Project History

UWM's CMS project began in April 2004 with the formation of a core service team. Currently, the project is in the campus rollout phase, identifying early adopters to migrate existing Web sites to UWM's CMS using a Call for Proposals process.

February 2007 – CMS Informational Web site launched

Web site (www.cmsinfo.uwm.edu) serves as a resource for information, including project updates, training materials and resources.

January 2007 – Redesigned UWM homepage

Homepage and associated sub pages launched. All newly-designed UWM pages are hosted in the new CMS environment. Templates were developed for use by other campus Web sites using CMS.

October & November 2006 - Subcommittee team work continues

Technical aspects of CMS are investigated and CMS is used in redesign of UWM homepage and other selected Web pages; CMS information Web site is developed; Call for Proposals documentation is written

Communications team (led by Wendy Luljak) : create communications plan and the develop/launch CMS informational Web site

Training team (led by Ericka Mendez): develop training and documentation

September 2006 – Subcommittees formed

Administration team (led by Michael Hostad) : develop project timeline, launch sequence and examine faculty and student use of UWM's CMS

August 2006 – CMS fundamentals training

Various members of the implementation team participated in a fundamentals training seminar conducted by PaperThin. The goal was to familiarize the team with the operational features of UWM's CMS.

July 2006 – CMS Implementation team formed

With representatives from schools, colleges, units and departments, the team was charged with developing a plan to roll out UWM's CMS to the campus.

July 2006 – Server configuration and initial software installation completed

There were no "red flags" during the system installation and UWM's CMS software was found to be compatible with the UWM IT environment.

April 2006 – CMS purchased

After analysis and demonstrations a CMS (known as CommonSpot developed by a company called PaperThin) was purchased.

January 2006 – RFB (Request for Bid) completed

Requirements were generated from looking at systems currently in the marketplace, consulting Gartner resources and discussing CMS applications with universities around the country.

June 2004 – Core service team begins to investigate content managements systems

With limited resources, time constraints and a clear need for a campuswide CMS, the team turned its attention to gathering information about content management systems and selecting a CMS.

April 2004 – Core service team formed

Initial efforts of the team were focused on gathering information about how individuals/units were managing their Web sites. It was determined that this type of assessment could best be done by an outside consultant; however, lack of funding prevented the hiring of a consultant.

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