Omni CMS Project Updates

Overall Plan 

• Project kick-off and initiation meeting with a Modern Campus representative. (Feb. 3) 

• NatSci Comms will hand off the html markup and the CSS to Modern Campus. (Feb. 24) 

• NatSci IT will secure and standup Production server with MSU IT by end of January/early February. (March 24)

• Modern Campus will develop page templates, conduct quality assurance and testing. (April/May 2022)

• Administrative Training (May 2022)

• Review of templates and revisions; user acceptance. (May/June 2022)

• Modern Campus will kick-off the migration and begin work on migrating the NatSci website to the Omni CMS and have agreed to help migrate an additional 5-6 of our larger sites. 

• Comms Team will verify website content on the NatSci site and sign-off. (site owners of the 5-6 larger sites mentioned above will verify migrated content and sign-off on their respective site) 

• NatSci Comms will work on building out a training/knowledgebase site web.natsci.msu.edu – video and written articles and how to use functionality and features for the new CMS. Training – record some of Omni’s training and provide to users; group training and one-on-one training as needed. Mistie can assist with some of the content-related questions for both Mura and Omni. 

• Internal development of NatSci Directory will occur concurrently. Phase 1 ready: end of March/early April. Phase 2/3: TBD. 

• NatSci Comms will start migration by migrating smaller sites (labs and very small dept./program sites) first to get a feel for the process. Will work from smallest to largest sites. 

3/23/2023

Migration of MSU NatSci websites from Mura to Omni completed.

3/3/2022

Modern Campus background/client information 

Modern Campus is the result of the merger of two companies in 2019—OmniUpdate (which had been around for ~ 20 years), the leading web content management system (CMS) provider for higher education, and Destiny Solutions (established in 2010), the leading student lifecycle management (SLM) solution provider for non-traditional higher education. In 2021, the companies rebranded to become Modern Campus, who manages Omni CMS, a top-tier management system for colleges and universities. They also offer services for three other platforms –continuing ed (which MSU just signed on to), catalog products, and student engagement tracking.  

Today, there are 1,700 higher ed institutions in the Modern Campus suite. Of those, 400 of them are Omni CMS user institutions. Some of the more notable institutions they serve are Texas Tech, Towson University, Illinois State, University of Toledo, SUNY schools in New York (including Stonybrook), and others. Locally, Eastern Michigan University, Oakland University and Washtenaw Community College are Omni CMS users. The current MSU user is MSU-HR, who has been using Omni CMS since 2006.    

Basic Agreement/Contract 

Prior to NatSci signing on with Modern Campus for a 3-year contract, an existing Omni CMS License and Support Agreement was in place with MSU Human Resources. This new three-year contract replaces the previous Omni CMS License and Support Agreement with MSU-HR, in which both units are included. The agreement provides unlimited access to Omni CMS and can be leveraged by any department within Michigan State University.

Timeframe  

Initial current estimate for full migration (93 sites): 12 to 18 months once migration scripts are turned over to NatSci from Modern Campus and internal migration begins, which is projected to happen sometime in late summer. The amount of time to migrate all sites will be affected based on the amount of additional assistance for migration and verification activities and whether some departments/programs want to take the opportunity to rebuild from scratch in Omni CMS– a nice opportunity for larger sites. We have already discussed this with several departments. Timeline estimate may change depending on accuracy of migration scripts and/or time required to correct migration issues and time required for website owner/editor to formally review/verify migrated content.

NatSci web content 

NatSci has a large presence with 93 sites. Most sites are under 150 pages; of these, 47 sites are under 100 pages. We have 16 sites with 500+ pages (several that are 1000+). We will not be taking on any new sites during this process! Any new site requests should be held until migration from Mura is complete.

Project approach 

• This is a scripted migration with a manual review/verification process. 

• No downtime for site(s) being migrated (current sites will remain up and accessible in Mura) but there will be a content freeze. Owners can update Mura site during that time but will have to update the new site as well once Omni CMS site is live. Content updates during the freeze will be the responsibility of the site owner. 

• As NatSci sites are migrated to Omni, there will be a mix of NatSci sites hosted across both Mura and Omni, but overall web theme will be consistent between systems. 

• Site migration occurs via scripts provided by Modern Campus, then manual fixing/verification (both Jesse – or comms office designee - and site owner). 

• There will be a domain name switch to the Omni CMS site once migrated and verified (hand off to site owner for second verification). 

Overall Plan 

• Project kick-off and initiation meeting with a Modern Campus representative. (Feb. 3) 

• Jesse will hand off the html markup and the CSS to Modern Campus. (Feb. 24) 

• Steve will secure and standup Production server with MSU IT by end of January/early February. (In-Progress) 

• Modern Campus will develop page templates, conduct quality assurance and testing. 

• Review of templates and revisions; user acceptance.  

• Modern Campus will kick-off the migration and begin work on migrating the NatSci website to the Omni CMS and have agreed to help migrate an additional 5-6 of our larger sites. 

• Comms Team will verify website content on the NatSci site and sign-off. (site owners of the 5-6 larger sites mentioned above will verify migrated content and sign-off on their respective site) 

• Modern Campus will then turn over the migration scripts to NatSci Comms to begin internal migration of the balance of Mura sites. 

• NatSci Comms will work on building out a training/knowledgebase site web.natsci.msu.edu – video and written articles and how to use functionality and features for the new CMS. Training – record some of Omni’s training and provide to users; group training and one-on-one training as needed. Mistie can assist with some of the content-related questions for both Mura and Omni. 

• NatSci Comms will start migration by migrating smaller sites (labs and very small dept./program sites) first to get a feel for the process. Will work from smallest to largest sites. 

• Internal development of NatSci Directory will occur concurrently. Phase 1 ready: end of March/early April. Phase 2/3: TBD. 

Directory Project information 

NatSci currently hosts 93 websites, most of which include their own directory of faculty, staff and students. There is no formal ‘directory’ page provided by the NatSci Mura theme, which has resulted in a non-standardized look and feel across sites. Additionally, profile pages are created and updated manually by website content editors as people and information change.  

Being developed internally to the college (Dean’s Office: Jesse Earley, Steve Plemmons; Department of Mathematics: Devin Schnepp, Jeremy Lounds), a centralized directory will rollout alongside the new CMS. The directory will pull from centralized data sources to auto-populate people and data and will provide a self-service portal for individuals to update their own information, such as biographical and research. 

Directory will be housed in a standalone location (likely directory.natsci.msu.edu) and each unit will have a direct link to their own section of the directory for inclusion on unit website.