The eThekwini Municipality is sharing its experience and training manuals on Plone, an open source software (OSS) Internet content management system (CMS), with other municipalities, in a bid to improve regional skills.
eThekwini hopes to help other municipalities save on licensing fees and ensure funds spent on developing the system stay within the region`s economy.
Angela Spencer, eThekwini Municipality Web master, says the municipality decided to use Plone as it was part of a well-written and affordable tender proposal.
"The eThekwini Municipality has successfully built two sites using Plone and we want other municipalities, especially in district regions, to get similar skills.
"We will not be setting-up the system for interested users and they will have to find a company to maintain the system. We are happy to share the code, experience and training manuals with them, however. There are limited skills available for this system and we would like to get more high-end programmers, not only for Durban but also other regions.
"The system can handle a high volume of content and we have about 400 registered users on our intranet site. We have struggled to find high-level Plone programmers in Durban, but as the skills level of our local programmers rise, this problem will abate," says Spencer.
Plone is suitable for organisations that have large amounts of content, large numbers of contributing users, have adequate budget to support any customisation needed and are located in centres where Plone skills are available or have budget to import these skills when necessary, says a statement on the Plone Web site.
Building capacity
Spencer believes OSS can assist the eThekwini municipality further develop its IT capacity. "OSS offers some financial advantages and money saved can be used to develop IT capacity. In theory, money spent within the IT sector of a local economy will develop this sector further, which means that a municipality could have strong local companies to help with future IT projects," says Spencer.
"OSS may be harder for small municipalities to implement as there may not be enough local skills to maintain and develop their applications. It is important that municipalities are aware of this," she warns.
"Using Plone has probably required more hard work and commitment than proprietary software, however, we are happy with the product and we feel that the extra effort has paid off. Maintenance and development funding is directed into local economy, rather than routed offshore. I hope that Durban will eventually develop into a centre of Plone excellence and that our economy will develop in the process," says Spencer.
The source code can be obtained through Angela Spencer on (031) 311 2317.
Share