Questionnaire Regarding Intranet/Corporate use of Drupal
In this questionnaire, you will be asked a series of short answer and open ended questions regarding the use of Drupal in the corporate world. This survey is in cooperation with the “Drupal Case Study Project: Promotional Documentation and Development.” Some of these questions focus on the global use of the Drupal software while other questions are related to how specific companies use the program. There is no required length of response to these questions, and any feedback you provide will be beneficial to our research. The approximate time to complete this survey is 10 minutes. Please return all surveys by November 23, 2004. Thank you for your time.
Global:
1.) Do you think Drupal offers enough visual appeal to attract an audience?
2.) Is your site searchable through engines such as Google or MSN?
3.) Does Drupal support programs that allow customers to browse online
catalogs?
4.) Is your website available in different languages to facilitate overseas
customers?
5.) Does Drupal support advanced web design, such as Flash?
6.) What are the most popular sites listed in Drupal? Why do they draw attention?
7.) How can you make the Drupal website more user friendly?
8.) Do you think corporate privacy is hampered by using Drupal? How does Drupal manage privacy?
Local Questions:
9.) Working as a business, how does Drupal provide adequate security to protect
your company?
10.) Does your company offer a secured webpage so that customers may enter
credit card numbers or enter personal information to buy your products?
11.) Has the Drupal system ever been down/crashed for a period of time so that
it hurt business?
12.) Does Drupal offer a means of communication between you and your customers?
13.) Have you received a positive or negative response from customers about your use of Drupal?
14.) What is the advantage for companies to use Drupal?
15.) What caused you to switch to the Drupal server?
Comments
Research your topic better in order to ask effective questions
For those who build websites, it is assumed that serious projects will require adjustments to the visual elements of Drupal. To that end, Drupal makes it very easy for web designers with no programming skills to 'skin' a site and add all of the visual appeal they want or need. Drupal does not try to deliver a website that looks the way you want it to 'out of the box'. Instead, Drupal tries to define several common starting points which should suit the most typical needs.
Drupal sites are indexed by all major search engines (assuming they are on the web and can be found). Drupal's clean URLs feature is especially nice for this since some search engines react to the ? in URLs by assuming the content is dynamically generated and thus not worth indexing. Drupal doesn't have this problem.
There are many ways to implement this functionality in Drupal, two of which are creating a category taxonomy and installing the ecommerce module.
The Drupal interface is being translated into an ever growing list of languages. Care to support this has been given at every level of the Drupal core code.
Flash and Drupal work together nicely - the possibilities are endless.
How I'd love to say RobsHouse.net :-)
Drupal core developers are constantly asking themselves this question. User feedback on the Drupal experience is always welcome.
Drupal has role based permissions and is password protected. If set up correctly there should be minimum concern over privacy. Drupal is, of course, no more private and secure than web applications in general, and any general concerns in this area apply to Drupal as well. Drupal has been lucky, though, that there are no known security holes which would allow attackers easy access. Some other open source PHP CMS systems have suffered in this respect. Hopefully we have learned from their mistakes.
To clarify the question, Drupal is not a business, and once you download and install the Drupal software, there is no guarantee about anything. Drupal does not guarantee that your business will be safe running Drupal. This is part of the open source license.
If you wanted, rather, to ask what measures the Drupal developers have taken to write safe and secure software that businesses can feel safe installing and running, that is different. The Drupal developers regularly discuss security and have taken countless precautions to ward off every type of attack or security problem that is known to them. This includes protecting against SQL injection attacks, storing passwords as encrypted values, protecting against URL manipulation attacks and providing a throttle which turns features and functions off when server load gets too high, thus partially protecting against DOS attacks.
Did you look at the Drupal site before writing this question? If so, you would already know that the Drupal site doesn't sell products. If you want to write successful survey questions, you need to research your topic better before posting. This is what any interviewer has to do.
