Sitecore - A Leading Multisite CMS

New York. Phoenix. Los Angeles. Toronto. Dubai. New Delhi
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Best Practices in building multiple
large websites on Sitecore CMS

eDynamic
www.edynamic.net
Write us at: contact@edynamic.net
Call us at: 1-877-EDYNAMIC (339-6264)Presentation Overview
This presentation talks about the following aspects
Reasons for Multiple Sitecore CMS Websites
Multi-site Sitecore Implementation Lifecycle
o Planning Phase
o Build Phase
o Maintenance Phase
Multi site implementations – Typical Engagement Model and Team Structures
eDynamic’s experience in multi-site initiatives
Why select eDynamic for Sitecore implementations?
Next Steps

eDynamic
www.edynamic.net
Call us at: 1-877-EDYNAMIC (339-6264)
Several organizations today are consistently using Sitecore Content Management systems(CMS) for
building and managing multiple websites. While both, building and managing sites on Sitecore has its
own set of challenges and considerations, they remain significantly different from a single website
implementation. This paper reflects on considerations alerting organizations regarding prior, during
and after, multi-site implementations.
Reasons for Multiple Sitecore CMS Websites
Organizations that own multiple brands— such a situation can lead organizations to creating
multiple websites, with each site supporting a unique brand with its own inimitable content and
presentation.
Organizations with one brand catering to different audiences— this situation can compel
organizations to creating multiple websites wherein each site uses common content and a unique
presentation or device support.
Organizations providing private customer portals— a situation like this can coerce organizations to
potentially create hundreds, even thousands, of websites that provide common functionality and
content, while providing a selection of presentation options per individual website.
Organizations providing audience offer-specific micro-sites—a situation like this can drive the
organization to creating dozens of websites at the drop of a hat; of course there lurks the need to
remove old and add new websites quickly, each potentially with its own content and presentation.
Introduction

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Multi-site Sitecore implementations have different considerations and opportunities along the
lifecycle of the application—during all its phases; namely, planning, build and maintenance phases of
the websites. In this next section, we explore some of the best-practice considerations and
opportunities within each phase.
Key Consideration & Opportunities
1) PLANNING PHASE: The planning phase, the most pivotal to the success of any CMS
implementation project, can often be the most neglected. This is the phase were key decisions
are made that can affect the application and your organization for years.
 Roadmap
A roadmap is a common planning tool to provide a long-term perspective on the organization’s
expected capabilities, supporting technologies and staffing around internal initiatives.
An ideal roadmap should provide a clear line-of-site from concept to deployment with the objective
of alienating the guesswork as at each phase of the project. Developing a roadmap should be a
collaborative effort across business and technical stakeholders -creating common plan for the
initiative.

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Enlisted below are some of the common items identified within a roadmap:
Expected Capabilities — Driven by business requirements and objectives, capabilities need to be
thoroughly understood, for comprehending business expectations, as well as the required
technologies and architectural approach.
Supporting Technologies — Understanding the prerequisites of technology and identifying the
dependencies that require planning, forms the crux of this criterion.
Content Migration — Often existing, legacy websites moved to a new platform, like Sitecore, will
continue to possess timely, relevant content that organizations would want to move to a new
platform this migration must be planned for, within the roadmap.
Staffing — As the lifecycle for a website initiative unfolds, staffing requirements will change in
support of the planning, build and maintenance phases.

eDynamic
www.edynamic.net
Call us at: 1-877-EDYNAMIC (339-6264)Key Consideration & Opportunities

eDynamic
www.edynamic.net
Call us at: 1-877-EDYNAMIC (339-6264)Key Consideration & Opportunities
How can eDynamic be a strong partner during the Planning Phase?
When thoughtfully performed, the planning phase provides the essential foundation for the success of a
multi-site initiative. For many organizations, a single Sitecore CMS implementation provides sufficient
challenge, while a multi-site implementation provides another level of concern.
eDynamic can complement an organization’s internal team during the planning phase in several areas:
Roadmap planning — working with both business and technical stakeholders eDynamic can facilitate the
process of developing a roadmap that reflects the intent of the organization.
Technology evaluation — custom multi-site development, Sitecore Multi-site Manager, Sitecore Foundry—
making the correct decisions can be challenging! eDynamic provides a process to capture requirements,
verify the support of requirements, outline options and then develop a proof-of-concept for final
Verification of the selected technology.
Content migration strategy and execution — Developing a migration process that aligns with an
organization’s content inventory is important; while using the best approach requires the previous
experience of a partner.
Conclusion: The planning phase for a Sitecore CMS multi-site initiative is critical—partnering with a
seasoned player that has ample experience in delivering multi-site solutions on SitecoreCMS and related
technologies. In the presence of an experienced hand, the organizational so gains confidence as they plan
their roadmap.

eDynamic
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2) BUILD PHASE:
 Approach
The development approach of multiple websites on Sitecore CMS is dependent on a number of
factors, including the type of multi-site technology chosen, the planning of a multi-site
framework, and the total number and complexity of the websites. The possible approach includes
the following:
o Discrete Approach
o Holistic Approach
 Common multisite framework
The knowledge that there is a series of Web applications that must be built and deployed on Sitecore
CMS provides organizations with an opportunity. This opportunity is to build an application
framework in support of the capabilities specific to the organization, but common to all its Web
applications.
The common application framework, once developed, provides a lever to more swiftly deliver new
Web applications with radically less work and risk. Organizations reduce market time and cost of
deployment by developing such a framework that incorporates common functional elements
used by all or some of the Web applications.

