# Presentation: 406683

## Automated Content Management Systems (CMS)

- What is this CMS?
- Should we do it?
- How much does it cost?
- What will it be like?
- What can we learn from others?

## Definition of Web CMS

- A content management system (CMS) is an automated system used to manage the content of a web site.
- Typically, a CMS consists of two elements:
- the content management application (CMA) and
- the content delivery application (CDA).
- The CMA element allows non-technical content managers or authors to manage the creation, modification, and removal of content from a web site.
- The CDA element uses and compiles that information to update (publish to) the web site. They can either produce static web pages, or can be dynamic—where content is pulled together on the fly when a user requests a page.
- The features of a CMS system vary, but most include web-based publishing, format management, revision control, and indexing, search, and retrieval.

## Your CMS Colleagues

| Name | Agency | CMS | Launch Date |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Tina Kelly | Justice | ?? | Not Yet |
| Bev Godwin | FirstGov | Vignette | Sept. 2004 |
| Chitra Mohla | NIH | Zope Plone | May 2004 |
| Kim Taylor | USDA | Stellent |  |
| Sheila Hamblin | Education | Interwoven Teamsite |  |

## Before You Buy a CMS

- Consider costs & benefits.  Implementation Costs 3-4X the Software
- Will take longer than you think.  Complicated software systems.
- How big is your website? How much content?  How many people contribute content?
- What are your content management needs?  Of those, which can a CMS handle?  Talk to experts and each other.
- Not a magic bullet to solve all problems.
- Think about implications for the future
- For redesigns
- New versions of software
- Out of the Box functionality versus customization
- No system will give you everything you want OTB
- Find out from vendors what is OTB versus add-on
- Customization can cause loss of OTB functionality
- Implications for upgrades
- Don’t underestimate the culture change

## Is It Worth It?

- Yes.
- Provides advantages to:
- website manager
- content contributors
- website visitors

## Advantages to Website Mangers/Content Contributors

- Ability to see:
- how much content you have on your site at any time
- type of content you already have versus gaps
- Ability to update the site:
- without any technical knowledge
- in real time
- from any computer with Internet
- Ability to enforce common look and feel, standards, style guides
- Easy to delete content, add content, verify content
- Find and delete redundancy
- Correct broken links
- Set review and archive dates
- Easily archive content
- Delete out-of-date or inaccurate content
- Create content once, use many places.
- Ability to automate business processes and allows collaboration
- Copy editing, quality assurance checks, translation, etc
- Accountability – who made what changes to the site?

## Advantages to Your Website Visitors

- More accurate content
- More timely content
- More consistency
- Less duplication and redundancy

## Web Content Management Vendors – Source: CMSWatch.com

| Scale | Price Range (Software License) | Products |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Large-Scale Enterprise Platforms | $200-$250k  | Documentum, FileNet, Interwoven Teamsite, Stellent, Vignette |
| Upper Tier | $125-$175k | Day Software Communique, FatWire, IBM Workplace WCM, Mediasurface, Microsoft CMS, OpenText Livelink, Percussion Rhythmyx |
| Mid-Market | $40-$100k | CoreMedia AG, PaperThin CommonSpot, Ingeniux, RedDot Solutions, Serena Software Collage, Silkroad Technology Eprise |
| Mid-Market Challengers | $15-$40k | Ektron, ElektroPost Stokholm EPiServer, Hannon Hill, Refresh Software SiteRefresh, Roxen, Sitecore, Synkron |
| Low-Priced | $3-$12k | Emojo Affino, Fog Creek Software CityDesk, Idetix Revize, Macromedia Web Publishing System |
| Hosted Services  | Mid-market | Clickability cmPublish, CrownPeak Technology, iUpload, WebSideStory (formerly Atomz) |
| Open Source |  | Bricolage, Mambo, Midgard Project, OpenCMS, Typ3, Zope Plone |

## CMS Software in Use in Federal Government – Sample of Agencies

| CMS Software | # of Agencies from Sample |  |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Broadvision | 5 |  |
| Documentum | 8 |  |
| Epicentric (portal) | 2 |  |
| FileNet | 4 |  |
| Interwoven TeamSite | 8 |  |
| Open Source Zope - Plone | 1 |  |
| Percussion Rhythmyx | 3 |  |
| Stellent | 5 |  |
| Vignette | 4 |  |
| Serena Software Collage, PaperThin Common Spot, Content Studio, eXpressroom, Spectra | 1 each |  |
| In House System | 2 |  |

## Implementing Once You Buy

- Focus on customer goals and needs
- Technology and content teams need to work together
- Sometimes need a translator/interpreter
- Ensure you work with your implementer on the usability of the CMS.
**WARNING:** Technical implementers will have different terminology than you do.
- Takes longer than you think.  Don’t advertise a launch date.
- Take time for content analysis
- What are your common types of content.  Allows you to share: develop content once, use many places.
- How will you chunk that content?
- Give yourself as much flexibility in page types, content types, templates for the unforeseen
- Content migration is grueling, but content is better afterwards
- Take time to look at business processes?
- Don’t make more complicated than needs to be.
- If many content contributors, pick system with very easy, intuitive user interface, will require minimal training.
- Large scale technical project
- Thorough project plan
- Good project management and risk management throughout
- Anticipate integration needs.
- Constantly re-evaluate system architecture needs.
- Think through fail over for disaster recovery.
- Manage the culture change – expectations, training, reassignments
- Build in a lot of time for training, especially hands-on training
- Communicate. Communicate. Communicate.