Best Practices with Sitecore

SITECORE ARCHITECTURE, BUSINESS ANALYSIS & PROJECT
MANAGEMENT
Best Practices with Sitecore

▪ Sitecore specialists
▪ Mentoring Sitecore partner and client teams
▪ Requirements analysis and solution
architecture
▪ RFP preparation
▪ Development and QA
▪ Ongoing Sitecore, CRM & SharePoint
support and training
TOC

Presenting Team
● Sachin Sinha
● Eric Ramseur:
Software Architect, Trainer

Goals & Approach
● Provide a conceptual understanding of how Sitecore works
● Equip project team to meet current and near-term challenges
● Solution analysis, design and management focused

Attendee Introductions
● Your Name?
● Your Role?
● Familiarity with Sitecore?
● What do you want to get out of the presentation?

Sitecore Competitor Analysis
● Web Content Management System Leader (WCMS)
● Gartner MQ 2015 Leader for Enterprise WCMS
● Leader in Context Marketing

What Sitecore Does Well
● Built-In
○ Content Delivery
○ Content Management
○ Multisite Support
○ Multilingual Support
○ Marketing Campaign Management
○ xDB (Experience Database)
○ Experience Analytics
○ Federated Experience Manager
○ Experience Automation & Engagement Planning
○ Members Management & Security

Sitecore
Architecture Best
Practices

Component-Based Architecture
● Components encapsulate functionality
● Reusable
● Extendible
● Scalable

Best Practices: Templates
● Templates are divided into sections and fields
● Be consistent with regard to section and field names
● Use human readable names for fields and items
● Use inheritance wisely to encapsulate functionality (bases are good)
● Define presentation details on Standard Values for page template types
● Use icons, branches and insert options to help the content manager

Best Practices: Content Tree
● Keep site specific and custom content separate from the OOTB Sitecore items
● Keep page specific content with the pages
● Keep shared content higher up in the hierarchy
● Organize media library to match site content structure
● Put behavioural and structural settings in the System node

Best Practice: Physical Architecture
● Content Delivery (CD) in the
DMZ
● Content Management (CM) server
on the internal network.
● Both servers connect to the an
SQL server for content.

Scaling Servers
Overall performance may be improved by adding memory, CPU or other resources
to real physical or virtual servers.

Adding Servers or External Services
Alternatively, additional load balanced
servers may be added to your instance to
spread the load for functions like indexing
and analytics processing.
Cloud implementations for certain
services like xDB and Coveo Search for
Sitecore can also help to improve
performance and scalability by offloading
load and processor intensive functionality.

Sitecore Azure
● Platform as a Service (PaaS) offering
● Runs on Microsoft’s Azure infrastructure
● Consumption based pricing
● Scales automatically based on traffic

Publishing & Databases Best Practice
● CD connected to Live and
Core databases
● Remove “/sitecore” directory
from CD sites
● CM connected to all
databases
● Use the CM as your staging
site to preview content
● CM Published from Master
to Web or Live

What is Helix?
“A Modular Architecture Example
focused on Streamlining the Sitecore Development Process
and Optimizing Long-Term Productivity.”
Thomas
Eldblom

Decoupling Reduces Cost of Change
● Dependencies between modules are a reality of complex systems

● Dependencies between modules are a reality of complex systems
● As dependencies increase it becomes harder to change one module without
affecting another

● Dependencies between modules
are a reality of complex systems
● As dependencies increase it
becomes harder to change one
module without affecting another
● Decoupling makes reduces the
cost and complexity of change

Helix Principles
● Simplicity: A consistent and discoverable architecture.
● Flexibility: Change and add quickly and without worry.
● Extensibility: Simply add new features without steep learning curve.

Helix Project Setup Best Practice
Framework
Sitecore 8 ASP.NET MVC Bootstrap Unicorn Sass xUnit Sass
Foundation
Assets Indexing Installer Multisite Serialization Sitecore Extensions
Feature
Accounts Demo Identity Language Media Metadata Navigation News Page Content Search Social Teasers
Project
Habitat Demo Common

DEPLOYMENT &
SOLUTION
MANAGEMENT

Package Designer/Sitecore Packages
● Lets you move items and files from one site easily.
● Flexible, works with dynamic and static content.

Team Development For Sitecore (TDS)
▪ It is a source code tool that deals with Sitecore elements
▪ It allows for easy deployment for Sitecore elements and its code from their local
environment to other development servers

Team Foundation Server (TFS)
▪ It is a source control tool.
▪ It is focused on code management rather than Sitecore elements unlike Team
Development for Sitecore (TDS)
▪ Microsoft product that provides source code management, reporting, requirements
management, project management, automated builds, lab management, testing and
release management capabilities

Cross-Functional Team Considerations &
Project Management
● Have a dedicated IA specialist on your team
● Test from a Content Manager perspective for ease of use
● Ensure the UI developers componentize their markup
● Estimate based on features NOT page types
● Synchronize between production, UAT and Development frequently using
packages or database backups.

Top Tools & Resources
● Tools
■ Sitecore Rocks
■ Sitecore Instance Manager
■ Sitecore Log Analyzer
■ Gulp for JS/CSS Min/Bundle
● Resources
■ Sitecore Resources
● Documentation
● Community Forum
● Knowledgebase
● Habitat
■ Third-Party Resources
● Sitecore StackExchange
● Sitecore Subreddit

Fortune 500 Health Care Case Study
● Third Party Search Integration (not Solr) : Sitecore Helix Control Rendering Best
Practice
● Third Party Video Streaming Integration : Sitecore Helix Control Rendering Best
Practice, Sitecore Pipelines, Sitecore Media Library
● Support for multiple languages : Sitecore multiple language support
● Complex stakeholder workflow sign offs : Sitecore Workflow Engine, Sitecore CD
Preview Publishing
● 30+ Featured Modules that share data between sites and common components or
fields : Sitecore MVC Renderings, Sitecore Data Template Inheritance, Sitecore
Datasources
● Content Authors across the Globe requiring different access : Sitecore Roles and
Permissions, Sitecore Content Management Servers and Scaling
● Active Directory User Login Required : Sitecore AD 1.3 Module
● Delivered in 4 months : Sitecore TDS, TFS CICD

www.anant.us | solutions@anant.us | (855) 262-6826
3 Washington Circle, NW | Suite 301 | Washington, DC 20037
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Best Practices with Sitecore

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