OU Campus is the leading web content management software for higher education institutions. Today, OU Campus is used to maintain more than 450 of the world's finest college and university websites.
- Enables content management using full-context WYSIWYG editing
- Facilitates easy control and maintenance of Workflow
- Allows for versioning, forms, image editing, and more
- Offers On-Demand or On-Site deployment options
OU Campus is the only web content management software designed specifically for the unique needs of colleges and universities. Full featured and scalable to fit your institution's specific needs and budget, OU Campus is used to manage more college and university websites than any other web CMS.
OU Campus dramatically simplifies the process of keeping your site up to date and consistent by offering multi-user access with built in Workflow and approval capabilities. More importantly, OU Campus provides a framework for long-term management of content on your website. Web 2.0 features, RSS, rich media management, and content repurposing using XML, XSL, and CSS help you deliver the type of website your audience expects.
OU Campus integrates easily with your existing website or newly designed website. Unlike other CMS offerings that are designed around one technology, OU Campus works with all websites no matter how they are designed or deployed, including static HTML and XHTML pages, and dynamic sites using XML, PHP, ASP, .NET, CFM, JSP and more. Best of all, OU Campus is built on open standards and is designed to stay compatible with your strategies as they evolve.
OU Campusis a full-featured web content management software that sets the standard for ease of use. Many of the great features you will find in OU Campus include:
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Separation of Content and Web Design
Perhaps the biggest driving need to use a web CMS is the need to separate content from design. OU Campus does this better than any other system on the market by giving you the flexibility to choose a rigid template structure (using XSL Templates) or a more conforming design structure using CSS and include files, or both! Your content editors will not be able to "break" your design guidelines or the integrity of your site structure. You'll be in control, and your website will benefit with a more consistent look and feel. Best of all, redesigns will be dramatically simpler when the time comes. -
Browser-Based
As a Browser-Based system, OU Campus dramatically simplifies the installation, training, and long-term support of your content contributors. No client-side installations, downloads, Java applets, or Active-X components are required by content editors or administrators of the CMS (Mac Safari users may choose to use a Java applet). OU Campus uses AJAX extensively to provide users with an extremely responsive user interface and application-like feel. -
Full-Context WYSIWYG Editor
OU Campus provides an intuitive full-context "What You See Is What You Get" (WYSIWYG) editor enabling staff at any level of technical knowledge to make website edits. Full-context means editors work with the entire page, even when they are only editing a small part of the page. This is a vast improvement over forms-based WYSIWYG editors. -
Compatible with MS Office Smart Tags
This powerful feature ensures web page consistency and clean XHTML code across all platforms by removing MSO code ("Smart Tags") when text is copied and pasted from MS Office applications like Word, PowerPoint, and Excel. -
Paste Clean
Clean all formatting (above and beyond simply removing MSO code) when users paste into your design Templates. This powerful feature helps you ensure CSS and other design level styles are always enforced. Ensure all users Paste Clean with a global configuration setting, or selectively choose who can paste using other methods. -
Spell Checking
OU Campus provides powerful, yet intuitive spell checking with automated spelling suggestions, just like your favorite word processor. -
JustEdit
JustEdit offers an optional method to more directly edit content in multiple sub-regions of a page. This great feature gives authorized power users a direct and intuitive path to edit large amounts of content quickly. -
Workflow/Approval
OU Campus offers a powerful role-based Workflow/approval system designed to fit the needs of any institution. Content is automatically checked-out to users as they edit content, and automatically checked-in when content is approved. Only after content has been approved is it published to your website. Workflow can include a chain of approvers and can be overridden by administrators, or even redirected, based on the content itself. Best of all, the Workflow/approval process has an easy point-and-click setup with no programming required. -
DirectEdit
DirectEdit makes it exceptionally easy for users to simply browse to the page they want to edit and login with one click. There is no faster or easier way to find and edit content on your website! -
Version Control
OU Campus creates a version of every page you publish. Rollback is simple with point-and-click commands. You can even commit to a new version of a work in progress whenever necessary. -
Link Checking
Ensure all internal site links and external site links are viable before publishing any page using the powerful built-in link checker. -
Multi-Platform
OU Campus offers content editors and administrators a full complement of WYSIWYG editing capabilities to both Windows and Macintosh clients using Microsoft Internet Explorer, Netscape, Mozilla, Firefox, and Safari browsers. -
Multi-Site
