How to Evaluate a Content Management System
Selecting and implementing a Content Management System (CMS) will be one of the largest IT projects tackled by many organisations. With costs running into the millions of dollars, it is vital that the right content management system package be selected.
This article outlines some of the lessons that we have learnt when assisting clients to chose a content management system. It offers ideas and tips, and provides an approach for identifying your business' actual requirements for a content management system.
With so many vendors and products, it can be very hard to compare between them. Preparation, and a disciplined approach to this evaluation process is critical.
Business goals & strategies for implementating Content Management System
Why are you purchasing a content management system? Before identifying specific requirements, you must determine the business goals that will be achieved by implementing a Content Management System.
These must also reflect the long-term strategies and directions of your business.
It should be possible to succinctly outline your business goals on a single page. Make sure these are well-understood and agreed to by all stakeholders before starting the requirements gathering process.
Identifying requirements for Content Management System
There is no single best list of requirements for a Content Management System. Every organisation has unique needs.
Involve all your stakeholders in the requirements process. This includes relevant IT groups, business units, and end users.
This is particularly important if you are purchasing an "enterprise-wide" Content Management System.
Use structured investigation methods, to ensure that the list of requirements is both manageable and sufficient. If this process is approached in a disciplined way, there is little danger of the project suffering from "feature creep".
Structuring requirements for Content Management System
The list of requirements for an enterprise-wide Content Management System will grow quite large. Group the items into categories, to make this list more manageable.
One classification scheme that has worked well for us is:
- Content creation
- Content management
- Publishing
- Presentation
- Contract & business
This list covers the full lifecycle of a Content Management System, from initially creating the content, through to delivering it to end users.
Ideas box
This section gives you some starting points for your requirements gathering process. These ideas have been distilled from the Content Management System projects we have been involved in.
This is far from a complete list, and is no replacement for a full requirements gathering process.
Content creation
This is the functionality required by the authors (content creators) using the Content Management System.
Without an effective authoring process, use of the Content Management System will wither and fail within a year of implementation.
Key requirements may include:
- Integrated authoring environment
The Content Management System must provide a seamless and powerful environment for content creators. This ensures that authors have easy access to the full range of features provided by the Content Management System.
- Separation of content and presentation
It is not possible to publish to multiple formats without a strict separation of content and presentation.
Authoring must be style-based, with all formatting applied during publishing.
- Multi-user authoring
The Content Management System will have many simultaneous users. Features such as record locking ensure that clashing changes are prevented.
- Single-sourcing (content re-use)
A single page (or even paragraph) will often be used in different contexts, or delivered to different user groups.
This is a prerequisite to managing different platforms (intranet, internet) from the same content source.
(This is a complex requirement that warrants a whitepaper of its own.)
- Metadata creation
Capturing metadata (creator, subject, keywords, etc) is critical when managing a large content repository.
This also includes keyword indexes, subject taxonomies and topic maps.
- Powerful linking
Authors will create many cross-links between pages, and these must be stable against restructuring.
- Non-technical authoring
Authors must not be required to use HTML (or other technical knowledge) when creating pages.
- Ease of use & efficiency
For a Content Management System to be successful, it must be easy to create and maintain content.
Content management
The core of most Content Management System solutions is a central repository, supported by a range of tools for manipulating and managing the content.
Key requirements may include:
- Version control & archiving
Strict version control is necessary for legal accountability, backup and disaster recovery. A simple but powerful interface must be provided for these features.
- Workflow
Decentralised content creation relies heavily on a powerful workflow model, that can be easily customised, and is resilient against organisational change.
- Security
Adequate security levels and audit trails must be in place to protect the integrity of the content.
- Security
- Integration with external systems
A Content Management System is typically only one of a number of systems used to present information on the intranet or website.
An enterprise-wide Content Management System will only be successful if it can be cleanly integrated with existing business systems.
The mechanisms for achieving this must be fully documented, and based on open or industry standards.
- Reporting
The Content Management System must provide an extensive range of reports, for both users and administrators. Ideally, the system should pro- actively report on any issues that arise.
Support for customised reporting is also desirable.
An enterprise-wide Content Management System will fail unless all stakeholders are involved from the outset
Publishing
The publishing engine takes the content stored in the repository, and generates the final pages. While this may be a dynamic or batch process, the same basic requirements apply. Key requirements may include:
- Stylesheets
Final appearance is controlled through the use of stylesheets. This provides flexibility and expandability.
- Page templates
Overall page layout is specified via page templates. Ideally, a non-technical interface should be provided for managing this.
- Extensibility
It must be simple to integrate code "snippets" (or equivalent) to provide additional publishing functionality. The Content Management System must support a process of "continual improvement" in interface design.
- Support for multiple formats
The Content Management System must publish to multiple formats, such as: HTML (web), printed, PDF, hand-held (WAP), and more.
It should be possible to add support for additional formats, which will be necessary as new standards evolve.
In order to achieve high-quality in every format, it is critical that the content be separated from presentation at the time of authoring. This allows distinct stylesheets to be used for each output.
The most important part of a Content Management System is the content itself
- Personalisation
Different information is presented based on either user profiles, or metadata in the source content. This is typically required for large "portal" websites.
- Usage statistics
The Content Management System must allow comprehensive usage statistics to be gathered, including: most popular pages, daily usage, and search engine usage.
