Global Reproductive Health IT Support list

[Stan Mullen <smullen AT pathfind.org>]

Good Morning Everyone,

I have a general question for the group. I would like to solicit your
feedback about your organization's experiences regarding field offices.
Specifically, has any organization ever allowed a field office to implement
their own IT initiatives and solutions outside of the corporate
infrastructure? This would include a complete separation or disconnect from
any direct or indirect connectivity with the parent company or "HQ"
facility. Any communication and/or interaction with them would be handled
just as if they were a separate business or organization unrelated to you.
Some may refer to this as a Centralized vs. De-centralized concept for
business related matters and technical solutions. If you have adopted this
concept, something similar, or have ever granted independence like this to a
field office, I would appreciate your input - both pros and cons. If you
would rather call me directly, feel free at the below number.

Best Regards to the group,

Stan Mullen
IT Director, Pathfinder International
smullen AT pathfind.org
617-924-7200 ex 300
 



-----Original Message-----
From: grhits-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org
[mailto:grhits-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of Tor De Vries
Sent: Monday, January 23, 2006 11:48 AM
To: grhits AT lists.ibiblio.org
Subject: Re: [grhits] CMS

To add to my colleague's comments... I am currently reviewing CMS systems
for EngenderHealth, as well.  I strongly suggest that you take a look at
your strategic communications/marketing plans, content development workflow,
online fundraising issues and long-term support budgets before choosing a
CMS.  A CMS focuses on managing *content*; don't confuse that with managing
*communications*, or even meeting the needs of your audience/visitor. This
is not just an I.T. decision.

Typo3, Drupal, Plone are all very powerful, with various levels of learning
and adoption required.  As Bill mentioned, we use Typo3 for some of our
bilaterals, but the interface has been described as "designed by geeks for
geeks", so our non-I.T. staff are frequently frustrated by it.

There are much simpler CMS's available that may actually do everything you
need (Mambo/Joomla comes to mind, which I've used at prior organizations)
though you may sacrifice some flexibility.  It depends entirely on your
communication needs.  And there are a huge number of commercial CMS's
available (Cascade, ADXSTUDIO, e107, Enginuity, etc.) that may provide
specific features that are lacking or unimpressive in the open source world
(though you could always develop them yourself and return them to the OSS
community!).  Finally, there are expensive all-in-one solutions such as
Convio, Kintera, Blackbaud, GetActive, etc. that blend a CMS with
fundraising, email management and ecommerce tools, all working together (and
synchronizing with your offline constituent databases).  (...and by
"expensive" I mean over $30,000, though that is may be cheaper than
enterprise solutions from Vignette, Microsoft, etc.)

You may find the following sites useful:

CMS Review -- http://www.cmsreview.com 

CMS Matrix -- http://www.cmsmatrix.org 

Nonprofit Matrix -- http://www.nonprofitmatrix.com 

Open Source CMS -- http://www.opensourcecms.com 

CMS Directory -- http://www.cmsdirectory.com 



Hope this helps.




Regards,
Tor de Vries





--

Tor de Vries, MFA
Web Producer at EngenderHealth

Phone: (212) 561-8538
Email: tdevries AT engenderhealth.org
Web: http://www.engenderhealth.org


>>> wlester AT engenderhealth.org 1/23/2006 10:36:33 AM >>>
Stan,
 
For our bilateral projects, we've been using an open source CMS called
TYPO3. While it may not be the best CMS out there, it certainly has met our
needs. Here's an example of a web site set using templates we designed with
TYPO3:
 
http://www.aware-rh.org/ 
 
http://www.typo3.com/ 
 
Now, if I were to do this again today, I would strongly consider DRUPAL or
PLONE A good friend of mine (who's tech recommendations I really respect) at
ONE/Northwest has become a PLONE guru. He has nothing but good things to say
about both products. I've attached a thread from the Riders-Tech listserv
which discusses some of the products.
 
Hope this info helps.
 
Cheers,
 
Bill Lester
 
 
 

--------------------------
 
William A. Lester
CIO/Director of Technology
EngenderHealth
440 Ninth Avenue
New York, NY 10001
(Office) 212.561.8002
(e-Mail) walester AT engenderhealth.org 
(URL) www.engenderhealth.org 
"The future is here. It's just not widely distributed yet."

>>> smierzwa AT popcouncil.org 1/20/2006 10:49:37 AM >>>

Hello.

Hope you are all are doing well.

We are beginning to evaluate content management systems for use on our web
sites at the Population Council.  We are eager to move to a full DB driven
model for managing our sites content, and I am querying this list to
determine if any of you have already undertaken such a project.  If you
have, would you please share what product and technology you selected to
provide CMS?  Are you content with the selection?  

Thank you and best regards,

Stan

Stanley J. Mierzwa
Director, Information Technology
Population Council
1 Dag Hammarskjold Plaza
New York, New York  10017
(212)339-0538
http://www.popcouncil.org 

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