Get started with WCMS

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Overview

Indiana University's Web Content Management System (WCMS) is a web application called Cascade CMS by Hannon Hill. The WCMS is a web development environment that publishes static web content to the web hosting environment of your choice. The WCMS is provided free of charge to all IU departments, faculty, staff, and student groups who have a full-time faculty or staff administrative sponsor.

Note:
In order to access the WCMS, you will need to be on an IU network or connected to the IU VPN.

Before you request a site

  1. Confirm you are using an IU network or can connect to the IU VPN.
  2. Complete the Website Request Form before completing the Blank Site Request form. You will receive a Website Request ID, which you will need for the Blank Site Request form.
  3. Request a group account.
  4. Establish an account with a website hosting environment such as IU's Linux hosting (Sitehost) or IU's Windows hosting (WHE).
  5. Direct a virtual hostname to your hosting environment.
  6. Obtain the IU Network username of an Administrative Sponsor (full-time faculty or staff) who will assume responsibility for the content published to the web and all activities within the WCMS. The Administrative Sponsor is ultimately responsible for the account and its use but is not necessarily the main contact or the primary webmaster.
    Note:
    Student groups can use the WCMS to manage and publish university-related web content as long as their Administrative Sponsor is a full-time faculty or staff member and assumes responsibility for the account and its use.
  7. Obtain the IU Network username of the Site Manager. The Site Manager must be different than the Administrative Sponsor and is often the main contact or primary webmaster. One exception would include faculty requesting an account and site for personal university use.
  8. Review the WCMS Terms of Use.
Important:
Only Public and University-internal data are suitable to be stored in the WCMS. Restricted and Critical data cannot be stored in the WCMS. For definitions of Public, University-internal, Restricted, and Critical data, see Classification levels of institutional data. Federal and state protected data, human subjects research data, and passwords cannot be stored in the WCMS. For more about data classifications, see About sensitive data at IU.

Determine the type of site

WCMS user accounts are associated with WCMS sites. Each WCMS site has an Administrative Sponsor and a Site Manager. For access to a specific site, contact its Site Manager; to identify a Site Manager, contact sct2@iu.edu.

There are three types of sites you can request:

  • A blank or empty site where you can create content from scratch.
  • A copy of an existing site where you can build on previous work or use a unique framework.
  • An IU Web Framework site using branding and assets provided by Indiana University.

Make the request

This is document bhis in the Knowledge Base.
Last modified on 2024-04-03 16:51:15.