Selecting a Content Management Tool that Fits
By Travis Ortlieb and Brenda Fackler
Gone are the days of webmaster bottlenecks and Web content that doesn’t change
for months. Content management system (CMS) products make it easy for
non-technical users to keep the information on their Web sites up-to-date. We
won’t tell you what content management product to buy, but we will give some
tips on selecting a content management solution that fits the needs of your
organization and the needs of the people using the tool. After all, it’s not
what the content management tool can do. It’s what it can do for you.
Understand Your Business Objectives
It’s a good idea to begin by asking yourself some key questions.
Your chances for a successful implementation will increase significantly if you
understand the business objectives driving it. Here are some questions to
start
with:
What are your content requirements?
-
Which sections of the site will need to change frequently?
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Do these sections have similar formats? And will the content be repurposed for
other mediums such as mobile devices, PDFs or even printable versions of the
same content?
What are your system requirements?
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What platform and version of software will the system be implemented on?
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Where is your site hosted and what is its connectivity speed?
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What hardware security or firewalls are already in place?
What are your data requirements?
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What sources of data (HTML forms, Web services, XML) need to be
supported?
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What are your archiving requirements?
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What type of reporting do you need?
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Do you have specific scalability requirements related to the number of content
contributors, amount of content or volume of site traffic?
Understand Your User Requirements
You can spend time and money implementing the most whiz-bang content management
solution ever and, if it wasn’t executed with the users in mind, it may be hard
to quantify your ROI. The usability of your CMS tool and a detailed
understanding of the process your team uses to create and publish content will
directly affect the rate that your users adopt the system. This, in turn,
affects your ability to deliver relevant and timely content to your customers.
To avoid this dilemma, start by reviewing the people and processes involved in
publishing content for your Web site today. You might want to ask yourself the
following user related questions:
- Does the system need to be built for the non-technical content writer with no
knowledge of HTML?
- What functionality do your users need to see? What functionality is unnecessary for them to see, and would slow down the process?
-
What types of users will be involved in the process — authors, editors,
viewers, approvers, designers, translators — and what do they need to
accomplish?
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Do you need version control?
Integration and Customization
Don’t assume that the content management product you choose is going
to be good-to-go right out of the box. This is rarely the case. Even if you
choose the perfect CMS product, it’s unlikely your users will use all of the
features it offers. In fact, the majority of CMS products will be missing some
of the functionality that you do need. To maximize your investment, consider
developing custom functionality to achieve the desired workflow and user
experience for your users.
At this point, the time you spent understanding your requirements really pays
off. If you don’t have the resources in-house, don’t be afraid to ask for help.
A good customized implementation will address your requirements and ensure the
system is both usable and intuitive. After all, if your users don’t want to use
the tool or worse yet — if the tool isn’t usable — then your investment is
wasted.
Most Importantly
We know we said that we wouldn’t tell you which content management
product is best for you, and we won’t. But we will say this — whichever product
you choose, and however you customize it, your CMS solution should be
extensible, scalable, maintainable and secure.
Learn more about content management solutions
CMS Watch
http://www.cmswatch.com/
Say Hello to Content Management Server
2002 Standard Edition
http://www.microsoft.com/cmserver/
