Drupal Project Issues, Educate Together Case Study. Stephen Kenealy Monsoon Consulting

Transcription

1 Drupal Project Issues, Educate Together Case Study Stephen Kenealy Monsoon Consulting

2 Why are we here. Building Content Management Systems since 2004 Specialists in Drupal Build and maintain Drupal sites and applications for Non Profit, Media, Health, Sports, Education, Tourism, Technology, Finance, E-Commerce and Government Agencies Proud to be Acquia Partners in Ireland We love unlocking the power of Drupal for our clients We believe Drupal can deliver for Non-Profit organisations

3 Where do I fit in NOT a Drupal Developer I know what Drupal can do and I use our development team to push it to its limits I flush out and document the project requirement I wireframe the application/site I help create our Solution Features Document Developers Functional Bible I manage the design and development stages of the project, the resources and the timeline

4 Our Non Profit Experience.

5 Drupal Issues in Non-Profit Projects Drupal works for Non-profit, but don t just take our word for it

6 Drupal Issues in Non-Profit Projects Where s the Pain? Technical Project Management Design Issues Knowledge and Communication

7 Drupal Issues in Non-Profit Projects Technical Content editing - is it really that easy? Can you do X? Hosting

8 Drupal Issues in Non-Profit Projects Design UX vs Theme Theme Designer vs Drupal developer Graphic Designers don t know Drupal Design by Committee Modified Stock Theme vs Bespoke Theme Prototyping / wireframing Mobile Enabled, Accessible

9 Drupal Issues in Non-Profit Projects Project Management Scope Quality Cost Time

10 Drupal Issues in Non-Profit Projects Project Management (Nothing happening here) Responsibility Tornado

11 Drupal Issues in Non-Profit Projects Project Management Design/Dev. Process (Iterative vs Waterfall) Responsibility for theme design Responsibility for content (incl. Gaeilge) Logins & Permissions for different parts of the site Decision-making process Deadlines & Communications

12 Drupal Issues in Non-Profit Projects Knowledge and Communications Expectations & Deadlines Terminology (eg Design, Header, Menu, Rollover) Distinction between Content & Presentation Who s editing what, when

13 Drupal Issues in Non-Profit Projects Success Indicators Understand Drupal broadly Have real (or example) content ready - text & high quality images & logos Have an initial list of functionality you want Have some idea of design, examples or guidelines Decide on hosting

14 Drupal Issues in Non-Profit Projects Success Indicators Internal decision maker = Single point of contact with the Drupaler Control scope creep Commit resources for duration (give feedback, answer questions, provide content, user acceptance) Communicate expectations, deadlines, etc.

15 Educate Together: Case Study Educate Together: Moving to Drupal

16 The Project: Educate Together Moving to Drupal Educate Together is the patron body to Ireland s 60 multi-denominational primary schools Existing site was experiencing speed/performance issues Built as a website, not a content publishing and distribution platform Content architecture was unstructured Publishing workflow falling over Multiple content/transaction types not connected to internal systems They had outgrown their current CMS and recognised they needed a more Robust Platform They wanted the new platform to enable greater collaboration within the ET School Network and specifically between ET Schools and the National Patron Office

17 The Project: Educate Together Solution The ET vision translated into the following high level functionalities: Scalable Content Publishing Framework Common Deployable Templates Advocacy/Fundraising Campaign Micro Sites, Petitions Members/Groups Areas: Teachers, Boards of Management, Parents, Students, Start-up Groups E-commerce Store Facilitate the development of school websites through the National Office Event/Conference/Meeting Registration, Payment CRM Integration Sophisticated Publishing Workflow National Office Intranet: Document Management, Event Calendar, News, Project Management etc. Robust Performance Management

18 Feature #1 : We want to assist our schools with their websites Solution: Possible Multisite Architecture 1. Phase 1: School Network listing on the ET National website 2. Phase 2: Each ET school gets a unique independent sub-site with its own admin features but powered by Drupal under National Office control 3. Delivers consistency in look and feel through standard website structure and templates 4. Allows for mirrored/shared content across the platform (National ET News, School Network News, Resources, Fundraising, Enrolment Forms) 5. Each school would have unique URLS (domains/sub domains) 6. Master site to be the umbrella website with each school summary searchable by Irish map / counties.

19 Feature #1: We want to assist our schools with their websites Solution: 1. Phase 1: School Network listing on the ET National website 2. Phase 2: Each ET school gets a unique independent sub-site with its own admin features but powered by Drupal under National Office superadmin control 3. Delivers consistency in look and feel through standard website structure and templates 4. Allows for mirrored/shared content across the platform (National ET News, School Network News, Resources, Fundraising, Enrolment Forms) 5. Each school would have unique URLS (domains/sub domains) 6. Master site to be the umbrella website with each school summary searchable by Irish map / counties.

20 Feature #1: We want to assist our schools with their websites Solution: 1. Phase 1: School Network listing on the ET National website 2. Phase 2: Each ET school gets a unique independent sub-site with its own admin features but powered by Drupal under National Office superadmin control 3. Delivers consistency in look and feel through standard website structure and templates 4. Allows for mirrored/shared content across the platform (National ET News, School Network News, Resources, Fundraising, Enrolment Forms) 5. Each school would have unique URLS (domains/sub domains) 6. Master site to be the umbrella website with each school summary searchable by Irish map / counties.

