developing a content management system strategy

7/28/2019 Developing a Content Management System Strategy

1/15an Project Management eBook

Developing a ContentManagement System Strategy

Follow-up toBest Practices for

Developing a Web Site


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contents

Paul Chin (www.paulchinonline.com) is a freelancewriter and journalist. He has previously worked inthe aerospace and competitive intelligence indus-tries as a software developer and CMS specialist.He currently writes on a wide range of IT topics,including systems development and security, digitalcommunications and media, content managementand web design.

Developing a Content Management System Strategy, an Internet.com Project Management eBook. 2008, Jupitermedia Corp.

2 Developing a ContentManagement System Strategy

3 Culture's Impact on a CMS

5 The Content

Management Process

10 CMS Technology

Developing a Content Management System Strategy

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Timely and accurate information forms the basis ofeverything we do. It provides us with the properknowledge to make the right decisions at the right

time. Anything short of this and you might as well try yourluck in Vegas.

But the bulk of an organiza-tions knowledge and contentis scattered throughout manydepartments, workgroups,

and employees. Informationis stored in departmental fileservers, personal computers,filing cabinets, and deskswhere only small groups ofpeople have access to it.

So how do you make the col-lective knowledge of an orga-nizations employees readilyavailable to those who rely on this information for theirday-to-day work? How do you organize and manage all

this information while maintaining a high degree ofaccuracy and a low degree of content duplication? Youdo it with a content management system (CMS).

The goal of a CMS is to allow users to tap into an orga-nizations pool of knowledge in a centralized environ-ment with a distributed model of content management.Although technology is used to build a CMS, the sys-tem must be based on more than the sum of its bits

and bytes. A truly successfulCMS must be built on threeequally important compo-nents that need to beaddressed in the following

order:

1. Culture: Understand thecollective mindset of yourorganization and designingyour CMS with this culture inmind.

2. Process: Identify yourorganizations content and

determining how it will be managed.

3. Technology: Choose the right tool and technologyfor the right job.

2 Developing a Content Management System Strategy, an Internet.com Project Management eBook. 2008, Jupitermedia Corp.

Developing a Content Management System Strategy[ ]

Developing a ContentManagement System Strategy

By Paul Chin

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Information is stored in departmental file servers, personal computers, filingcabinets, and desks where only small groups of people have access to it.


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Controllable FactorsCMS developers must gain an understanding of theirorganizations culture and the users within it. How dousers currently operate? What needs arent being metwith current methods? What are their work habits? Areusers conducive to technology-based solutions? Howcan technology fill the gap? What are your users profes-sional backgrounds? Answering these questions canhelp minimize the negative influences of culture on yoursystem.

When you have a firm understanding of your organiza-tions culture, you have a certain amount of control overhow this culture can affect the functionality and designof your CMS:

Functionality: Corporate culture can dictate what fea-tures your CMS will offer its users. If your culture reliesheavily on teamwork, you might consider includingonline collaboration tools. But if your culture is basedmore on independent and self-reliant users, you mightconsider offering online tools that allow them to querydatabases and search for, or create, information on theirown without the need to go through a third party.

Design: A corporate culture ingrained in technologywill gain more from a no-nonsense CMS based on func-

tionality and less on flash, while a culture less technicallyinclined might prefer one that's simpler and more user-friendly.

Uncontrollable FactorsCorporate culture will always be an unknown element insystem development. You can conduct interviews withfocus groups and prospective users to gain an under-standing of their needs and how they work, but therewill always be uncontrollable factors that can kill a CMS.

The main purpose of a CMS is to share and manageinformation, but every organization will encounter keyinformation holders who refuseactively or passivelyto participate. They may hoard information for variousreasons: job security, to gain professional advantageover colleagues, to use information to boost ones ownstatus, fear of non-recognition, fear of accountability,holding information for ransom, harboring loner atti-tudes, or just plain being difficult for the sake of beingdifficult.

There are some things you can do to foster a spirit ofcooperation and encourage users to share information:

Approach known information hoarders in a diplo-matic and non-confrontational manner, and ask themwhat you can do to make it easier for them to partici-pate. Its important you dont confront unwillingemployees with a "do it or else" ultimatum. This willalienate them further and cause resentment towardsthe project and all those involved with it.

Implement a peer-to-peer support center for yourknowledge community so that individual contentholders won't feel as though they're alone in theirefforts. This also provides them with someone to turn

to if they need help with a problem.

Put a "face" to the knowledge community by profil-ing key contributors. This will go a long way towardshumanizing the system, and will allow employees toget to know the people behind the information.

