Technology Partners

DevX has a dedicated area of the site available for partner-specific content / branding, at developer.teradata.com/partners. It looks something like this:

partners-top

Each tech partner has its own channel, similar to the DevX top-level channels such as "Database", "Viewpoint", etc. A channel provides the following features:

Partner Channel

For most purposes, a partner channel is just like a standard top-level DevX channel such as "Database" or "Viewpoint". If you have not done so already, read DevX Concepts, Content and Features, which explains basic DevX concepts. Then, click through to a partner channel such as developer.teradata.com/partners/ibm, and this is what you see:

channel-concept

Note the following elements:

  1. Channel name ("IBM").
  2. Channel logo, large.
  3. Link back to partner website ("www.ibm.com").
  4. Main partner blurb, ~30-40 words.
  5. Navigation tabs to display all partner content ("Overview"), or just Articles or Reference material.
  6. Content Activity Stream. Displays latest content published in this channel, ordered by most recent. The screenshot above shows two articles in the activity stream.
  7. RSS feed icon: click on this to subscribe to an RSS feed for this channel.
  8. Avatar (profile) picture for the article's primary author. Typically DevX content is attributed to an individual, and their avatar is displayed here (e.g. see the frog avatar). However, for certain partner content, we may attribute the content to the partner account itself ("IBM" in this case), which causes the IBM logo to be displayed.
  9. Article byline / attribution. Note that there are multiple authors listed, with "IBM" being the primary (hence the IBM logo is displayed as per (8)).

Requirements

So, what does it take to get a partner channel up and running?

  1. Designate primary channel owner. This person:
    • must be Teradata staff
    • has ultimate responsibility for content published on the partner channel
    • is the POC for contributors from the partner company
    • approves content in the online partner workflow system
  2. It is preferred to also designate a secondary channel owner for backup/vacation purposes.
  3. Primary channel owner agrees to the content activity requirements:
    • minimum of four (4) content items in the channel before go-live
    • two (2) content items published each month
    Note that content can be sourced internally (Teradata) and/or from the partner company.
    • It is recommended to establish a relationship with the tech partner such that the partner commits to providing regular content drops, e.g. one article per month. Ideally there is a designated POC at the partner.
    • Note that existing white papers, reference material etc, can be mined to produce DevX articles.
    • In addition to articles and reference material, blog posts also appear in the partner channel. It is recommended that at least one contributor regularly blogs in the channel. This could be the channel owner,  or a knowledgeable engineer from Teradata or the partner.
    • NB: it is the ultimate responsibility of the primary channel owner to meet the content activity requirements. Regular, fresh activity is key to DevX's success as a community. A "ghost town" partner channel will not be tolerated.
  4. Acquire legal sign-off from the partner. See Legal Stuff below.
  5. Channel owners agree to monitor and approve publishing workflow for their channel. This is a simple web-based process, see the Publishing Workflow guide for details.
  6. Provide design / display assets:
    • 200x200 logo (in PNG format)
    • 100x100 logo (PNG)
    • URL for the partner website (e.g. "www.ibm.com")
    • "Blurb" (~25-30 words) for the top-level partners listing (developer.teradata.com/partners). This text is displayed on the page listing all the tech partners, and is essentially static.
    • "Blurb" for the partner home page (e.g. developer.teradata.com/partners/ibm). Whilst this is also mostly static blurb, the channel owner can edit this text on a regular basis, e.g. to highlight upcoming events/releases. Should be ~30-60 words.

Legal Stuff

Before you do anything further, read the Required Reading section. This explains our copyright stance, which is basically that all content published on DevX is placed into the Public Domain unless otherwise noted. That is to say, it is possible to make exceptions for certain content, provided it is agreed with our legal team, as well as the partner. The channel owner needs to get the formal written agreement of the technology partner if we are to publish content sourced from our partner. We needn't spend any more time discussing the legal process here, as this is most likely to be custom to each partner.

Next Steps

Consult the requirements above. Is the partner company on board? Are you able to commit to the minimum level of content? Is the channel owner ready to step up? If so, and you're ready get the ball rolling with your new partner channel, ping devxwebmaster@teradata.com and we'll get to work.

Frequently Asked Questions

  • Can I have a members-only area/content in my channel? Currently no. All DevX content is public-access.
  • Can I get a chat-room / forum for my channel? Yes, and it would look like the existing forums, with a "From The Forums" sidebar appearing in your channel, with recent posts from your new forum. However, like other parts of DevX, the forum must be moderated, and it must have enough activity to be viable. That requires work to build and nurture the community, so the channel owner must step up to that task, or delegate it effectively.
  • My tech partner has content to publish. How do I get it onto DevX? Unless your tech partner is producing a lot of content on a regular basis, it's probably simpler for the channel owners to actually input the data into DevX, rather than the partner doing it themselves. This usually involves a bit of labor, perhaps a few hours, especially if the content is provided in a Word doc or PDF.