Optimizing Content Website Platforms (CWP) for Success
2016
Cloud Managed Services
CHALLENGE
CREATING A SUSTAINABLE AND SCALABLE CLOUD HOSTING PLATFORM
Prior to CWP, Government websites were all hosted on-premise which was not a scalable infrastructure. Deployment was largely a manual process resulting in long turnaround times. In addition, schools tend to use ungoverned open source websites (eg WordPress) which were not governed strictly and as such were occasionally compromised.
GovTech wanted a vendor who could provide the following:
Design and implement a cloud platform that is able to host over 500 websites
Streamline the operations so the agencies could focus on enhancing the online user experience instead of spending time on hosting issues
Provisioning of services and ensuring website security through various Quality Assurance (QA), Maintenance and Security Scanning Services through one single portal
SOLUTION
OVERCOMING THE NEED FOR MANPOWER
We proposed a Content Website Platform - a SaaS solution where agencies pay a monthly subscription for usage of the platform. The platform contains web hosting, content management, user accessibility management and security. Largely automated, this provided:
Managed Services - 5 CMS
Upon the start of the subscription, the CMS websites will be provisioned and operational in minutes. Designed to be auto-scalable and highly available, patching of the CMS occurs at the image level and allows easy rollout of patches to hundreds of VMs. The CMS are also monitored for performance and downtime.
Platform Security
The CMS are also protected by layers of security devices, i.e. Network Intrusion Prevention (NIPs) and Web Application Firewall (WAF). Alerts from these devices are monitored and evaluated by a security team to ensure all vulnerabilities are patched quickly, and risks mitigated in a timely manner.
Automated Self-Service Portal
This allows rapid provisioning and code deployments, reducing the time from days to minutes. It also boasts several self-service features such as backup, rollback, log retrieval and more.
Moving Towards Automation Through Self Servicing Portal
Advanced Form Builder
Creating a secured form with ease using an easy drag-and-drop interface.
No More Manual Request
Manage hosted websites simply from a single portal, removing the need, and hassle, for manual requests.
Blazing Fast Onboarding Process
Built upon complex scripts and automation, onboarding of a website could be done swiftly through the portal.
Deploy Code With Just A Few Clicks
Say goodbye to manual "copy and paste" method in deploying a code.
RESULT
FASTER AND MORE EFFICIENT DEPLOYMENT
96.5% of the deployments were completed within an hour of the request.
Since the automation of CWP, project development and updates were iterating faster than before.
Less Manpower Needed
With system automation, the website vendor no longer needs to provide step-by-step deployment guides to the tech team, reducing time spent and errors.
Faster Turnaround Rates
A review of the 2018 Q1 deployment showed that 96.5% of the deployments were completed within an hour of the request, a major improvement from the usual 2-3 working days required in a traditional Facility Management (FM) request. CWP was also shown to be processing an average of 70 deployments on a weekday.
CWP was a highly successful project. Hosting over 542 websites for more than 40 agencies, it has allowed the agencies to be more agile in web deployments and updates, and provided ease of mind with no security breaches despite the continued usage of open source websites.
