PROMOTING THE USE OF NEW TECHNOLOGIES
Universidad Jorge Tadeo Lozano is a private Colombian university headquartered in the city of Bogotá.
BACKGROUND:
The University did not have technological tools and services to facilitate the administration of its websites and the production and updating of its digital content. The tools used did not allow the implementation of an organized publication process where different actors could be involved and from which standardization guidelines and an information architecture aligned with the University's integral digital presence strategy could be established.
After conducting an analysis of the technological support situation for the University's web services and in order to guarantee the success of the implementation of the Tadeo Digital strategy, the need arose for a content management platform and associated consulting and technological services that would guarantee its uninterrupted maintenance and operation.
WHY WAS DRUPAL 7 CHOSEN?
The University carried out an evaluation of content management platforms that best suited its needs and, in particular, the strategy of the Tadeo Digital project. The evaluation was carried out taking into account criteria of ease of use, technological robustness, support or consulting services and costs.
From the evaluation it was concluded that of all the platforms and services evaluated and according to the established criteria, the one that best suited the needs of the University was Drupal 7 given the relationship of greater robustness and greater ease of use.
PROJECT DESCRIPTION (GOALS, REQUIREMENTS, OUTCOME)
OBJECTIVES:
Jorge Tadeo Lozano University developed the Tadeo Digital project, which was aimed at encouraging the use and exploitation of new technologies and digital languages as the main tool for information, communication and interaction with the Tadeo Community, the country and the world.
The overall objective of the project was to give Tadeo a digital presence by turning its websites into the main entrance to its services, products and online content in order to position and facilitate interaction with the community and the world.
To achieve these objectives, other specific objectives were set out:
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Make Tadeo's website the main means of communication to publicize its principles, strengthen its identity, create a sense of belonging and position the brand.
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Provide access to its services, academic offerings, and scientific and artistic production in an agile and modern way.
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To turn the institutional website into the means through which the institutional and personal achievements of the Tadeist Community are recognized and valued.
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Promote digital academic production and facilitate its referencing at a national and international level.
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Take advantage of new technologies to generate a participatory and collaborative community that builds knowledge for the benefit of society.
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Promote the academic offerings of each faculty and program, their differentiators, values, methodologies and the quality of their teaching and research staff.
RESULT:
After a structured definition process, we entered the development phase, in which all the necessary components were integrated, as well as the strategy for the use of Drupal 7 as the content manager, essential for handling large loads of information, as was necessary in this case.
Among the main features that were included were the dynamic structures that helped to give a better management of the portal to the administrators, favoring in great proportion the generation of microsites. This helped considerably to give more versatility to the creation of urls and advertising banners.
As for the modules, we can highlight that they were managed based on a flexible programming standard that allows a complete adaptability to the needs of the University. Of course, we cannot leave aside one of the most important, the one that manages all the part of massive mailings and "newsletter". It is important to highlight that this generated greater freedom in the storage of the institution's databases.
In the topic of information collection and migration, it should be noted that it evolved to be much more dynamic among the nodes, thus purifying internal processes and content with greater speed.
The attention between end users helped to decentralize the information, thus giving the necessary permissions for the generation of content in a simpler and more intuitive way. All this is framed in the great capacity offered by the Drupal CMS.
The leaders of the project at Jorge Tadeo University say the following:
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We use the Drupal 7 distribution that was created in SeeD (SeeD Dist alpha5).
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One of the most strategic points of the Tadeo Digital project has been the collection of very clear and detailed information by the people involved in the project so that this translates into functionalities and types of content relevant to users.
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Very dynamic and flexible structures have been implemented within the portal, which has facilitated the creation of microsites, landing pages and advertising banners.
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The modules generated handle a programming standard that allows to adapt to the dynamism desired in the portal.
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One of the things that has attracted the attention of end users is the ability to decentralize information, giving everyone the necessary permissions to generate content in a very simple and intuitive way.
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One of the most active modules and one that has made a big difference compared to the previous platform is the newsletter module, a very complete module that allows them to customize newsletters or use pre-established templates and be in permanent contact with the student community.
For Jorge Tadeo Lozano University it has been a fundamental change in the orientation of its digital strategy and Drupal has become a great ally in this change.