Architecting Enterprise Content Management: Internal and Customer-facing SolutionsBenjamin Lee, Jason Deere, Denise WilsonSenior Managers, TechnologyContinental Airlines

Introduction

Presenting two separate implementationsContinental.com customer-facing CM

How we structured metadata and workflow to reduce a 2-month content approval process to 2 daysHow SharePoint lives in the same web app space and feeds modular content to Continental.com

Continental enterprise document CMHow we developed a process to build our structure so that users can tag files with metadata so we can find them with filtered search

The Challenge: Static Content Each of 17,000 pages is updated separately

The ChallengeProblems with the Old Workflow

Serial and manual processCan’t preview till near the end No tracking, auditing, visibilityWaste of developer talent, 17,000 web filesContent “pieces” are not repurposed within site, nor to other applicationsBottom Line: Takes a long, long, long time (up to two months)

The ChallengeThe Old Workflow

Content Owner Submits New

Request or Re-opens Closed

Request

Communications Team Reviews / Creates Copy &

Selects Placements

Content Owner Review / Approves

Translation and Review

Production Team Starts

Roll to Production

Server

Request is Loaded and

Sent to Content Owner to be

Closed

Dev Team Implements New Containers and

Parameters

Third Party Review

Incomplete Unsuccessful

Changes

Production Team

Implements Request

The ChallengeWhat Led Us To SharePoint

Needed a structured Content Management System (CMS)Tried a leading, large-scale alternative ECM solution, but failed

Overly document-centricToo expensive to customize

Wealth of MS and .Net developersMS PartnershipOut of the Box: Workflows, Version History

The SharePoint SolutionThe Enterprise Vision

CMS

kiosk

co.com

email

print

Content pieces not pagesStored as simple html in ListItems

Each publication channel determines how to render

The SharePoint SolutionProblems Resolved

Teams can work in parallelContent approvers can preview how page will look as soon as content is enteredBuilt-in tracking, auditing, visibilityModular content can be repurposed and restyled to any channelBottom Line: Process now takes just a day or two to make it to production, self-serve

The SharePoint SolutionThe New Workflow

old workflow

new workflow

Content Owner Submits New

Request or Re-opens Closed

Request

Communications Team Reviews / Creates Copy &

Selects Placements

Content Owner Review / Approves

Translation and Review

Production Team Starts

Roll to Production

Server

Request is Loaded and

Sent to Content Owner to be

Closed

Dev Team Implements New Containers and

Parameters

Third Party Review

Incomplete Unsuccessful

Changes

Production Team

Implements Request

Content Owner

External Partner

Legal Marketing

MOSS Approval Workflow

SharePoint Page

Production Servers

Create / Edit / Review Content Directly from

MOSS

SharePoint/ASP.NET Merged Publication

Jason Deere & Benjamin LeeContinental.com Team

demo

The Content Management SiteUser Interface

The Content Management Site”Pieces” are Stored in List Items

/web Asset

SharePoint CQWP

Site Actions

The Content Management SiteInstant Preview

The ImplementationThe Challenges

Out of Box functionality did not meet our need for content management to co-exist with Continental.com

There was no precedent for using SharePoint in the way we envisioned it with modular contentWanted to leverage thousands of existing ASP.NET assetsHow do we merge SharePoint content publication with an existing ASP.NET application?

Merging MOSS and ASP.NETKey Points That Make This Possible

Virtual DirectoriesWhat MOSS doesn’t know, won’t hurt it

Smart routing of trafficSharing Application Code and Assemblies

App_Code/binUser controls, style sheets, etc.

External Master Page

Merging MOSS and ASP.NETWhat MOSS doesn’t know…

Virtual DirectoriesCreate under your MOSS Web Application

Merging MOSS and ASP.NETConfiguring Your SharePoint Site Structure

Key is to make your top MOSS sub-site and your virtual directory app at the same levelUnder site collection, create root sub-site in MOSS to house all “CMS” pages & content

e.g. “domain.com/cms”

What does that do for us?Can run both MOSS and the ASP.NET app on the same server, at the same time

Mirror SharePoint and ASP.NET folder structure

Merging MOSS and ASP.NETRouting Network Traffic

Router makes decision based on sub-site URL

http://domain/cms/mycms.aspx

http://domain/web/mypage.aspx

Merging MOSS and ASP.NETSharing Application Code and Assemblies

Allowing SharePoint to access existing business logic from web app

ASP.NET Files/App_Code/binweb.config

Copy from ASP.NET application folders to corresponding SharePoint folders

Merging MOSS and ASP.NETWhat You Need to Make Your External ASP.NET Master Page Work with SharePoint“Minimal” master page:<%@ Import Namespace="Microsoft.SharePoint" %>

<%@ Register Tagprefix="WebPartPages" ...%><%@ Register Tagprefix="SharePoint" ...%><%@ Register TagPrefix="PublishingSiteAction" ...%><%@ Register Tagprefix="PublishingWebControls" ...%><%@ Register Tagprefix="PublishingNavigation" ...%><%@ Register TagPrefix="PublishingVariations" ...%><%@ Register Tagprefix="PublishingConsole" ... %><%@ Register TagPrefix="wssuc" src="~/_controltemplates/Welcome.ascx" %><%@ Register TagPrefix="wssuc“ src="~/_controltemplates/DesignModeConsole.ascx" %><WebPartPages:SPWebPartManager ID="SPWebPartManager1" runat="server"/><SharePoint:RobotsMetaTag ID="RobotsMetaTag1" runat="server"/><Sharepoint:CssLink ID="CssLink1" runat="server"/><span class="siteActions“><PublishingSiteAction:SiteActionMenu runat="server"/></span><span class="siteActions“><div> <PublishingWebControls:AuthoringContainer id="authoringcontrols“ runat="server"> <PublishingConsole:Console runat="server“ /> </PublishingWebControls:AuthoringContainer></div></span>

