We want to implement a site with a fairly high number of pages, in a multi-tiered site structure.  For example:

- Off the main nav bar are multiple company branches:  North America, Europe, Asia, etc.

- Beneath each branch are multiple departments:  Accounting, IT, Shipping, etc.

- There can be any number of content pages, with different module content, at any one of these levels - global, branch, department

- All content pages will have sidebar navigation that is unique to that heirarchy level and particular branch/department.  For instance, every department may have a module on the right with "Quick Links" like a calendar or discussion board, but what links are there and where they lead will be different for each department.

The obvious process for accomplishing this seems cumbersome:  For every department, create a "template" page with the desired modules in the navigation sidebar.  For each content page added to that department, copy the "template" page, copying the sidebar modules by reference so they will be the same instance.

But this seems to lead to a maintenance nightmare.  If in the future we want to add a new module to the common sidebar design, or change around the order, that involves touching every page in every department in every branch.  (Not to mention creating lots of duplicate pages with different instances of the same kind of content - i.e., a calendar - for each department.)

With so many professional sites using DNN, it seems there MUST be a more streamlined way to integrate our site structure with the content and navigation.  Can anyone point us in the right direction?  We'd like to learn not just about third party solutions for this, but about the actual concepts of how this is commonly handled, between skin objects, custom modules, etc.

I'll take a look at the skin object you suggested.  As for your other answers:

2. I'm aware of the option to include on all pages.  The problem is that, while the kind of module that appears in the same place on every page is the same, it's not always the same instance; it will be different for every department.  So simply including a module on every page is not quite the solution.

3. This gets close to the information I'm looking for.  Does this mean, then, that the basic concept I presented is the right direction?  In other words, replicating lots of pages with copies of module instances?  (That is, rather than some more complex solution involving custom components and skin objects.)  Building an app to directly control the database structure had occurred to me; I just didn't know if that's really how people handle this.

4. I'm not sure I understand.  From my point of view, the issue is that our content is very dynamic and DNN seems too static.  If I were going to build this site from scratch, for instance, the entire company heirarchy would be in a database, with specific kinds of navigation/content/etc. tied to that structure.  With DNN, while I get the benefit of very complex content modules, for the branch/department structure I have to simply create lots of individual pages and drop in copies of the same modules.  I do want lots of flexibility:  the flexibility to change around common page elements quickly and frequently across the whole site; but the conventional method instead involves going to every page individually to add/change/remove modules.

I'll give a more specific example:  Say I have a shopping site with many different product sections - Clothes, Shoes, Accessories, etc.  There are tons of individual pages in each section, and each has a similar right nav module with action items (or subcategories, or whatever).  But now say I want to add a new module to the right pane - one that shows the "featured" products in the section you're in.  The way it's been set up, I'll have to go to one page in every section and drop in a new module, then go to every one of my 200 pages and drop in copies of the appropriate module.  So, is the solution to this to simply manipulate the database on a broader scale like you mentioned in #3 above, or is there a different technique for setting all this up in the first place?

I appreciate your helping me understand all this!

Thanks for the info.  I've already begun to examine quite a bit of the database; building an app to handle this would certainly be challenging!

I'll just restate your last comment as a question for all:  Can anyone point me to some resources that would help me leverage skin objects to actually include module instances in them?