Using Drupal with SharePoint intranets, and mobile apps - a Singapore Management University Case Study

Singapore Management University uses Drupal for its public facing web properties, and SharePoint for the intranets serving over 10,000 students, and 1,100 faculty & staff. The vast information present in the university internet websites, and the flexibility in Drupal's content management capabilites offer many opportunities for the campus web team to integrate these sources and enrich the intranets with up-to-date and useful info. Drupal was also used as a backend for the campus native iOS/Android mobile app for overseas exchange students.

In this session, live demos and examples that will be shared include using Drupal to:

• power a faculty expertise directory and research publications listing dynamically in SharePoint webparts,
• build a photo application for Human Resources intranet onboarding system to welcome new hires,
• showcase news, events, podcasts, research stories and streaming media in the intranet homepage,
• maintain and update content in a native mobile iOS/Android app for university overseas exchange programmes.

The talk will detail SMU's approach in meeting the above objectives, the challenges encountered, and also highlight the lessons learnt.

About Singapore Management University 
http://www.smu.edu.sg

A premier university in Asia, the Singapore Management University (SMU) is internationally recognised for its world-class research and distinguished teaching. Established in 2000, SMU’s mission is to generate leading-edge research with global impact and produce broad-based, creative and entrepreneurial leaders for the knowledge-based economy. SMU education is known for its highly interactive, collaborative and project-based approach to learning, and for its technologically enabled pedagogy of seminar-style teaching in small class sizes.

Home to around 10,800 undergraduate, postgraduate, executive and professional, full- and part-time students, SMU is comprised of six schools: Accountancy, Business, Economics, Information Systems, Law, and Social Sciences. SMU offers a wide range of bachelors', masters' and PhD degree programmes in the disciplinary areas associated with the six schools, as well as in interdisciplinary combinations of these areas.

SMU is a globally diverse community. We have over 350 full-time faculty, 61% of them from over 29 different nationalities. Half (50%) of the postgraduate students hail from 34 countries, and 1 in 10 undergraduate (11%) are from outside Singapore.

SMU emphasises generating rigorous, high-impact, and relevant multi-disciplinary research that addresses Asian issues of global relevance.  SMU faculty members collaborate with leading international researchers and universities from USA, Europe, China and India, as well as with partners in the business community and public sector, through its research institutes, centres and labs. SMU’s city campus is a state-of-the art facility located in the heart of downtown Singapore, fostering strategic linkages with business, government and the wider community.