Open Berkeley
A turnkey web platform solution for campus websites
http://open.berkeley.edu
Submitter’s name, title, and contact information
Kathleen Lu
Manager, Web Platform Services
IST – Architecture, Platforms, and Integration
UC Berkeley
2111 Bancroft Way, #501C
Berkeley, CA 94704
Phone: 510-643-3595
Names of project leader(s) and team members
Kathleen Lu
Brian Wood
Lucy Greco
Caroline Boyden
Anna Gazdowicz
David Snopek
Project Manager
Technical Lead
Web Accessibility Evangelist
Developer (Features, Consulting, Testing)
Operations, Support, Training
Developer
Tom Tsai
Bill Allison
Manager, IST-API Platform and Engineering
Director, IST- Architecture, Platforms, and Integration (IST-API)
Relevant URLs
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Open Berkeley: http://open.berkeley.edu
Web Accessibility at UC Berkeley: http://webaccess.berkeley.edu
PROJECT DESCRIPTION:
Please view a 2-minute Video on Open Berkeley at: http://open.berkeley.edu
Problem
Building a website can be a daunting challenge that requires overcoming a series of increasingly
complex technical hurdles.
Campus teams do not have the time, resources, or technical skills to build, host, and maintain
their websites.
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Solution: A turnkey web platform for campus websites.
Open Berkeley solves this problem by providing a standard web platform solution built on
Drupal with custom features developed by central IT specifically to meet campus website needs.
Campus employees with no prior web experience can use Open Berkeley’s powerful toolset to
easily build sophisticated websites that incorporate: text, images, videos, maps, slideshows,
tables, panel layouts, menus, and more.
Beyond site building, Open Berkeley provides critical solutions to ongoing Security, Accessibility,
and Maintenance issues.
Security
Open Berkeley mitigates security risks by applying best
practices in configuration, authentication, and
monitoring, and the Open Berkeley team reviews weekly
security notices, applying updates and patches to all sites
in a timely and efficient manner.
Accessibility
Open Berkeley is built with accessibility in mind: It
conforms to the UC-wide policy that campus websites
must be accessible to all members of the campus
community, including those with disabilities.
Ongoing accessibility improvements will continue to be
built into the platform as the landscape evolves.
Maintenance
One of Open Berkeley’s biggest advantages is that it
solves the frustrating and budget-busting problem of
ongoing website maintenance and support.
Custom websites are difficult to maintain because they
are typically built with different code and different
configuration. Each website is a separate maintenance
headache and expense.
With Open Berkeley, each site is built on the same stable and robust platform, allowing updates
and new functionality to easily be applied to all sites.
The Open Berkeley team manages the entire maintenance process, allowing significant
economies of scale and maximum campus savings.
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PROBLEM: Complex Lifecycle of an Open Berkeley website
Figure 1: Lifecycle of a typical campus website, demonstrating the complex, costly, and unsustainable process
SOLUTION: Simple Lifecycle of an Open Berkeley website
Figure 2: Lifecycle of an Open Berkeley website: Easy, secure, accessible, and maintainable
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PROBLEM: Campus teams unable to find anyone willing to support a custom site
(even the vendors who originally built the site!)
Figure 3: Custom websites are difficult to maintain
SOLUTION: Open Berkeley sites: Updated once in the cloud, pushed out to many
Figure 4: Open Berkeley provides a stable and robust platform with significant economies of scale
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Technology utilized in the project
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Core: Drupal, PHP, MySQL, Javascript
Additional: Panopoly, Git, Bootstrap, jQuery, Sass, Compass, Behat, Travis-CI, AWS, Docker
Deployment: Pantheon cloud web hosting (NGINX, Pressflow, MariaDB)
Timeframe of implementation
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Fall 2012: Proof of Concept
2013 - 2015: Closed Pilot
2015: General Availability
Future Roadmap:
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UC Berkeley: Roll out to campus as the standard web publishing platform
UC System: Extend the platform as a systemwide UC shared service
Higher-Ed: Share best practices with other higher-ed IT teams who have reached out to
learn "how we did it" including: University of Pennsylvania, University of British
Columbia, Oregon State University, and others
Cost Comparison
Cost Savings: External vendors charge $25,000 - $100,000+ for a single custom website, not
including ongoing maintenance and support. Open Berkeley is available to campus departments
at around $100 per month. The service includes security patches, built-in accessibility best
practices, feature improvements, and ongoing maintenance and support, allowing our customers
to dedicate resources to strategic initiatives and operational excellence instead of duplicative
work outside their area of expertise.
Campus Adoption
During the closed pilot phase, over 70 campus websites joined the Open Berkeley platform,
including key campus websites such as: Office of the Chancellor, Executive Vice Chancellor and
Provost, VC Administration and Finance, Vice Provost for the Faculty, AVC-IT and Office of the
CIO, VC Real Estate, Operational Excellence, Office of the CFO, major campus projects and
initiatives, and other administrative, academic, and student websites. Sites in-progress include
major campus teams/projects such as the Berkeley Global Campus, Educational Technology
Services, Information Security and Policy, and other IT teams and projects. The Open Berkeley
team is also partnering with University Relations and Public Affairs to roll out new branding.
Objective customer satisfaction data
"Units on campus will no longer have to build their own systems from scratch because now the campus has
something great to offer them." – Vice Chancellor, Administration and Finance
"Fantastic job on what you've accomplished with Open Berkeley. Our users absolutely love the websites and it
makes a huge difference in terms of user experience. Kudos to you!" – Enterprise Data Warehouse Manager
"Thanks for making Open Berkeley possible and providing a solution for easily developing websites with a lot
of flexibility in building content without the need for technical support." – Chief of Staff, VC Real Estate
"What awesome work! THANK YOU! Can't wait to get on board!" – Business Analyst, Office of the CIO
"Building accessibility into the platform is a major win for the campus!" – Web Director, University Relations
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