In early March, the Division of Communications at Eastern Michigan University agreed to a contract with OmniUpdate Inc. to implement a new content management system for use across all of EMU’s websites.
Rhonda DeLong, Director of Web Communications at EMU, said the new system will make it easier for contributors to the university’s web content to share information without advanced technical skills.
“A CMS separates content management from the technical aspects of developing and maintaining websites,” DeLong said. “This allows content experts to create content without specialized web knowledge or software.”
The program, which will cost the university around $78,000 for the first two years, includes licensing, some support and updates put out by the company.
“The cost for the system is $63,000, which is quite economical for an enterprise-level system,” DeLong said. “This is all-inclusive except for on-site training. It includes installation and considerable start-up support.”
Beyond the initial $63K, the program will cost $10K a year in licensing fees and $5K for initial tech support and training.
Walter Kraft, Vice President of Communications for EMU, believes the CMS will help the university internally as well as its marketability as a leading institution in Michigan.
“This is an important project for us,” Kraft said. “Eastern’s web presence as a major institution involves far more than a website. We provide a web community with individual and integrated sites that span all of our colleges and divisions to serve the expansive and evolving needs of students, faculty and staff.”
Citing the various types of websites EMU hosts — including student affairs, enrollment and recruitment, business and finance, human resources and information technology — the university would be best served with a simplified way of managing and sharing content among its different divisions.
“It is important we provide a robust, cohesive and consistent web and information presence across all of these platforms,” Kraft said.
DeLong said a handful of programs will be addressed using the new program as the Communications staff learns how to best implement divisions. Among the pilot programs identified are the Honor’s College, University Advising and Career Development Center, Human Resources and Public Safety.
Information Technology will also be addressed and will include new processes of how the various divisions collaborate with one another; it will serve as a model for other inter-divisional developments.
DeLong believes full implementation of the system might take a while.
“We anticipate it will take three to five years to have a full implementation, meaning the vast majority of our tens-of-thousands of webpages and sites will operate within the CMS,” DeLong said.
Though the new system might be bringing around changes to some sites as soon as summer or fall semester, others might remain unchanged for some time.
“The emich.edu website and main landing pages already operate within a small-scale content management application that we built last year when we developed the new website,” DeLong said. “You won’t see changes to those sections of the website via the CMS.”
DeLong went on to say the my.emich website is maintained by Information Technology, which is managed by the application “Luminis,” meaning it will also not be affected by the new system.
DeLong also said the new system won’t stop at helping those who add content to the websites. One of the selling points of the OmniUpdate system is its ability to function with new technology that end-users have to access web content, including smart phones and tab computers.
“In the years to come, people will demand more targeted, better content that is device-independent and can be delivered and received across multiple channels, some of which have not been invented yet,” DeLong said. “Our ability to be agile, responsive, strategic and forward-thinking will determine our success. The CMS is not a magic bullet, and it will require a lot of work, but it will help us do many of the great things we want and need to do with our web presence.”
