Multiple Websites with SDL Tridion WCMS

The proliferation of web properties for businesses, ranging from small companies to large enterprises, creates a great deal of difficulty with regard to content management. While the number of options available for managing a single site now exceeds 600 different products, there are very few options available for managing multiple sites, and the choices shrink even further when the numbers of sites, channels and languages grow exponentially.

Large global brands and publishers—such as Unilever and Hanley Wood respectively—manage hundreds of sites that often have key commonalities, including shared taxonomy and assets. However, with most web content management platforms, there is no inherent way to manage a large volume of different sites without a great deal of customization. This whitepaper will describe the out-of-the-box functionalities of the BluePrinting™ model and its uses.

ThoughtMatrix is an interactive firm with a deep specialization in content management. We have worked with some of the largest brands in the world on their content management initiatives— ranging from platform selections to large implementations and deep integration with enterprise systems. While working with all the major web content management systems (WCMS) and numerous open source platforms, we have discovered most WCMS solutions do not effectively address multi-site management.

This challenge is intensified when multiple site requirements cross paths with multiple languages, for multiple sub-brand sites, in multiple channels and so on. While all the leading vendors provide support for localization, translation and multi-language sites, as well as for deploying multiple web properties from a single instance, ThoughtMatrix has found that only SDL Tridion offers the capability to unify the management of multiple websites and to manage multidirectional relationships at a macro level.

SDL enables leading enterprises to rapidly turn prospects into lifetime customers by optimizing personalized and pervasive online engagements with target audiences— anywhere, anytime, via any channel—regardless of language, locality, format, method or electronic device. SDL recognizes that in order to engage your audience you must connect, and to do so requires a holistic approach that includes cross-channel synergies and localization.

While other major WCMS platforms provide localization support, SDL’s BluePrinting™ technology enables a unique, multi-faceted level of engagement. Its out-of-the-box capabilities provide a unique solution for multi-site management, especially when compounded with multi-faceted deployment requirements that inlclude localization, taxonomy, workflows and geographic locales.

This whitepaper covers why we believe SDL Tridion is uniquely suited to this type of solution, and provides examples of how it works and details of how customers are using it to address their specific multi-site, multi-channel and multi-locale operational and personalization challenges.

Don’t All WCMS Platforms Support Multi-site Deployments?

Yes, most enterprise-level WCMS solutions support the deployment of multiple sites. If your enterprise deploys a small set of distinct sites—such as a corporate site, a customer portal and support site plus the occasional microsite—then a WCMS with a unified content repository may be a suitable fit for your needs. However, if your organization manages complex taxonomies and workflows across 20, or even 200 sites, and you employ, or need to employ, taxonomists or librarians to manage the cross-site taxonomy and workflow relationships, BluePrinting™ is designed for this type of complexity.

When your multiple sites need to reuse navigational concepts, structures, functionalities, designs and other elements, your needs may exceed the capability of the WCMS you are using or are considering. BluePrinting™ within SDL Tridion maintains relationships across multiple sites, allowing for one-click updating, with site owners notified of the changes while the content update is automatically propagated.

What Is BluePrinting?

BluePrinting™ is used by Fortune 500 companies primarily to leverage the use of global and local content within multiple websites, and is an out-of-the box solution that allows organizations to manage their multi-channel, multi-dimensional communication from within a single solution. The foundation of BluePrinting™ is that each publication (the highest-level directory structure) within SDL Tridion can be configured as its own unique site or as a parent/child structure that can hide, inherit, localize and publish data. This architecture enables your business communication professionals to effortlessly use shared resources across multiple websites, while retaining control over content that makes each site unique.

When designed and implemented properly, BluePrinting™ can leverage and empower brand management, multi-channel microsites, information architecture (IA) designs, taxonomy, SEO/search, campaigns and editorial workflows. SDL Tridion’s BluePrinting™ technology addresses multiple needs of current organizations that use a variety of platforms to publish content for the web, mobile, social media and tablets.

SDL Tridion has focused their BluePrinting™ model around six main communication requirements.

1. Multi-site management
2. Brand consistency
3. Brand relevancy & localization
4. Target audience marketing
5. Multi-channel management
6. Microsite rollout and management

Why Does Inheritance Matter?

