March 5, 2008 Presented by: Oliver Siodmak Associate Partner IBM Global Business Services

Transcription

1 How IBM uses Drupal March 5, 2008 Presented by: Oliver Siodmak Associate Partner IBM Global Business Services

2 About the presenter Oliver Siodmak Associate Partner Application Innovation Services, Media & Entertainment Practice 11 years of service with IBM Professional Experience: Wall Street Journal (WSJ.com) Financial Times (FT.com) Altria Group Inc (Altria.com) Panasonic Consumer Electronics Smith & Wesson Commerce Insurance Bank of America Wealth & Investment Management Tribune Interactive (LATimes.com, ChicagoTribune.com, Newsday.com) DC Comics (ZudaComics.com) Time Inc. (Maghound.com coming in 4 th Quarter 2008) 2

3 IBM who? For nearly a century people have turned to IBM for solutions. Innovative solutions that transform the way companies engage, manage and communicate within and without their organization. Facts from the 2007 Annual Report Revenue: $91.4 billion Net income: $9.4 billion Total assets: $103.2 billion Number of employees (worldwide): 355,766 IBM has led the world in the number of patents filed for the past 13 years, filing 2,941 in IBM Global Business Services

4 For over 8 years I have worked with a group within IBM that focuses on designing the Total User Experience using a User-Centered Design approach Traditionally, many companies employ a technology-driven approach that focuses on a build point of view. User Centric Design shifts the focus to place the solution s users at the forefront of design to make the Total User Experience the priority. Tech-Driven Approach User-Driven Approach Technology driven Component focus Limited cross-discipline cooperation Focus on internal architecture No specialization in user experience Some competitive focus Development prior to user validation Product Defect View of quality Limited focus on user measurement User driven Solutions focus Cross-disciplinary team work Focus on external design Specialization in user experience Focus on competition Develop only user-validated designs User View of quality Prime focus on user measurement 4 IBM Global Business Services

5 The artifacts produced through this approach drive both the front-end user experience as well as the back-end architecture Aligning the solution to the objectives of the business needs Extending the brand and user experience to the web channel Strategy Grasping the possibilities of what technology and bringing it to execution User Experience Technology Innovation 5 IBM Global Business Services

6 What does it mean to take a User Centric Approach? External Users 6 IBM Global Business Services Internal Users

7 Once you understand your audience you can better understand their wants and needs Project Scope Definition (Business Requirements Documentation) Audience Definitions (User Needs Assessment) User Scenarios External Users Internal Users Feature Matrix Navigation Models & Flows Wire frames Visual Designs Architecture Model Component Model Low-Level Design Document(s) Flat HTML 7 IBM Global Business Services

8 Put another way, by focusing on the user you able to create a richer, more engaging user experience 8 IBM Global Business Services

9 Get on with it.. How does IBM use Drupal? I have spoken with many groups within IBM who have looked into the benefits of using Drupal to address customer needs as well as internal requirements. Why use it? Well.. because it is: Fast Flexible Low Infrastructure Footprint Expandable Scalable Built upon a good foundation Strong support from the Open Source Community A lot of functionality is easy to snap-in and use Low Total Cost of Ownership 9 IBM Global Business Services

10 What do we (IBM) look for in a project when considering to use Drupal? Preferably.. a business problem that has been defined. Both users and owners of the system s needs are well thought out Portal like application where there is a need for more functionality than just a blog or simple one-way communication In those cases WordPress, or Moveable Type may be a better solution Minimal connectivity to heavy or complex legacy systems Low technology impact implementation base (LAMP) Target community using this system is usually in the ,000 user range Think "Small / Medium business". Issues of (untested) scalability usually cause us to use differently scaled systems if the user base or complexity is larger. Quick "module" based implementation or custom construction to change the personality of the system quickly. 10 IBM Global Business Services

11 What have been some of the challenges we have encountered? Making the visual presentation "not so Drupal like. Most skins / templates we have seen are typical variations on the same look & feel Altering the navigation flow to better meet the needs of the user vs. what normally comes out of the box Working hard to avoid the "me too-ish look Creating an overall experience that meets the needs of the customer s brand without having to hack Drupal Core Properly integrating true front-end "whizzyness" (e.g., AJAX, Flash, JavaScript) into the Model View Controller (MVC) model for Drupal Properly taking into account the view and information needs of a particular customer type on the site Creating the User Experience through careful execution of Information Architecture and Visual Design techniques 11 IBM Global Business Services