This information allows the success of the site to be tracked, and any usability issues identified.
Presentation
The published pages must meet certain standards if they are to be of value to your users. It is important to specify these requirements if you are asking the vendor to design the appearance and layout of the web pages.
Key requirements may include:
- Usability
This covers aspects such as ease of use, learnability and efficiency. Usability can be assured by conducting tests on the prototype designs with real users.
Usability heuristics (guidelines) must also be followed.
- Accessibility
The Content Management System must conform to standards such as the W3C Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI).
- Cross browser support
The pages must be viewable in all major web browsers (Internet Explorer, Netscape, Opera, etc). Specify which browser versions are to be supported.
- Limited client-side functionality
You may wish to limit which client-side technologies (Java, JavaScript, Flash, etc) are required to view the site. This is more important for a website than an intranet.
- Speed
Page size must be limited to ensure that load times are acceptable for users. Specify the typical user access methods (LAN, modem, cable, etc).
- Valid HTML
All pages must conform to the current HTML specification. This ensures maximum compatibility across browsers and platforms.
- Effective navigation
Users must be provided with consistent, comprehensive and usable navigation aids.
- Metadata
All pages must provide sufficient metadata to allow effective indexing and searching. This should conform to a standard such as Dublin Core.
The total cost of running a Content Management System includes the skills and resources needed within your business, not just the dollar values
Contract & business
Project management and business requirements must also be satisfied in a Content Management System project.
Key requirements may include:
- Training
The vendor must list the training materials that exist for the Content Management System, and the training services that they can provide.
- Documentation
The Content Management System must be supported by adequate documentation: for users, administrators and developers.
- Warranty
The warranty period provided, once the software has been purchased.
- Maintenance agreements
The vendor must outline their preferred support arrangements, including service level agreements and upgrade processes.
- Resources required
The hardware, software and operating systems required by the Content Management System.
- Skills required
What skills and knowledge will be required within your organisation to customise and maintain the Content Management System?
- Cost
Both the fixed costs for the Content Management System, and the per-user ("per-seat") costs. The latter is generally more significant for a large organisation.
- Scalability
The load levels that the Content Management System supports, and the additional resources (hardware & software) required for increased usage.
- IT constraints
Specify any pre-existing hardware or software that the Content Management System must interface with, or run on. This includes specific operating systems, databases or webservers.
- Reference sites
The vendor must supply a number of sites where the software has been successfully implemented. These must match the characteristics of your organisation.
Avoid jargon, as there is little common understanding of Content Management System terms, even amongst vendors
Some tips
When developing your list of requirements, keep these guidelines in mind:
- Understand your content
Conduct a thorough survey of the information that is to be published via the Content Management System. The nature of this content will influence the functionality required.
It is important not to lose sight of the content when selecting the Content Management System.
- Relate to business needs
Every requirement must be associated with one or more business needs. This allows you to identify the reasons for the requirements, and to prioritise them.
- Avoid technical details
Ensure you specify business needs, not implementation details. Vendors should be free to propose any methods or technologies that are able to meet your goals.
Avoid jargon, as there is little common understanding of Content Management System terms, even amongst vendors
- Provide descriptions
Your challenge is to make your needs understood, despite differences in vendor backgrounds and understanding. Avoid using jargon terms, and spell out your requirements in as much detail as possible.
- Use examples
Examples provide concrete situations and business needs, and are an effective way of supporting your requirements. Use wherever possible.
- More not less
It is better to have too many requirements than too few. The Content Management System must work for your entire business for several years at least: do not be surprised if the final list of requirements is long.
Evaluating vendor products
Once your requirements have been identified, these must be used to select from the (potentially) large list of vendors.
There are a number of approaches that may prove useful:
Formal tender
The vendors must be required to provide detailed descriptions of how each of your requirements will be met by their system.
These responses may be gathered in a variety of ways, but the most common is a formal tender process.
Using this approach ensures that the vendors are accountable for any promises or commitments they make regarding their Content Management System.
Demonstrations
You must ensure that vendor demonstrations are more than just a sales pitch. To be of value, they must demonstrate how the product will meet your business' needs.
The best way to achieve this is to develop scenarios. These describe common or important tasks that will be performed using the Content Management System.
By presenting these in a "narrative" form, considerable scope can be covered in a relatively brief description.
Provide these to vendors at least a week before the presentations, and require strict adherence. This allows direct comparison between the vendors' products.
Scoring
Whatever evaluation processes are followed, you must eventually chose a single successful vendor.
To do this in an impartial way, create a scoring system. Determine this before the vendors are contacted, and incorporate the results of any tenders or demonstrations.
Using a formal scoring system eliminates the potential for accusations of bias or corruption.
Conclusion
Selecting an enterprise-wide Content Management System is often a multi-million-dollar exercise. It is therefore critical that the new system meets your current and projected needs.
The single most important activity is to identify your business goals and requirements. This process must involve all relevant stakeholders.
Only once you have a full list of requirements are you in a position to compare vendor products.
Spending time on these initial phases reduces the business risks inherent in purchasing a Content Management System. The project is also likely to be more successful (it will do what the users need), and development efforts will be reduced (goals are clear).
posted by Jagdish at 2:36 AM
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