Reusing Content: Multi Site Manager and Live Copy reusing-content-multi-site-manager-and-live-copy

With MSM you can:

• Create content once and then
• Copy this content to, and re-use this content in, other areas (live copies) of the same or other sites.

MSM then maintains the (live) relationships between your source content and its live copies so that:

• When you make changes to the source content, the source and live copies are synchronized (to apply these changes to the live copies too).
• You can make adjustments to the content of the live copies by disconnecting the live relationship for individual sub pages and/or components. By doing this, changes to the source will no longer be applied to the live copy.

Multinationals - Global to Local Company

One typical use case that MSM supports is to reuse content in several multinational same-language sites. This allows the core content to be re-used, while allowing for national variations.

For example, the English section of the We.Retail Reference Site sample is created for customers in the USA. Most of the content in this site can also be used for other We.Retail sites that cater to English-speaking customers of different countries and cultures. The core content remains the same over all sites, while regional adjustments can be made.

The following structure can be used for sites for the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia:

/content
    |- we.retail
        |- language-masters
            |- en
    |- we.retail
        |- us
            |- en
    |- we.retail
        |- gb
            |- en
    |- we.retail
        |- ca
            |- en
    |- we.retail
        |- au
            |- en

National - Head-Office to Regional Branches

Alternatively a company with a network of dealers might want separate websites for their individual dealerships - each being a variation of the main site provided by the head-office. This might be for a single company with multiple regional offices, or a national franchise system comprised of a central franchisor and multiple local franchisees.

The head office can supply the core information, whereas the regional entities can add local information, such as contact details, opening hours and events.

/content
    |- head-office-Berlin
    |- branch-Hamburg
    |- branch-Stuttgart
    |- branch-Munich
    |- branch-Frankfurt

Multiple Versions

Or you can use MSM to create versions of a specific sub-branch, For example, a support sub-site holding details of the different versions of a specific product, where the base information remains constant and only the updated features need to be changed:

/content
    |- support
        |- product X
            |- v5.0
            |- v4.0
            |- v3.0
            |- v2.0
            |- v1.0

Create Site (Sites)

• MSM helps you to manage multiple websites that share common content; for example, websites are often provided for international audiences such that most of the content is common across all countries, with a subset of the content specfic to each individual country. MSM allows you to create live copies that automatically update one or more sites based on your source site. This also helps you to enforce a common base structure, use the common content across the multiple sites, maintain a common look and feel and focus efforts on managing the content that actually differs between the sites.
• Requires a predefined blueprint configuration to specify the source.
• Creates a live copy of the (predefined) source.
• Provides the user with the Rollout button.

Create Live Copy (Sites)

• MSM allows you to create an ad-hoc (one-off) live copy of an individual page or sub-branch of a website; for example, duplicating a sub-branch to provide information about a new/updated version of a product.
• Creates an ad-hoc live copy (no blueprint configuration required).
• Can be used to (immediately) create a live copy of any page/branch.
• Requires Synchronize (does not provide the Rollout button).

View Properties (Sites)

• Where appropriate, this option helps you monitor your live copy by providing information on the related Live Cop y or Blueprint.

References (Sites)

• The References rail provides information about Live Copies together with access to appropriate actions.

Live Copy Overview (Sites)

• This console allows you to view and manage your blueprint and its live copies.

Blueprints (Tools - Sites)

• This console allows you to create and manage your blueprint configurations.

The live copy inherits content from its source.

Synchronization performs the actual transfer of content when changes are made to the source.

A live copy can be considered as either:

• Shallow: a single page
• Deep: the page, together with its child pages

Synchronization rules, called rollout configurations, determine which properties are synchronized and when the sychronization occurs.

The content below /content/we-retail/language-masters/en is the source.

The content below /content/we-retail/language-masters/en is copied below the /content/we-retail/us/en/, /content/we-retail/gb/en, /content/we-retail/ca/en, and /content/we-retail/au/en nodes. These are the live copies.

Authors make changes to pages below /content/we-retail/language-masters/en.

When triggered, MSM synchronizes these changes to the live copies.

Live copy pages that reflect the selected source pages on a 1:1 basis.

One configuration definition.

A live relationship defined for every resource:

• Link the live copy resource with its blueprint/source.
• Are used when realizing inheritance and rollout.

Changes can be synchronized according to requirements.

A deep rollout triggered for the top-level live copy can be continued into the nested live copy (for example, if the trigger matches).

Any links between the sources will be rewritten within the live copies.

For example, links from the second to the first blueprint will be rewritten as links from the nested/second live copy to the first live copy.

Create a Blueprint configuration

The configuration defines (in advance) the pages to be used to create the live copy.

Create a Live Copy of a Page

The pages used to create the live copy (the source pages) are the blueprint pages.

The source page can be referenced by a blueprint configuration, or not.

A rollout configuration can be defined so that specific events can cause a rollout to occur automatically.

When authoring a blueprint page you can use the Rollout command to push changes to the live copy.

The Rollout command is available on a blueprint page that is referenced by a blueprint configuration.

When authoring a live copy page you can use the Synchronize command to pull changes from the source to the live copy.

The Synchronize command is always available on the live copy page (regardless of whether the source/blueprint page is encompassed by a blueprint configuration).

Trigger

A trigger is an event that causes the live action synchronization to occur, such as the activation of a source page. MSM defines the triggers that you can use.

Synchronization actions

Are performed on the live copy to synchronize it with the source. Example actions are copying content, ordering child nodes, and activating the live copy page. MSM provides a number of synchronzation actions.

Custom Rollout Configurations
Create a rollout configuration when the installed rollout configurations do not meet your requirements. You can use any available rollout trigger and synchronization action.

Custom Synchronization Actions
Create a custom synchronization action when the installed actions do not meet your specific application requirements. MSM provides a Java API for creating custom synchronization actions.