TSW 01-02

September 2001

JISC TechWatch Report: Content Management Systems

Paul Browning1 & Mike Lowndes2

1: Information Strategy Co-ordinator, University of Bristol. E-mail: [email protected]

2: Web Manager, The Natural History Museum, London. E-mail: [email protected]

Table of Contents

Executive Summary.................................................................................................................................... 2
Key words................................................................................................................................................... 3
The Concept ............................................................................................................................................... 3
The Issue..................................................................................................................................................... 5
Products ...................................................................................................................................................... 7
The core features of a CMS .................................................................................................................... 7
The CMS product marketplace............................................................................................................... 7
Developments ........................................................................................................................................... 10
Assessment and Recommendations.......................................................................................................... 11
Acknowledgements .................................................................................................................................. 14
References ................................................................................................................................................ 14
Glossary.................................................................................................................................................... 15

List of Figures

Figure 1: The evolution of the Institutional Web

Figure 2: CMS functional scope and the content life-cycle
Figure 3: The CMS Feature Onion

List of Tables
Table 1: The business benefits of a CMS
Table 2: Non-core CMS feature categories and related ‘standards’
Table 3: Different CMS types
Table 4: The information HE/FE needs
Table A1: CMS Feature List
Table A2: CMS Product List

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Executive Summary
Institutions are struggling to maintain their Web sites. Out of date material, poor control
over design and navigation, a lack of authority control and the constriction of the
Webmaster bottleneck will be familiar to many in the HE/FE sector.

The pre-millennial Web has been characterised by highly manual approaches to

maintenance; the successful and sustainable post-millennial Web will have significant
automation. One vehicle by which this can be achieved is the “content management
system” (CMS).

In reality a CMS is a concept rather than a product. It is a concept that embraces a set of
processes. Institutional needs are often highly individual (reflecting the heterogeneity of
their processes and back-end information systems) and so the task of implementing a
CMS will inevitably contain a significant bespoke component. There is little argument
that the solution will be a mixture of “buy-and-build”. The key issue is one of balance -
“how much must we build before we get what we need?”

The market place is very crowded and continues to grow. Many analysts are predicting a
shake-out in the medium term. Currently, investing in a CMS is potentially more of a risk
than for other, more mature categories of information system.

Vendor literature is generally over-hyped and jargon-ridden. Terms like ‘personalisation’,

‘syndication’, ‘asset management’ and ‘re-purposing’ abound. Moreover, the boundaries
of the CMS space are blurred. Substantial overlaps exist with document management
systems, knowledge management systems, enterprise application integration systems, e-
commerce systems and portals. We also contend that there are significant (but as yet not
generally recognised) overlaps with intranet groupware and virtual learning
environments. Indeed, it may turn out that one institution’s ‘managed learning
environment’ is another’s CMS.

We detect resistance within traditional campus computing services and MIS departments
to the concept of the CMS (and indeed the need for an automated, post-millennial Web).
Fundamentally a CMS devolves control over content to the owners of that content (rather
than the technician) and then scales without increasing management overheads. The
investment can run to a six-figure sum if the perceived market leading solutions are
considered, though many more modest (and indeed no-purchase cost) solutions are
available.

Senior managers need to be aware of the costs and consequences of not embracing the
post-millennial Web. The cost of investing in a CMS can be on a par with procuring a
student record system - but which, in terms of efficiency and effectiveness, is likely to
give the biggest return on investment? In fact, there is no choice, because both will be
essential items. But we suspect, in terms of competitive advantage, it will be the CMS
that will be more important in terms of differentiating institutions.

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Key words

Authority control, business processes, content re-use, information architecture,

institutional web site, multiple authorship.

The Concept
A Content Management System (CMS) is not really a product or a technology. It is a
catch-all term that covers a wide set of processes that will underpin the ‘Next Generation’
large-scale web site.

The pervasive nature of the Web means that it has become the preferred vehicle for
content delivery. ‘CMS’ should therefore be read as ‘Web Content Management System’.
Institutions have no shortage of ‘content’ - be it data, information or knowledge. When
the creation and publication of content is well managed then the organisation functions
more cost-effectively; it is also likely to lead to better decision making.

Process/Benefit Prospectus example

Engendering the re-use of information by allowing A Web prospectus page describing a programme
the ready integration of data from diverse sources. might draw together information from such sources
as the student record system (for curriculum data),
the personnel system (for details of teaching staff )
and an imagebank (containing attractive pictures).
Permitting the efficient re-purposing of information. The same prospectus page might be rendered a PDF
(for high quality hard-copy), as plain text (to be sent
as an e-mail message) or optimised on screen for a
partially-sighted user.
Allowing information maintenance to become The prospectus entry can be devolved to its
devolved but at the same time preserving central academic director but, before going live on a pre-
control. assigned date, a member of the marketing
department would first check the amended text for
factual and stylistic consistency.
Ensuring presentational consistency by separating The academic director would be provided with a
the design of Web pages from the content they template to enter the information about the
display. programme ….
De-skilling the task of putting information on the …. which reduces the task to no more than ‘filling
Web. in the boxes’ on a Web form or a word-processor
document.
Facilitating good information management practice The relevant prospectus page is ‘stamped’ with the
so that appropriate metadata are captured at the time name of the maintainer, the creation or modification
of content creation or modification. date, an expiry date (which would later cause the
automatic generation of e-mails to the maintainer of
the information at regular intervals before this date)
and incorporation of keywords to ensure indexing
by search engines.
Permitting some past state of the Web site to be re- The edition of the prospectus from two years ago
created or restored. can be re-constructed.
Table 1: The business benefits of a CMS

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The key goal of a CMS is the increased integration and automation of the processes that
support efficient and effective Internet delivery. The means by which this is achieved,
placed in the context of a university prospectus, are summarised in Table 1.

