For 25 years, the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation has been a global leader in the fight against breast cancer through its support of innovative research, community-based outreach programs, and events like the Komen Race for the Cure. As a rapidly growing organization with more than 110 affiliates and more than 75,000 volunteers, the foundation is widely considered one of the most recognizable, action-oriented, and influential non-profits in the world.

With such a broad reach, the foundation relies heavily on the Web to communicate with the general public, volunteers, and affiliates. In 2003, the foundation decided its public Web site and affiliate extranet needed to be more dynamic and engaging, with all education and outreach materials easily accessible, up-to-date, and personalized.

In addition, the foundation wanted to give each of its 10 departments responsibility for publishing, managing, and updating Web site and extranet content while still maintaining a consistent corporate message and brand—with little or no involvement from the information technology (IT) staff.

The organization also wanted to provide syndicated information via its Web site, so visitors could easily find the latest news on breast cancer research, as well as information on how to sign up for Race for the Cure events. But above all, the foundation needed a solution that could withstand the millions of hits its Web site and extranet receive each month. To help achieve these goals, the foundation selected Oracle Universal Content Management, previously called Stellent Universal Content Management, over competing products from Vignette and Interwoven.

Today, the foundation relies on the Web content management capabilities of Oracle Universal Content Management architecture. The system also includes document management, records management, digital asset management, and collaboration functionality the organization could easily deploy for future content management initiatives.

The Oracle system provides a central repository for all foundation Web site and extranet content, which the organization’s employees contribute and manage easily using a Web browser. Web site content includes resources on preventing, detecting, diagnosing, and treating breast cancer, as well as information about current clinical research, grants, and events. Extranet content includes a variety of guides and forms that help affiliates run their day-to-day operations.

Oracle Universal Content Management converts this content from native files—primarily Microsoft Word documents—into Web-viewable formats, such as Hypertext Markup Language (HTML), Portable Document Format (PDF) and Extensible Markup Language (XML), and automatically publishes the content to the foundation Web site and extranet. This functionality streamlines the foundation’s Web-publishing processes and eliminates bottlenecks created by previous, manual publishing techniques.

With Oracle’s multisite Web content management solution, the foundation reduces its IT team’s involvement in publishing and managing Web site and extranet content. Oracle’s multisite Web content management solution allows the foundation’s corporate team to maintain central control of the design and navigation structure and gives departments and external content contributors the freedom to keep Web site and extranet information up-to-date easily, without IT assistance.

Oracle’s ease-of-use surprised Tabei and his team, as they were able to quickly design, build, and launch their public Web site and extranet in only a few months. The high rate of user adoption was also a welcomed relief to the IT group.

This ease-of-use ensures that the Web site and extranet deliver a consistent message and brand. Consistency is encouraged through libraries of site components—such as layouts, navigation, graphics, fragments, and code.

Using Web site fragments created in Oracle’s multisite Web content management solution, the foundation incorporates its existing third-party eAdvocacy donation and fulfillment systems through a common interface into the Oracle-powered public Web site.

In the future, the foundation plans to utilize Oracle’s multisite Web content management solution to help its 110-plus affiliates create or maintain their own Web sites using the national organization’s design templates, which will eliminate confusing brand identity issues.