Houston Community College (HCC)
Customer Story Video
Transforming HCC's Online Presence into a Dynamic Gateway to Higher Education
- Industry: Education
- Technology: Vignette Content Management, Vignette Portal
- Live site: www.hccs.edu
Houston Community College is one of the largest community college systems in the country. Since opening in 1971, it has trained 1.3 million students in various associate and technical degree programs. With campuses in every corner of Houston serving over 60,000 students, HCCS has been providing education to those who need an alternative solution to attending a major University.
The Challenge
In their vision statement, Houston Community College promises to be "the most RELEVANT community college in the country." But no matter what strides were taken to hire top-notch faculty, expand degree plans and course offerings and open new campuses, the Houston Community College System (HCCS) Web site was failing miserably to communicate any of this. Their ten year old Web site was a jumble of outdated information, user-unfriendliness, and inconsistent branding. In 2006, a complete overhaul to the IT infrastructure was undertaken. Top priority was improving the student online services to remain competitive with other institutions.
The Goal
First, more than a decade's worth of deeply rooted organic Web growth needed to be sorted out; over the years, new functionality had been added without regard to past classifications and enhancements where built on top of quick fixes. Additionally, no consistent business practices had been established on content creation. There was no solid plan laying out who was responsible for posting what and where, and more importantly, when that content was to be removed once it became outdated. Additionally, broken links littered the site. Vignette technology had been purchased a year before, but had never been implemented. The overhaul team jumped at the opportunity to tap this powerful resource. An ambitious HCCS Portal Project was begun, with the goal of providing access to educational opportunities and services anywhere, anytime in order to facilitate the achievement of students' lifelong learning goals.
The Solution
To help create an implementation plan, HCCS tapped Global Times, Inc. (GTI) and Xpediant Solutions Group, Ltd. (XS), one of Vignette's most experienced professional services partners. After exploration and assessment, the cross-functional team set streamlining enrollment as its first and primary aim. An error-free and efficient process would go a long way to impress current and potential students.
Vignette's Content Management and Portal software would enable HCCS to:
- Support a worldwide brand through Web-standard style management
- Dramatically increase the number of business owners managing their own content through decentralized content management
- Support a framework to which content can be added over time while maintaining a student-centric navigation and content experience
- Support HCCS's business processes and changes to those processes in a dynamic Web environment
The Results
The new HCCS.edu site was launched to great fanfare after six months of work. Students immediately noticed a difference and praised it. Additionally, even the most technology-wary members of the HCC staff were won over by the new system, and content chiefs were ready to ensure that they kept their sections updated and valuable to users.
Full Story
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Customer Story: Houston Community College |