We limit the scope of this report to those features that might be regarded as ‘mandatory’
for a CMS in the HE/FE sector. This feature set can be expected to change in the near
future. There are several related applications that are often included in the feature lists of
content management software. We will not cover e-commerce systems, though several
large-scale commercial CMSs are essentially e-commerce management packages. We
will not discuss post-deployment applications such as Web site personalisation,
searching, noticeboards, guestbooks, etc.

The present report therefore concentrates on the content management issues relevant to
the ‘outward facing institutional Web’. It is ironic that, because of the growth of
intranets, the outward facing Web will become a quantitatively minor part of the
institutional Web (Fig.1). However, in the context of current challenges and risks, the
outward facing Web will continue to exercise the minds of senior managers in the
medium term.

Figure 1: The evolution of the Institutional Web

Within this scope, we have placed the functions of a CMS into four categories:
Authoring, Workflow, Storage and Publishing (Fig. 2). A CMS manages the path from
authoring through to publishing using a scheme of workflow and by providing a system
for content storage and integration.

Authoring is the process by which many users can create Web content within a managed
and authorised environment, whether it be a simple line of text (e.g. ‘The University
administrative offices will be closed next Monday’) on a ‘What’s New?’ page, an entry in
an online course discussion group, or the entire Postgraduate Prospectus.

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 Figure 2: CMS functional scope and the content life-cycle
(after Ort [1] and Vidgen et al. [2])

Workflow is the management of steps taken by the content between authoring and
publishing. Typical steps could be link checking and review/signoff by a manager or
legal team. If workflow has existed at all in traditional Web site management it has been
an off-line affair and not built in to software processes.

Storage is the placing of authored content into a repository. Beyond this it is also the
versioning of the content, so that access conflicts between multiple authors cannot arise
and so that previous versions can be found and restored if required. It can also mean
breaking down content into structured, meaningful components such as <job title>,
<course> or <description> which are stored as separate elements. These can be
stored as records in a database or as Extensible Markup Language (XML) files.

Publishing is the process by which stored content is delivered. Traditionally this has
meant ‘delivered to the Web site as HTML’. However, it could also mean as an e-mail
message, as an Adobe PDF file or as Wireless Markup Language (to name but a few). In
the near future multiple delivery mechanisms will be required, particularly as
accessibility legislation starts to bite.

We have summarised the advertised features of CMSs into a ‘CMS Feature Onion’
(Fig. 3). Table A1 (see Appendix) details these features and explains them. The feature
sets typical of the different styles of CMS are reviewed in greater depth below.

The Issue
Institutions are struggling to maintain their Web sites. Out of date material, poor control
over design and navigation, a lack of authority control and the constriction of the
Webmaster (or even Web Team) bottleneck will be familiar to many in the HE/FE sector.

The pre-millennial Web has been characterised by highly manual approaches to

maintenance; the successful and sustainable post-millennial Web will have significant
automation. One vehicle by which this can be achieved is the CMS.

The concept of ‘self-service authoring’, whereby staff do not need special skills to edit
the content for which they are responsible, can be regarded as a major step towards
acceptance of the Web as a medium for communication by non-web specialists.
Providing this is the key advantage of a CMS. As local information systems integrate and

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become more pervasive, self-service authoring extends to the concept of ‘write once, re-
use anywhere’, in which the Web is treated as just another communication channel along
with email, word processor files and presentations, etc.

Figure 3: The CMS Feature Onion

The market place is very crowded and continues to grow (Faulkner Information Services
estimates the market will grow to $65 billion by 2003 [3]). A list of 98 products claiming
to offer a CMS (or components of one) can be found in Table A2 (Appendix). Comparing
a list of products compiled in October 2000 with Table A2 reveals a number of
newproducts and the loss or re-orientation of many others, although the number of
products available continues to increase and diversify. Currently, therefore, investing in a
CMS is potentially more of a risk than for other, more mature categories of information
system.

This state of affairs, however, should not dictate inaction. The core features offered by
most CMSs are sufficiently well developed to make the conversion of a traditional web
site an undertaking that should be welcomed by all stakeholders, without the fear of
having to re-engineer the web site again in the future.

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The boundaries of the CMS space are blurred. Substantial overlaps exist with document
management systems, knowledge management systems, source control systems,
enterprise application integration systems, e-commerce systems and portals. We also
contend that there are significant (but as yet not generally recognised) overlaps with
intranet groupware and virtual/managed learning environments. Indeed, it may turn out
that one institution’s ‘managed learning environment’ is another’s CMS.

Products

The core features of a CMS

In order to provide the functionality required by a complex, large scale, multi-author
anddynamic web site then many features are desirable. Some CMSs try to contain them
all, but it is unlikely that everything you may need will be available in a single product. It
is the authors’ experience that a pragmatic ‘buy and build’ approach is best for the HE/FE
sector [4]. The features likely to be of interest to the HE/FE sector are displayed in the
‘Feature Onion’ (Fig. 3).

To be called a CMS a product or set of tools will, in our view, provide three core
functions:

• Versioning, so that groups of individuals can work safely on a document and also
recall older versions.
• Workflow, so that content goes through an assessment, review or quality assurance
process.
• Integration, so that content can be stored in a manageable way, separate from web
site design ‘templates’, and then delivered as web pages or re-used in different web
pages and different document types.

This core feature set is augmented by a list of additional functions that varies
significantly from product to product. These additional CMS features can be grouped into
the five major categories shown in Table 2.

The three core functions and five associated categories summarised above are broken
down further into specific features in Table A1. A complete product – feature matrix is
beyond the scope of this report, though others have attempted this [5, 6, 7]. However, it is
hoped that the table will give the reader an impression of the diversity found in such
systems.

