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Tiger by the Tail – the business end of drupal

Tiger by the Tail – the business end of drupal. Romy Bolton| Director, Web and Mobile Devel opment. Aug 10, 2013 . Romy Bolton romy-bolton@uiowa.edu. Director in ITS - Enterprise Services Light App Dev, Web Dev, Mobile and PM UI Grad, grew up in Iowa City BA/SA Six Sigma

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Tiger by the Tail – the business end of drupal

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  1. Tiger by the Tail – the business end of drupal Romy Bolton| Director, Web and Mobile Development Aug 10, 2013

  2. Romy Bolton romy-bolton@uiowa.edu • Director in ITS - Enterprise Services • Light App Dev, Web Dev, Mobile and PM • UI Grad, grew up in Iowa City • BA/SA Six Sigma • Built a corporate intranet in 1994 • One spouse (faculty), three Kids (two in college ), three Dogs, Skyrim, Starcraft, Cooking and RAGBRAI

  3. Brief History • Static Web service since 1996 • Lime/Fog – the tilde • Free Service • Small student team for light design • Minimal web influence on campus • ~2400 active sites remaining

  4. Drivers for Change • Navigation = “Jarring Experience” • Desire for Light Branding Consistency • Licensing and Headaches Dreamweaver • Site and Page Management Issues

  5. Drivers for Change • Joomla, Drupal, Static, .NET, WordPress • Accessibility “Rating” – Fix This • Too Much for One Person • Staff Turnover

  6. 2010 - 2011 • Investigate Options • SiteFinity • Ektron • Drupal • Initially ITS liked SiteFinity • Opportunity to Deep Dive into Drupal

  7. Summer 2011 • One developer, one server admin, and hired a contract dev • Brought up a server, named it after a bird • Hung a shingle…..more or less • And Waited….. “A year from now we will either be swamped or be a miserable failure”

  8. Today • Roughly 12 developers • Built approximately 100 sites • College of Pharmacy • Office of the Vice President for Research • President • Provost • Outreach • Monthly Patch/Update Cycle • Continuous Integration

  9. Today • Multiple server platforms

  10. And We are 100% Cost Recovery What?!?!??!

  11. Financial Models • Hourly Billing @$65 • % of FTE • 100% • 50% • 25% • Barter Eggs, Milk and Butter

  12. Financial Models Pros Cons • Hiring • Customer Thoughtfulness • Prioritization • Tough Conversations • Big Change • Colleagues • Enjoy the Process • Help the Have Nots

  13. What Changed? • Some staff turnover • Expectations • Complexity – data sources • Other Drupal services • IowaNow • Digital Signage • Mobile

  14. Our Story • Value for the Expense • Focus on Content Not Technology • Partnership • Accessibility • Technical and Data Enhancements • Maintenance

  15. What We Got Mostly Right

  16. What We Got Mostly Right • Shared Service Model • Site Request Form • Card Sorts -Results • Technology • Tools - Jenkins, Drush, GitHub • UI Bar (and now footer) • Open Physical Environment

  17. What We Got Mostly Right • Hiring the Right People • Staff and Team Composition • Dev Ops • Themer/Front End • Developer (2) • One Lead, one Second per Project • One Large, 2 Medium/Small • Contract and Students

  18. What Has “Evolved” • Communication • Project Managers • ActiveCollab • Base Theme (Parallaxy and Gravitas) • Module Choices • Mobile First • No more Wireframes – In Browser • MOUs (when we use them!)

  19. Suggestions Welcome! • Requirements Documentation • Content Migration • Customer Engagement • Too Much • Too Little • Web vs Print • Service Documentation and Training • Scheduled Maintenance/Issues

  20. Where are We Going? • Bigger and More Complex Sites • Additional Services Built on the Drupal Framework • Digital Signage • Campus Calendar • Standard Service

  21. Dialogue • Where are You? • What are Your Challenges • What are You Building?

  22. Dialogue • Where are You? • What are Your Challenges • What are You Building? THANK YOU

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