Web Site Migration

Introduction

The majority of the web sites housed within Creighton University reside on the Blue Jay server. The Blue Jay server is now nearing the end of its life-span. Because of this, the University Web Team has been tasked with migrating all web sites off the Blue Jay server to Creighton’s new web server farm and assisting each department with redesign and re-architecture during that time. This migration process is occurring on a voluntary basis and the University Web Team projects to have all of the web sites off of the Blue Jay server by late 2007. The University Web Team presently provides this service at no charge.

Content Managemnt System (CMS)

A big part of the migration process involves building your current web site within a content management system (CMS). Simply stated, a content management system allows you to easily edit your web information using word-processor style commands instead of HTML. You do not have to be "web-savvy" to use the content management system. You can manage your site completely online from any computer. You do not have to install any software onto your computer for the content management system to work. At the same time, key elements of the web design, such as graphics and navigation buttons, are protected from accidental change or deletion. Clients may choose to redesign key graphics and navigation elements on their sites during this migration. The University Web Team uses TYPO3 (http://typo3.com) as its content management system.

How to Get Started

If you are the person responsible for managing the content on your departmental/organizational page, you will continue to do so.

For you to begin, you will need to:

Clean up the content in your existing website
Identify and/or remove any unused or outdated pages
Identify what pages or information that you would like to be there that are not currently in existence
Follow the Process outlined below

4 Step Process for creating a New web site OR migrating your existing Web Site

Initiation Phase

Send a request to the University Web Team. Once your request is received a member of the web team or the project manager will contact you and schedule a meeting of all the stakeholders. The discussion in this initial meeting will center on the goals and outcomes of your web project. Once we have understood your general goals, we will help focus the discussion with a series of questions. We will use the information gleaned from this meeting to provide a Requirements document that will outline an overview of the project and stated timelines for project completion for your signature.

Planning Phase

Once the stakeholders have signed off on the initial project, the web team will begin the work by creating a Design Document and Test Plan for the project. We will update you regularly on our progress and meet if necessary for at least one intermediate design review.

Development Phase

The University Web Team will work with you to develop the design and architecture of the web site. The University Web Team will produce a prototype of the main page and any major section header pages to allow you to suggest changes in the graphics, images, style sheet and layout. Once the site has been created, training for you and your staff will be scheduled. You are responsible for entering content onto your web pages. After the content for your pages has been entered, the University Web Team will perform various tests on the web pages to verify functionality and usability on most web platforms. When development and testing is complete, the University Web Team will work with you to schedule an official "launch" date when the new site will become accessible at its final web address. You will be required to approve the new web site and launch date before the web services team can proceed to the next phase.

Completion Phase

Your web site is launched. The University Web Team will contact you the week your web site is launched and also 3 to 4 weeks after launch to make sure things are working as you expected.

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