The CMS product marketplace

There is a tendency for those new to the technology to lump all CMSs together, as has
been done in the product list Table A2. In some comparative reviews of CMSs, products
with widely different origins, functionality and goals are compared as like with like, often
because not enough information about the systems is readily available.

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 Category Description ‘Standards’
User Assigning a role to a user, providing access rights and LDAP,
Management perhaps the level of interaction with the system. This Active Directory,
can often use existing authentication schemes. ACAP
User Preferably a browser-based application for both content HTML,
Interface provision and CMS and/or web site administration. Javascript,
Java, HTTP,
FTP, WebDAV
Data Sources These include the managed storage of created content, SQL, XML,
plus external data in so-called ‘legacy systems’ (Word Dublin Core,
or Excel files, for example, could come under this RDF
heading) or other CMSs. Storage methods can be file
systems, flat file databases, relational databases, and
more recently, object oriented databases and XML files.
The key is in the flexibility of the system to cope with
its intended use. Storage also requires that the data
itself is described. This is known as metadata, and
creating it should be a requirement of storing content.
Applications These integrate the content with existing data and Perl, PHP,
authentication systems, and perform specific software Java, Python,
manipulations on the content to aid consistency, ASP,
simplicity and management. The key application is XML-RPC,
usually a form of ‘templating’ allowing control of web SOAP, ODBC,
site ‘look and feel’ to be centralised and making style JDBC
and navigation changes simple to implement. It can also
include the ‘middleware’ that connects database records
to dynamically created web pages.
Deployment Publishing the web site to the live web server(s). Some HTML, CSS,
CMSs do not distinguish between development and XHTML,
production servers, running the web site itself from the XSL, XSLT, RSS
same software as the development system, creating
pages dynamically on demand. Popular pages can be
built in this way and then ‘cached’ in memory or on
disc, speeding up future retrieval. Other systems have a
strict partitioning of ‘staging’ and ‘public’ environments
requiring separate web servers, often residing on
separate machines. In this case the entire structure may
need to be replicated if all pages are dynamically
created. In other cases, certain elements of pages are
pre-rendered and published as static content, with only
specific dynamic content being accessed via the public
server. It can be said that there are almost as many
different methods of live publication as there are
products available.
Table 2: Non-core CMS feature categories and related ‘standards’

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Type Origin Strengths Examples
Document Software designed to Document lifecycle Documentum, Panagon
Management manage the storage and workflow, metadata, 2000, ChangingPages
internal publication of document translation
Systems ‘corporate’ information
Electronic Tools developed to aid Simple workflow, Eroom, Expressroom,
news/magazine online publishing of speedy publication of Conversant, SlashDot,
magazines and news simple content, Frontier
publishing websites, and electronic authoring tools,
discussion groups information
management (structure),
timed delivery
E-business / E- Software underlying Simple database Vignette, Broadvision,
commerce online shopping and management, website ATG Dynamo, Open
electronic customer personalisation, built in Market
relationship transactional systems
management
Source / versioning Software engineering Roles-based authoring Content Management
management process control/source and version control, Studio, Interwoven
control among groups of workflow, templating TeamSite
control programmers systems.
‘Middleware on Tools for dynamic web Asset management, Enhydra, Midgard
steroids’ site creation from dynamic delivery and (PHP), Dmind DSM
filesystem and database simple authoring (ColdFusion),
assets. E.g. PHP, ASP, environments. SiteGenesis, Obtree.
ColdFusion, JSP.
Products such as
WebObjects, Cache
Objects for the Web and
Tango 2000
Web content ‘Second generation’ Variable, most try to ACS, eGrail, Engenda,
management tools, built from the cover all functions. Mediasurface,
ground up for dynamic NetObjects Fusion,
frameworks website creation and Spectra, Xpedio, Zope
management. Can have
very diverse conceptual
grounding.
XML processors A ‘third generation’ of Granular control and re- Cocoon, Interwoven
CMS products use of content. Though TeamSite Templating,
appearing based upon many of the above Lychee, Rhythmix,
XML technology. systems can now utilise Tamino, POET
XML, these products are
written specifically to
create websites using
XML to store data, and
related technology
(XSLT, RDF) to
manage and deliver it.
Table 3: Different CMS types

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Vendor literature is generally over-hyped and jargon-ridden. Terms like ‘personalisation’,
‘syndication’, ‘asset management’ and ‘re-purposing’ abound. This can cause confusion
among those who are confronted with major technological and financial decisions.

However, it is possible to define several generic types of CMS based on their apparent
provenance, and this can help in assessing their suitability for a particular use. Feature
sets are converging, though products are often aimed at different markets.

Table 3 provides a list of the broad approaches that appear to have been taken by CMS
developers and gives selected examples.

Which of these could be a best fit for the HE/FE sector? Given the diverse nature of
content that an institutional web site must deliver, it would be misguided to consider a
product with a specific focus on e-commerce, or with a single database as content
repository for all applications. Similarly systems with a document management
provenance are likely to be tuned for intranet usage rather for the outward facing
institutional Web.

Generally, more ‘open’ and framework-like products are more likely able to handle the
broad range of content a HE/FE institution wishes to communicate. Care should be taken
to examine the ‘out-of-the-box’ features as this will define how much post-purchase
customisation is needed. The experience of mainstream business is that many large scale
CMSs cost more to implement than to purchase. It is never a case of simply ‘buy’, but
‘buy and build’.

Developments
The large number of competing products in the CMS space has already been noted. Many
analysts see a market shake-out as inevitable (not unlike that which occurred as the
relational database market matured). The recent acquisitions of NCompass by Microsoft
and Allaire by Macromedia are perhaps the start of a pattern, which will be repeated by
other big players. Once this happens it will be hard for minnows to compete if they have
an orthodox business model.

