OIT takes the reins for launch of new website; student reaction varies with early launch
Vice President for Information Technology Roger Rehm said today's launch date for the redesigned cmich.edu website was determined by responses from university departments who have had access to the new site since January.
“The April launch date was determined based on a number of factors," Rehm said. "The effect on university operations and the university community, as well as improved efficiency for the many university departments that have been maintaining content in the current environment and the new environment since January 2012.”
The website was rolled out over the weekend, with many pages and functions unavailable, as a soft launch before today. Those who visited the site got broken links that made it more difficult to access email, Blackboard and other functions.
Shelby Township freshman Samantha Tadros said she prefers the old CMU website over the new one and said she had difficulty trying to navigate around the new website.
“I logged on to go look at my schedule that I had made, and everything was so confusing and difficult to find,” Tadros said. “There’s hardly any links, and it’s more confusing trying to get around on the new website. The other layout was much easier to understand and navigate on.”
Grand Rapids junior Mary Redford said she was indifferent about the new website, and it might take time for her and other students to get used to the new layout.
“I’m pretty indifferent about the new one, but I liked the old one. I didn’t think there was anything wrong with it,” Redford said. “I feel like they could have done more if they were spending money to change it.”
Blue Chip Consulting Group, hired to help with the redesign, has fulfilled much of its contract, and now Central Michigan University’s Office of Information and Technology is taking a more hands-on role. Blue Chip was contracted to receive $550,000 for its work.
“There are still some things they (Blue Chip) have obligations to,” said Kole Taylor, technical writer for the Office of Information and Technology. “But as far as most of the development, it has been squared away and there is stuff we’re doing to make sure we are smooth for launch.”
Having OIT involved now is routine, Rehm said.
“It is standard operating procedure for OIT to take the lead role,” he said. “(We) direct the launch of web and application systems to ensure continuity, functionality and connections to existing systems operate correctly. Blue Chip will assist us with the launch process and provide post-launch support as required per the contract terms.”
No extra cost will occur, because OIT is involved with this phase of the website project.
“In such cases, OIT employees are temporarily reassigned from other projects on which they're engaged, do whatever work is required of them and are compensated as they would normally be based upon their existing contracts with CMU," Rehm said.
Refresher training courses are currently being offered to those who help edit and maintain CMU department pages.
“This week is a refresher course week,” Taylor said. “This is for those who (went) through a full training earlier.”
He said about 250 people will go through the training sessions and estimated about 20 people have attended the refresher training.
Taylor said the website is on a platform that is easier than the previous platform.
“Our current content management system is Ingeniux,” Taylor said. “(Now) we are using SharePoint, and it is more powerful, easier and quicker than before.”
Senior Reporter David Oltean contributed to this report.