Create a mentoring program so newcomers don'tfeel estranged from the established knowledge com-munity. Let them know that they can rely on knowl-edge veterans for help. These newcomers can poten-tially become mentors themselves in the future.

Lead by example. Content holders will be more like-ly to share if they see others sharing as well. This willcreate a rippling effect: The more you share, the moreothers will share.

Acknowledge contributions so that active contentholders have a sense of recognition, and that theyrebeing appreciated for the efforts.

Implement a contributors "Hall of Fame" or"Contributor of the Month" to highlight workers whogo above-and-beyond. I




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Although content management is the overall functionof a CMS, it also serves a different company-specificpurpose within every organization. Its the latter that

will connect with users.

You must define a mission statementyour systemsraison d'trethats applicable to users real, day-to-day lives. Users are more likely to adopt and use a sys-tem if they can directly relate to its purpose, more sothan if a CMS had a broadand general purpose such asto improve corporate col-laboration or to store anddisseminate information.

A CMSs mission statementforms the basis of develop-

ment and will dictate howyour CMS will be used tosupport specific businessprocesses. But its importantto note that CMS develop-ment, although Web-based,is very different than Website design. This is why its not a good idea to give theresponsibility of building a CMS to a pure designer withlittle development experience. You need to establishbusiness process, functionality, content types and tax-onomy, and user input before considering layout,typography, and color.

Identify Your ContentA CMS is a container for information. Before you candesign the size and shape of this container, you needto fully understand what type of information is going tobe stored, how to get it inside, and how to serve it up.

Internal Knowledge AssetsInternal knowledge assets (IKA) are an organizationsintellectual property. IKA are made up of information

that isnt readily available tothe general public and iscreated through the effortsof an organizations usercommunity. IKA can includebusiness strategies, markettrend analyses, informationon competitors, financial

information, internalmemos, and details on spe-cific projects and contracts.

Unlike externally sourcedinformation, which can be

somewhat vague and general, IKA are highly focusedand stripped of a lot of the marketing and public rela-tions spin thats often added for public consumption.

Externally Sourced InformationExternally sourced information (ESI) includes any infor-

mation that can be legally obtained through a public



The Content Management Process

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You must define a mission statementyour systems raison d'trethats applicable to users real, day-to-day lives.


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medium or purchased from a third-party informationvendor. ESI can include information collected from theInternet, hard copy documents from newspapers and

magazines, and information from content deliveryservices.

ESIs greatest advantage is volume. Since it doesntneed to be created internally, content managers canput together more information in a shorter period oftime. This, of course, can be both a blessing and acurse. If content managers arent careful about theirselection and have a loose vetting process, ESI can eas-ily lead to content clutter. Theres also an inherent riskin using ESI if content managers ignore the copyrightlaws associated with the information they collect from

external sources.

Content EngineeringContent engineering is the process of filtering raw datainto more usable and applicable information. For exam-ple, a lengthy 50-page annual financial report can bepared down to a three-page summary.

Engineered content, therefore, is extremely focusedand specific to a discipline or topic. But this isnt to saythat non-engineered content doesnt have its place

within an organization. Non-engineered content coversa wider range of topics and is most useful when usersarent looking for anything in particular.

By definition IKA are engineered because they werecreated by members of the organization. ESI, however,can be stored on a CMS in its entirety (if you have thecopyright to do so) or engineered so that only applica-ble portions are maintained.

Determine Content OrganizationContent organization is highly dependant on the sys-

tems purpose, the technology used, security for con-tent managers and user community, portability andflexibility, and navigation and usability.

There are two levels of content organization that mustbe taken into account:



Advantages Disadvantages

Engineered More applicable and targeted Information may only address a smallto your organizations industry group of users within the organization.

and business processes.

Takes less time for users to Requires much more work beforeread since the information has information makes its way onto the CMS.been pared down to the essentials.

Highly focused on a specific topic, Information might not be as timely.stripped of marketing or PR spin.

Non-engineered Caters to content browsing. Useful Users must sift through a lot offor when users arent looking for non-applicable information to find

anything in particular. specific content.

Very little human intervention Content providers might be tempted tois required. take shortcuts by inputting content

without reviewing its relevance.

Information is posted much quicker, Non-engineered content can easilyand can be more up-to-date, since lead to CMS clutter.no processing is done.


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Physical Content OrganizationPhysical content organization defines the physicalorganization, or architecture, of a CMS. It exists either

in a database or in a series of tiered folders and files.Efficient physical content organization contributes tooverall system performance and eases site maintenancefor the technical staff.

