The Centre for Information Technology belongs under the Education and Youth department of the Municipality of Copenhagen. The centre’s task was to source, run and develop IT solutions for the department, Copenhagen’s high schools, schools, free-time/youth clubs and a range of other service institutions.
The Centre for Information Technology belongs under the Education and Youth department of the Municipality of Copenhagen and has the task of supporting the institutions within the Municipality of Copenhagen in different ways. One of the initiatives has been to develop a website solution, where all daycare facilities in the Municipality can have a website, which partly has its own, but shares a common identity. The goal was that 2 employees should be able to manage the solution and that every pedagogue can be taught the system. The solution has been a giant success and today is known as Sitecore Foundry.
In cooperation with the Centre for Information Technology and Designalize, Pentia has conceived the concept that became the Institution’s solution (and today has become the product Sitecore Foundry).
The Institution’s solution is based on Sitecore CMS and offers the possibility to have a wide range of websites in the same Sitecore solution, all using the same base design and functionality. This means that the Municipality can ensure that their institutions partly have a common graphic profile but are still different; but at the same time have a range of good functions that the institutions can utilize.
One of the most significant factors in the project has been that it should be user friendly for the pedagogues that should update and design the web sites. It has gone so well that today it is enough to give ½ a day’s training to the staff and a user guide and they are capable of building and maintaining the website.
The websites individual design is controlled by a Wizard. Again usability has been of the highest priority so it is possible for everyone to design an Institution website. The Wizard contains the possibility to choose between a wide range of different images and colours that are used across the website. Advanced users can upload images themselves.
The solution contains a wide range of user-friendly functions, that can be made secure so anonymous users cannot see them. They include:
- Activity calendar, where there is the possibility to announce activities and register. Also there are closed calendars reserved for specific user groups.
- Image series where users can upload an image series of, for example, a trip to the woods.
- Document lists to present documents for download
- Newsletter that can be used to send newsletters to subscribers.
- News lists that are used to present news on the website.
- And much more…
Seen in a larger perspective, the institutions solution was such a large success and the possibilities of use were far greater than just for institutions. Therefore Pentia chose to make it into a product that today is called Sitecore Foundry. Sitecore Foundry is targeted towards large organizations that have a requirement for a wide range of websites, which have a common graphical appearance, but also graphical variations. Today Sitecore Foundry is used by among others:
- Københavns Kommune, Center for Informatik
- Helsingør Kommune
- Københavns Kommune, Borgerrepræsentation
- Fødevareministeriet
- American Boy Scouts