After demoing dozens of content management systems and showing 4 of their finalists to our CMS users, Columbia College Chicago has selected Hannon Hill's Cascade Server.
The Web Development department is now in the process of installing the software, transitioning the content from Serena and training all of our CMS users on the use of Cascade Server. Many people have been asking about our timeline in this process and we would like to clarify how we are going to proceed.
This is going to be an exhaustive description and may contain more technical information that you need, but it should answer any questions you have about the process.
First, we have to purchase and set up the server. Cascade runs on its own server, which is currently sitting in our rack. We purchased a Dell Poweredge R610 for this project and it is packed with 12 gigabytes of RAM and a Quad-Core Intel Xeon processor at 2.66Ghz. We had to go with a single CPU due to licensing restrictions imposed by Cascade Server.
Once the server is properly configured to use the network, we will install the Cascade Server software. The software requires the server to maintain a static IP address in order to keep the license valid, so the software cannot be installed until the network configuration is complete.
After we install the Cascade Server software, our staff will begin the tedious process of ensuring that all the content that currently exists in Serena Collage is imported correctly to Cascade Server. We will work closely with Hannon Hill during this time as they have done Collage-to-Cascade migrations in the past. This will probably be the most difficult part of the entire process because of the depth of information stored inside Serena Collage. Not only do we have to consider the content of each page, but we must consider how we convert meta-information, such as page titles, metadata and templates from Serena to Cascade Server. Our goal is to have the migration from Serena to Cascade completed by the end of June.
Close to the end of the migration, we will announce training sessions for all our CMS users. These training sessions will mostly likely be held on Fridays in the CIT lab, which is located on the 8th floor of the 600 South Michigan building. The training sessions will be geared toward converting our users' current knowledge of Serena into how to accomplish the same tasks in Cascade Server. The sessions will be recorded for later reference. The number of training sessions (and the number of weeks it will take to train the CMS users) will decide the ultimate "cut-over" date from Collage to Cascade Server.
The cut-over date will be a date when changes to pages on colum.edu will no longer be made in Collage. This date will be on a Friday so that our staff has the typically low-web-traffic weekend to make the change from Collage to Cascade Server. During that weekend the CMS will be unavailable to our users (but you shouldn't be working on the weekend anyway ... go outside). Our goal is to make the cut-over date in mid-to-late August, before classes begin again.
Following the cut-over date, all changes to the website will be made in Cascade Server. Our installation of Serena Collage will be kept installed and alive for reasons pertaining to the history of individual pages and permissions, but access to it will be limited.
I'm happy to expand upon any of these steps or answer any remaining questions regarding our transition to Cascade Server. I am available via email or by phone at 312.369.8514.
