Choosing the ASP model
Workforce chose CrowPeak Technology and its Advantage CMS solution because they "know the people behind it and their track record of both innovation and success in this space," said Margaret Magnus, publisher and president of Workforce Magazine."CrownPeak provides literally all of the features we need today, along with other capabilities we will grow to need, at a much lower cost than anything else we've seen in the marketplace."
CrownPeak Technology is a content management ASP that provides content management as a service. The Advantage CMS solution delivers a complete set of features in a 100-percent browser-based interface, including source control, versioning, spell checking, link checking, comprehensive workflow, security monitoring features, multilingual interfaces, database management, and wireless compatibility.
"The experience and knowledge of the individuals at CrownPeak; [the] high level of trust that, if they said they would deliver, they would; and their ability to listen to the client and understand the client's business were the key reasons we selected CrownPeak," added Dortch.
A cost-effective solution
Workforce used the CMS rebuild opportunity to also completely redesign back-end systems. Workforce removed the proprietary CMS (which was doing double-duty as an application server), and discarded the supporting but aging Oracle database. It moved to PHP as the application server and MySQL to handle database needs.
This strategy streamlined support needs and gave a standardized platform on which to base future development. CrownPeak also agreed to provide Web hosting for Workforce, via a partnership with IBM.
"It's a totally outsourced solution that's given them a world-class application for a very reasonable figure," said Jim Howard, CrownPeak's CEO.
Advantage's open architecture made it relatively painless to integrate the CMS with other key technology components of the site, like DoubleClick's DART Ad Management system, DoubleClick's email system for their newsletters, and PicoSearch for the search system.
No time for downtime
Because Workforce relied on the CMS to run the day-to-day business, CrownPeak had to implement the new CMS with effectively no downtime for Workforce.
The CrownPeak project team defined an implementation process that allowed them to reconstruct Workforce's key templates in Advantage, create their users, groups, and workflow, and perform thorough testing of the new CMS, all without interrupting Workforce's ongoing content management process
CrownPeak used a staging server--essentially, an exact replica of Workforce's live site--to test the new CMS system, leaving the live site and existing CMS untouched. When they completed the development and the testing, CrownPeak used its automated data import utility to bring in content from the legacy Oracle database.
Before the site went live, teams from CrownPeak and Workforce did a final system test to verify that everything was operational in the staging environment. This configuration made going live as simple as literally hitting a switch and publishing content to the live server.
Workforce was surprised at the relatively short learning curve for the new system. Based on their requirements, CrownPeak implemented a new online publishing process, which took a little getting used to. But by the time the testing period was complete, the Workforce staff was fully up to speed on the new system.
"When Workforce went live, it was really the most anticlimactic moment of the project," recalled David Hudson, director of production at CrownPeak. Because CrownPeak and Workforce teams had completed extensive testing with the staging environment, Hudson knew the launch would actually be quite easy. "With literally one click, we deployed all the CMS content to the live site, and once that was complete, Workforce began using Advantage to manage their content."
The ROI is strong
The new CMS seems to have paid off handsomely in several ways, according to Workforce.
"Thanks to the robust feature set, our staff has been able to work much more efficiently than before," said Dortch. "The intuitive user interface means that navigating to almost any content item or performing a modification are a simple mouse click away." Workforce also likes the fact that Advantage is able to publish out to multiple servers at different stages of workflow.
"This has allowed us to have a staging server that is always up to date with content, which makes it easier to do accurate development work for new features," said Dortch. It also means that Workforce is able to better leverage existing hardware assets--something it couldn't do with the previous system.