An alternative approach to web content management is to build a CMS from scratch

using ‘middleware’ plus other component tools (only some of which are listed in
Table 3). This option has been fuelled by the open source movement (and some high
profile expensive failures [8] of CMS projects using ‘market leading solutions’). It has
led to the emergence of a new business model (which is perhaps exemplified by Digital
Creations - the providers of Zope) in which a company ‘gives away the family jewels’
but then generates revenue from consultancy work.

As well as the ‘buy’ and ‘build’ routes, a third option is also available - ‘rent’. The
‘application service provider’ (ASP) model has attempted to get a foothold in many
sectors and the CMS space is no exception. However, the same issues (e.g. security of
information, vulnerability of service) that have led to a slow embrace of the ASP option
in other sectors, applies equally to CMSs [9].

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Standards in this area are still forming, with no clear ‘winner’ beyond the consensus that
XML will be an important framework for inter-application communication. XML and
XSLT can be used to separate content from presentation, but are far from universally
accepted, as they require a fundamental restructuring of ‘legacy’ content. On the
authoring side, few tools are yet available for easy creation of XML content. For new
content initiatives however, the ability to use XML as a ‘container’ for content will be
desirable. We can also expect interesting developments that are driven by a maturing
WebDAV standard and the commercial mainstreaming of object databases.

The UK government has recently made recommendations for metadata in the public
sector, using the Dublin Core [10], and we expect this endorsement to accelerate
developments in this area.

Assessment and Recommendations

The pre-millennial Web can’t scale. The Webmaster bottleneck has been replaced by a
Web Team bottleneck and our information systems are hard to join-up. The CMS can
allow users to bypass the Web Team bottleneck and allow integration and re-use of
information.

We feel that at the core of any CMS one should find a robust set of tools for content
versioning, content integration and process workflow. This core feature set will
augmented by a list of additional functions that varies significantly from product to
product.

Typical future uses within HE/FE are easy to identify. At a workshop run by the authors
[4], participants identified the following as the most desirable features of a CMS1:

1. Template-based self-service authoring for non-technical content providers

(‘frictionless publishing’)
2. Roles-based security
3. Workflow management – submit, review, approve, archive
4. Integration with existing data/databases and user authentication systems
5. Metadata management
6. Flexible output – write once, publish many times

We recommend that these functions form an initial set of global requirements through
which prospective CMS systems can be filtered.

1
Perhaps the CMS isn’t as novel to HE/FE institutions as one might suppose. As one
reviewer of this report observed ‘this is what our library management system does’.
Acquisitions staff use Web-based templates to create records for new stock. Cataloguers
add value to the record (with less experienced staff being subject to an approval process).
Metadata is recorded automatically detailing who entered/modified content and when. A
subset of the record is then re-used in several ways - as a page on the Web OPAC, as
paper recall notice or an e-mail recall notice.

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In an immature market place the risks to investment are substantial. If you ‘buy’ you
cannot be sure whether your vendor will survive or whether the product will turn-out to
be a technical cul-de-sac. If you ‘build’ (and smaller institutions may not have this as an
option) you carry the overheads and risks of recruiting and retaining specialised staff.

At present it appears unlikely that a single product will cover the requirements of a
complex organisation. There seems little argument that the solution will be a mixture of
‘buy and build’. The key issue is one of balance - ‘How much must be built before we get
what we need?’. Institutions will also be exercised by the question of ‘Who builds it?’

We detect resistance within traditional campus computing services and MIS departments
to the concept of the CMS (and indeed the need for an automated, post-millennial Web).
Fundamentally a CMS devolves control over content to the owners of that content (rather
than the technician), and then scales without increasing management overheads. The
investment can run to a six-figure sum if the perceived market leading systems (e.g. from
Vignette, Broadvision and Interwoven, though the former two are heavily biased
towards commercial applications and thus, perhaps not a good fit) are considered, though
many more modest (and indeed no-purchase cost) products are available.

The emergence of ‘portal frameworks’ (open source or otherwise) has done much to
highlight the overlap and convergence of document management systems, knowledge
management systems, enterprise application integration systems, e-commerce systems,
intranet groupware, virtual/managed learning environments and CMSs. There is a
pressing need, in our view, for institutions to think holistically (reinforced by their work
on information strategies) and to invest in and develop open and extensible information
systems.

Senior managers need to be aware of the costs and consequences of not embracing the
post-millennial Web. The cost of investing in a CMS can be on a par with procuring a
student record system - but which, in terms of efficiency and effectiveness, is likely to
give the biggest return on investment? In fact, there is no choice, because both will be
essential items. But we suspect, in terms of competitive advantage, it will be the CMS
(perhaps as part of an overarching portal framework) that will be more important in terms
of differentiating institutions.

We know that readers of this report would prefer if Table 4 were more exhaustive. A
proper evaluation of a CMS, as with any information system, is a major undertaking.
Moreover, pricing information is notoriously hard to come by [11].

As it stands Table 4 is based on anonymised feedback from participants in the CMS

Parallel Session at the Fifth Institutional Web Management Workshop held at Queens’
University, Belfast during June 2001. Each vendor or product had been investigated
(however briefly) by at least one of the participants’ institutions.

