What is UBC CMS?
At its simplest, CMS is an acronym for a “Content Management System”. But inherent within a CMS, there is more – CMS is not only about a system or piece of software, it’s also about a Strategy and about Services.
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Why is CMS important?
Whether referring to a system, service, or strategy, a CMS can enable the sustainable creation and ongoing maintenance of high quality websites by establishing a common baseline of standards such as the consistent use of a common-look and feel template (or “CLF”), as well as common platforms on which to build new emerging technologies.
CMS and the web at UBC
Historically web presences across the university have been decentralized and fractured. This led to dozens of systems being in place including open source, homegrown, vendor-provided, and/or proprietary solutions, or nothing at all. This fractured web made keeping a consistent brand presence increasingly difficult and exacerbated security, scaling, and accessibility problems inherent with a multitude of solutions.
Today, with a maturity of open source tools, with wide adoption at all levels of the university, and with an acknowledgment that for an institution of our size and complexity, there is no “one size fits all” solution, CMS is part of a sustainable landscape of tools with centrally-provisioned resources and support.
As the landscape of the web changes, due to the adoption of open source tools such as WordPress, CMS is able to adapt and update accordingly. With coordinated content management strategies, common content repositories, syndication, and integration with systems inside and outside of UBC, CMS – which has existed for more than 14 years – still has a bright future for the web at UBC.
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A history From 2008 until today
CMS Past, Present, and Future
- October, 2008
CMS Infrastructure Begins
The OLT (precursor to CTLT) team create the infrastructure for a series of websites. This is why all canonical URLs are something.sites.olt.ubc.ca
- JAN 01, 2020
2009
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- JAN 06, 2009
First Site on CMS
The first site is created on what is now known as UBC CMS.
- Jan 21, 2009
e-Learning Opening House
The first real site that would be populated on CMS is created.
- Mar 3, 2009
100th Site Created
The first three months of CMS being live saw over 100 websites created across dozens of departments in several faculties.
- Dec, 2009
End of Year One
230 sites created in the first year of CMS covering most Faculties and scores of departments.
- JAN 01, 2020
2010
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- Feb 08, 2010
e-learning Website
The brand new e-learning website – a hub for online learning – is launched on UBC CMS.
- Mar 19, 2010
UBC President’s Office
The UBC President’s website – president.ubc.ca – goes live on UBC CMS.
- JAN 01, 2020
2011
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- Dec 31, 2011
1,750 User Accounts
(Now take a look at the number at the end of next year)
- JAN 01, 2020
2012
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- Jul 01, 2012
CLF 7 Released
The 7th iteration of the common look and feel (CLF) is released by central brand and marketing bringing mobile responsive sites and WCAG AA compatibility
- Aug 01, 2012
Profiles CCT
CTLT release the Profiles CCT plugin enabling faculties and departments to have digital profiles of their staff and faculty.
- Sep 20, 2012
1,000th Site
The 1,000th site is created on CMS. It’s for the Business German Program at the Department of Central, Eastern and Northern European Studies
- Dec 31, 2012
6,241 User Accounts
4,500 user accounts (quadrupling the number of users from only 12 months prior)
- JAN 01, 2020
2013
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- October 1, 2013
5 Years of CMS
~1,750 active sites on CMS, and approaching 80% of known public sites at UBC are hosted on UBC CMS. And nearly 10,000 user accounts.
- JAN 01, 2020
2014
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- May 20th, 2014
2,000 Sites
The two thousandth site is registered on CMS. It was for a department within the Faculty of Medicine.
- JAN 01, 2020
2016
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- July 4, 2016
3,000 Sites
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