The Power of Drupal and Alfresco Together

Transform Your IntranetWhy clients are excited about combining Drupal and Alfresco
15 September 2009
Jeff Potts, Sr. Director, ECM
Blog: http://ecmarchitect.com
Twitter: jeffpotts01
Chris Fuller, Technical Architect
Blog: http://www.optaros.com/blog/cfuller
Twitter: cfuller

Agenda
What’s Wrong with your Intranet?
What Can Drupal & Alfresco Do Together?
Activision: Drupal + Alfresco Case Study
How Does it Work?
Q&A

What we’re hearing
We need to re-do our intranet. Can you help?
Of course. But what’s wrong with the one you’ve got?
(See if any of the following typical answers fit your organization)

It’s too expensive
What’s wrong with your current intranet?
Credit: paopix

It’s not compelling from a UX perspective

It’s not flexible enough
Credit: spursfan_ace

Not to rush to the punch line, but…

Cost
Commercial support
Self support
Presentation
Drupal
Acquia
Alfresco Community
Alfresco Enterprise
Repository
Free
Cheaper than SharePoint
Cost

User Experience

Flexibility
Powerful Presentation Framework
Enterprise Repository
Loosely Coupled
Thousands of modules to choose from
Easy to theme
Fast, efficient development model
Multiple ways to update content
Robust business process engine
Extensible content model

Effective intranets
Embrace continuous improvement, perpetual beta
Are fun to use
Engaging user experience
Content that helps me get my job done
Make things easy to find
Align with key strategic initiatives of the business
Make it easy to publish
Facilitate connections
Between people
Between teams
Between projects
Can be assembled from Open Source components
And shouldn’t cost 7 figures to implement

Agenda
How Does it Work?
Q&A

Drupal – Convenience and Impact
What Does Drupal Bring to the Table?
Purpose-built community platform
4000+ open source modules for a wide range of features
Huge developer community
Infinitely customizable user interface
Easy-to-use content management tools
Integration with Enterprise systems
Existing intranet distributions, such as Open Atrium
Commercial Enterprise support from Acquia
Enterprise Integration
Single-Sign-On
LDAP
Active Directory
NTLM
CAS
Search
Lucene
Endeca
Google Search Appliance
Acquia Hosted Search
ECM
Alfresco
Other CMIS providers
Drupal Overview

Comments
Drupal Features

Forums
Drupal Features

Polls
Drupal Features

Rich User Profiles
Drupal Features

Drupal Features
Content Management
Easy-to-use interface
Powerful taxonomy
Web Content Management workflow tools
Robust content promotion tools
Role-based content management
Community
Comments
Polls
Forums
Calendars and Events
Wiki
Microblogging
Rich user profiles
Social Graph
Drupal Overview

Drupal – Flexible Interface
Drupal Interface

Alfresco – Enterprise Content Services
Fast, flexible, modular user interface
Presentation Tier
Open, scalable repository, metadata, versioning, workflow
?
Content Services Tier
Core
Multiple, disparate front-ends
Multiple content repositories
Enterprise Apps Tier
Scripting language on the front-end and Java on the back-end is a proven pattern. Drupal provides the UI while Alfresco provides core content services.
Many organizations have multiple front-ends that need to get to the same enterprise content store.
Organizations may have multiple CMIS repositories, maybe from different vendors.
?

Agenda
How Does it Work?
Getting Started

Case Study
Activision Blizzard Intranet

User Interface

Enterprise Search
Comprehensive search
Search includes both Drupal and Alfresco content in a single query that honors permissions.

User Management
Integrated with Directory
Leveraging both Drupal and Alfresco ability to integrate with LDAP for user management and permissions.

Document Management
Alfresco for DM
Drupal interface for adding documents & content to the Intranet. Alfresco provides storage, workflow, and security.

Agenda
How Does it Work?
Q&A

How?
Key Ingredients
Acquia Drupal for community features, UI and WCM
Alfresco for workflow and secure document management
Drupal CMIS API module
Drupal CMIS Alfresco module
Any of the additional Drupal modules necessary to meet requirements

More about the integration module
Open Source
http://www.drupal.org/project/cmis_alfresco (GPLv2)
100% CMIS
Requires no install on the Alfresco tier
Raw capabilities
Persist web content in Alfresco
Create Drupal content from Alfresco via CMIS Sync
Upload binary files into Alfresco via Drupal
Attach binary files, created in Alfresco, to Drupal content
Execute CMIS and OpenSearch queries
Provides support for additional CMIS repositories

Implementation
The CMIS module is an enabler, but there's still work you have to do...
Find senior leadership support and other champions
Create an adoption plan
Design UI
Determine integration points (SSO, search, LDAP, etc.)
Create a security model
Determine additional contributed/custom Drupal modules to meet requirements
Create an Alfresco content model and decide on storage hierarchy
Implement business processes as Alfresco workflows
Credit: veruus

Alfresco & Drupal: What If They Mated?
In summary

Hip, popular framework
Flexible presentation layer
Fast, clear development model
Strong community focus
When you combine the strengths of Drupal…
Dries Buytaert, Drupal founder

Enterprise-class repository
Strong commercial ECM credibility/lineage
Best-in-class openness, programmability
…with the power of Alfresco…
John Newton, Alfresco CTO

…you get something better.
Compelling presentation framework
Tons of community features that can be easily added and built upon
Hierarchical document storage
Enterprise-class workflow
Decoupling of the front-end from the back-end with an open standard in-between

About Optaros – Solutions for Media & Ecommerce
Optaros delivers each client a tailored roadmap of Assembled Web solutions to achieve their business objectives.
Multiple projects including user experience design for American Idol, currently designing new Ecommerce storefront for Fox Entertainment.
Dynamic customer-facing portal and content management system assembled in 13 weeks from concept to completion
ReplatformedPGATourfrom CBS to CNN/Turner infrastructure in 14 weeks. Payback: 10 months on ad sales
Stellent Migration to Alfresco Surf for DAM; Alfresco+Drupal Intranet; National Sales Portal for new sales team
How we work with our clients
Work jointly and transparently with client teams
Turn ideas into implementable blueprints
Commit contractually to deliver on time, on budget
Design Web 2.0 user experiences
Iteratively assemble open source software
Support the solution

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The Power of Drupal and Alfresco Together

by Jeff Potts

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