21 Feature #1: We want to assist our schools with their websites Solution: 1. Phase 1: School Network listing on the ET National website 2. Phase 2: Each ET school gets a unique independent sub-site with its own admin features but powered by Drupal under National Office superadmin control 3. Delivers consistency in look and feel through standard website structure and templates 4. Allows for mirrored/shared content across the platform (National ET News, School Network News, Resources, Fundraising, Enrolment Forms) 5. Each school would have unique URLS (domains/sub domains) 6. Master site to be the umbrella website with each school summary searchable by Irish map / counties.

22 Feature #2: We don t want to keep coming back to you looking for templates, etc!!! Solution : different templates/themes designed and implemented on the site of those templates are commonly deployable by an admin to any existing or newly created menu item on the site 3. Summary/Promotion blocks were created for key content areas. The admin can easily toggle any combination/order of these blocks on relevant pages on the main or sub sites. 4. Dynamic Call for Action links were implemented so that an editor could add them to any page/site and customise their links / title text etc...

23 Feature #2: We don t want to keep coming back to you looking for templates, etc!!! Solution : different templates/themes designed and implemented on the site of those templates are commonly deployable by an admin to any existing or newly created menu item on the site 3. Summary/Promotion blocks were created for key content areas. The admin can easily toggle any combination/order of these blocks on relevant pages on the main or sub sites. 4. Dynamic Call for Action links were implemented so that an editor could add them to any page/site and customise their links / title text etc...

24 Feature #2: We don t want to keep coming back to you looking for templates, etc!! Solution : different templates/themes designed and implemented on the site of those templates are commonly deployable by an admin to any existing or newly created menu item on the site 3. Summary/Promotion blocks were created for key content areas. The admin can easily toggle any combination/order of these blocks on relevant pages on the main or sub sites. 4. Dynamic Call for Action links were implemented so that an editor could add them to any page/site and customise their links / title text etc...

25 Feature #2 : We don t want to keep coming back to you looking for templates, etc!!! Solution : different templates/themes designed and implemented on the site of those templates are commonly deployable by an admin to any existing or newly created menu item on the site 3. Summary/Promotion blocks were created for key content areas. The admin can easily toggle any combination/order of these blocks on relevant pages on the main or sub sites. 4. Dynamic Call for Action links were implemented so that an editor could add them to any page/site and customise their links / title text etc...

26 Feature #2 : We don t want to keep coming back to you looking for templates, etc!!! Solution : different templates/themes designed and implemented on the site of those templates are commonly deployable by an admin to any existing or newly created menu item on the site 3. Summary/Promotion blocks were created for key content areas. The admin can easily toggle any combination/order of these blocks on relevant pages on the main or sub sites. 4. Dynamic Call for Action links were implemented so that an editor could add them to any page/site and customise their links / title text etc...

27 Feature #3: We want to manage the content being published across the platform Solution : 1. We have implemented a Drupal 7 module called Workbench to simplify and streamline the process of managing content. 2. We have created author, editor, and publisher roles and given them a unified interface to manage content relevant to them. 3. Administrators can control who has access to edit content based on the structure of the organisation, not the structure of the website. 4. The custom editorial workflow also applies to media files as well as regular content nodes.

28 Feature #3: We want to manage the content being published across the platform Solution : 1. We have implemented a Drupal 7 module called Workbench to simplify and streamline the process of managing content. 2. We have created author, editor, and publisher roles and given them a unified interface to manage content relevant to them. 3. Administrators can control who has access to edit content based on the structure of the organisation, not the structure of the website. 4. The custom editorial workflow also applies to media files as well as regular content nodes.

29 Feature #3: We want to manage the content being published across the platform Solution : 1. We have implemented a Drupal 7 module called Workbench to simplify and streamline the process of managing content. 2. We have created author, editor, and publisher roles and given them a unified interface to manage content relevant to them. 3. Administrators can control who has access to edit content based on the structure of the organisation, not the structure of the website. 4. The custom editorial workflow also applies to media files as well as regular content nodes.

30 Feature #3: We want to manage the content being published across the platform Solution : 1. We have implemented a Drupal 7 module called Workbench to simplify and streamline the process of managing content. 2. We have created author, editor, and publisher roles and given them a unified interface to manage content relevant to them. 3. Administrators can control who has access to edit content based on the structure of the organisation, not the structure of the website. 4. The custom editorial workflow also applies to media files as well as regular content nodes.

31 Feature #4 : We want this site and platform to talk to our other internal systems Solution : Bi-directional integration with Salesforce CRM and Mail Chimp to ensure data/ processes synchronisation. 1. User Group (Members) Registrations 2. Newsletter Sign-Ups (Campaign Specific Groups) 3. Event Bookings 4. Course registration (Online / Offline courses) 5. Product Purchases 6. Donations 7. Petitions

32 Feature #4 : We want this site and platform to talk to our other internal systems Solution : Bi-directional integration with Salesforce CRM and Mail Chimp to ensure data/ processes synchronisation. 1. User Group (Members) Registrations 2. Newsletter Sign-Ups (Campaign Specific Groups) 3. Event Bookings 4. Course registration (Online / Offline courses) 5. Product Purchases 6. Donations 7. Petitions

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