How we are creating consistency of brand, responsiveness, and accessibility in our WordPress Multisite

1. From Grassroots to
Enterprise CMS
Howwearecreatingconsistencyofbrand,
responsivenessandaccessibility
Kimberly Charles, Director of Digital Communications

2. Team Red

3. The Journey Begins
UIC.edu
UIC.edu Launch
The brand goes digital
Aug. 2015Brand Launch
Introducing the
Red Circle Mark
Dec. 2014
+

6. Building an Ecosystem
Image by Pixo

7. Work From Proven Success
Publish.uic.edu
2012
Red WordPress
Multisite
2016
Red • Build from the ground up
• Expandable & Flexible
• Add controls for Brand;
Responsiveness; Usability;
and Accessibility
Builditand...

8. WordPress
Database
Red Setup
PatternlabTimber Twig/Stylus
HTML
sent to user
Theme PHP
Gulp

9. Build Pipeline
Bitbucket Vagrant
Chef recipes
Jenkins Server
Master
Branch
Vagrant
Vagrant

10. Fixed yet
Flexible
Consistent Use of
Navigation
Standard Footer
Flexible Content

11. Style Options – Header & Footer

12. Style Options – Header & Footer

13. Color options

14. Flexible
Pages
Page templates
• Section Landing pages
• Default
• News
• Events
• Directory
• Contact
Specialty pages
• Home
• Splash

15. Structured Page Creation

16. Structured Post Types

17. Supporting content management

18. Supporting content management

19. Supporting content management

20. Supporting content management

21. Build it and …
Nov. 2016
1st
SITE
Content Workshop
June 2016
Support
Users
Start with Easy Wins
We worked with previous
WP Champions
Go the extra mile
2017
Find
More
Allies

22. Have Difficult Conversations
April 2017
1st
College
Site
CUPPA.UIC.EDU
Money Talks
Feb. 2017
DEAN’S
COUNCIL
It’s Official
May 2017
Provost
Memo

23. With Great Power*
Comes Great Responsibility
Phase I deadline:
July 1 2019
August 2017
Deadline
Set
Discuss Obstacles,
Needs, Timeline
August 2017
Provost
meeting
Requirements &
define Phase I
June 2017
Survey
& Scope
Informed
decision making
June 2017
Advisory
Committee
Nov. 2017
*Admin Support
Project Manager

24. COMMUNICATION IS KEY
Executive
updates

25. COMMUNICATION IS KEY
Monthly
Meetings

26. COMMUNICATION IS KEY
Red
Website

27. COMMUNICATION IS KEY
Red
Website

28. COMMUNICATION IS KEY
Red
Website

29. Project Plan, Scope & Requirements
✓ Scheduled and facilitated Functionality Request review meetings with all 23 in-scope units
✓ Compiled 200+ functionality requests
✓ Grouped requests into 44 overall request categories (duplicate/similar requests, etc)
✓ Documented the initial list of unit “Needs” and “Wants”
✓ Established a list of 145 URLs that are in-scope for this phase of the project
CVC Deans Committee

30. Becoming Agile
The beginning of a
beautiful partnership
July 2018
DC
+
ACCC
Sure!
Wanna try Agile?

31. Gaining Traction
Sept. 2018
Education
Oct. 2018
Investment in Red
Nursing
Dec. 2018
Technical
Debt

32. Build Pipeline
Bitbucket Vagrant
Chef recipes
Jenkins Server
Master
Branch
Vagrant
Vagrant

33. Git Flow Build Pipeline
Git Lab
Chef recipes
Jenkins Server
Master
Branch
Dev Branch
Deploy /
Pre-approved
Branch
Docker
Feature
Branch

34. Realizing Benefits of Single Platform
• GDPR Cookie Banner
• Emergency Communications

35. Dec. 2018
Business
Feb. 2019
Deans
Feb. 2019
Student
Affairs
Feb. 2019
Dev.
Workshop
Expanding the
Development
Community
Steady Growth
A little competition
is a good thing

36. Sprint to the Finish Line
July 1, 2019
June 2019
Social
Work
June 2019
HR
June 2019
Public
Health
July 2019
Grad
July 2019
Engineering
July 2019
Pharmacy

38. Current Status
✓ 18 of the 23 in-scope units are on Red
✓ 11 of our 15* Colleges
✓ 294 sites total on Red
✓ Completed 485 issues in Jira

39. What does success look like?

40. Phase II
UI/UX brainstorming
• Mobile first design
enhancements
• Identify next sites to migrate
• Survey new needs
• Revisiting queue
• Reimagining phonebook and
profile posts
Technical brainstorming
• Refactor code
• Cloud Hosting
• Microservices
• Content as a Service
• Authentication and
Authorization
• Building developer community

41. QUESTIONS
Feedback:
https://2019.wpcampus.org/feedback/from-grassroots-to-enterprise-cms-how-we-are-creating-
consistency-of-brand-responsiveness-and-accessibility/
Contact: kbaxa@uic.edu | https://www.linkedin.com/in/kicharles/