By Cliff Foster

The Web Content Management System Project reached another milestone this month when Professional Studies became the first of the College’s three schools to complete the migration of content into the new system.

The school’s homepage includes a welcome from Dean Sandra Haynes and links to all the departments under the Professional Studies umbrella.

The migration started during the fall semester, and the departments obtained the necessary training and completed their work by the goal date of Jan. 17.

“This couldn’t have been done without the incredible amount of assistance provided by the ETC [Educational Technology Center] staff,” Haynes said.

As for the new system, she said, it “is much easier to learn and use. It is not as complex as using typical web-building software.”

Communications and Community Affairs, in collaboration with Information Technology, is spearheading the WCMS initiative, first announced in October 2010.

The project is meant to provide a campuswide and consistent method for website design, template creation, and site maintenance. It is especially intended to make the use of technology much easier for employees charged with keeping websites updated for their departments.

So far, 83 websites have been launched.

Users who have completed training on the new Site Manager system can add or edit content from any modern web browser. The system also allows for easy importing of photos, videos, and Microsoft Word content, among other advantages.

As departments are notified they are in line for migration, staff can sign up for training. Details of WCMS training sessions are listed in the Metro State Events Calendar available through the homepage. More than 110 people have been trained in the new system, said Chris Mancuso, director of web communications.

The School of Business sites will be completed in the beginning of summer 2012, and the School of Letters, Arts and Sciences is slated to be completed before the start of the fall 2012 semester. Student services, administration and finance, and other administrative department sites are also on the list for the final phase of the project.

“As with change anywhere, there are going to be some challenges, but we’ve got the expertise and support in place to address those issues,” Mancuso said.

Joe Quatrochi, Human Performance and Sport professor, said the new system allows his department to keep the website fresh.

“It used to be that if we wanted something changed it was such a complicated process…nothing really happened in a timely way,” he said.

That’s no longer the case, he added. “The fact that now our program assistant has been trained, we’ve already revised our website substantially.”