“We derived tremendous value from our experience at the Microsoft Technology Center. We were able to clearly identify issues, reach a common understanding, and get validation of our proposed solution design.”
JoAnne Knodel, Manager of Custom Application Development, Lyondell Chemical Company
Lyondell Chemical Company needed a Webcontent management solution for consolidating and managing its three Websites. Already a user of Microsoft® Content Management Server 2002, Lyondell took part in an Architecture Design Session(ADS) at a Microsoft Technology Center (MTC) to see if the product could meet its new needs. Lyondell left with a clear understanding of how to design and deploy its new solution, which saved the company time and headaches.
© 2006 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. This case study is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY.Microsoft is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners.
Document published August 2006
Business Needs
Lyondell Chemical Company relies on its Webpresence to educate potential customers and investors about its products and services. Through a series of mergers and acquisitions, however, the company ended up with three separate Websites, each of which had its own look and feel. In addition to not providing a unified brand to Website visitors, Lyondell had trouble managing and adding content to the sites because it had no global content management or approval process in place. Lyondell wanted to consolidate and redevelop its corporate Website, to become the flagship communications vehicle for distributing information about the company.
Lyondell already had some experience with Microsoft® Content Management Server (MCMS) 2002 for solving its Web-related issues; however, Lyondell wanted to figure out if the product truly could meet all the company’s business and technical needs. “We had drawn up a preliminary architecture but weren’t sure if we were trying to use the solution in an unorthodox way,” says JoAnne Knodel, Manager of Custom Application Development, Lyondell Chemical Company. “Some of us were apprehensive about how the roles and responsibilities that were built into the product would work for us, and we weren’t sure if we had selected the best design or deployment method.”
Solution
To help gain deeper insight into Content Management Server 2002, Lyondell decided to follow the idea suggested by its Microsoft account manager and visit a Microsoft Technology Center (MTC) for an Architecture Design Session(ADS). Nine Lyondell employees, representing both the business and technical realms, visited the MTC in Austin, Texas, for two days.
First, MTC architects listened as Lyondell described in detail the issues it faced with its previous Webenvironment, its objectives for the solution, and its plans to date about how to achieve those objectives. “Preparing to share our strategy with the Microsoft experts was a good exercise, and they asked key questions that helped us crystallize our thoughts,” recalls Knodel. “By lunchtime on the first day, all of us from Lyondell finally had a shared understanding of where we could go with this project.”
Next, the MTC team shared information about the application, including its out-of-the-box workflow functionality and the sets of roles and responsibilities for which the product was intended. Lyondell also learned about how other companies had implemented similar solutions, examining their best practices and how to apply those practices to its own project. “Coming into the MTC engagement, we were concerned that MCMS could not be configured to support our public relations department’s business processes for authoring and publishing content,” says Knodel. “It was such a relief to hear that our business needs were no more complicated than other companies’ needs,and that the product was designed to do exactly what we needed it to do.”
Lyondell and Microsoft worked collaboratively to validate the architecture that Lyondell had designed and to establish roles and responsibilities for not just the project, but also for the long-term use of the solution. “We were able to quickly correct areas in which we were headed in anything other than the optimal direction,” says Knodel.
Benefits
As a result of its visit to the MTC, Lyondell has developed a better solution more quickly than it could have without the knowledge gathered in the ADS. The company now has a much clearer vision of how to consolidate its Websites and set up the resulting site for structured content management. Attendees returned to Lyondell headquarters enthusiastic and optimistic about the success of the Web site consolidation project. The company has been able to maintain its aggressive timeline and is confident that its solution will meet both current and future business needs.
Other benefits of visiting the MTC include:
Deeper project and product understanding.“It would have taken us months on our own to reach the same level of understanding that we reached halfway through our first day at the MTC,” says Knodel.
Increased technical competence.Because MTC attendees had the opportunity for hands-on learning with the product, Lyondell was able to get answers to technical issues before implementing the solution.
Better decision making.Hearing other companies’ best practices for use of Content Management Serverhas helped Lyondell make more educated choices as it implements its solution.
Peace of mind.With no more fear of the unknown, Lyondell is moving its project forward with confidence.
Roadmap for the future.The company received a clear idea of the direction that Microsoft plans for Content Management Server, so Lyondell was able to design its solution to take advantage of the functionality that will become available in future versions of the product.
© 2006 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. This case study is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY.Microsoft is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners.
Document published August 2006