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Participants in the CMS Parallel Session also had the opportunity to read and comment
on a draft version of this report. In terms of what the sector might do next in the area of
CMS, support was voiced for:

• Funded case studies of CMS evaluation exercises (or at least funding to encourage
institutions that had already undertaken such exercises to share their findings with the
sector)
• The formation of both formal and informal consortia
• A mailing list to facilitate the formation of consortia and over which UK experiences
could be shared
• A generic template which might be used in invitations to tender
• The purchase on behalf of the sector (in the manner that was done for reports on
information security) access to reports on CMSs from consultancies such as Gartner
Group or Forrester Research

Price range Vendor/Product Evaluated by

College/University X
£0-20000 Communique (£2k)
Frontier (£99)
NetObjects Fusion (£10k)
RedDot (£20k)
Zope (£0k)
£20-50000 Communique (£30k)
Obtree (£40k)
£50-200000 ATG (£200k)
Communique (£100k)
Interwoven (£120-200k)
Mediasurface (£170k)
Diagonal (£120k)
Radius (£120k)
>£200000 Interwoven (£200-500k)
Vignette (£500k)
Table 4: The information HE/FE needs

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Acknowledgements
Rob van Buuren, Richard Vidgen, Geoffrey Ford, Barry Taylor, Bruce Dupee, Stuart
Brown, James Currall, Darren Chapman, Amanda Wheatley, Jethro Binks, Jacki
Hargreaves and the participants of the CMS Parallel Sessions at the Fourth and Fifth
Institutional Web Management Workshops.

References
1 Ort, E. (2000) Ten Things to Know About Selecting a Content Management
System, Dot-Com Builder,
http://dcb.sun.com/practices/howtos/selecting_cms.jsp
2 Vidgen, R., Goodwin, S., & Barnes, S., (2001) Web Content Management, In:
O'Keefe, R., Loebbecke, C., Gricar, J., Pucihar, A., & Lenart, G., editors,
Proceedings of the 14th Bled Electronic Commerce Conference, Bled,
Slovenia, June 2001, pp. 465-480.
3 Faulkner Information Services, http://www.faulkner.com/
4 Doyle, L. (2000) Content Management Systems Workshop Report, Fourth
Institutional Web Management Workshop, University of Bath,
http://www.bris.ac.uk/ISC/cms/summary.htm
5 Barrett, C. (2000) Content Management Systems,
http://www.camworld.com/cms/
6 Rapoza, J. (2001) Get A Grip On Your Site, PC Magazine,
http://www.zdnet.com/products/stories/reviews/0,4161,2688945,00.html
7 Thomas, M. (2001) CMS decision matrix,
http://www.cornerconsulting.com/wcm/ (cited at
http://cms.filsa.net/archives/cms-list/2001/Feb/0225.html)
8 Walker, D. (2001) Content management systems: short-lived satisfaction,
http://www.shorewalker.com/pages/cms_woes-1.html
9 Sweeney, T. (2000) ASPs Answer The Security Question,
http://www.informationweek.com/789/asp.htm
10 e-Government Interoperability Framework,
http://www.govtalk.gov.uk/egif/home.html
11 Kontzer, T. (2001) Vendor Selection: Beyond The Hype,
http://www.informationweek.com/839/online_cmside.htm

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Glossary
ACAP Application Configuration Access Protocol
Accessiblitiy At one level. this refers to the compatibility of websites with
web browser software. At a second level, it refers to the
suitability of content for browsing via text only, large text or
text-to-voice / text to braille systems.
Active Directory Microsoft’s directory service, proprietary but based on
LDAP.
API Application Programming Interface. The software command
set provided to programmers by large-scale software
applications.
Application integration Methods and tools for sending data and commands
between different software applications.
ASP Active Server Pages: A commercial dynamic web page and
database access language
ASP Application Service Provider: a company providing software
or services that run over the internet
asset management The management of digital objects such as text, images,
movies and sound.
cache An area of computer memory or disk space where dynamic
web pages can be held for speedy delivery.
Cold Fusion (CFML) Cold Fusion Markup Language: A commercial dynamic web
page and database access language.
CRM Customer Relationship Management. A goal of web
‘personalisation’: Commerce based CMS’s include this or
hook in to CRM applications.
CSS Cascading style sheets. A method for separating content
from style in web pages.
document management Software for storing, organising, archiving and publishing
documents in electronic form.
Dublin Core Dublin Core ‘Simple’ is a ‘standard’ set of metadata fields,
such as Author, Title etc. which can be applied to web
pages.
Dynamic generation The creation of a web page from a set of elements (objects
such as images, templates and database records) ‘on the
fly’ when a user requests the ‘page’ via a web browser. Can
allow instant customisation of the page, depending on the
data supplied by the user.
FTP File Transfer Protocol, an internet standard for
communication of data that preceded HTTP. Still very
popular.
groupware Software for on-line collaboration and messaging.
HTTP HyperText Transfer Protocol. The Web communication
protocol.
Java A computer programming language.
JDBC Java DataBase Connectivity. A system allowing software
written in Java to communicate with databases.
JSP Java Server Pages: a dynamic web page and database
access system based on the Java language.
knowledge management Software and information concepts for managing the context
of and relationships between bits of information
LDAP Lightweight Directory Access Protocol
Metadata Data about content, such as the author, date created, expiry
date, subject area.

