Challenge
The Web content management system running Special Olympics’ Web site was no longer supported and did not offer the flexibility or reliability the Web team was looking for. Developers had to manually move new templates and code from their development server to their staging and production environments every time they made an update. Another critical component of the site, the search functionality, was unable to meet the performance standards the Special Olympics required. All in all, the site needed to be completely reconstructed to meet the performance expectations and organizational goals.
Solution
Will Schermerhorn, the Director of Internet Strategy for Special Olympics, in cooperation with 1/0 Technology and Perfect Sense Digital, developed a new Web strategy to drive online donations and increase awareness using Ektron’s WCM solution. Core content management functionally including Ektron’s Web editor, URL Aliasing and Smart Form technology allows content authors to frequently update content, pictures, videos and links on the site. Smart Forms ensure that the Special Olympics’ design standard is consistent throughout the site and content authors can rest assured that pages will not break when content is updated.
Special Olympics’ development team is also enjoying the benefits of Ektron’s eSync technology, using it to move Web site changes from their development environment into staging and production multiple times a day. eSync allows the development team to synchronize the entire Web site, select folders, individual pages or even a single piece of content. 1/0 Technology and Schermerhorn also put Ektron’s Search technology to work on the new site. Ektron Search makes it possible for Content Authors to add new content, articles, videos and other assets and have them automatically indexed based on the Web site’s folder structure. Suggested Search results have been implemented allowing Special Olympics to define specific search terms or phrases and the documents that they want returned as part of the results
Results
The Special Olympics Web site is now positioned to drive the organizations online donations and promote their mission. Content Authors are empowered by having a flexible, reliable method for publishing and promoting content on the Web site. They have the tools they need to keep the site fresh and informative with new articles, videos and updated information on events and ways to get involved. New content that is added to the site can immediately be searched and provides site visitors with a summary for each result returned. The Content Authors also have a full support team at their finger tips with CMS400.NET.
Once Web site content is updated in the staging environment, the development team can synchronize the changes to the production server. “With eSync in place, we can easily make multiple changes on the site and synchronize those changes up to production or down to our development server as needed,” stated Schermerhorn. The home page is continually being updated in this fashion and the process is streamlined and very simple for our development team to manage.