How to choose and improve your content management system
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The document outlines key considerations for selecting and improving a content management system (CMS), emphasizing the importance of understanding business needs before making a purchase. It critiques feature-driven selection methods and advocates for a requirements-focused approach that prioritizes unique business requirements and stakeholder involvement. The summary also highlights the necessity of planning for implementation, adoption, and ongoing maintenance costs.
How to choose and improve your content management system
- 1. How to choose and improve your content management system Asian Publishing Convention July 2010 Andrew Duck
- 2. 2 Introduction What is a CMS? Managing Content Selection Process 3 Phases Summary
- 3. 3 What is a web content management system? “A web content management (WCM) system is a CMS designed to simplify the publishing of web content to web sites and mobile devices, in particular, allowing content creators to submit content without requiring technical knowledge of HTML or the uploading of files.” Wikipedia, July 2010
- 4. 4 Why do I want one? Simplify content management Multiple languages Workflow management Component based Roles and policies No technical expertise
- 5. 5 Understanding the market
- 6. 6 CMS Vendors
- 7. CMS Matrix Currently lists 1136 CMS products Provides a feature comparison of CMS solutions
- 8. 8 Gartner Magic Quadrant
- 9. 9 Open Source vs. Proprietary
- 10. 10 Selection process
- 11. 11 Not understanding the problem Don’t rush into purchasing without understanding the problem to be solved Determine business needs Identify design and management issues Create an overall web strategy Identify what functionality will be delivered by the site (rather than the CMS)
- 12. 12 Conduct a needs analysis Don’t ask about CMS functions or features This has to be business driven (not technical)
- 13. 13 Be an informed consumer
- 14. 14 Try to understand the marketplace Which features are widely available in products, and which are not What are the key challenges in implementing CMS products What are the common problems with the design of CMS products What functionality and issues should the CMS project focus on What is the best scope for the project
- 15. 15 Wide market Don’t underestimate the size More than 1000 CMS products Don’t just look local Products are hugley variable, 70% are different Examining only a subset may mean you miss the best solution to your problem
- 16. 16 Get the big one! There is no correlation between price and performance Bigger is not always better One-size-fits-all approach doesn’t work It’s hard to reconcile technical requirements
- 17. 17 “The CMS must provide a web-based authoring environment” “The CMS must support multi-stage workflow rules” “The CMS must integrate with existing systems”
- 18. 18 Get specific Distinguish between requirements and selection criteria The stated requirements cannot be evaluated Insufficient information leads to disaster
- 19. 19 Get simple Don’t write long requirements “If we don’t ask for it, we won’t get it” Confuses key needs with nice to haves Increases time and cost for vendors to respond Discourages many vendors from responding at all
- 20. 20 Complies? Complies Does not comply Partially complies Get narrative rather than point based
- 21. 21 Focus on what not how Identify business needs Ask vendors how they can meet your business needs “The CMS must provide powerful and flexible workflow capabilities”
- 22. 22 Separate design and CMS Don’t do a global redesign at the same time This is spurred out of poor performance Increases risk Driven by convenience more than strategic considerations
- 23. 23 Included? Search Portals Collaboration Mobile Discussion groups Mailing Lists
- 24. 24 Don’t run an IT project
- 25. 25 Gartner Magic Quadrant CMS Matrix CMS Wire AIIM CM Pros
- 26. 26 Features Core functionality Versioning Editor Multisite support Managing digital assets Multilingual support Search Mobile Customisation Customisable content model User interaction Roles and permissions
- 27. 27 Feature-driven selection Report from market analysis firm Review against set of arbitrary requirements Choose the product with the highest score This is a flawed method
- 28. 28 Problems with feature-driven selection Cannot assess arbitrary requirements to your unique business case Reports contain only a handful of possible products Generally reports contain only larger CMS solutions You end up spending money on features you don’t need.... for a product that doesn’t fit your requirements
- 29. 29 “Leaders-and-laggards, magic quadrants, and other horserace-style evaluation approaches never work, and you should be very wary of them. In all aspects of business, the best software for you is the one that best matches your needs—your budget, scope, and the type of project you're engaged in.” Theresa Regil, March 2010
- 30. 30 Requirements-focused selection Identify specific business requirements Involve all stakeholders Align with business strategy Requirements driven by business needs (not technology issues) Minimises business risk
- 31. 31 3 phases Implementation Adoption Improvement
- 32. 32 Implementation
- 33. 33 Adoption
- 34. 34 Improvement
- 35. 35 Costs As with any website these systems have maintenance costs They need to be maintained and you should be budgeting to do so Security issues Features and bug fixes Emerging technology
- 36. 36 In Summary Don’t use feature-driven selection (that includes CMS Matrix and Gartner) Understand your business requirements and strategy before jumping in Ask for help Architect the best solution to suit your needs
- 37. 37 Questions
- 38. Thanks Andrew Duck [email protected] twitter.com/andrewduck