Sitecore cms for multi site implementation

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Sitecore CMS For Multi-site Implementations

An eDynamic Perspective

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in building multiple large websites on Sitecore

Best practices

Table of Content

Call us at: North America: 1-877-EDYNAMIC (339-6264)India: +91-11-26384306-07Email: [email protected] us at: www.edynamic.net

1. Introduction ............................................................................................................. Reasons for Multiple Sitecore CMS Websites ..............................................................

2. Key Considerations and Opportunities ......................................................................

Planning Phase ................................................................................................................. Roadmap .................................................................................................................. Supporting Technologies .......................................................................................... Content Migration .................................................................................................... How can eDynamic be a strong partner during the Planning Phase? ........................ Conclusion ...............................................................................................................

Build Phase ....................................................................................................................... Approach .................................................................................................................. Common Multi-site Framework .................................................................................

Maintenance Phase ........................................................................................................... Sta�ng Approach leveraging eDynamic’s Sitecore CMS for the Maintenance Phase...

3. Global Sitecore Delivery Partner ...............................................................................

4. eDynamic and Multi-site Projects ............................................................................. Multi site implementations – Typical Engagement Model ......................................... Multi site implementations – Typical Team Structures ............................................... Experience in Multi-site Initiatives ............................................................................

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1. Introduction


Several organizations today are consistently using Sitecore Content Management Systems (CMS) for building and managing multiple websites. While both, building and managing sites on Sitecore has its own set of challenges and considerations, they remain signi�cantly di�erent from a single website implementation. This paper re�ects on considerations alerting organizations regarding prior, during and after, multi-site implementations.

Reasons for Multiple Sitecore CMS Websites Organizations that own multiple brands— such a situation can lead organizations to creating multiple websites, with each site supporting a unique brand with its own inimitable content and presentation.

Organizations with one brand catering to di�erent audiences— this situation can compel organizations to creating multiple websites wherein each site uses common content and a unique presentation or device support.

Organizations providing private customer portals— a situation like this can coerce organizations to potentially create hundreds, even thousands, of websites that provide common functionality and content, while providing a selection of presentation options per individual website.

Organizations providing audience or o�er-speci�c micro-sites—a situation like this can drive the organization to creating dozens of websites at the drop of a hat; of course there lurks the need to remove old and add new websites quickly, each potentially with its own content and presentation.

2. Key Considerations and Opportunities


Multi-site Sitecore implementations have di�erent considerations and opportunities along the lifecycle of the application—during all its phases; namely, planning, build and maintenance phases of the websites. In this next section, we explore some of the best-practice considerations and opportunities within each phase.

Planning PhaseThe planning phase, the most pivotal to the success of any CMS implementation project, can often be the most neglected. This is the phase were key decisions are made that can a�ect the application and your organization for years.

RoadmapA roadmap is a common planning tool to provide a long-term perspective on the organization’s expected capabilities, supporting technologies and sta�ng around internal initiatives.

An ideal roadmap should provide a clear line-of-site, from concept to deployment with the objective of alienating the guesswork as at each phase of the project. Developing a roadmap should be a collaborative e�ort across business and technical stakeholders - creating common plan for the initiative.

Enlisted below are some of the common items identi�ed within a roadmap: Expected Capabilities — Driven by business requirements and objectives, capabilities need to be thoroughly understood, for comprehending business expectations, as well as the required technologies and architectural approach.

Planning Phase Build Phase Maintenance Phase

Supporting Technologies — understanding the prerequisites of technology and identifying the dependencies that require planning, forms the crux of this criterion. Content Migration — often existing, legacy websites moved to a new platform, like Sitecore, will continue to possess timely, relevant content that organizations would want to move to a new platform — this migration must be planned for, within the roadmap. Sta�ng — as the lifecycle for a website initiative unfolds, sta�ng requirements will change in support of the planning, build and maintenance phases.



How can eDynamic be a strong partner during the Planning Phase?When thoughtfully performed, the planning phase provides the essential foundation for the success of a multi-site initiative. For many organizations, a single Sitecore CMS implementation provides su�cient challenge, while a multi-site implementation provides another level of concern.

eDynamic can complement an organization’s internal team during the planning phase in several areas:

ConclusionThe planning phase for a Sitecore CMS multi-site initiative is critical—partnering with a

Migration Approach Recommended Situation

Manual

Automated

Small amount of content (<1000 pages)Content is irregularly structured on the web page or is not available through a structured data source

Large amounts of content (>1000 pages)Content is available in consistent, regularly structured web page or through a structured data source

Roadmap planning — working with both business and technical stakeholders, eDynamic can facilitate the process of developing a roadmap that re�ects the intent of the organization.

Technology evaluation — custom multi-site development, Sitecore Multi-site Manager, Sitecore Foundry—making the correct decisions can be challenging! eDynamic provides a process to capture requirements, verify the support of requirements, outline options and then develop a proof-of-concept for �nal veri�cation of the selected technology.

Content migration strategy and execution — developing a migration process that aligns with an organization’s content inventory is important; while using the best approach requires the previous experience of a partner.



seasoned player that has ample experience in delivering multi-site solutions on Sitecore CMS and related technologies. In the presence of an experienced hand, the organization also gains con�dence as they plan their roadmap.

