How a Content Management System Can Help

Transcription

1 18 October 2004 How a Content Management System Can Help 1 Introduction to Autoweb 1.1 Autoweb is a robust Website Builder and a Content Management System that speeds up deployment and instantly creates your desired web services that deliver values to your audiences. It is a Platform as well as an Admin Tool. 1.2 By Platform, it is an integrated environment endowed with rich granular elements for composing (building) a great variety of websites. Granular elements covers those for creating diverse user-interactive functions and features for Site Users in different presentations on web pages, and those for casting appropriate right control and content process flow for Admin Users onto the customized Admin Tool. 1.3 By Admin Tool, as closely related to the Platform nature, is created along the course of the Building process. The Admin Tool is geared to the specific context of the desired content management process in concern. 1.4 For the basics of a CMS, Autoweb also separates content data from design and layout via the Template operation. Once built, editing content data via the Admin Tool will not affect the page outlook, the elements of which are contained and governed by Templates. On the other hand, changes made to a Template will be reflected in the bunch of pages applied with this Template. It increases both accuracy and efficiency. 2 Benefits highlights 2.1 The followings are some benefits brought by Autoweb: Ready features and functions to enable quick deployment Ready features and functions to create interactive activities and form communities; not just displaying static information Design and content are separately managed, making content updating easy and free of unnecessary human error. Conversely you can give your site a new look without bothering the existing content Traditional and Simplified Chinese conversion. You update a piece of content in, say, Traditional Chinese. Autoweb auto-creates the parallel content in Simplified Chinese. Instantly you have served the two types of Chinese audiences but need to manage only one piece of content Elaborate Admin Tool for controllable content updating and access right assignment Control on different parts can be delegated - a teamwork mode Fully Web-based Admin Tool allows conducting updating tasks anywhere, anytime You not only build up plain information sites, but sites gearing to defined purposes and functions (derived from the Strategic focus) that will elicit repeated usage from your audiences - they perceive Values! Prepared by CCNet Ltd. 1

2 3 Features & functions 3.1 Ready features include: On-line Registration Autoweb comes with a Basic User Management module. It enables the managing of user accounts created by site users via on-line registration, and by Admin directly via the Admin Tool Discussion Forum, Comments, Feedback, Voting It allows the flexibility in shaping the appropriate scope, presentation and page navigation according to different contexts Subscription Site users are often offered alert service on the most current news of various Content Channels. They can decide and change the desired Channel options for subscription Autoweb provides the managing of what Channels to make available for subscription, and the user preferences of the subscriptions Traditional and Simplified Chinese AutoConversion Autoweb is equipped with the capability of auto-conversion between the two Chinese languages Normally, a text is prepared in Traditional Chinese. When it is submitted to the server, a parallel version of this text in Simplified Chinese will be automatically created on the server The conversion is a one-to-one Chinese character mapping. There is no phrase-to-phrase relationship built in. This usually is sufficient for those not demanding strict semantic relevance to the audience reading Simplified Chinese. In such way any further change of an existing piece of content can be done on the Traditional Chinese version. The change will then again auto-reflected in the other version News and Channel (Subject / Category) Management Autoweb is ready with the architecture for granularly defining pieces of information (News), flexibly grouping them into different types and categories (Channels), and dynamically presenting the most current information on designated pages (Papers) One piece of information, for example, can be mapped into multiple content channels. Updating task is made easy: only one piece is managed and the change is reflected to multiple areas of the site. For instance, the hyperlink of a resource is created as an entry (a News) in the system. The same entry can be freely mapped to those categories (Channels). If this hyperlink information is changed, the update will be automatically reflected. This speeds up updating tasks as well as eliminating unnecessary error of overlooking Newsletters and Periodicals Newsletters and Periodicals are usually published in issues in constant 2

3 time intervals. The issues contain similar structure of contents, often discernable in Channels and Columns. In Autoweb, different issues are published as different versions of a same content structure. The content of the current issue is by default the target to display. On the other hand, readers can choose to view back issues and the system will automatically retrieve the corresponding contents into the appropriate columns/channels. It acts as Archives, which are automatically dated and handled by the system Recommend-to-a-Friend and Friendly Print Small yet useful features to put on pages to trigger extended readership Autoweb makes them easy to add by including them in the Content Data / Template operation Full-text Search, Subject Search or Keyword Search Approval Mechanism and Workflow State Mechanism It is achieved by defining different States occurred in creating, approving and releasing a piece of information. The appropriate States are assigned to be accessible by different Admin users on the system. For example, these states are defined: Posting, Screening, Proofreading, Approved, Returned, Rejected, Published. Staff having been assigned the state Posting can only create articles to the system but cannot control the States afterwards. Staff having been assigned Proofreading can only correct the content but cannot trigger to publish it to the site. And so on The States are defined and changeable by the System Admin Site User and Admin User Management, including Content Access Rights and Administration Function Rights Management The two kinds of Users are separated in the Admin Tool. As on Admin User, different rights are assigned to realize the delegation and control on content management tasks Site Users can be assigned to access a defined set of content areas on the site, and thus including the access to the user functions in those areas Certain simple updating tasks, like adding, editing, deleting news in a particular channel, can be conducted directly on the site pages. In-line Editing provides an intuitive updating interface to allow the spread of delegation of simple admin tasks Banner Management Supports plain graphic banner, rotating banner and script banner Banners can be placed on desired pages via Templates Interface with Product Database definable to specific needs Some websites have to present structured data defined in their own attribute fields. Examples are: creating an on-line shop; creating a course registration site Such data can be contained and maintained in a "Product" database. Autoweb can interface with the "Product" database to extract the 3