Logical Content OrganizationLogical organization defines the contextual relationshipof one piece of content with another and usually (butnot always) defines the systems navigation type.Efficient logical content organization contributes tooverall user experience and allows users to navigatefrom one piece of content to another in an intuitivemanner.

Establish CMS Management andGovernanceA CMS, unlike many other technology-based systems,involves the ongoing participation of many profession-als from many disciplines, departments, and work-groups. With so many people dipping their hands inthe pot, its easy for things to get out of control ifyoure not careful.

Ownership and governance of an organization-wideCMS must be structured in a manner as to allow allstakeholders to have equal say in the direction of the

system while avoiding the pitfalls of a bloated bureau-cratic process.

Multi-tier governance modelsThe goal of a multi-tiered governance model is to giveevery CMS stakeholder a voice; and to make a diverseset of resourcestechnology, content, businessprocess, and personneloperate as a seamless unit.

The biggest CMS governance mistake is to appoint asingle department as the sole governing body of thesystem. This can open up the possibility of partisanship

since every CMS section owner has their own prioritiesand objectives. They might end up, consciously or sub-consciously, undermining the efforts of other sectionowners.

Instead, you need to form a governing body compris-ing all top-level CMS stakeholdersrepresentatives ofeach core section and key technology personnel. Thegoal of this governing body is to ensure every sectionis represented, that the systems mission statement isupheld, and to prevent any one group from hijackingthe site for their own purposes.



Thebiggest CMSgovernance

mistake is toappoint a

single depart-ment as thesole governing

body of thesystem.

CMS Governing Body CMS Manager

HR Rep CorporateComm. Rep

IT RepMarketingRep

Project 1Rep

Project 2Rep

User-base

ContentManager(s)

ContentManager(s)

ContentManager(s)

ContentManager(s)

GraphicDesigner(s)

WebDeveloper(s)

Network andSecurity

ContentManager(s)

User-base User-base User-base User-base

Example of a multi-tier CMS governing body.


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A top-level CMS manager should also be appointed tocoordinate the efforts and activities of all governingmembers. It's crucial that this CMS manager be inde-

pendent and non-partisan, and open to all ideas andsuggestions brought forth by members. The CMS man-ager keeps both the system and its management teamflowing freely, acting as an administrator, mediator, andkey decision-maker.

The CMS manager needs to coordinate and overseethree distinct components:

1. Infrastructure: Infrastructure includes all technologycomponents of the system such as software, hardware,design and development, and security and fail-safe

mechanisms. Infrastructure is the responsibility IT.

2. Content: Content management falls under each indi-vidual section owner and encompasses all matters ofintellectual property and business process.

3. Administration: Administration involves the overallmanagement of the CMS. It includes issues of policy,decision making, standardization, and future directionof the system. All top-level stakeholders should partici-pate in CMS administration. I


Developing a Content Management System Strategy[ ]You need to implement a multi-tiergovernance model to:

Determine and regulate development and tech-nology standards Determine and maintain content presentationstandards Promote fairness and equity among all CMS stake-holders Act as peacekeeper, resolving conflicting goalsbetween different section owners; Ensure that no one special interest group hijacksthe system for their own partisan purposes Determine the future direction of the system Maintain the overall integrity of the system


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Developing a Content Management System Strategy[ ]Identify CMS Governing Body Personnel

Name Responsible for:

CMS Manager

TECHNOLOGY

Designer(s)

Developer(s)

Infrastructure(network & security)

CONTENT

Rep for Content manager(s)









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If your organization doesnt have dedicated IT staff then thisis going to be your biggest question mark. Deciding on atechnology, or set of technologies (often called a solution

stack), has a big impact on the longevity of your CMS.

Sometimes youre forced tocompromise what youd liketo do with what youre ableto do based on available per-sonnel, technical resourcesand expertise, financialresources, and allotted time-frame.

The most likely initial ques-tion youll ask is whether todevelop the system yourself

or hire someone to do it foryou. This subject is coveredin the eBook Best Practicesfor Managing a Web Site(http://www.devx.com/ebook/Article/37584), and so itwont be repeated here.

Before you settle on your technology, take stock ofwhat IT infrastructure you already have in place andhow your potential technology candidates will affect it.If your organization is based entirely on a Microsoftbackbone, do you really want to introduce a LAMPenvironment?

Whichever technology you decide on, you need to

think about the longevity of your CMS. You must plannot only for your immediate needs, but also your futureneeds.