Drupal is high quality software. That does not mean that it gets used correctly or is without problems. Drupal is also dependent on external factors, such as the web server that runs it. When you ask whether the Drupal system has ever been down, it is hard to know exactly what you're asking. Do you mean drupal.org, the website where you posted these questions? Drupal.org is not a business. Do you mean other sites that are owned by businesses who chose Drupal as the software to run their sites? I'm sure there have been lots of sites down and this is usually bad for business, but be careful what you infer about Drupal from this answer. I run several Drupal sites and they all went down for nearly a day and that was bad for business. The problem wasn't with Drupal, though, it was with my hosting service. Other times my Drupal sites have crashed because of mistakes I made. Furthermore, even if everything on the server and everything with Drupal is working correctly, there are malicious web crawling programs that can knock your site offline in their attempt to crawl all your links and request every page. I had one such program open up nearly 2000 anonymous sessions on my Drupal site and I couldn't access the site. These types of problems aren't the domain of the Drupal software. These are problems that are addressed better at the server installation level, using mirroring and clustering to provide robustness. So, once again, be careful of how you ask your questions and what you read into the answers you may get.
You're making the same mistake over and over again. Who is 'you' and who are 'your customers'? Assuming you mean 'you' as in the business that downloads and installs Drupal to run a website, and the customers that that business may have, yes, Drupal is all about communication and has much to offer here. There are means for building webforms so that the customer can contact the site admin, there are many ways for site users to post content and comments, which is a form of communicating, there are email alerts, there is module for email newsletters, there is a chatbox and a private message module. The list goes on. It is all about communication.
Every customer whom I have sold a Drupal installation is thrilled with the power they have. They love adding content, blogging, adding images, making categories, etc.
The advantage of using Drupal over what? Advantage is a common English word and it takes a clause when used in a sentence. What is the advantage of using Drupal over communicating with carrier pigeons? You don't have to feed Drupal.
Consider whether you wanted to ask "What are the benefits for companies of using Drupal?
I'm too tired to answer such an open ended question. See the feature list.
I never switched to the Drupal server (drupal is software, by the way). It was the first CMS I ever used and I only realized later that I had lucked out in picking such good software.
- Robert Douglass
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visit me at www.robshouse.net
my Drupal book | Twitter | Senior Drupal Advisor, Acquia | Advisor ICanLocalize
Clarification of Survey Questions
Thank you Robert for taking the time to answer our survey. I wanted to clarify a couple points in our questions to create a better understanding of the topic. In regards to questions 9-15 of the survey, we are attempting to get feedback from businesses that use Drupal to run their websites. The intent is to see how actual businesses feel about using the software and not what Drupal.org promotes it to be.
For question #9, the question should read: "What measures have the Drupal software designers taken to offer security to your site?"
Question #10 is not directed at the Drupal developers. We understand that Drupal is providing the software, and we are interested to know if the Drupal software has made secured webpages a possibility for those companies that wish to sell products online.
Question #11: I appreciate the insight. My interest is in the businesses that use Drupal and not Drupal.org, itself. I will consider possible sources of webpage errors when I receive feedback.
Again, we appreciate your response to our questions, and we hope this clarifies any questions respondents may have with our questions. Thanks.
-Jared
Intranet vs. Corporate
Corporate and Intranet are two very different things. If you say Intranet, then I assume you mean a site to be used internally, within a company -- one that *can't* be viewed outside of the company on the public internet.
By corporate, do you just mean a business site? A brochure-ware site with static info? A support site? A product catalog?
I'll still try to answer, but you need to think about the differences.
1: can be modified to look like whatever you want; good design costs money
2: Drupal-based sites are search engine optimized by default
3: yes, via taxonomy, books, or the ecommerce module
4: Drupal supports localization, so it CAN be translated to different languages; whether or not it is depends on the site
5: Flash is not advanced web design. This question makes no sense. It "supports" whatever any website supports.
6: Most popular corporate sites? Intranet sites are usually private, so we have no idea. We maintain a list of featured sites that might be useful.
7: By paying someone to design a theme with high usability.
8: What do you mean by this question? Has nothing to do with software or technology -- depends on who you allow to post.
9: There are no known exploits or security issues with Drupal, so it provides very high security.
10: possible to build with Drupal. Not applicable, since *I* don't currently run something like that.
11. No crashes on any of my sites that wasn't due to user error.
12. Yes, lots.
13. Positive.
14. Easily edit/update your own content with no intermediaries (e.g. IT or web developer). Search engine optimized by default. Dynamic site. RSS syndication and aggregation. Clean URLs. Many different content types, including events calendar and forums.
