Hi all

Katherine's summary of CMS use at RGU is very similar to our set up here in Plymouth. We have worked hard over the last year to bring as much content into our one website as possible (SharePoint for our external website) yet we do have quite a few sites still out on a limb. The reasoning we use to get these recreated in a sustainable way is the same as RGU, plus our new central team of content editors are best used supporting staff with a finite number of content management systems and tools! We also rebranded the University last summer, so this was an extra incentive for staff to be part of the new look by getting content on the main website. 

Regarding blogs, we are currently looking at whether a more 'supported' University service could be provided, for example SharePoint blogs or a Wordpress server, but we are in early discussions. For the moment we are happy to link to blogs where staff have them, regardless of location.

Best wishes
Becky

Rebecca Lee
Digital Manager
External Relations, Plymouth University
+44 (0)1752 588006

Find me www.plymouth.ac.uk/staff/rllee  
Or my blog Becky's blog (staff only)

Find www.plymouth.ac.uk  
Like www.facebook.com/plymouthuni  
Follow www.twitter.com/plymuni  
View www.flickr.com/photos/plymouthuniversity
Pin www.pinterest.com/plymuni 





-----Original Message-----
From: Managing institutional Web services [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Katherine Pickles (mcsr)
Sent: 14 September 2012 10:28
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: CMS

Hi Richard

Sounds similar to our situation - central CMS is FarCry.  We have tried very hard to migrate all public facing content to this platform over the past 3 years, with a good deal of success. The intranet is about to go live so there is more of an impetus to tidy up the remaining internal content and get that on Sharepoint (our intranet solution) so any legacy content which is still readily available on the old platform will disappear soon (we hope). During that process we have also tried to discourage the use of other platforms - our ITS department won't support them and numerous examples of project sites left abandoned have helped persuade people that central doesn't necessarily mean 'bad' but means consistent, managed, professional, correctly branded and sustainable.

There are still a lot of these arms length sites about, however.  Awareness raising and training is the key and we do have a checklist of questions the originators need to consider before 'doing it themselves'.  Blogs and other more personalised web spaces managed by individuals (particularly academics involved in research) are fine provided the intention is clear, and we are happy to link to these and for them to link back to the 'corporate' site.

Hope that helps.

Best regards

Katherine

Tel: 01224 262185


Best Modern University in the UK*

Find out why at our Undergraduate Open Days
3 October & 3 November 2012
Register now www.rgu.ac.uk/openday

*The Guardian University Guide 2013 and The Sunday Times University Guide 2012


-----Original Message-----
From: Managing institutional Web services [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Richard Hirst
Sent: 12 September 2012 11:57
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: CMS

Hi,

I wonder if you wouldn't mind sharing your usage of Content Managements Systems throughout your institution?

At QM the majority of public facing websites are managed by our central CMS (Percussion CM System) but we do have sporadic instances of Drupal, Joomla or Wordpress as well. This can cause some issues in terms of template and branding control as well as sharing content effectively.

Do you have similar issues?

Any feedback gratefully received.

kind regards
Rich

--
Richard Hirst
Head of Web
Communications Office
Marketing and Communications
Queen Mary, University of London
Mile End Road
London E1 4NS

Tel: +44(0)20 7882 7894
email: [log in to unmask]

www.qmul.ac.uk

Twitter: www.twitter.com/QMUL/
Facebook: www.facebook.com/OfficialQMUL/
YouTube: www.qmul.ac.uk/about/youtube/
Flickr: www.flickr.com/photos/qmul/


Robert Gordon University is The Sunday Times Best Modern University in the UK 2012

Robert Gordon University, a Scottish charity registered under charity number SC 013781.

This e-mail and any attachment is for authorised use by the intended recipient(s) only. It may contain proprietary material, confidential information and/or be subject to legal privilege. It should not be copied, disclosed to, retained or used by, any other party. If you are not an intended recipient then please promptly delete this e-mail and any attachment and all copies and inform the sender.  Please note that any views or opinions presented in this email are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of Robert Gordon University.  Thank you.