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middleware Software for connecting web pages to ‘back end’ software
systems and databases.
MLE Managed Learning Environment: A system that uses
technology to enhance and make more effective the
network of relationships between learners, teachers and
organisers of learning, through integrated support for richer
communication and activities. An MLE usually embraces a
VLE.
navigation The structure of a website as defined by the links between
pages.
NT PDC Primary Domain Controller, an authentication server for NT
networks.
ODBC Open DataBase Connectivity. A system allowing software to
communicate with databases.
open source Software that is sold or given away with the intent that the
software user can make modifications, so long as those
modifications are put into the public domain.
PDA Personal Digital Assistant: handheld computers.
PDF Portable Document Format. A commercial electronic
document format.
personalisation A set of software techniques for tailoring a website’s style
and content to a user’s preferences.
PHP P(ersonal Home Page) Hypertext Processor: a dynamic
web page and database access system.
portal A website or web page that gives access to a list or
database of other web resources on a given (or any, in the
case of major internet portals such as Yahoo, Excite)
subject. This word has been used more recently to mean
any content-centric website.
pre-rendered A static web page that was aggregated and generated from
its component elements before publication to a ‘live’ web
server.
Python A computer programming language.
RDBMS Relational Database Management System: software for
managing the data and relationships between data in
different database ‘tables’.
RDF Resource Description Format: An XML syntax for
communicating and storing metadata.
re-purposing Displaying the same data in different ways for different
purposes.
RSS Rich Site Summary: an XML standard used for news
dissemination.
self-service authoring Authoring web content using familiar tools.
session A web site ‘visit’ by a single user. Dynamic web systems
can assign unique IDs to ‘sessions’ thus allowing
personalisation and audit tracing etc.
SOAP Simple Object Access Protocol: an open standard for inter-
application communication that has grown out of XML-RPC.
source control Versioning of documents and tracking changes to
documents (comes from software development systems).
SQL Structured Query Language: a syntax for manipulating
databases.
staging A version of a website that is complete but not ‘live’ on the
Internet. Can be on a separate server. Used for integration
of multiple author’s work, and final quality assurance before
publication

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syndication The automatic aggregation of external content with a CMS
or website, or the automatic deployment of content to an
external ‘client’ CMS or website.
template A framework web page (or set of elements) that has limited
editable parts, freeing content authors from designing whole
web pages.
VLE Virtual Learning Environment: A software system that
combines methods of online communication (such as e-
mail, discussion forums and chat rooms) with the ability to
deliver learning materials via the Web.
WebDAV Web Distributed Authoring and Versioning: a versioning
protocol.
Wireless Markup Language A simplified form of HTML/XML for devices such as mobile
(WML) telephones and PDAs.
workflow The passing of content between people in the development
chain, including authorisation steps.
XHTML A reworking of HTML to make it ‘XML compliant’, mostly by
making all tags balanced (closed by a /)and depreciating
certain tags that mix content type and formatting roles.
XML Extensible Markup language:
<xml-definition>XML provides a way of describing a unit of
content, such as this sentence</xml-definition>.
XML-RPC A means of passing messages formatted as XML between a
client and a server so that a program is run and the results
returned (Remote Procedure Call).
XSL Extensible Style Language: formats XML for display on a
range of devices (including screen and printer).
XSLT Extensible Style Language Transformation: allows one
XML dataset to be transformed into another.

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Table A1: CMS Feature List
Category Feature Description
Auditing capabilities An audit trail records the sequence of activities that
occur on any given file or body of content within a
content management system.
Version control - check Can be applied by authors or developers responsible for
in/out, locking and producing various types of content, including application
merge code, graphics, text, and other file-based content. If
multiple authors are involved in developing content, the
version control system 'locks' (makes read-only) a file in
editing, or between editing and reviewing, to ensure that
Versioning
no two authors modify the same document at the same
time. A development of this is the ability for multiple
authors to edit content simultaneously, followed by a
managed 'merge' process.
Version control - roll- Systems also save past versions of content elements,
back files or entire projects, track the date and time of
changes, and provide an option to keep a comment log.
Everything from a text file to an entire site can be "rolled-
back" to an earlier version.
Asset management Manages the storage and reusability of elements of
content. Allows multiple users to edit content and make
Integration
changes without running over each other. See also
Version Control.
Custom content/asset Support for arbitrary content/asset types. Do you have to
types build your own administrative interface from scratch for
each new asset type?
Conversion of non- Automatic translation of format X to XML/HTML. Can be
HTML documents extended to include translation to text only, PDF, WML.
Allows the use of standard desktop applications to create
web content.
Metadata management Content classification systems enable you to organise
key metadata value and attribute pairs to aid in web
applications that fall outside core CMS functions, such as
site analysis, personalisation, content targeting, web site
and internet search results.
Retrieval When adding content to large collections of data in a
CMS where you'd like to draw relationships between the
data, the author needs to be able to retrieve and review
the relevant info before confirming the relationship.
Staging Content management systems can explicitly provide
virtual staging of Web site content, thereby supporting a
formal quality assurance phase before final publishing to
the production servers. The staging area is designed to
emulate the production site in every way possible.
Support for external Controls the application of metadata describing web
thesaurus and other content. See also "Metadata management".
controlled taxonomies

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 Templating Content management systems and other development
tools allow the site designer to easily create and
establish templates to give the site a uniform look. These
templates may also be modified when desired to
radically alter the appearance of an entire site or
specified areas. Consistency of look and feel - as well as
the logical organisation of the site's content - is simplified
when templates are used. Designers should design and
authors should develop content. Having well-prescribed
roles simplifies site management.
Integration - messaging Integration of other channels of communication into the
workflow (i.e., email). Eg. on completion of new content,
the CMS sends an email to the next person identified in
the workflow, probably a content reviewer.
Workflow Workflow systems enable you to define multiple step
Workflow processes involving varied content types, cross-
departmental staff, and required actions, such as submit,
review, or approve. Event-driven workflow systems can
be built into larger content management systems or
employed as a standalone service that integrates
processes, people, and content as needed.
Database storage Storage of assets in a database integrated with the CMS
can aid content re-use and management, especially
where content is repetitive. It increases granularity of
your assets beyond the 'file' level of HTML. This is often
Data
confused with content management itself, but is only part
repository
of the story. See XML-based data repository. Storage of
assets in a file system can be more efficient, up to a
point, especially on the public website. Flexibility in
content storage is an advantage.
Integration - existing A data storage mechanism managed independently of
data - databases the operating system by server applications. The
applications can either store and retrieve data natively
from disk or store and retrieve data from a file system
object. Data stored within databases are only accessible
from database application interfaces. These can be a
core part of the CMS. Databases are designed for rapid,
efficient search and queries for structured data. This can
be achieved pre-deployment to create a 'flat' web page,
or on-the-fly when requested, in a dynamic web page
which may then be ‘cached’ for instant retrieval.
Integration - existing A data storage mechanism natively managed by the
data - file systems server operating system. File systems allow operating
systems to store and retrieve data from disk. Data is
stored on disk logically categorized using into directories
following a file cabinet metaphor. File systems are
designed for rapid, efficient, scalable disk access for
most common forms of saved data.