There are many buzzwords in content management, and it is often difficult to determine what they mean and why they matter to you. In this case, the definition is rather simple. When you are managing a large number of sites, there are typically elements, ranging from content to navigation to functionality that you want to leverage across different sites and platforms. However, with most content management systems, while you can often create a unified content repository that enables you to reuse content across sites, broader elements such as taxonomy, workflows and functionality are difficult, or impossible, to reuse.

When dealing with the challenge of keeping large numbers of channels up-to-date consistently and cost-effectively, the inheritance model that SDL Tridion’s BluePrinting™ provides offers a mechanism unique in the market. The model is flexible and can be adjusted over time to meet your new business requirements using out-of-the box personalization tags, permissions, roles and architecture-based functions. This enables global organizations to take ownership of their BluePrinting™ model, make changes and adjustments without having to redevelop the entire site strategy or templates, and in the end cuts down significantly on development effort and timelines.

How Does BluePrinting™ Work?

BluePrinting™ is based on business and technical requirements. Every customers’ BluePrint™ model is unique. In the past, these models were viewed as a hierarchal tree, however with the release of SDL Tridion 2011, models can take on a semantic model, allowing for intuitive models to be created. The diagrams below show the difference between a hierarchal and a semantic model. In each example, the BluePrinting™ rules are maintained.

How to Leverage BluePrinting™

Ten years ago, web content management facilitated the publishing of content to an Enterprise’s public facing websites and portals. The focus was on managing the content and process in an attempt to streamline the often manual and time-consuming effort. Today, large organizations have to face an explosion of channels, accelerated localization requirements and exponential growth of the number of sites that they need to publish. All of this has resulted in the creation and management of tremendous quantities of new and varied content with the sole purpose of engagement. As a result, web teams are now faced with an ever-expanding set of content management requirements. This section guides you through several of the most common areas that BluePrinting™ can help address.

Taxonomy for Personalization

Using a combination of taxonomy and BluePrinting™, you can publish “smart” content for your customers. Categories and keywords within the taxonomy model follow the BluePrinting™ model rules, giving business organizations flexibility when defining tagging guidelines based on the needs of their clients—whether it is cultural, language and/or product availability.

Defining a global taxonomy model across publications was once used for enhancing external search. Today, these same taxonomy models can be used to enhance personalized content within the site or client portals and can greatly improve the customer experience.

Taxonomy Model

SDL Tridion’s taxonomy model allows organizations to maintain modular keyword/ metadata relationships within the WCMS. Updates to the BluePrint™ model and/or the taxonomy model can co-exist without implications to one another. SDL Tridion has one of the most advanced out-of-the-box taxonomy models we have seen.

Below is an example of a content matrix that is used to organize content, page and content management details, allowing business owners to view and approve a content overview before tagging and content creation begins.

Social Media

Today, social media is heavily discussed and analyzed. BluePrinting™ provides the guarantee of centralized control for brand, content and primary messages, while offering the flexibility to contain local content and adaptations for social media messaging. Content used for social media takes on a different form than content published on the .COM site or client portals.

Content for social media should be:

• Personalized to specific target groups
• Short and simple – the length for tweets is 140 characters including spaces
• Scheduled and frequently updated
• Promoted – interlinking with other microsites and/or blogs
• Reviewed and evaluated – more followers and/or likes

Different types of content can be created and maintained within the BluePrinting™ model, allowing you to bring content into the site from the multiple social networking tools. The BluePrinting™ model allows for social media experts to localize specific content within the structure without creating new content types or structures.

Mobile

Publishing to multiple platforms can be managed within the publication’s deployment targets in a BluePrinting™ structure, giving you the ability to meet mobile requirements. While the mobile channel has different requirements in strategy, design (look and feel) and delivery technology, it is essential to ensure the overall customer experience of the brand is consistent with other channels.

1. Activity based homepage and landing pages
2. Multiple coding requirements (i.e., JavaMobile version must run for BlackBerry)
3. Working back button
4. Share - Facebook/Twitter/mail push notifications

BluePrinting™ enables designers and marketers to create a mobile experience without having to redesign the .COM and microsites. This flexibility gives organizations the best solution in meeting communication needs for their target audiences, including new publishing requirements for apps and/or tablets.

