Open Berkeley

A turnkey web platform solution for campus websites

Submitter’s name, title, and contact information

Kathleen Lu

Manager, Web Platform Services

IST – Architecture, Platforms, and Integration

UC Berkeley

2111 Bancroft Way, #501C

Berkeley, CA 94704

Phone: 510-643-3595

Names of project leader(s) and team members

Kathleen LuProject Manager

Brian WoodTechnical Lead

Lucy GrecoWeb Accessibility Evangelist

Caroline BoydenDeveloper (Features, Consulting, Testing)

Anna GazdowiczOperations, Support, Training

David SnopekDeveloper

Tom TsaiManager, IST-API Platform and Engineering

Bill AllisonDirector, IST- Architecture, Platforms, and Integration (IST-API)

Relevant URLs

  • Open Berkeley:
  • Web Accessibility at UC Berkeley:

PROJECT DESCRIPTION:

Please view a 2-minute Video on Open Berkeley at:

Problem

Building a website can be a daunting challenge that requires overcoming a series of increasingly complex technical hurdles.

Campus teams do not have the time, resources, or technical skills to build, host, and maintain their websites.

Solution: A turnkey web platform for campus websites.

Open Berkeley solves this problem by providing a standard web platform solution built on Drupal with custom features developed by central IT specifically to meet campus website needs.

Campus employees with no prior web experience can use Open Berkeley’s powerful toolset to easily build sophisticated websites that incorporate: text, images, videos, maps, slideshows, tables, panel layouts, menus, and more.

Beyond site building, Open Berkeley provides critical solutions to ongoing Security, Accessibility, and Maintenance issues.

Security

Open Berkeley mitigates security risks by applying best practices in configuration, authentication, and monitoring, and the Open Berkeley team reviews weekly security notices, applying updates and patches to all sites in a timely and efficient manner.

Accessibility

Open Berkeley is built with accessibility in mind: It conforms to the UC-wide policy that campus websites must be accessible to all members of the campus community, including those with disabilities.

Ongoing accessibility improvements will continue to be built into the platform as the landscape evolves.

Maintenance

One of Open Berkeley’s biggest advantages is that it solves the frustrating and budget-busting problem of ongoing website maintenance and support.

Custom websites are difficult to maintain because they are typically built with different code and different configuration. Each website is a separate maintenance headache and expense.

With Open Berkeley, each site is built on the same stable and robust platform, allowing updates and new functionality to easily be applied to all sites.

The Open Berkeley team manages the entire maintenance process, allowing significant economies of scale and maximum campus savings.

PROBLEM: Complex Lifecycle of an Open Berkeley website

Figure 1:Lifecycle of a typical campus website, demonstrating the complex, costly, and unsustainable process

SOLUTION: Simple Lifecycle of an Open Berkeley website

Figure 2: Lifecycle of an Open Berkeley website: Easy, secure, accessible, and maintainable

PROBLEM: Campus teams unable to find anyone willing to support a custom site

(even the vendors who originally built the site!)

Figure 3: Custom websites are difficult to maintain

SOLUTION: Open Berkeley sites: Updated once in the cloud, pushed out to many

Figure 4: Open Berkeley provides a stable and robust platform with significant economies of scale

Technology utilized in the project

  • Core: Drupal, PHP,MySQL, Javascript
  • Additional: Panopoly, Git, Bootstrap, jQuery, Sass, Compass, Behat, Travis-CI, AWS, Docker
  • Deployment: Pantheon cloud web hosting (NGINX, Pressflow, MariaDB)

Timeframe of implementation

  • Fall 2012: Proof of Concept
  • 2013 - 2015: Closed Pilot
  • 2015: General Availability
  • Future Roadmap:
  • UC Berkeley: Roll out to campus as the standard web publishing platform
  • UC System: Extend the platform as a systemwide UC shared service
  • Higher-Ed: Share best practices with other higher-ed IT teams who have reached out to learn "how we did it" including: University of Pennsylvania, University of British Columbia, Oregon State University, and others

Cost Comparison

Cost Savings: External vendors charge $25,000 - $100,000+ for a single custom website, not including ongoing maintenance and support.Open Berkeley is available to campus departments at around $100 per month. The service includes security patches, built-in accessibility best practices, feature improvements, and ongoing maintenance and support, allowing our customers to dedicate resources to strategic initiatives and operational excellence instead of duplicative work outside their area of expertise.

Campus Adoption

During the closed pilot phase, over 70 campus websites joined the Open Berkeley platform, including key campus websites such as: Office of the Chancellor, Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost, VC Administration and Finance, Vice Provost for the Faculty, AVC-IT and Office of the CIO, VC Real Estate, Operational Excellence, Office of the CFO, major campus projects and initiatives, and other administrative, academic, and student websites. Sites in-progress includemajor campus teams/projects such as the Berkeley Global Campus, Educational Technology Services, Information Security and Policy, and other IT teams and projects. The Open Berkeley team is also partnering with University Relations and Public Affairs to roll out new branding.

Objective customer satisfaction data

"Units on campus will no longer have to build their own systems from scratch because now the campus has something great to offer them." – Vice Chancellor, Administration and Finance

"Fantastic job on what you've accomplished with Open Berkeley. Our users absolutely love the websites and it makes a huge difference in terms of user experience. Kudos to you!" – Enterprise Data Warehouse Manager

"Thanks for making Open Berkeley possible and providing a solution for easily developing websites with a lot of flexibility in building content without the need for technical support." – Chief of Staff, VC Real Estate

"What awesome work! THANK YOU! Can't wait to get on board!" – Business Analyst, Office of the CIO

"Building accessibility into the platform is a major win for the campus!" – Web Director, University Relations

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