eDynamic
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Here are some examples of potential opportunities of leverage. These include:
 Improved quality — reduced development and debugging
 Reduced maintenance — common code base for all applications
 Common assets — content types, controls
 Shared functionalities – pluggable framework and Information bus — leverage common back-
end integrations
eDynamic recommends the development and use of such a common framework within multi-site
projects.

eDynamic
www.edynamic.net
3) MAINTENANCE PHASE:
 Staffing Approach leveraging eDynamic’s Sitecore CMS for the Maintenance Phase: eDynamic
provides maintenance and support capabilities for Web applications utilized by both near-shore
and remote/offshore organization resources. During a retained engagement, these services are
available to customers as required to support internal customers and existing applications.
o Help desk
o Self Service
o Health Monitoring
o Service monitoring
o Application lifecycle management
o Knowledge Transfer (Service decommissioning)
 Support Packages: eDynamic provides several levels of support packages to fit needs of
customers throughout the lifecycle of applications. Though eDynamic has several common
support packages, as seen below, customers can work with eDynamic to define a package that is
customized to fit their specific needs.

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 Service Desk
o Ticket acceptance and acknowledgement
o Ticket tracking
o Reporting
o Escalation
o Contact relevant person from production engineering if emergency ticket
 Service Engineering / Production Engineering
o Ticket resolution
o Change management
o Documentation
o Release management
o Co-ordination
 Service Quality Management
o SLA adherence
o Monitor Issue recurrences
o Project forecast and Reporting.

eDynamic
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Sitecore’s mix of powerful marketing and business features, rich development support and scalability
make it the ideal solution for leading websites. From entry level to the largest enterprise class
organizations, creating and continuing to provide your visitors a compelling Web experience has
never been as easy or as exciting, serving and delighting Millions.
Sitecore partners comprise integrators, consultants, and design houses — that understand how best
to place Sitecore solutions in working more effectively than any other. Sitecore has partners in the
following countries:
Australia
Austria
Belgium
Canada
Denmark
France
Germany
Hong Kong
Hungary
Ireland
Global Sitecore Delivery Partner
 Japan
 Netherlands
 New Zealand
 Norway
 Singapore
 Spain
 Sweden
 Switzerland
 United Kingdom
 United States

eDynamic
www.edynamic.net
Multi site implementations – Typical Engagement Model:
eDynamic recommends that organizations consider two possible options:
Transactional Engagement
Retained Engagement
Internal plus outsource
Fully outsourced model
Multi site implementations – Typical Team Structures:
The team structure for a transactional or retained engagement will be similar, with the exception of the cost
and flexibility associated with a long-term retained team.
Onsite/Onshore team—a typical onsite/onshore team will minimally involve a project lead, but as projects
get more complex, could also include a business analyst and technical architect. The project lead acts as the
key contact for the customer, who coordinates all communications, manages the project and may also provide
technical consulting.
Core offshore team—the core offshore team provides all the functionality necessary for any project—
technical architecture, business analysis, Sitecore development, .NET development and web front-end
development.
Extended offshore team—the extended offshore team extends the core team with additional resources
during high-demand initiatives, while quickly shrinking back to the size of the core team when no longer
needed.
eDynamic & Multi-site Projects

eDynamic
www.edynamic.net
Experience in Multi-site Initiatives
eDynamic has been a Global Sitecore Partner & implementer of Sitecore CMS solutions since 2004. Over
the past 3 years eDynamic has delivered more than 25 Sitecore projects &has more than 15 Sitecore
clients globally. A number of these Sitecore implementations have been multi site initiatives where
eDynamic has been involved right from the Planning& Roadmap phase to Maintenance & Support.
eDynamic has successfully leveraged its onsite (local)/oshore delivery model for all these Sitecore
projects:

eDynamic
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Why Clients have been choosing eDynamic for Sitecore Implementations?
Proven Success: We have been implementing multi-site Sitecore projects successfully for Fortune
500s. Our Sitecore customer list includes New York Life, Aviva, PepsiCo among many others since 2004
Sitecore Expertise: Our expertise on Sitecore stems from our rich pool of certified Sitecore developers
& solution architects that has successfully delivered on multiple Sitecore client engagements
Cost Effective Delivery Models: Our Clients claim to have saved up to 60% in development costs with
our flexible delivery models based on local and/or offshore resources
Global Scale: We are a truly global partner with offices in the US, Canada, the Middle East & India
where we have large, certified Sitecore teams to serve you.
Content Management System (CMS) Center of Excellence: Our CMS center of excellence breeds
cutting edge research, best practices & industry leading solutions on leading CMS, Portal, Collaboration
& Intranet products
 .NET and Integration Expertise: Our Sitecore credentials are stronger than others because we also
have deep .NET development & Systems Integration capabilities that are critical for Sitecore
implementations

eDynamic
www.edynamic.net
Call us at: 1-877-EDYNAMIC (339-6264)Next Steps
1. Reach out to us for other SharePoint related material
2. Talk to our Global SharePoint experts and get a free session on
Best practices in building multiple large websites on Sitecore CMS
3. We’d love to hear from you
contact@edynamic.net
1-877-339-6264

Sitecore - A Leading Multisite CMS

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