Plan for the Future

CMS team members needto adapt their system toaccommodate changeswithin their organization. Itsnot a question of if butwhen. Your CMS must beflexible and extensibleenough to adapt to thesechanges without having torebuild large sections ofthe systemor worse, theentire backbone. You can

increase your chances ofsurviving changes to yourCMS if you:

Build an Extensible InfrastructureShortsightedness in technology is a system killer. Youmight be tempted to save time, effort, and money bybuying and building only what is required to meet yourimmediate needs. But what happens if departments orworkgroups who were not part of the initial CMSdeployment decide they want in? What happens ifemployees on the road or satellite branches require off-

site access? When this happens there will be a maddash to boost the resources of a CMS that seems to be



CMS Technology

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Whichever technology you decide on, you need to think about thelongevity of your CMS. You must plan not only for your immediate

needs, but also your future needs.


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shrinking while requirements are expanding. Its crucialto plan your CMS for the eventuality that it will growbeyond your current infrastructure.

Implement a Modular StructureA CMS, like the organization that owns it, is an evolvingentity. An organization can change quickly, and as such,its CMS must quickly adapt to those changes. A CMSshould be modular and its sections fairly self-contained.This will allow an entire branch of the system to beadded or severed and migrated to a new place withminimal effort and redevelopment.

A modular CMS helps promote system longevity andeases management, enabling developers to adapt the

system to future or unexpected changes. A CMSshouldnt be so tightly woven that removal or additionof a single component will cause the system to collapselike a house of cards.

Use Industry Standards or Widely AcceptedSoftware

Your choice of CMS technologyboth the tool itselfand its underlying backbonecan greatly affect thelongevity of your system. With the speed at which tech-nology changes you might one day find yourself tryingto support a system thats based on obsolete technolo-gy or using orphaned softwaresoftware developed by

a company no longer in business or software thatsbeen dropped by the company that built it.

While its impossible to predict the direction of technol-ogy or software companies, you can increase the life ofyour CMS by using industry standard technologies orwidely accepted software with a large user base.

In addition to system longevity, you also increase yourchances of finding knowledgeable developers. Themore people who use a particular software product ortechnology the easier it will be to find people to sup-

port your CMS. Otherwise, youll be forced to payexorbitant amounts of money to hire niche program-mers because theyre your only option.

Free Open Source vs. CommercialSoftware?Even though open source software is free, flexible, andhighly customizable, its going to be a difficult sell tosenior managementespecially in larger organizations

where establishment and toeing the line is the norm.And despite all the advances in open source software,many still perceive it as being "not serious" and used

exclusively by small groups of freewheeling techies whohave no business sense. Free or not, senior manage-ment is much more likely to pour money into an estab-lished tool from one of the "Big Guys."

Proprietary, off-the-shelf software is the established andaccepted norm in the big business world. But hugesoftware markups can exclude small businesses or not-for-profit organizations with very limited IT budgets.Once you do invest in a commercial software tooltying your organization to the vendor and toolyou'llbe subjected to the rolling costs associated with own-

ing proprietary, commercial software.

Five reasons to consider a DIY open source solution

1) Decide Your Own Software FateOpen source software, licensed under a free softwarelicense such as the GNU General Public License (GPL),represents ultimate freedom. It represents flexibility andcontrol over customization and distribution, minimizingvendor dependency and lock-in, avoiding restrictiveand costly licensing agreements, and reducing totalcost of ownership.

2) Reduce Total Cost of OwnershipFree, open source software doesnt cost you anythingupfront. User documentation is provided online or viadownloadable PDFs, and there's plenty of support viacommunity-based discussion forums. You can down-load and experiment with the fully functional opensource software before committing to it, and it won'tcost you anything except time.

Commercial, proprietary software forces you to incurthe rolling costs of ownership. In some cases, depend-ing on your licensing agreement, you'll still be paying

for the proprietary software long after your systemreaches the end of its life cycle.

3) Total Software CustomizationOpen source software solutions allow you to fine-tuneyour software to your organization's business-specificneeds. This gives you a much more tailored solution,unlike off-the-shelf software that often only contains themost common and widely used features. Off-the-shelfsoftware can be a millstone around developers necks.




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4) Support from Real-World DevelopersAlthough theres no formal technical support depart-ment for open source software, there are plenty of

free, community-based support options such as onlinediscussion forums. In many cases, the contributors tothese support communitiesdevelopers themselveswith real, hands-on experienceare more knowledge-able than the front line tech support agents workingfor proprietary software vendors who are unable toanswer anything beyond typical FAQ questions (And ifyou want real technical support, you'll have to pay apremium either in the form of costly support licensesor pay-per-call fees.)