Manage as many sites as necessary with OU Campus, including multiple virtual sites or multiple sites served from multiple (and different) platforms. Content from all Unix, Windows, and even Macintosh-served websites can be managed together. Manage public sites, intranets, microsites and landing pages for marketing events all in one system, or separate each for independent management control. -
Multi-Channel Publishing
Publish content using XML and the power of XSL to multiple channels, such as XHTML (web), XML (feeds and data exchange), CSV (spreadsheets and lists), TXT (raw text), PDF (or other printable formats), and even WML and other formats designed for mobile devices. OU Campus can even repurpose content that feeds your institution's social networking sites on FaceBook and MySpace. -
Automatic Navigation
OU Campus provides for automatically created navigation, such as breadcrumbs and other navigation elements on pages, or within includes that are then shared by multiple pages and automatically propagated across wide areas of the website. -
Groups-Based Access
Easy to set up and administer, OU Campus offers a powerful groups-based access system to allow the right people to edit the right pages. Partial-page editing and "selective content" editing offers fine-grain level of access to specific parts of pages. And, users can belong to multiple groups for maximum flexibility. -
Scheduled Publishing
Content can be published immediately (without any delay), or scheduled to be published at the exact time and date required (within 15 minute increments). -
Publish Now
Pages can be published immediately (or the moment they are approved if necessary). No waiting for scheduled events—pages can be published the moment you're ready for them to "go live". Publishing entire directories and entire sites can also be performed immediately. -
Content Expiration
Content can automatically "expire" or be removed from the site at a date and time specified (within 15 minute increments). Expired content can be removed completely, replaced with new content, and even redirected to other content on the website. -
Scheduled Reminders
Content can be easily configured to "remind" someone that it's time for an update. This powerful feature helps keep time-sensitive content up to date and accurate. -
Email Notification
The Workflow/approval process triggers email notifications to approvers requesting appropriate action. These customizable email messages include a direct link back to the exact content requiring approval. -
User Dashboard
The user Dashboard provides immediate information to users for Workflow and other notifications, along with preferences so each user can customize their experience in the system. -
Content Repurposing and Reuse
Content can be configured to be repurposed or "reused" on various parts of the website. OU Campus makes it easier than ever to make global changes and changes to content used in multiple places. Better still, you decide if repurposed content includes formatting information or conforms to the styles set forth on each target page. This feature is ideal for headers, footers, and other commonly reused content. -
Custom Meta Tagging
Manage all standard HTML page properties and meta tags, and create and manage custom meta tags (compliant with Dublin Core) for specific purposes. -
Scalability
OU Campus can scale with your institution as your content needs grow. Redesigning to comply with accessibility requirements? Adding new web systems or services? OU Campus can provide the framework that will make it all possible. -
Video and Multimedia Insert
Easily insert, modify, and configure video, flash, and other media files on your website. -
File Upload and Management
OU Campus allows users to upload and manage any file type. Files can be uploaded individually or in batch and can be stored in any folder, according to your needs. -
Multi-Browser Preview
Preview edited pages before publishing and see what they will look like in other browsers (e.g. FireFox Windows, FireFox Mac, Safari, and Internet Explorer). -
Full-Page HTML Access
For those who need access, full HTML editing is available with line numbers and color tag display. -
Forms Creation and Editing
Create and edit forms using simple WYSIWYG tools. Simple fields, radio buttons, drop-down lists, and checkboxes tools are all as easy as one click. Need the form data submitted to a file, email, or database? You control what happens to the data that's submitted. -
Styles Management
Configure style drop-down menus to be used globally and create unique style menus for individual pages. Eliminate certain WYSIWYG editing tools for specific functions to ensure your drop-down styles are the only formatting used by content editors. -
Granular Feature Assignments
Eleven standard user levels are provided by OU Campus. Additionally, each user can be assigned a unique set of editing functions, either by deleting default functions or by adding others, to ensure that your content editors have the right set of tools. -
New Page Wizards
Make it easy for users to create new pages based upon pre-determined Templates by scripting New Page Wizards. New Page Wizards walk users through steps and create all necessary components for new pages (include files, style sheets, etc). Custom input fields can include text, WYSIWYG, drop-down selectors, and more. Commonly added pages such as events and press releases can be created quickly and easily with auto-populating fields, and pages can be automatically named, placed in the appropriate directory, and automatically linked. -
Compatibility
OU Campus works with your site, no matter what markup or scripting language it uses (HTML, XHTML, XML, ASP, CFM, JSP, PHP, etc.), and grows with your institution as its needs evolve. -
Code Compliance and Accessibility