15. Best-in-class open source content management framework. Easily extensible.
It'll be better to use a form
I think you can use a form for us to fill and send you feedback. That way you'll receive more opinions.
Webmaster Resources for Business Websites
Drupal Project Completed
We have completed our research on Drupal and will be posting our report shortly. We would appreciate any feedback or comments about this research paper, and we will respond to those comments as soon as possible. Thank you.
Drupal: Utilizations in the Corporate World
Drupal:
Utilizations in the Corporate World
Prepared By: Jared Snyder, Mark Babinski, and Sovana Thapa
Abstract
Six case studies were created on corporate websites which used Drupal modules to build their sites. The purpose of the study was to find out whether Drupal is a catalyst or detriment to good business. The case studies were divided into service corporate and retail corporate websites. These websites were investigated based on a series of criteria, including a list of modules that is beneficial for corporate use. A survey was also created to receive feedback from the Drupal community to understand how the modules are implemented in websites using Drupal and any improvements that could be made to the software. Through research and the responses from Drupal users, it was clear that Drupal offers a wide variety of modules that could be beneficial to both types of corporate websites.
Executive summary
Drupal is an open source software which integrates many popular features such as content management systems, weblogs, collaborative tools, and a discussion-based community that is bundled into one easy-to-use package. It allows a community of users or individuals to publish, manage, and organize a variety of content. Drupal meets the needs of different types of website designers for purposes such as Aficionado, International, and Personal websites to name a few. In this study, corporate websites were investigated. To gain some insight into how this software is utilized, six case studies were done to find out the feasibility and usefulness of the Drupal services. The corporate websites can be broken down into two profile types. One is service corporate, and another is retail corporate companies.
The main goal of this research was to find out if Drupal offered a well tooled package to produce a productive, informative, well designed and effective corporate website. A questionnaire was posted on the Drupal forum to get feedback and ideas from Drupal users, and hopefully from corporate owners as well.
The research showed that many features that Drupal offers were utilized by corporate websites. The popular Drupal modules used by these websites were the login module, indexed search, site map, and forum/blogs. One specific feature found on the product selling sites that was not on the service sites was the E-Commerce module, which facilitates receiving payment and shipping for companies. Drupal is cost efficient for its users because it is open source and free to use.
Some drawbacks of Drupal were found during the research. Drupal requires a certain level of technological knowledge to implement. Lack of documentation makes it difficult for the average user to use and install it, so this may lead to monotony of design and lack creativity in the websites. Also, some sites did not take full advantage of the modules made available to them.
Introduction
Corporate websites include companies who maintain their external websites in Drupal. Companies are always looking for unique ways to promote healthy business that is efficient and cost effective. Drupal is emerging as a suitable alternative for website development. Drupal works well for corporate websites because of its flexible permission systems and easy web based publishing, so customers do not have to wait for webmaster updates to read about the latest corporate news. As the use of open source software continues to grow and claim a stake in the free market, Drupal is becoming a dignified developer of website resources.
The two profile types of corporate websites are defined as:
Methodology
The following six websites were investigated in independent case studies. The observations of each site included the purpose of the site, its category (service or retail), Drupal modules used in building the site, and a list of recommendations that could improve their websites.
X/Warp Engineering LLC
Company Name: X/Warp Engineering LLC
Website URL: http://www.gateway-systems.net/
Description of Website:
X/Warp Engineering LLC is a corporation that utilized the Drupal services to create its website. According to their site, the company provides economical firewall and network safety solutions that are based on the UNIX system. The particular website that will be discussed is the company’s firewall security line, known as Gateway Systems. They sell hardware firewalls to protect servers. This company stands out as one of the few product selling businesses using Drupal and they offer five products on their website. They also offer a great deal of information in promoting their products.
Drupal Modules in Use:
Recommendations:
This site could benefit from fully utilizing the Drupal modules made available to them. For one, this site could use a user login to better help identify their customers. After a patron logged into the site, they could be offered a list of products they previously viewed. The user login would be keep track of user information, such as shipping addresses or payment plans. This is beneficial to the customer because this information would not have to be entered each time an order is placed. Another module that could help this business would be to add the feedback module to their site. If the user was able to view feedback from previous customers, it would give old customers a way to discuss their delight with the products they purchased. This would give new customers reassurance that they are buying quality goods. Finally, use of the Image module could increase sales of their products since many consumers would like to see a detailed picture of the products they wish to purchase.
