“OmniUpdate has been phenomenally successful, and our dean is happy everyone is using it! With the statewide budget cuts, this is the one thing we know we want for next year. We can never go back to not having OmniUpdate,” said California State University Long Beach (CSULB) Technology Strategist Jill Horn.
The idea is simple: OmniUpdate allows its users to create and maintain better and more web content faster and cheaper. Facing the challenge of keeping up with the demand for information, the Library at CSULB implemented the highly versatile OmniUpdate solution from WebsiteASP, Inc. for their web content management.
OmniUpdate has become the choice of many higher education institutions such as Dartmouth College, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Lincoln University, Louisiana Tech University, University of Massachusetts, University of Michigan, and the Los Angeles Community College District. It is used to publish over 1 million web pages worldwide.
The demand for OmniUpdate web content management technology from higher education is due to WebsiteASP’s focus on ease of use, scalability, and flexibility to work with a wide range of web sites and infrastructures.
Web Administration Bottleneck??
As CSULB’s library web presence became larger and more persons within the organization took on more responsibility for content of the website, a web administration bottleneck developed. It was apparent that although there was a need to secure and maintain control of the overall account, there also needed to be greater flexibility so that the web site content providers could maintain their information at will. The library systems team began searching for the best solution and found OmniUpdate.
The library at CSULB examined a variety of content management solutions, however, most were of the “shotgun to kill a fly” solutions. Most applications were more complex than the scope of the problem. The pages needing updating were static and all other solutions that were evaluated required higher-level skills of the content providers than could be expected in this organization.
The library required a low threshold application to support a group of individuals who, for the most part, had little technical training. In a tight budget situation, the solution could not require new servers or software or costly licensing arrangements. By the same token, any solution appropriate for the organization would have to be managed without hiring new IT personnel or the reallocation of existing IT staff.
Solution = OmniUpdate
It didn’t take long. In the spring of 2001 Jill Horn, the library’s technology strategist and the content manager attended Internet World in Los Angeles. One of the many vendors at the convention was WebsiteASP, who offered OmniUpdate as a solution to the library’s challenge. In May 2001, OmniUpdate was discussed with the Dean of Library Services, content providers and the systems team; all supported the adoption of this solution. The decision to purchase OmniUpdate was made in early July and installation was complete in August. Training was offered to those who provided content for the web site in September and CSULB saw full user adoption of OmniUpdate by mid-November--a mere five months after the decision to purchase the solution.
“Though the library experienced real financial savings since we solved our problem without needing to purchase hardware, hire or reallocate IT personnel, or continue to use library faculty to deal with what was essentially a clerical task, the real return on investment was the enthusiastic adoption of OmniUpdate by content providers,” said Sara Sluss, CSULB University Library Content Manager and Chair of the Web Group.
OmniUpdate Contact Information
Learn more about the advantages OmniUpdate can provide your institution by visiting http://www.omniupdate.com/demo/educational.shtml or call directly at 800-362-2605 toll free. Please mention collegebuys.org or schoolboys.org to receive a discount.
