Thread

Hello. I have worked with Expression Engine for a couple years…usually building sites from scratch and learning functionality as I go. Now, however, a far more complex opportunity has presented itself. We had all of our data in homegrown legacy systems. Most notably, a home grown CMS and an SQL-based DB storing member records (approximately 200,000). We chose a CMS, migrated in October and have endured nothing but pain and suffering since.

We originally reviewed Expression Engine and only opted against it because A) our development wasn’t as well versed in PHP and B) we weren’t sure it could do everything we need it to.

Now that the first CMS hasn’t worked for us, we’d like to reconsider EE and fast-track our development on PHP. Can you address some questions for us:

1) Our site experiences approximately monthly averages of: 300,000 unique visitors, close to 1,000,000 monthly visits, and in excess of 4,000,000 monthly page views. Do you have comparable sites in production with EE?

2) Our site includes 5 print magazines and 2 national television programs. Can EE easily manage monthly magazine issues as well as integrated video?

3) How can an EE rep assist us with data migration? Keep in mind that we have almost 10-years worth of content to migrate and approximately 200,000 member records. Please provide specific details on your strategy to assist in this regard.

4) We manage newsletters using a 3rd party tool (MagnetMail) which we need to replace. I know EE can send HTML newsletters, but can all 200,000 member records be associated with those newsletters they subscribe to?

5) Our company is unique in that web offices are in Chicago, our web hosts/developers are in Canada, our Data Centers are in Iowa and our primary databases are in Philadelphia, PA. Our company is over 100 years old. Data/user info powers every single decision. As such, there needs to be a steady flow of data from web group to database group. For example, new registered users on the website (managed in Chicago, hosted in Canada) need to be transmitted to the database group (Philadelphia) on a nightly basis. Fairly complicated process but wondering if your migration/implementation team might be able to create such a process.

6) Articles, blogs, etc. Can we include the ability to have user-generated comments/replies posted directly to something they’ve read?

There are several things we need to consider, so what might be a best start would be if I could talk thru some of experiences, triumphs and failures with an EE/pMachine rep.

Appreciate your time,

*********************************
Damon Popovich
Website Manager
1550 N. Northwest HW Suite #403
Park Ridge IL, 60068
Phone: 847.268.3288
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Disclaimer:  I am not an EE rep, these comments are my own.

1.  Does ExpressionEngine.com count?  There are other sites but this is not an issue.  ExpressionEngine can scale as long as you have a server which can handle the traffic.  You might look into EngineHosting as they are of course well versed in running high traffic EE sites.

2.  We would need more details but in general you should have no problem running a monthly magazine in EE.  Depending on your exact needs you may need custom features but EE can be extended very easily.  This forum is an EE module and demonstrates that nearly anything can be built on EE if needed.  I don’t have examples of other EE based magazines though.

3. EE support reps cannot assist with migration.  Your best bet is to post an entry on the job board or to contact members of the professional network.

4. EE can send HTML newsletters but I advise against using EE to send a newsletter to 200,000 members.  This is not an EE limitation so much as a tricky logistical problem of sending massive amounts of email from a PHP script and using a mailing server that is most likely shared with all your other servers (like web and database.)  This is not something that I am expert in so I may be wrong though. 

Among the best email mailing list service providers available is ConstantContact and they have an API which can be used for sending email from EE.  Take a look at the EE extension for ConstantContact from Solspace as an example.

Another reason I suggest using a provider such as ConstantContact is because email is getting more difficult by the day.  Nobody can match the reliability of these types of services which focus specifically on making sure your email arrives to your customers.

5.  Again, this is something that you will have to work out with a third part developer.  The ExpressionEngine developers focus on development of the product.

6. Yes, is a normal feature of any blogging/content system and it exists in EE as well.

Edit:  Made a couple of small corrections.

Just to elaborate on a few of these:

1. John’s dead on- EE will scale given a proper server setup to handle the load.  Here’s a good thread discussing some of the active sites run on EE.  Though as Derek notes in the thread, some of the more impressive ones aren’t public knowledge.

2.  EE can definitely be used to run a ‘magazine’ type site (a few are in the showcase), but I’m not clear on exactly what you need for this one, so can’t be more specific.  Integrating video is certainly not a problem.  EE’s highly flexible, so I don’t see any reason it couldn’t run such a site.  But I don’t really have enough specifics to advise.

3.  John’s right- EE official support doesn’t extend to data migration.  However, the job board and the pro network provide two means of contacting accomplished EE programmers.  You might also want to contact .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) directly with more details on what you need.  The team is always happy to help folks figure out if EE is the right tool and how to best proceed.  I’ll give Les a ‘heads up’ on this one as well.

4.  I’m w/John on prefering to outsource newsletters.  Constant contact is the one that leaps to mind for me as well.  That said- I wouldn’t imagine it would be difficult to import the newsletter data. 

5.  This would be custom work- and would be easiest if there’s an existing API in place. 

6.  Yep- standard stuff on that one.

It sounds like a big project, but one where EE might be a very good fit.  Having a dev crew who’s up on php would be useful- as EE is very easy to extend (see development docs).  However EE does have a strong developer following, so it should be possible to find an expert who can help with the custom work.

As I say, you might want to contact sales directly with regard to specifics.  And with luck, some of the old pros around will chime in on the thread re: pros/cons of using EE for such a site.