Tipic: More than Instant Messaging
Company Name: Tipic, inc.
Website URL: http://www.tipic.com/
Description of Website:
Tipic offers instant messaging software to individuals as well as large companies. The three main categories of products are: TIMP Instant Messenger Server, TipicME Wireless Client, and TipicME Desktop Client (Figure 2). These services are all offered free of charge to the general public. If the TIMP Messenger Service is to be used in an organization of more than 5 people, they must purchase the product.
Drupal Modules in Use:
Recommendations:
Although this site offers many modules that are beneficial to good business such as the user login, feedback, and forums, it lacks certain features that would help it stand out as a successful website. The E-Commerce module should be incorporated into this website as the site currently outsources its payment procedures to another company. In taking charge of their payment service, this company could increase productivity and reliability in the payment and shipping process.
Online Tutor Network
Company Name: Online Tutor Network
Website URL: http://www.tutor.net.au/
Description of Website:
The Online Tutor Network provides online resources for learning information technology, more specifically the Linux system. This organization stresses the use and development of open source software and related technologies. The targeted group of people that use this website is students who wish to learn about open source software. This website fits the description of a service corporate website, as it does not have any products to sell.
Drupal Modules in Use:
Recommendations:
This website takes advantage of a wide variety of Drupal modules. The Tutor Network could benefit from adding the banner module to the website. Since this business has no products for sale, it is necessary to generate an income in some form. With a banner ad, this company could sell advertisement space on its website to generate revenue. Overall, Online Tutor is user friendly and provides necessary information on the topics that are on the website.
FeedReader
Company Name: FeedReader
Website URL: http://www.feedreader.com
Description of Website:
FeedReader is licensed under General Public License (GPL). It works under Windows 95 or newer version and Internet Explorer 4.0 or later. The FeedReader website supports features like RSS and ATOM formats. Its major purpose is to gather news from different sources. The primary target is on-the-go people who like to be up to date on the current news and happenings.
Drupal Modules in Use:
Recommendations:
This website is simple, light weight and customizable. It takes advantage of the Drupal features such as the site map, tip jar, and feedback sections. One of the unique features of Feedreader is that it is simple and easy to use. It does not have unnecessary features which may confuse the average person. However, it could benefit from several Drupal modules. A user login could help track stories which interest the user and then the information could be better tailored to the reader. The chatbox module could help draw people to use the site as they could discuss the articles that are posted on the website.
Efurbishment Ltd
Company Name: Efurbishment
Website URL: http://www.efurbishment.com
Description of Website:
Efurbishment is an open source company that utilized Drupal to create its website. According to the site, Efurbishment offers consultancy services for clients who want to take control of their IT investment, and solve their business problems with Internet technologies and open source thinking. Efurbishment works with not-for-profit organizations, such as Prophono, a London-based choir, and the New Zealand Opera Society, customizing websites in order to maximize their effectiveness. This site has no goods to sell and is truly an open source site, offering a service free of charge. On the site, they discuss several of their past clients and exactly what they did for each of them.
Drupal Modules Used:
Recommendations:
This site makes very good use of Drupal modules. The use of the login feature is clearly seen in the screenshot above, and is useful in keeping users in check and requiring membership to use other site features. The use of the blog in conjunction with the login feature is useful because it facilitates communication between users and site administrators. The site could add a chatbox, so users could quickly chat in an html mode. It would be quicker for users to chat with other users who are online, rather than post to the forum and wait for members to see the post and respond. It would also be beneficial if Efurbishment added the glossary feature to its site. This module allows users to scroll over technical words to learn their definitions. This would be useful because not everyone understands about open source and computers like the people at efurbishment do, and this feature would help users that aren’t as computer proficient to follow and understand what is happening on the site.