Site Actions Menu

Merging MOSS and ASP.NET Override Master Page On Load

public class PublishingLayoutBase : PublishingLayoutPage{

protected override void OnPreInit(EventArgs e){

this.MasterPageFile = "~sitecollection/_layouts/CoCom/DefaultMasterPage.master";

}}

<%@ Page language="C#" Inherits="CoAir.CMS.Web.PublishingLayoutBase,CoAir.CMS.Web.PublishingLayoutBase,Version=1.0.0.0,Culture=neutral,PublicKeyToken=7adcdaff331ecf96" %>

<%@ Register Tagprefix="WebPartPages" Namespace="Microsoft.SharePoint.WebPartPages" Assembly="Microsoft.SharePoint, Version=12.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=71e9bce111e9429c" %>

<%@ Register Src="/web/en-US/usercontrols/MileageCalculator.ascx" TagName=“Calculator" TagPrefix=“CoAirUC" %>

<asp:Content ContentPlaceholderID="ContentInfo" runat="server"> <WebPartPages:WebPartZone runat="server"

Title="<%$Resources:cms,WebPartZoneTitle_Top%>" ID="TopColumn"><ZoneTemplate></ZoneTemplate>

</WebPartPages:WebPartZone>

<CoAirUC:Calculator ID=“Calculator" runat="server"/> </asp:Content>

Merging MOSS and ASP.NETUsing Your Master Page and User Controls in MOSS Page Layouts

Merging MOSS and ASP.NETVoila!

/web Asset

SharePoint CQWP

Site Actions

Internal Content Management: The Process

of Building the ECM StructureDenise WilsonSenior Manager, TechnologyContinental Airlines

Internal Content ManagementThe Problem Set

User e-mailed attachments as ‘workflow’

No single version of the ‘truth’Uncontrolled growth of e-mail and file sharesUsers can’t find anything or collaborate

No way to enforce record retention policy

Not searchable for compliance or security

Internal Content ManagementThe Evolution of the Solution

Started by evaluating one group in-depth

Enterprise EngineeringStandardized AD site namesStandardized machine names

Named all new sites/devices by new conventionCorrected others as projects touch the site

Internal Content ManagementThe Tools

How did SharePoint help us do this?Automated review processes with workflowStandardized Content Types and templatesExposed data in Data Form web partsNormalized data can be viewed and filteredStarted identifying anomalies and correcting them

Out of the box functionality

Automated Review ProcessSharePoint Designer Workflows

Naming StandardsResult in Normalized Docs and Devices

Standardize Content TypesGroups of metadata (site columns)

Document Information PanelDropdowns promote standardization

Display Data By Location (Filter)Before data view, had to fly engineer to

the site

Slice and Dice Normalized DataVirtual Earth

Ref: Blogs by Jon Campbell and Greg Chan of SharePoint Designer Team

Slice and Dice Normalized DataDrill Down

Understanding Collective NeedsWhat We Learned From Each Group

Continental Board Meeting MinutesManagement is distributed to content ownersSenior level employees can manage own sitesBasic site structure, training and governance

Marketing Group Airport SignageTemplates / Look and feel

Corporate Sales TeamKiosk Deployment

Technology, Marketing, Airport Services

System Operations Coordination (SOCC)

Evolution of the Process System Operations Coordination

Phase I: E-mail to document libraries‘E-mail enabled’ AD security groups Use now as DLs, later for SP securityLog e-mails sent to DLs

Phase II: Push Alerts from SharePoint Lists

Install PCs beside existing Unix workstationsExtend sites and training to remote airportsDisaster Recovery Failover to alt data center

Phase III: Integrate Mainframe Ops Data

System Operations CoordinationPhase I: E-mail enabled document

librariesPhase II: Push alerts from SharePoint Lists

Evolution of the ProcessEngineering is two of six project phases

Integration of the other four: Content types, templates, metadata, workflow

Design Proposal Summary

Engineering Work Order

Support Plan

Knowledge Base

Technology Work Request

Technology Cost Estimate

Integration of the EnterpriseBuilding Content Management Structure

Integration of the EnterpriseStructured Sites, Content Types and Metadata

Standardization Get consensus / decisions on naming standardsSelect site columns (file properties – author, date created, airport code, etc. per your needs)Develop hierarchy of content types

Continental (“Project Document”)Technology (“Technical Design”)

Engineering (“Design Proposal Summary”)Continental (“Contract”)

Technology (“Technology Contract”) IT Services (“ISP Agreement”)

Retention Basis (e.g. “Active” plus two years)Disposal Workflow

Integration of the EnterpriseStructured Sites, Content Types and Metadata

Department by Department Site CollectionsContent Types (keep it simple)Metadata (keep it simple)

Establish a platformPut your new documents here (with metadata)Then migrate from file shares (with metadata)

Distributed ModelSite owners and training

Governance

Integration of the EnterpriseRefined Search Scopes

Free-text search yields 8448 results

Integration of the EnterpriseRefined Search Scopes

Search by Content Type (Systems EWO) Yields 22 results

Continental Airlines Enterprise Content Management

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