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| Vol. 5 February 2003 | |
| Newsletter Archives |
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#1 Secret for Keeping Your Website Current
We conducted a search and had our most experienced programmers perform a 6-month test on multiple solutions. We've identified several excellent Content Management Systems (CMS) and hope our learning experience will be helpful to you. Here are our findings:
Defining the Terms
The emergence of CMS software is the latest in the continuing evolution of the World Wide Web. It is the next step in separating site structure from design and maintenance. If you don't use one yet or are ready to trade up, here's what we have found: Spending on a CMS can be likened to buying a car - do you want a Yugo or a Cadillac? Like cars, CMSs come in many shapes and sizes: They can be small and simple or extensive and complex. They range from $300,000 for enterprise-wide systems to $43,000 per server processor for Microsoft's CMS to almost free. Some you purchase outright with a license agreement, others you pay a subscription fee to use. While price may vary widely, CMSs are all based on the same idea: programmers and designers focus on website design by building page templates. Subject matter experts build the content in a separate environment. The server takes the content, inserts it into the correct template and sends it all neatly packaged to the website viewers. Features and CapabilitiesConsider these features and capabilities as you evaluate your options. Controlled Access. One popular capability that has emerged is ability to assign different individuals responsibility to create and maintain specific pages. This is important because the people who know what should be on the site should have the ability to change it. That's the whole point of CMSs. Timers. Some CMSs have timers that look for dates and can be programmed to post information on a specified day and time and take it down at another. All these capabilities make life easier - IF you learn how to use them. So, we'd advise if you aren't really going to get into learning the CMS, don't go for too many bells and whistles. Surveys. Some CMSs have add-on modules that perform needed or interesting functions. One we evaluated had a survey module that permits whoever has control of the page to create and post a survey. The survey box also presents ongoing results of the current survey. Buy-in and Follow-Through: One major lesson we learned is that even if you have a CMS, it is not self-maintaining. People have to learn the system and maintain their sections of the site. One utility manager who bought a CMS instead of hiring a webmaster is still bogged down in trying to learn their new CMS and get people in the utility to take ownership in maintaining their sections. After several months, their new site is still not up and running.
If you are beginning your search, we suggest you:
2) Talk to CMS providers, or people like us who use a broad range of different systems, to get a perspective on what is out there and at what cost. 3) With your options narrowed to just a few, spend some time talking to users to get a sense for how easy the system is to learn and use, and how responsive the provider is when they need help. You might want to begin your search on the web. Searches for "Content Management Systems" bring up multiple links to investigate. One offers a free starter kit to help you get going (http://www.atomz.com/kitsignup/signup.cgi?dir=ov). Don't be surprised if it slants your evaluation toward their product offerings.
We hope this is helpful, and if you do want some advice, we'll be happy to share our experience and tell you the CMSs we have chosen to use. For us, it's an investment in our relationship with you and an important aspect of our service to the industry. To arrange a time to talk, call Karen Morris at 770/270-6501.
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Top 6 Tips for eLearning Success
Source: e-Learning Magazine's online newsletter. It's FREE and packed with good articles, success stories, and technology updates. Subscribe at: http://www.elearningmag.com/elearning. But why are some organizations scoring impressive eLearning successes while others are floundering? What makes for an appealing, streamlined, and effective online learning program? Ultimately, what differentiates the winners from the strugglers?
What's Working
And remember, the old business adage still holds true: what gets recognized gets done. Plan now how learning performance will be recognized. Award certificates of completion at department meetings and/or post the names of top achievers on a bulletin board. At a minimum, encourage supervisors to verbally and publically commend their employees for their learning activities. We at Apogee are passionate about what we do for the utility industry. We see eLearning not only for what it is today, but also for what it can be in the future. While we can't "make" it work for you, we'd like to serve as a catalyst to your success. We hope sharing the successful techniques we've seen will help you replicate and even surpass the pioneers who are making it work today.
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BPA Activates THE DEMAND EXCHANGE® Trading Platform
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Mapping Display Module (MDM) -- The MDM supplies the TBL administrators with real-time feedback regarding load reduction participation on a customer-by-customer basis. The MDM accomplishes this by providing the administrators with a graphical display of the region under consideration. This display presents the location of each customer in the program and indicates which are actively reducing load in response to the opportunity notice on any given day.
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The MDM also presents the real-time aggregated load for all participating customers and overlays the aggregated baseline as well as the aggregated load reduction pledges. This allows the administrators to instantly assess the status of the day's load reduction program and allows for a drill-down to individual customers.
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Dynamic Grouping Module (DGM) - This feature allows the administrator to tailor opportunity notices to a subset of customers in the program. This gives the administrator the flexibility to address specific transmission constraint issues and the ability to segment customers on a variety of other parameters, such as onsite generation and the amount of discretionary load.
Counter-Offering -- Commonly, the hourly prices offered for load reductions in demand response programs are "take-it-or-leave-it" from the customer's perspective. With counter-offering capabilities, however, if the customer finds the prices to be too low to cover the costs of reducing load they can communicate back to BPA the price(s) they find satisfactory in conjunction with the amount of load they will reduce. Program administrators can then decide whether to accept the counter-offer or not.
As BPA prepared to active its TBL Exchange early this summer, they looked to Apogee to help with one of the most difficult hurdles when implementing a program of this type - getting customers into the program. Apogee produced a promotional CD-Rom for BPA account representatives to distribute to target customers. This leave-behind, business card sized CD-ROM is branded with the BPA logo and colors, contains a fact-sheet about the program, a user guide with full-color screen captures, and a link that allows the customer to self-enroll in the program.
BPA's transmission Exchange moves into innovative new ground for demand response. Apogee is pleased to provide the Internet-based platform and robust functionality needed to bring it to market. Contact Eric Watson (ewatson@apogee.net or 770-270-6517), Apogee's Director of Product Development, if you'd like more details or have other business challenges Apogee can assist you with.
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Lessons Learned While numerous utilities have already expanded into the VAS approach, some have found success (i.e., profitability), although the landscape is littered with casualties. Drawing upon observations of the experiences of these ventures, a set of "lessons learned" can be distilled and grouped into three stages of business activity. Launch
Marketing
Deliver
Understanding these lessons will be an important contributor to success. But as markets evolve, creative entry strategies will also be required. New business processes, technologies, and regulatory regimes will dictate the need for novel solutions to emerging issues. Note: This is a condensed version of an article that first appeared on EnergyPulse Weekly. For the full text and supporting details, see http://www.energypulse.net/centers/article/article_display.cfm?a_id=192.
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Gilbert
What's going on here? Send us your caption and become eligible for a $50.00 gift certificate from Amazon.com. Email your entry to interaction@apogee.net. The winner will be notified April 1 and posted in our next newsletter. Copyright ©2003 APOGEE Interactive, Inc. |
About the author: Rob Wilhite is an 18-year energy industry veteran, independent management consultant and strategic partner with Apogee Interactive. Most recently, Rob worked for the global consulting firm Accenture in their Utilities Strategy and Business Architecture practice, managing large-scale consulting projects focused on corporate strategy for retail initiatives, merchant generation and new technology applications. Before that, he served as Applications Manager for Retail Energy Products for the international research consortium EPRI and spent 11 years in various marketing management positions at Florida Power & Light.