Fwscan
Company Name: Fwscan
Website Url: http://fwscan.com:2396
Description of Website:
Fwscan is an open source firewall auditing tool designed to test your fire-walled PC for vulnerabilities. It ensures that your operating system is protected from hackers, trojan horses, and worms. Fwscan runs tests on your system externally, using methods similar to those of hackers. Fwscan tests your network and then presents you with a list of vulnerabilities, leaving fixing them up to you, the user. It does not know how to fix worms or viruses, only how to detect them.
Drupal Features Used:
Recommendations:
This site should make full use of the site map feature. There is not a full site map anywhere on the site, but rather only three links relatively near each other. This site would be more useful if the links for the home page, forum, faq, news, and email were all located together, in a central location. In this current format, it is a little difficult to find what you want on the site. It would also benefit from a Paypal tip jar. Since this site is truly open source and free, the site and its administrator would benefit from a few generous users who would donate money to keep it running. Since domain and time cost money, having a Paypal tip jar would supplement these costs.
Results of Survey Questionnaire
In order to better understand the use of Drupal for corporate purposes, a survey was generated and posted to the Drupal forums to receive feedback from individuals who have used the Drupal modules to build their company’s website. Only two Drupal users responded to our original survey, but the feedback was still beneficial to the research. Concerned with the monotony of design among the sites reviewed in the case studies, a question was posted to the Drupal forum to better understand the reasons people chose to use Drupal, despite its unoriginality. Robert Douglas, a member of the Drupal community responded, “Drupal makes it very easy for web designers with no programming skills to 'skin' a site and add all of the visual appeal they want or need. Drupal does not try to deliver a website that looks the way you want it to 'out of the box'. Instead, Drupal tries to define several common starting points which should suit the most typical needs.” One problem with the survey was that the respondents did not own corporate websites, so the targeted audience was never reached. The response to the questionnaire may have been lower than expected because relatively few companies use Drupal to build their websites.
Another major concern with the use of Drupal in building corporate websites was integrating a shopping cart and E-Commerce tools into the Drupal program. A forum topic was posted to specifically target the shopping cart feature in the E-Commerce module. Three Drupal users responded to this forum topic. The respondents agreed that the E-Commerce module contains a shopping cart, but the module is not easily modified and could use some feature upgrades for the next version. It also lacked documentation to allow the users to understand the features of the shopping cart. Although it would have been beneficial to receive more feedback from the Drupal community to come to stronger conclusions about Drupal features, the respondents gave a clearer picture of how Drupal can be utilized. As the E-Commerce module becomes more popular among users, there will likely be more people interested in discussing its use in the forums.
Conclusion and Research Findings
The purpose of our case study was to research Drupal as a web design service and evaluate its effectiveness in the corporate business realm. Our main goal was to research Drupal and the services it offers; to find out the most popular modules and design services used by corporate sites, and discuss why Drupal is a good choice for any business-related website. By researching Drupal and some of the corporate sites that use it, we have come up with conclusions and findings based on information obtained via individual research of sites, and a questionnaire given to Drupal users.
From doing our own research in the case studies, we personally have come up with what we feel are the most popular Drupal features used by the corporate community. In the six websites that we visited and used for our research purposes, we found that most of them used the site map and login feature (Figure 7). The site map allows for easy navigation and the login allows users to log into the site and register themselves with the company. The sites require this to use their blogs, post messages, or for communication purposes. The login feature is also tied into Drupal so people with Drupal accounts can use their same username and password with the corporate sites, as well as with Drupal. From a customer point of view, the login feature instills a sense of security. It seems the site is taking strides to protect itself and its customers. From a corporate standpoint, it helps to keep track of their customers and also keep track of the number of people they have using their site. Another popular Drupal feature of the corporate sites was a blog. Blogs are a medium in which anyone (who logs in, of course) can post messages or replies to messages on the website. Having a blog module in a corporate website is very useful because it opens up lines of communication between the company and the customers, or from customer to customer.