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 XML-based data Generic repository systems help you maintain and
repository manage large amounts of diverse content. By storing
content as XML, vendors claim improvements in content
re-use and re-purposing. XML-based systems also
include transformation services and content validation.
The primary advantage of XML-based systems is that
XML permits you to separate content, format, and
business logic. Documents and Web pages can be
dynamically constructed by combining many individual
elements from the repository.
Devolution of Can you have users who have users who have users?
management Can you devolve the administration and publication of
parts of your website while maintaining ‘quality control’
Integration - You have 4000+ staff with e-mail accounts - you don't
authentication services want the overhead of administering 4000+ separate
CMS accounts. The CMS should be compatible with
User
existing NT PDC, LDAP, etc.
management
Roles-based security Workflow systems allow administrators to control
allowable actions based on each team member's role.
Fine-grained, role-based security is important because it
allows content creators and developers to interact with
business managers by limiting them to the appropriate
content access levels at different stages of a process.
Browser-based ("TTW - Client and administration tools allow team members to
Through The Web") configure, control, and participate in the system. Many of
these interfaces are provided in cross-platform browser
User interface
client form. Browser-based authoring permits
contributors to work from any location as well as
minimising support overheads.
Editor, authoring tools Site designers are not restricted in their choice of HTML
editor. You have staff with no web skills who need to
update content, but you also have very experienced web
designers. A CMS can tailor the user interface to each
type, providing a 'Web form' to some and a 'virtual
sandbox' to others for use with any web design tool. See
also "Self service editing..."
Link management See "Reporting".
Planning, mapping and Tools to create a site structure, lay out the sections of
modelling the site, figure out the navigation, mark areas for future
development, etc.
Reporting The reporting tools included with most content
management systems are generally extensive and reflect
the breadth of coverage of its supported functionality.
Examples include performance, workflow, link status,
page size, possible slow pages, daily submissions. If the
CMS runs the live website, then this can include access
and error log file analysis.

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 Self-service authoring Content authors should be able to quickly create
for non-technical materials using standard desktop applications, as well as
content providers image, video, and other types of media files. After
materials have been developed, content providers
should be able post them to the Web using pre-built
design templates that provide the proper formatting and
corporate branding elements. Non-technical content
authors should be empowered to keep content up-to-
date and be able to directly post content to either a
staging environment or a live Web site.
Site management Most Content management systems provide a 'big
picture' view of the Web site that allows site designers to
create an overall navigational model for the entire Web
site.
Common API Though there is a desire by vendors to lock in their
customers to use their solution only, they also see the
value of providing methods for other tools to integrate
easily with their content management systems. Some
Applications
vendors provide this interoperability through a published
Application Programmers Interface (API) that enables
onsite developers or third party vendors to tap into the
functionality of their system.
Integration - marketing With advertisement servers, marketing campaign
tools management tools, and group-filtering products.
Localisation Your content is available in a variety of languages.

Programmibility Can you script the CMS (or link to an application server)
so as to automate tasks or generate dynamic pages?
Scheduling of content Allows content providers to determine when content is
publishing and archiving presented on the site and when it is removed.
Automating this process ensures that date-sensitive
information is available only while relevant.
Searching, indexing Content management systems often provide support for
integrated indexing and search functionality. By
embedding categorised metadata it is possible to fine-
tune desired search results and ensure that customers
can easily find what they want. A indexing application
"walks" a file system, reads every text file, and builds a
mini-database of content elements (most typically
content metadata).
Custom tag definition Can you define your own tags in the templating
language?
Business rules A business rule may be referenced in conjunction with a
personalisation engine. Business rules determine which
users are delivered a specific type of content. However,
simply targeting a few key groups (groupalisation?)
offers many advantages at lower costs. See
Personalisation.
Syndication Can you enrich content of your site by automatically
importing materials from one or more other sources?
Can you export your materials to other sites that may
wish to use them?
eCommerce Including secure transactions.

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 Personalisation The ability to personalise the user's experience is
dependent on linking dynamic page content to previous
user actions. Personalisation also requires a
membership database to store customer attributes and
purchasing history.
Session analysis The process of observing a customer's behavior as s/he
clicks through the Website and storing that click-through
information in a user profile database. Behavior tracking
enables business managers to target content with
tailored business rules. By logging user activities you can
produce reports that clearly show popular areas, average
visit time, and other important information.
Caching Content caching of dynamic pages, the ability to mark
Web elements as cached in server memory, influences
site performance.
Flexible output Soon Web browsing will take many forms, from PDAs to
cell phones. You will want to ensure that your site looks
right regardless of how a user accesses it. You will
continue to want to re-purpose content for paper, CD-
ROM and voice.
Replication After staging and testing Web content must be
Deployment transferred to the production server. Some systems only
replicate common Web elements such as Web pages,
graphics, multimedia files. However, to be complete, the
deployment system should also include application
components, applets, registry settings, access control
lists; in short, it should provide a mirror image of the
staging server environment. Replication typically involves
specific rules about what gets deployed where, and often
represents a complete synchronisation of two
independent bodies of content.

