• 3) Update page(s) to refer to folder in media library• • Distinctive areas within the site: Campaigns

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General page

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And finally, over to John...

How do we like it?• We now have the dynamic and engaging site we

wanted• Homepage news carousel; automated news

page; minister news & speeches; panels (inc YouTube & flickr); policies A-Z

• Greater flexibility e.g. custom CSS, embeddable 3rd-party code (videos, Scribd, Echo)

• Web editors find CMS much more intuitive• More efficient: creation and management of

content much quicker now

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Partners like it, too• Platform is open to BIS partners• Same basic templates; we tailor look and feel• Partners get a better-looking site and an

enterprise-grade CMS for a fraction of the cost had they gone it alone

• British Hallmarking Council, Foresight, ECGD, GO-Science, CST all live, all very pleased

• Potential to open up service to other government departments

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And the cost?• £2.5 million less over 4 years, compared to cost

of previous contract• Partners save on the cost of going it alone• Depending on partner take-up, the shared

service could save up to £700K per year

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Moving forward• Partners in the pipeline: UK Space Agency,

Insolvency Service, Competition Commission, National Measurement Office

• More use of custom CSS – campaign pages• Developing functionality: news landing page to

display all news types; link from carousel to more top stories; taggable RSS; blank panel; email marketing

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Conclusion• Sitecore has enabled BIS to provide a hugely

improved website, and at much lower cost, compared to the previous site

• Sitecore’s flexibility is enabling us to evolve the site to meet our changing needs

• Sitecore’s scaleability allows us to share these benefits with partner organisations

• Sitecore’s ease of use has reduced training & support overheads

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Robin.Salter@Eduserv.org.uk John.Turnbull@BIS.gsi.gov.uk

Any Questions

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