Drupal, of course, has some limitations and drawbacks. The most important drawback is the lack of documentation and instruction. In order to effectively use Drupal and get it up and running without problems, the user needs to have a significant knowledge base of computers, or concise instructions on how to use it. Unfortunately, Drupal does not have adequate documentation for novice computer users; therefore making a website can prove to be difficult. Without adequate documentation concerning operation or some higher level of computer knowledge, the user may experience some problems. These problems include monotony of design and poor performance. If the user does not understand how to fully utilize the Drupal modules, then they may not be using the service to its full capacity. Also, if the user does not understand how to customize the modules, they risk making a bland, boring site that lacks character. Drupal can improve on this by commissioning open source users and developers to write documentation on the operation of the Drupal modules. If manuals are made available, users can optimize Drupal performance and make interesting, useful websites. One previous drawback that Drupal had was the lack of an E-Commerce module. In October, Drupal released an updated version 4.5.0, which included a module for online shopping. Prior to this, sites could not obtain an E-Commerce module from Drupal and were found to be outsourcing their shopping carts to other places, like Paypal and Kagi. Since the update, however, businesses can now obtain the shopping cart service directly from Drupal, turning a once limitation into an opportunity.
Recommendations
From our research, we discovered that there are essentially two different categories of corporate sites. The first is the standard corporate site, termed retail corporate, that has products to promote and something to sell. This is the typical site people think of when they hear “corporate website”. The other type is the “service corporate”. We came across sites that had services to offer, but nothing to sell. For the sites that have no products to sell, but services to offer for free, Drupal is definitely a good choice.
For service corporate websites, those most important Drupal modules are:
Since Drupal itself is an open source program, using it for other open source related sites would definitely be a benefit. Using the forum/blog module would keep these sites in contact with the open source community, enabling collaboration, troubleshooting, and recommendations among people using open source technology. Besides the blog feature, these open source sites need to utilize the login feature offered by Drupal. Users of the site use the login to be able to post messages and use the blog, so these two modules go hand in hand. Also, the site can use the login feature to track users of the site. In addition to these modules, cost is also a factor for sites that have no goods or services to sell. They can, however, create some revenue through the banner advertisement module and the Paypal tip jar. These sites that operate without a source of income would benefit from using a service such as Drupal that is free-of-charge.
For retail corporate websites, the most important modules are:
The E-Commerce module was made available in the latest release of Drupal. According to the Drupal website, the E-Commerce module makes it possible for businesses to do several things, such as: manage inventory, allow for invoice generation and shipping notifications, generate transaction reports and sales summaries, dynamically adjust prices, and set payment and shipping components. Also, customers can use the shopping cart feature and review their order history. This module is the most important aspect of Drupal as far as corporate sites are concerned. It allows corporations to conduct their business quickly and easily, which will draw in and retain a vast client base. Another module that is beneficial to retail corporate websites is the site map, so customers can easily search for products they are interested in buying. If a customer can not easily find a product, they are likely to look somewhere else. This makes a site map extremely important to a company looking to market products online. Finally, the feedback module is beneficial to a company because previous customers can leave feedback about the products they have purchased. A list of positive feedback can persuade potential customers into buying products from that company’s website.
As far as open source programs go, Drupal appears to be a strong leader and developer of open source webpage tools. They offer a variety of features that can be utilized by a broad range of people and interests. The modules make it easy for the novice user to create a website that offers many features, including those that can generate professional corporate/intranet websites. Drupal is an important tool that can build a prosperous business.
References
Drupal. Drupal.org: The official website of Drupal, an open source content management platform. Accessed October 26,2004 – November 12, 2004. <http://www.drupal.org/>
eFurbishment. Renovating e-Business. Accessed on October 28, 2004.
< http://www.efurbishment.com/>
Feedreader. Lightweight open-source aggregator. Accessed on October 28, 2004.
< http://www.feedreader.com/>
FWScan: You are Vulnerable. Accessed on October 28, 2004.
< http://fwscan.com:2396/>
Gateway-Systems. X/Warp Engineering LLC. Accessed on October 28, 2004. <http://www.gateway-systems.net/ >
Online Tutor Network. Providing online tutorial support for the open source community. Accessed on October 28, 2004. < http://tutor.net.au/>
Paypal
A paypal tipjar is surely something you would *not* show on a true corporate website. Sometimes I wonder what people consider a corporate website to actually be.... ?
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www.bargainspy.co.uk | www.spamfo.co.uk | www.buddasworld.co.uk
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Ixis (UK): Drupal consultancy, Drupal hosting.