EES

On July 16, 2007 Barbara Fritze, Vice President of Enrollment and Educational Services Division, Steve Lewis, Director of Data Systems/IT Division, and Paul Redfern, Director of Web Communications presented a paper at the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers (AACRAO) 2007 Technology Conference in Minneapolis. The title of their July 2007 presentation was Web Redesign and Implementing an open source CMS  a Collaborative Approach.

The presentation was a direct response to one of the goals of the AACRAO conference: to demonstrate how to lead a successful technology implementation. The underlining theme of the presentation was that institutional collaboration is the key to success. This theme was personified by the Gettysburg College team of presenters and emphasized on almost every slide backing up the speakers.

The presentation was a logical and chronological development of the theme of collaboration and development of the Content Management (CMS) web integration into the College portal (CNAV) project. Barbara Fritze emphasized focusing the colleges vision stated by President Will to incorporated collaboration on the executive, technical, and marketing perspectives. The vision to build an engaging site for the Colleges external and internal audiences leveraged the existing institutional intelligence by incorporating existing technical infrastructure systems and solutions.

Redfern noted that implementation strategy on the vision was a result of Gettysburgs unique approach of recognizing the melding of different viewpoints which enhanced the final website of the College. The organization of the project and construction of the timeline were supported by weekly meetings and frequent phone conversations amongst all participants. This support continued throughout the implementation phase which was incorporated into a co-sponsored budget.

In the end, the integration of an open source CMS with the College portal, CNAV as the data delivery engine was an outstanding community success. In addition to having a distinct cost advantage, this innovative solution provided a protected zone for all institutional data and aggregates it for delivery to individual clients while maintaining data security and privacy.
Redfern stated that the measure of success was seen in increased applications for admissions, dramatic increases in the number and amount of on-line giving, and the internal support of College offices and academic departments.

Lewis noted the power of technical innovations creating high performance indexes and that the momentum generated during the development phase has been maintained by continuing Web Task Force and Web Liaisons teams. The effect of this continuance is product improvement analysis and higher skill development in the total community. This effort is all managed by a continuing joint Educational & Enrollment Services and IT partnership.

In discussing next steps, Lewis stated that because of the foresight exhibited in the early stages and implementation of the project, several new services and enhancement of existing services are underway. These include an integrated e-communications tool, incorporation of Web 2.0 technologies, Web Enterprise Services, the inclusion of Alumni in the CMS project, and Web Assessment.