Build Phase

ApproachThe development approach of multiple websites on Sitecore CMS is dependent on a number of factors, including the type of multi-site technology chosen, the planning of a multi-site framework, and the total number and complexity of the websites. The possible approach includes the following: Discrete Approach Holistic Approach

Common Multi-site FrameworkThe knowledge that there is a series of Web applications that must be built and deployed on Sitecore CMS provides organizations with an opportunity. This opportunity is to build an application framework in support of the capabilities speci�c to the organization, but common to all its Web applications.

The common application framework, once developed, provides a lever to more swiftly deliver new Web applications with radically less work and risk. Organizations reduce market time and cost of deployment by developing such a framework that incorporates common functional elements used by all or some of the Web applications.

Here are some examples of potential opportunities of leverage. These include: Improved quality — reduced development and debugging Reduced maintenance — common code base for all applications Common assets — content types, controls Shared functionalities – pluggable framework Information bus — leverage common back-end integrations

eDynamic recommends the development and use of such a common framework within multi-site projects.



Maintenance Phase

Sta�ng Approach leveraging eDynamic’s Sitecore CMS for the Maintenance PhaseeDynamic provides maintenance and support capabilities for Web applications utilized by both near-shore and remote/o�shore organization resources. During a retained engagement, these services are available to customers as required to support internal customers and existing applications. Help desk Self Service Health Monitoring Service monitoring Application lifecycle management Knowledge Transfer (Service decommissioning)

Support PackageseDynamic provides several levels of support packages to �t needs of customers throughout the lifecycle of applications. Though eDynamic has several common support packages, as seen below, customers can work with eDynamic to de�ne a package that is customized to �t their speci�c needs.

Service Desk Ticket acceptance and acknowledgement Ticket tracking Reporting Escalation Contact relevant person from production engineering if emergency ticket

Service Engineering / Production Engineering Ticket resolution Change management Documentation Release management Co-ordination



Service Quality Management SLA adherence Monitor Issue recurrences Project forecast Reporting

3. Global Sitecore Delivery Partner


Sitecore’s mix of powerful marketing and business features, rich development support and scalability make it the ideal solution for leading websites. From entry level to the largest enterprise class organizations, creating and continuing to provide your visitors a compelling Web experience has never been as easy or as exciting, serving and delighting millions.

Sitecore partners comprise integrators, consultants, and design houses — that understand how best to place Sitecore solutions in working more e�ectively than any other. Sitecore has partners in the following countries: Australia Austria Belgium Canada Denmark France Germany Hong Kong Hungary Ireland Japan Netherlands New Zealand Norway Singapore Spain Sweden Switzerland United Kingdom United States

4. eDynamic and Multi-site Projects


Multi site implementations – Typical Team StructuresThe team structure for a transactional or retained engagement will be similar, with the exception of the cost and �exibility associated with a long-term retained team.

Experience in Multi-site InitiativeseDynamic has been a Global Sitecore Partner & implementer of Sitecore CMS solutions since 2004. Over the past 3 years eDynamic has delivered more than 25 Sitecore projects & has more than 15 Sitecore clients globally. A number of these Sitecore implementations have been multi site initiatives where eDynamic has been involved right from the Planning & Roadmap phase to Maintenance & Support.

Onsite/Onshore team—a typical onsite/onshore team will minimally involve a project lead, but as projects get more complex, could also include a business analyst and technical architect. The project lead acts as the key contact for the customer, who coordinates all communications, manages the project and may also provide technical consulting.

Core o�shore team—the core o�shore team provides all the functionality necessary for any project—technical architecture, business analysis, Sitecore development, .NET development and web front-end development. As the needs of a long-term engagement grow, additional members can be added from an extended o�shore team—these team members provide the headroom when initiatives demand more resources.

Extended o�shore team—the extended o�shore team extends the core team with additional resources during high-demand initiatives, while quickly shrinking back to the size of the core team when no longer needed.

Multi site implementations – Typical Engagement ModeleDynamic recommends that organizations consider two possible options: Transactional Engagement Retained Engagement Internal plus outsource Fully outsourced model

4. eDynamic and Multi-site Projects


eDynamic has successfully leveraged its onsite (local)/o�shore delivery model for all these Sitecore projects.

Why Clients have been choosing eDynamic for Sitecore Implementations?

Proven Success: We have been implementing multi-site Sitecore projects successfully for Fortune 500s. Our Sitecore customer list includes New York Life, Aviva, PepsiCo among many others since 2004

Sitecore Expertise: Our expertise on Sitecore stems from our rich pool of certi�ed Sitecore developers & solution architects that has successfully delivered on multiple Sitecore client engagements

Cost E�ective Delivery Models: Our Clients claim to have saved up to 60% in development costs with our �exible delivery models based on local and/or o�shore resources

Global Scale: We are a truly global partner with o�ces in the US, Canada, the Middle East & India where we have large, certi�ed Sitecore teams to serve you

Content Management System (CMS) Center of Excellence: Our CMS center of excellence breeds cutting edge research, best practices & industry leading solutions on leading CMS, Portal, Collaboration & Intranet products

.NET and Integration Expertise: Our Sitecore credentials are stronger than others because we also have deep .NET development & Systems Integration capabilities that are critical for Sitecore implementations