Case Study: Northwestern University achieves scalable, platform-agnostic web publishing and rapid site migrations with Hannon Hill's Cascade CMS

Northwestern University - Customer Case Study

Northwestern University, a private research university with multiple schools and a decentralized IT structure, needed to replace its aging Serena Collage web CMS. Collage relied on Java applets, performed poorly on Macs, created support and compatibility headaches, and was being discontinued, leaving many departments with inconsistent systems and limited ability to share or scale content.

After defining requirements — platform agnosticism, a decoupled scalable architecture, and strong APIs — NU selected Cascade CMS. Cascade required no rendering server, works with technologies like PHP/.NET/ColdFusion, and lets existing web servers handle load. Developers became proficient with the API in weeks; about 40 sites were migrated in nine months, the IT division moved 2,500 pages in eight weeks using workflows, and schools could refresh designs and reuse content easily. Adoption accelerated (from ~60 to 130+ sites) as departments leveraged templates, APIs, and streamlined publishing.

Northwestern University

Lee Roberson

Senior Web Developer