4 desired subset of data (e.g. according to Product categories) and present them to the web pages. Control on the presentation follows Autoweb's mechanism Interface with Web-based CRM System To capture and integrate audience's web activity into CRM analysis and individualized segmentation Provision for further expansion. 3.2 Web-based Administration Tool for: Grouping News (a piece of information) into different Channels (content categories) Updating News contents regularly Approving News before they are released to readers viewing HTML Editor that enables creation of content layouts in html format and style. It encumbers both text and graphics and, if preferred, the insertion of audio and video clips The above can be done by non-technical person. 4 Typical Project Execution Steps 4.1 Further discuss and compile detailed specifications. 4.2 Communicate on the requirement on Design including Design Identity to follow, colour scheme, look-and-feel, structure of content, expected Page Flow for readers, etc. (Note: The Design service does not include elaborate graphics, elaborate animation and video creation. If this is a requirement, it should be quoted as a separate job.) 4.3 Present and confirm Design prototype and Page Flow drafts. Not more than 3 rounds of feedback are expected. 4.4 Templates are created. They will be programmed into the Autoweb platform that constructs the structure of the website. 4.5 First-batch of Contents is added into the Paper/Content/News framework. Fine-tuning of the Design Page Flow follows. 4.6 The bulk of Contents is then added via the Autoweb Administration Tool. This will involve the Client s operation staff. Training will be provided. 4.7 Testing period for the whole site. 4.8 Launch. 5 Technical Specifications 5.1 Software specifications Application is built on Java/JSP, running on Servlet servers supporting J2EE 1.4 such as Resin Database server is using mysql. 4

5 5.1.3 Index server, if required, is based on the bundled index server from Windows 2000/2003. For indexing on both Traditional and Simplified Chinese, 2 index servers are required Media server is based on the bundled media server from Windows 2000/ Hardware specifications Web Server Dual Pentium 1G+ with 1G+ memory M disk space for system and database installation (Excluding data) Fast SCSI Harddisk with 7200rpm or above Index Server and Media Server Pentium 1G+ with 1G+ memory Fast SCSI Harddisk with 7200rpm or above Client Side Any computer running a web browser, while IE6+ is preferred. 6 Typical reference cases A partial list of references is as follows: University Library System, The Chinese University of Hong Kong 香 港 中 文 大 學 大 學 圖 書 館 系 統 ( [New site launched in August 04; elaborate Workflow State Control on Admin side. Site was further upgraded to provide four more parallel language versions in Sept. 05.] Chinese University Press 中 文 大 學 出 版 社 ( City University of Hong Kong Press 香 港 城 市 大 學 出 版 社 ( [Launched in March 05] Hong Kong University Press 香 港 大 學 出 版 社 ( Cyber Senior Network Development Association 長 者 網 絡 發 展 協 會 - 老 有 網 ( [Revamped and launched on 1 March 04; With Forum and Course Registration] Global Chinese AIDS Network (GCAN) 全 華 愛 滋 網 絡 ( [Revamped and launched on 1 Dec. 05] China-India Software Association 中 印 軟 件 協 會 ( [Launched on Nov. 05] Christian Times Ltd 時 代 論 壇 ( [Revamped and launched in July 05; with elaborated Forum, Periodicals and Database Search] Hong Kong Bible Society 香 港 聖 經 公 會 ( [Revamped and launched in July 05] Ming Dao Press Ltd. 明 道 社 ( [Launched in April 05; with elaborated Course Module, Online Enrollment and Subscription Mechanism] Wycliffe Bible Translators HK Council 威 克 裡 夫 聖 經 翻 譯 會 香 港 區 委 會 ( [Revamped and launched in February 04; With Bulletin Board and Periodicals] 5

6 Chinese Rhenish Church Kowloon 中 華 基 督 教 禮 賢 會 九 龍 堂 ( [With Fellowship Group structure and Group level administration, Bulletin Board, Photo Album, Resource Booking in Calendar view] International Christian Assembly, Hong Kong ( [Revamped and launched in Jan. 06; with Photo Albums plus Intranet facility for various groups in the church] Shaukiwan Baptist Church 筲 箕 灣 浸 信 會 ( [With Cell Group structure and Group level administration] CCFellow 知 信 行 ( [Revamped and launched in April 05] CCTraining 培 訓 站 ( Hong Kong Baptist Theological Seminary 香 港 浸 信 會 神 學 院 (Excluding design. Please refer to our website for our more completed clients list. Furthermore, in last year and the coming quarter of this year, there was and will be several web-based applications built on the Autoweb platform. They include a customized database to provide online real-time inventory for Okia Optical Co., Ltd. (and it was put in use in July 2005), a job-tracking system for the production department of City University Press (which will be launched on March 2006). In the end of the first quarter of 2006, the Autoweb platform will be further used to support an integrated members management system for Travel Industry Council of Hong Kong, which includes a member database, activities tracking system and course management module. - END - 6