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Table A2: CMS Product List

Product Vendor Web site

4i Content Management Documentum www.documentum.com
ACS (CM module) ArsDigita www.arsdigita.com
Affina emojo www.emojo.com
ArticleBase Running Start www.running-start.com
Asset House V5 Asset House www.assethouse.com
Astoria Chrystal www.chrystal.com
Bladerunner Interleaf www.xmlecontent.com/products/im.htm
ChangingPages ChangingPages www.changingpages.org
CMDS Backstream www.backstream.com
Cocoon Apache.org www.java.apache.org/cocoon/
Cofax Cofax.org www.cofax.org
CommonSpot PaperThin www.paperthin.com
Communique Daynetwork www.daynetwork.com
CONTENS Contens Software www.contens.de
Content@ Xyenterprise www.xyenterprise.com
Content Centre & Open Market www.openmarket.com
Content Server 3.1
Content Manager IBM www-4.ibm.com/software/data/cm/
Content Server / Content BridgeMedia www.bridgedns.com/ce/
Engine
ContentStudio Rational Software www.rational.com/products/contman.jsp
ContentWare OpenPages www.openpages.com
Conversant MacroByte Resources www.macrobyteresources.com/Conversant/
CoreMedia CoreMedia www.coremedia.de
Corenet Core Technology www.corenet.ch
Cybersword Cybersword www.cybersword.co.uk/home.htm
DialogServer Tridion www.tridion.com
Dispatch DesertNet www.dispatch.net
Drillpress Drillbit www.drillbitonline.com/Products/Drillpress/
DVP.HTMPlates Pro Digital Vantage Point www.dvp.net/htm_pro.htm
Dynamic Web System SmartSite www.smartsite.nl
eBT eBT www.ebt.com
eBusiness Express Webridge www.webridge.com
eContent 1.31 Javacorporate www.javacorporate.com
eGrail 2.5 eGrail www.egrail.com
eKeeper eKeeper www.ekeeper.com
eMPower 2.0 Ektron www.ektron.com
entrepid, engenda, E-Business Technologies www.ebt.com/products/
DynaBase
Erc Engine Erc www.erc-engine.com
Excosoft Content Excosoft www.excosoft.se
Manager
Expressroom Starbase www.starbase.com
Frontier Userland frontier.userland.com
Fusion NetObjects www.netobjects.com

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Generic Information JRC gist.jrc.it
Server Toolkit
iNes Content Syntagma Rendezvous AB ines.syntagma.se/page.asp?document=product_w
Management cm
Insertrix Top Floor Software www.topfloorsoftware.com
interact! COIN Corporate Interactive www.getinteract.com
IO CMS IO www.io-pt.com
Kosmos Kadius www.kadius.com
Lychee NetCentric Systems www.netcentricsystems.net
MasterIT/WebCM Computer Associates www.cai.com/products/masterit_content.htm
MediaDepot e Media-IT www.mediadepot.co
Mediasurface 3 Mediasurface Ltd. www.mediasurface.com
Midgard 1.4 Midgard www.midgard-project.org
MMBase MMBase www.mmbase.org
NoCode NoCode Inc www.nocodeinc.com
NUA Publish 2.0 NUA www.nua.ie/products/nuapublish/index.shtml
Obtree C3 Obtree www.obtree.com
OmegaCMS OmegaCMS www.omegacms.com
One to One Publisher BroadVision www.broadvision.com
Open Share 2.1 Info Square www.infosquare.com
OpenCMS OpenCMS www.opencms.com
OS Content Open Symphony www.opensymphony.com
Panagon FileNet GmbH www.filenet.com
Participant Server 2.0 Eprise Corp. www.eprise.com
passage Passage www.passage.nl
Polopoly Content Polopoly www.polopoly.com
Manager
PVCS Content Manager Merant www.merant.com
Q-Web SYSDATA www.sysdata.es
Rational Content Management Studio www.rational.com/products/contman.jsp
RedDot RedDotSolutions www.reddot-solutions.co.uk/products.html
RedSnapper - Builder RedSnapper www.redsnapper.net/en/1/atucms.html
Reef Reef www.reef.com
Resolution Microsoft (NCompass) www.ncompasslabs.com
Revize Idetix www.idetix.com/index_revize.htm
Rhythmyx Content Percussion www.percussion.com
Manager
Roxenplatform 2.1 Roxen www.roxen.com
Site Station 4.6 NST Systems www.sitestation.com
SiteBuilder SohoNet www.sohonet.com/home/products
Sitecontentmanager Sitecontentmanager.com www.sitecontentmanager.com
SiteGenesis 4.5 Cassini Division www.cassini-division.com
SixCMS Six Offene Systeme www.six.de
Spectra Macromedia www.allaire.com
StoryPage TW3W www.tw3w.com
SyCOMAX SyCOMAX www.sycomax.com
TeamSite Interwoven www.interwoven.com
Toutatis Toutatis www.toutatis.com
Update Engine 5 FatWire www.fatwire.com
Update This UpdateThis.com www.updatethis.com

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V/5 Content Management Vignette www.vignette.com
Server (fka StoryServer
5)
VIOMA Content Manager VIOMA www.vioma.com
VIP's Platform Magellan/Gauss interprise AG www.gaussinterprise.com
WebCAS Elinear www.elinear.com
WebCast Pro Astound.com www.astound.com/products2/wcpro/wcpro.html
WebGate 5 InnovationGate www.innovationgate.de
WebSite Director Cyberteams www.cyberteams.com/products/wsd/index.html
WEBdirector Xbot www.xbot.com
websiteMAX internet Maxium www.websitemax.com
Xobix Xobix www.xobix.com
Xpedio 4.0 Intranet Solutions www.intranetsol.com
Zope Digital Creations www.zope.org
This is a list of stand-alone CMS software products or suites, supporting most or all the features we
define as core. This list does not include software web application development or e-commerce
platforms. Such software can often be used to build CMS solutions.

25