Get to Know Provus®EDU: Our Higher Ed Drupal Distro
Takeaway: As a Drupal distribution for colleges and universities, Provus®EDU is the ultimate easy website builder that empowers your team to create engaging online experiences without needing extensive technical expertise.
I'll discuss the key features and benefits of Provus®EDU, drawing from our successful implementations at Calvin University and Rowan College at Burlington County. These real-world examples showcase how Provus®EDU streamlines website management, enhances student engagement, and adapts to the needs of two different institutions.
SEE HOW IT WORKS—REQUEST A FREE PROVUS®EDU DEMO
Empowering non-technical content editors
One of the standout benefits of using Provus®EDU is its ability to empower non-technical content editors to manage complex websites without relying heavily on IT support. This is useful for higher education institutions, where web content needs to be updated frequently.
Take Rowan College, for example. Before implementing Provus®EDU, their content editors had limited access to their Drupal site. They were essentially working with both hands tied behind their backs, unable to view or configure content types, fields, or views. It was frustrating and hindered their ability to effectively manage their website.
But with Provus®EDU, Rowan's content editors could make the changes they need. I worked closely with their team, showing them how to enable languages, make adjustments to views, and take control of their site.
Rowan’s team went from feeling restricted to being thrilled about managing their site independently.
Key features and capabilities for higher ed websites
Provus®EDU is packed with features without being overwhelming. One issue we were trying to address was choice paralysis—a problem we’ve heard from potential Drupal users.
Let's take a closer look at Calvin University's implementation.
We created a multi-level program exploration system that guides prospective students from broad areas of study down to specific programs and courses. Along the way, they can access engaging content like faculty profiles, student testimonials, and program-specific events.
They can filter programs by degree level, format, or subject area, and access detailed information about each program's curriculum, faculty, and career outcomes.
The beauty of this system is its integration with Calvin's third-party course information provider. We've seamlessly connected Provus®EDU with their API, allowing students to access detailed course descriptions, requirements, and other essential information directly from the website.
Provus®EDU also offers a range of other features, such as:
- Campus Management: Our Events Calendar, Academic Calendar, and Emergency Notification System help keep your campus informed and organized.
- Student Services: With a customizable Student Portal and FAQ Knowledge Base, you provide students easy access to essential information.
- Administrative Tools: Our Digital Forms Hub and Department Administration features streamline back-office processes, saving time and reducing errors.
- User Experience: Quick Links Menu, Custom Error Pages, and Campus-wide Search functionality ensure that users can easily navigate your site and find what they're looking for.
Rowan College, for instance, took advantage of the filterable content views feature to create a custom event view.
This allowed their content editors to display events by category on any page, without needing additional development work. It's a simple but powerful way to keep your website organized and user-friendly.
Provus®EDU also includes news and announcements. With Provus®EDU, you can create compelling news pages that showcase your institution's latest achievements, research breakthroughs, and student success stories.
SEE HOW IT WORKS—REQUEST A FREE PROVUS®EDU DEMO
Simplified content creation and management
Creating and managing website content is a breeze with Provus®EDU, thanks to our integration with Layout Builder.
Let me show you how it works.
With Layout Builder, content editors can create and customize pages using a drag-and-drop interface. They can start with a pre-designed layout template or create their own from scratch, adding and arranging blocks of content as needed.
This is helpful because instead of relying on developers to build out new pages or make layout changes, they can do it themselves in just a few clicks. And because Layout Builder uses a block-based system, it's easy to reuse and repurpose content across multiple pages.
Provus®EDU also includes a range of other features designed to streamline content management, such as:
- WYSIWYG Editing: Create and format content using a familiar, word processor-style interface.
- Media Management: Easily upload, organize, and reuse images, videos, and other media assets.
- Role-Based Access Control: Assign specific permissions to different user roles, ensuring everyone has access to the tools they need (and nothing they don't).
- Workflow Management: Set up custom workflows to manage content review, approval, and publishing processes.
During our work with Calvin University and Rowan College at Burlington County, we saw firsthand how these features can transform content management processes. Editors were able to work more efficiently and collaboratively, taking ownership of their content without getting bogged down in technical details.
Flexibility and customization
One of the things we all love most about Provus®EDU is its flexibility. While it comes with a wide range of out-of-the-box features, it's also highly customizable to meet whatever your institution might need.
This flexibility starts with the design. Provus®EDU includes a variety of pre-built themes and layout templates that you can use as a starting point for your site. But you're not limited to these defaults. Our team can work with you to create a completely custom design that reflects your institution's brand and visual identity.
We did this for Rowan College, adapting the base Provus®EDU theme to incorporate their colors, logo, and typography. The result was a site that felt completely unique to their institution, while still benefiting from all the powerful features of the Provus®EDU distribution.
Since Provus®EDU is built on Drupal, it's highly extensible and can integrate with a wide range of third-party tools and platforms. This means you can add custom functionality to your site without starting from scratch.
For example, the filterable events module that Rowan College used is a custom module we developed for them. This feature wasn't part of the core Provus®EDU distribution, but we were able to add it quickly and easily to meet what the client needed.
Streamlined implementation and future-proofing
Implementing a new website can be nerve-wracking, since it’s not like operations will stop for an institution when their website is undergoing changes. That’s another issue the team wanted to solve, so we've streamlined the implementation process to make it as quick and painless as possible.
Provus® is our original Drupal distro, then we built Provus®Gov and Provus®EDU because we wanted to create versions of it that could be plug-and-play for those who wanted the power of Drupal without worrying so much about the timeframe for customization and development.
Because they already come with a wide range of pre-configured features and settings, we can get a new site up and running in a fraction of the time it would take to build from scratch.
This is particularly valuable for smaller institutions that may not have the resources for a lengthy, custom development process. In fact, during our work with Rowan College, we were able to spin up a fully functional Provus®EDU site in just a little over four months (shout-out to the team at Rowan, they did incredible work with migration).
But the benefits of Provus®EDU go beyond just the initial implementation. Because it's built on Drupal, it's designed to scale and evolve with your institution over time. As new features and functionality become available, you can easily integrate them into your existing site without starting from ground zero.
This is the power of Provus®EDU—it's not just a one-time solution, but a long-term partnership built to grow and evolve with your institution.
Provus®EDU is your easy website builder for higher education
From its easy-to-use content creation tools to its powerful student engagement features, Provus®EDU is a Drupal distribution designed to make building a higher ed website as smooth as possible.
But the real power of Provus®EDU lies in its ability to empower content editors and marketing teams. By providing a user-friendly platform that puts content management in the hands of non-technical users, Provus®EDU frees up time and resources that can be better spent on strategic initiatives.
We've seen this firsthand in our work with institutions like Calvin University and Rowan College at Burlington County. They've been able to streamline their content workflows, enhance their online presence, and create engaging experiences for students and prospective students alike.
If you're considering a website redesign or platform migration, I encourage you to explore Provus®EDU. It's the smart choice for institutions looking to have a great web experience for themselves and their campus community.
