Ball State was among the first universities in the nation to adopt a web content management system (CMS) to maintain its website. A widespread rollout of the Vignette CMS began in 1999. In fall 2007, the university began implementation of Sitecore. The new system offers more up-to-date tools for web authors, is easier to use, and offers better compatibility with the university’s existing technology infrastructure and planned development.

A CMS allows large numbers of web authors (Ball State has more than 700) to maintain web properties and provide a consistent look and feel throughout. Ball State's website is maintained for the most part by individual departments in coordination with University Marketing and Communications. At least one person within a department is assigned to update the department's web content.

Although Ball State currently uses two CMS programs, Vignette is the CMS being gradually phased out. Sitecore is the CMS that all academic and administrative units are required to use for managing web content. While much work has been done on Ball State's site redesign and the Sitecore CMS, there are still a few features in Vignette that must still be incorporated into the new design and CMS. Until then, many users continue to update some aspects of their sites with Vignette.

If you have questions, please contact us.