12 What are some key estimating factors to consider? Level of stand alone vs integration The DC Comics site ZudaComics.com was very stand alone and self contained site. Integrating with a back end system like SAP would affect the "module/portlet" and possible workflow. Level of functionality per user type The more "common" the user flow is to the base features of Drupal, the quicker things can get done. The more custom, well, the longer it would be to Information Architecture, Visual Design, and Application Development Issues of scalability # of simultaneous users Frequency of data changes # of modules required to assemble a page of information Lifecycle of data Is there going to be a lot of "turn on/ turn off" articles or need for long-term storage? 12 IBM Global Business Services

13 ZudaComics.com (DC Comics) We've partnered with [IBM] to help build the site, and they've just been tremendous. We looked at a number of different firms when we were looking to build this site, because we knew it was going to be an ambitious site IBM, who people might think of as being the stodgiest and most conservative, came back with the freshest, most interactive and inventive ideas, says Richard Bruning (SVP-Creative Services Director). Zuda Comics mission is to showcase comic artists, build intellectual property, and establish a Zuda community of registered readers. Submissions are open to both amateurs and professionals alike and afford readers an opportunity to read original comics, comment, blog and rate the material. The site embraces leading Web 2.0 technologies. Comic fans experience comics specially made for the Web in 4:3 aspect ratio screens, so they can easily read a Web comic installment without opening an additional window in their browser or excessive scrolling. Through the use of open source technologies, the new site enables collaboration and innovation as well as flexibility to allow DC Comics to continue to enhance the site with industry leading functionality over time. 13 IBM Global Business Services

14 Why was Drupal selected? We strongly considered Ruby on Rails User-generated content (UGC) was a major component of the site Provide non-programmer control over much of the admin functionality as possible User submission review, User access an ability to define different access levels for different classes of users Categorization Browsing, viewing, and sorting of content Internal staff already had strong PHP development experience 14 IBM Global Business Services

15 The site manages interactions* amongst internal and external users 15 IBM Global Business Services * IBM initially created this diagram during the sales process to help our team get our heads around what our client needed

16 Quick Demo ZUDACOMICS.COM (DC COMICS) 16 IBM Global Business Services

17 Lessons Learned Try to find the time in the project schedule to create a prototype! An early, unthemed prototype is strongly recommended for Drupal projects in the Design phase, for the following reasons: In most cases, a rough prototype is quick and easy to create in Drupal The prototype makes very apparent, very early in the project cycle, Which areas of functionality provide high technical risk, and thus can impact schedule Un-communicated areas of functionality that the customer realizes it needs The prototype is the best "whiteboard" for the Information Designer and Technical Architect to collaborate on to find solutions that both serve the user and are technically sound Third-party modules can be installed in the prototype as a design aid, allowing the team to determine which third-party modules are right for the project Theming can be a challenge so start early! 17 IBM Global Business Services

18 Lessons Learned (cont.) Multiple instances of Drupal running on multiple servers can address one instance of a MySQL DB with no collisions Be sure to spend sufficient time planning for performance and scalability Whenever possible.. allocate enough servers, and scale back when it s safe to do so The performance troubleshooting chapter in Pro Drupal Development ( by John VanDyk & Matt Westgate is a must! Write custom code where you can at chokepoints Access the database only when needed and avoid multiple database hits Don t forget about node cleanup over time Note: Scheduler module only deactivate nodes, does not remove them 18 IBM Global Business Services

19 How do we plan on using Drupal going forward? Our proudest achievement to date is ZudaComics.com (DC Comics) and we plan on continuing to develop high quality sites using Drupal Drupal is currently being used internally by IBM in a number of business groups and has a real potential both inside and out of the enterprise We are currently proposing Drupal as a foundational element for number of customers including: A Large Non-Profit Sporting Organization A Local Government portal A Non-Profit Broadcast Company An Commodities Trading Company - A Foreign Sports League Portal - A Major US Television Broadcaster Drupal is often viewed as a competitor to Interwoven, Vignette, MS SharePoint, and WebSphere Portal but any comparison must be based on business, technical and economic factors. 19 IBM Global Business Services

20 Special Thanks to: Michael Martin Executive Architect IBM Centers for Solution Innovation Office #: Bill Shaouy Architect IBM Centers for Solution Innovation Office #: IBM Global Business Services

21 Oliver Siodmak Associate Partner Application Innovation Services, Media & Entertainment Practice IBM Global Business Services Office #: Best of luck on your future Drupal projects! 21 IBM Global Business Services