5) Product LongevityProprietary software puts you at the mercy of the soft-ware maker. They might decide the software is nolonger marketable and drop it from their product line.Or they might decide to change the software's under-lying architecture and technology, making it incompat-ible with previous versions.

The technology backbone of most open source soft-ware is based on popular, industry standard technolo-giesPHP, Java, MySQL, PostgreSQL. Theres noshortage of expertise in these technologies so opensource software puts the longevity of your system inyour own hands. You decide what you want to change

and when you want to change it. Your open sourcesolution will live as long as you have people willingto manage your system and provide future develop-ment.

Five reasons to consider a proprietary off-the-shelfsolution

1) You Don't Need a Lot Technical ExpertiseDevelopers of proprietary, off-the-shelf software go togreat lengths to hide the nuts-and-bolts from cus-tomers. They try to make their software as quick and

easy to install and set up as possibleeven by thosewith limited technical abilityby encapsulating manyof the tool's components into its installation package.If you're not up to the challenge of a DIY open sourcesolution or you don't have the time to overcome thelearning curve, this is your best bet

2) Comfort from an Established CompanyLarge, established commercial software firms havehuge market shares and customer bases. Theres a

sense of security that comes from adopting propri-etary software from established companies such asIBM or Microsoft. You know that theyre not likely to

disappear overnight. But its not uncommon for anopen source project to reach an apex and then slowlybegin to decline as the project community loses bothinterest and developers. Some will find this lack ofstability in community-based, open source develop-ment far too risky.

3) Easier to Convince Senior ManagementSenior management hates to rock the boat, andadopting open source software in a large corporateenvironment is still a novel idea to many. Gettingthem to agree to do away with traditional software

makers in favor of an open source solution developedby what they perceive to be a community of "face-less" programmers will take them too far out of theircomfort zone. They might even consider an opensource solution as not serious when compared totools from well-known and established commercialsoftware makers.

4) Someone to Hold AccountableWhen something goes wrong, we always want some-one to blame. So if a CMS mysteriously gobbles upan organization's data, senior management will wantsomeone to be held accountableand possibly to

take legal action against. It's tough to do this withopen source software because a community of volun-teer developers usually develops it.

5) More Formal and Personalized SupportProprietary, commercial software makers tend to offermore personalized, one-on-one technical support.They can walk you through different troubleshootingprocedures regardless of your technical skill level.

With open source, troubleshooting is a DIY process.Informal support comes in the form of community-

based Web sites, knowledge bases, and discussionforums. If you have a problem or question, you haveto hope that someone in the community will have asolution for you. Plus, when someone does answeryour question, you need to have the technical know-how to put that solution into play.




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Developing a Content Management System Strategy[ ]EVALUATING CMS TOOLS

CMS 1 CMS 2 CMS 3 CMS 4 CMS 5

GENERAL

ServerWeb serverDatabaseOperating systemProgramming languageLicense typeCost

SECURITY & ADMINISTRATION

Inline administrationOnline administrationGranular access controlAuthentication typeSSL compatibleActivity logsUsage statisticsFTP support

CONTENT

Inline content managementOnline content managementWYSIWYG editorContent approvalContent locking

Version controlMultilingual supportDigital rights managementContent schedulingSyndicationCustom brandingThemes & skins


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Developing a Content Management System Strategy[ ]WEB 2.0

Blog

WikiSocial networkingTagging

COLLABORATION

Chat/IMDiscussion forumShared calendarUser survey/poll

Contact manager

OTHER

From Fingers to KeyboardsA CMS is meant to help you do your job; it doesnt doit for you. Its unrealistic to expect highly disorganizedemployees who cant even find something you gavethem 10 minutes ago to suddenly see the light andmanage content on a CMS efficiently.

A successful CMS doesnt begin and end with the toolitself. Its only one component in a much larger solu-tionone that begins at your own fingertips. A CMScant help an organization improve on something itnever had to begin with. So if you throw technology ata human problem that hasnt been addressed, it wontbe the system that fails; it will be the people who putthe system together who fail. I

Paul Chin (www.paulchinonline.com) is a freelance writerand journalist. He has previously worked in the aero-space and competitive intelligence industries as a soft-ware developer and CMS specialist. He currently writeson a wide range of IT topics, including systems devel-opment and security, digital communications andmedia, content management and web design.

developing a content management system strategy

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