Kent Union, looking after the welfare of 10,000 students at Kent University has responded to the growing demand for timely information via the web using a Content Management Solution.
The community is technically literate and the students expect the best of technology to be used to provide them with information.
The geographical dynamics of the students attending the University means that web technology is essential to enable all students to have access.
A key element of Kent Union's role in serving the welfare of the students is the support it provides to the Clubs, Societies and Social Entertainment.
Run by students for students, participation in the contribution of information on the web site was a critical element.
Kent Union manage and operate a general purpose shop, a radio station, two bars and a nightclub, as a direct service.
The staff in these operations have ongoing requirements to communicate with the students about the latest special offers, additions to the entertainment program and of course get feedback on what the students think of the services they deliver.
Kent Union appointed a UK CM reseller, Ether Solutions to develop a site that had a very user friendly method of maintaining the content. With the constant change of students and their varying levels of involvement in the social activities at the University, it was essential that it could be used without any formal training.
Having considered other products, Day's Communique technology was selected as having the full range of functionality required to effectively handle both the reference and dynamic information.
We asked David Martin, of Ethersolutions, a few questions behind their choice of technology:
What was the budget and what were the technical requirements
Budget was low, a deal was done around advertising for staff, etc. Technical requirements - had to run on Linux, be totally browser based and very user friendly as constantly changing authors.
What products were evaluated?
Ether Solutions only bid DAY's Communique. We understand that the serious consideration was given to a bespoke development and to ZOPE. We partner with DAY, Stellent and Documentum. For this particular implementation Documentum would have been too expensive and it does not provide the Forum + Chat facility, and Stellent does not provide the Forum + Chat facilities.
What were the winning criteria?
Package strengths and future support versus any in-house option. Plus speed to implement a package rather than wait for an in-house development.