Workflow

Workflow allows content to follow a consistent process—from creation, review and publication. Each process follows an approach that can be automated or manual. Defining workflow requirements and reviewing all of the business rules and current processes allows for optimal usage of workflow and BluePrinting™. Most businesses use multiple media when it comes to workflow, such as SharePoint, Word, e-mail and other applications. BluePrinting™ enables you to set up different workflows across publications and external media. WCMS contributors, editors, authors, translators, developers and approvers can be a part of multiple workflows managed in disparate locations and overseen by different WCMS users.

For example, headquarters publishes a press release, which is relevant for one of the three microsites. The contributor is able to choose which of the editors can receive the press release for their site. The contributor may want to send it first to the translator, then to the microsite editor. Both options are possible, giving the contributor a choice at the beginning of the workflow process. In another example, the global editors would like to notify a local author that content is ready to be localized. Authors then can tag local content by using localized keywords, which will still maintain the global taxonomy model relationship.

The following diagram shows a sample of a workflow process that begins with creation of content and finishes with publishing content on a page to the live site. For example, this workflow can be implemented in multiple different publications within the BluePrint™ model, allowing for different, or linked workflows at a global level and a local level. The flexibility within SDL Tridion allows for multiple workflows to happen concurrently for both complex and simple workflow processes.

Information Architecture Design

The BluePrint™ design should take into account the entire web presence, starting with information architecture (IA) design. Information architects provide prototype models that include site maps and interactive wireframes. Once the IA is defined, the BluePrint™ design can begin by reviewing prototypes to determine where functionalities and data will live within the website.

For example, developing an advanced location finder tool might be in scope for the .COM release. Other business departments launching in the future will want to use this technology, however will not want to be direct descendants of the .COM. Placing this functionality into the right publication within the BluePrint™ allows for reuse, without having to be direct descendants of. COM.

Examples of Existing BluePrinting™ Models

The following examples show how organizations use BluePrinting™ to manage their global sites and different country sites.

BluePrinting™ provides many benefits to targeted websites and web content. BluePrinting™ also allows for targeted communication with brand consistency. Therefore, regardless of site, local language and so on, Unilever can effortlessly rollout and maintain very consistent brand identities and experiences.

Unilever also uses this by calling out brands that are specific for each country. In addition, organizations can connect with their most critical audiences by ensuring core messages are consistent, while also providing audience-specific messages. For example, on the UK website, share prices to investors are not displayed on the homepage.

Emirates Group uses SDL Tridion for almost all of their sites, which represent more than 15 different brands, 30 different languages and 30 different regional multilingual sites. Emirates leverages BluePrinting™ not only for language and locale, but also to manage their sites from a cultural aspect. Emirates serves multiple markets that are very varied in their cultural sensibilities, ranging from the direction of how the text is read to the fact that in specific markets photos of their female flight attendants must present a face that is covered. In addition, Emirates manages several different brands including emirates-holidays.com, skywards.com and arabianadventures.com. Emirates Group currently manages and publishes 70-80 websites from within SDL Tridion.

This ability to combine internet, extranet and intranet management from within one centralized system, and reuse both content and layout elements substantially, reduces cost and maintenance.

Conclusion

In today’s anywhere, anytime world, the need to address the complexities and vast scale found in leading enterprise organizations with regard to web content and communications can be daunting. Together, ThoughtMatrix and SDL provide considerable experience, expertise and solutions that empower large enterprises to address multiple business challenges while optimizing their ability to engage with their audience—anywhere, anytime, in any channel on any device.

When defined and developed properly, BluePrinting™ can empower enterprise organizations to effectively manage and optimize content use across multiple web properties via different channels, in different languages, on numerous devices and in rich media. Combining ThoughtMatrix’s expertise in the area of marketing strategy, social media, IA, design and systems architecture with SDL Tridion’s Global Engagement platform powered through BluePrinting™ enables clients to rethink and re-energize their web content management model. As a result, they will optimize engagement and operational efficiencies by fully embedding business requirements ranging from culture, taxonomy and design to social media and branding into their engagement platform.