The Company
The J. R. Simplot Company is a privately held agribusiness corporation based in Boise, Idaho. It employs more than 12,000 people in the U.S., Canada, China, Mexico, Chile, and Australia. Our mission statement, Bringing Earth's Resources to Life, embodies our reason for being in business: we mold many of our planet's raw materials into a wide variety of value-added products which sustain and enhance life. As part of this process, we have made significant investments in environmental quality to protect the natural resources without which the company could not exist.

The Problem
Simplot had changed significantly in recent years, in part through acquisitions and divestitures. As the company grew, the need for a more Simplot Public Internet Site unified approach, both in the business and on the Web, became increasingly important. Previously, sites had been maintained with tools such as Microsoft FrontPage, Dreamweaver, HTML, Lotus Notes, and other applications. Simplot sought to unify all of their diverse Web sites, with the goal of offering value to each of their locations. In considering a solution, Simplot sought to provide consistency and cohesion among the various Internet and intranet sites, providing a tool that would allow non-technical contributors to author content. They also sought a tool that provides improved search capabilities on the sites. A web development team was responsible for defining Web site requirements and evaluating alternatives. After initially considering building a custom application to meet the company’s needs, the team recommended the company opt for a proven solution. The team reviewed a number of applications, including Simplot Corporate Intranet Vignette and Percussion, but ultimately selected PaperThin’s CommonSpot™ Content Server, according to Terry Lester, Director, Digital Business at Simplot, “because CommonSpot offered the functionality and customization capabilities we needed, at an affordable price.”

The Solution
Simplot took a phased approach to development of both their Internet and corporate intranet sites. Phase I of the Internet site was successfully launched in December 2002, and is currently in Phase II which will provide an even more unified view of Simplot, a new look and feel, and a single point of access for all customer applications. Because of the need for tightly controlled content management on external sites, there are just 10 contributors responsible for maintaining content on the site.

The intranet team at Simplot began development on the corporate intranet in June 2003, which is scheduled for launch February 2004. There are currently 50 content managers maintaining the Intranet under the guidance of seven Content Owners who govern Intranet content. At launch there will be over 2,000 pages with an expectation of that number growing to over 10,000. Once the Intranet is complete Simplot anticipates well over 100 contributors.

With a large number of contributors in different locations, the need to lock down templates and security, and use features such as style sheets to ensure consistency, were critical to the implementation, as was the ability to implement a defined publishing workflow and approval process. Features such as content expiration and the ability to define future publication dates enhance overall efficiency and freshness of site content.

Simplot took advantage of several of CommonSpot’s customization capabilities, including the ability to create custom templates, custom render handlers and custom elements. The use of custom elements allows Simplot to easily re-use content with the site, while custom templates and custom render handlers provide maximum flexibility for ensuring that the company’s unique site design requirements are met.

Simplot is also integrating a wide variety of external applications into CommonSpot using the Custom Cold Fusion element. Examples of these integrated applications include an online phone directory for employees on the intranet, as well as product and location search applications on the Internet.

In addition to engaging a CommonSpot consultant, who provided Jump Start training to help the internal Web team of one developer and one analyst get going, Simplot also regularly takes advantage of PaperThin’s product training Webinars, offered exclusively for CommonSpot customers and partners. Simplot has implemented CommonSpot 3.2 on a LINUX operating platform, using CFMX, with a Microsoft SQL database.

The Return
While Simplot had not established specific return on investment criteria, price and total cost of ownership factored importantly into their initial decision process, and were a key reason that CommonSpot was ultimately selected. Other demonstrable benefits achieved include the ability to free up the Web team from maintaining the sites, so they could focus instead on development activities, and the achievement of a unified and consistent look and feel.