University of the Arts London

http://www.arts.ac.uk

Graduating with Honors in Content Management

Click here to download PDF of University of the Arts Case Study

The University of the Arts London, formerly the London Institute, is home to five of the capital’s creative centres. To mark its recent attainment of University status, University of the Arts London decided to implement a new Web site to bring the Colleges together under the same banner and raise its profile, whilst continuing to give each College the flexibility to maintain their individual sites autonomously.

About

University of the Arts London brings together, in a single federated structure, five of the world’s most famous art and design colleges.
They are:

Camberwell College of Arts
Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design (incorporating Drama Centre London and Byam Shaw School of Art)
Chelsea College of Art and Design
London College of Communication (formerly London College of Printing)
London College of Fashion (incorporating Cordwainers) The university has produced many of the greatest names in art, design, fashion, theatre, film and communications including Pierce Brosnan, Ralph Fiennes, Esther Freud, Sarah Lucas and Stella McCartney.

Challenge

The communications team at the University of the Arts London wanted to consolidate the University’s online presence. Previously, the five colleges operated a diverse range of websites – all based on different systems. Some of these sites were deemed too challenging by users and in addition, broken links were a real problem, sometimes leading visitors to inconsistent, out-of-date pages and dead ends.

Roll out a new, centralised Web environment, allowing colleges to manage their own content
Provide a centralised course search facility

Solution

University of the Arts London selected RedDot Content Management System (CMS) to support its new Web strategy and the launch of the new look site. With RedDot in place, its communications team developed the new site’s look and feel, and began training academic and administrative staff across the University in using RedDot’s simple SmartEdit user interface to manage its content. Additionally, the team began experimenting with RedDot LiveServer, using its search capabilities to power the integrated Course Search. Once fully integrated, the personalisation features of RedDot LiveServer will be developed to provide varied user experiences of the University’s Web environment.

Give content management responsibilities to academic and administrative staff
Maintain centralised control over the site’s look and feel
Drive personalised content from University’s Oracle database

Results

The RedDot roll-out – both in terms of implementing the software and staff training – was completed well inside the strict timeframes set by the University, which was to have the new site in place in time for the launch of the University in May 2004. Having taken delivery of the software in September 2003, the new University site, including the websites of two of its five Colleges, had been designed and successfully migrated to RedDot. By September 2004, the majority of the University and Colleges had gone live. Almost 100 academic and administrative staff members across the University have been trained on and regularly use RedDot: its ease-of-use has contributed to the success of the rollout. The team now plans to migrate the University intranet to RedDot during 2005, extending its use of RedDot LiveServer to deliver content on a permissions basis. “It was important that we provide a unified and strong new Web presence for the University to celebrate the recently acquired University status and provide a single access point to the University for the online community,” explains Katie Christie, Web Editor at University of the Arts London.“It was also critical that the individual Colleges could continue to build their individual profiles as highly reputable institutions. RedDot has helped us manage this delicate balance.”