OU Campus helps ensure your site publishes XHTML code compliant with W3C standards to improve browser compatibility and Search rankings. ADA Section 508 Compliance can be ensured with strict Templates, structured Editable Regions, and image description enforcement. -
Friendly URLs
OU Campus publishes file names and URL paths the way you want them. Search engine and human friendly URLs are a hallmark of the OU Campus system. -
Tracking
OU Campus creates an Audit Trail of important actions, such as when pages were last edited or published and by whom. Reporting is simple with point-and-click commands. -
Security
OU Campus uses SSL, SSH, LDAP (both SSL and TLS) and SFTP to ensure your login authentication, file transfers and page publishing are safe and secure. -
Single Sign On
Using the CAS single sign on system developed at Yale University, OU Campus makes user login and user management simple and painless. -
Robust APIs
OmniUpdate provides a rich set of APIs to allow your development team a means to control and extend OU Campus functionality and integrate the power of your web CMS with other systems on campus. -
Add-On Extensibility
Add web applications, such as polling applications and faculty or course catalog database administration, directly into OU Campus without programming. -
Comprehensive Help System with Video Tutorials
On-line and contextual help systems guide users and administrators through comprehensive tutorials and reference materials. Video tutorials that enhance the learning experience are also available for specific functions. -
User Conferences and Workshops
Because OU Campus enjoys a rich community of college and university users, we invite you and your administrative staff to take advantage of our annual user conference and series of workshops. To learn more, visit our events page.
General Specifications
- OU Campus is a "push" style web content management software, meaning it does not act as a middleman in the web page serving process. Running separate from your website ensures higher website availability, no down-time for upgrades or service modifications, and the ability to service multiple separate website installations (on separate servers) with one instance of OU Campus.
- OU Campus can manage static HTML pages, XHTML pages, as well as dynamically driven websites (XML, ASP, CFM, PHP, etc.). The system is configurable to manage only the sections and pages of your website ready for web content management (the system does not require "all or nothing" deployment). Pages out of scope with your web content management needs or pages that are managed by other processes can be excluded from OU Campus. Moreover, sections of pages, server-side includes, or other dynamic elements within pages can be excluded from the web CMS if they are serviced by other processes.
Server Specifications
- OU Campus can be deployed as either an On-Demand or On-Site solution. Either way, your institution's websites remain hosted where they are physically hosted today. Unlimited physical and virtual web servers can be supported with one deployment.
- On-Demand deployment requires no software installation and has several advantages, including no application installations, no software upgrades or maintenance, pay-as-you-go cost structure and no software installation fees. Moreover, the cost savings for the On-Demand service are typically substantial from day one. As a result, more than 95% of OmniUpdate clients take advantage of the On-Demand service. OU Campus can be used to manage websites served by Windows 2000/NT/IIS, Linux, Unix, Sun/Solaris, HP/HP-UX, SGI/IRIS and IBM/AIX, BSD, or Macintosh OS. The web server can also be hosted by a third party hosting service provider. The website can be configured to serve static pages or dynamic files from server-side environments running PHP, Cold Fusion, ASP, .NET, JSP, and many more. In fact, OU Campus is flexible enough to handle all of the above mentioned web server environments simultaneously giving you a great level of long-term flexibility and scalability.
- On-Site deployment conforms to all of the above mentioned server specifications and can be installed on a variety of server environments, including Linux, Solaris, and Windows.
Client Specifications
- OU Campus users and administrators require no client-side software other than a web browser. Windows, Macintosh, and Linux client configurations are all supported. Minimum requirements for Windows users include Microsoft Windows 95, 98, 2000, XP, and Vista with Microsoft Internet Explorer (version 6.0 or higher is recommended) or Firefox. Minimum requirements for Macintosh users include Macintosh OS 9 or OS X with Firefox or the Apple Safari browser. Minimum requirements for Linux users include any Linux desktop client supporting Firefox 1.5 or higher.
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OU Blogs
Blogs are the hottest user-created Web 2.0 communication trend. OU Blogs helps you manage multiple blogs and maintain control of the content.
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DocuComp
See exactly what's changed on a web page before publishing. Perfect for any workflow approval process.
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LDAP
Ensure your web CMS uses the same account login credentials as other systems on campus.
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OU Search
Help your users find the content they want by controlling and customizing searches on your website.
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RSS
Automatically update RSS feeds whenever new pages are created. RSS allows you to syndicate important information on your website to keep your students and prospective students up to date.
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Next Steps
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