Content Management Systems. What is Content Management? Content = Text, images, web pages business e-documents, DB tables, live data feeds, Management.

Content Management Systems

What is Content Management?Content =

Text, images, web pages business e-documents, DB tables, live data feeds,

Management =collect, validate, approve, assemble / combine, locate,

translate, distribute, version, update, archive

The Basic CMS

Content Management System

• A content management system helps organize and automate your collection, management, and publishing process

• You need a content management system when this process becomes too complex to manage manually.

The Need

• The need for a content management system can be gauged by – the amount of content you have, – the amount of change in the content you

have, – and the number of publications you intend

to create.

Do You Need a CMS? (1 of 4)

• Do important Web site changes take more than a few hours?

• Do changes grind to a halt when anyone goes on vacation or is sick?

• Are groups within the company discouraged because changes take SO long to happen?

Do You Need a CMS?(2 of 4)

• Does it take weeks or months to make simple global changes?

• Is the site larger than a few hundred pages, or is updated more than a few times a week?

• Is the information architecture of the site decaying, with broken links and images found?

Do You Need a CMS?(3 of 4)

• Does it take a long amount of time to redesign the Web site?

• Are content creators and contributors located a multiple locations?

Do You Need a CMS?(4 of 4)

If the answer is “yes” to at least a few of these questions, you need a CMS.

What is a large system?

• A large system is too big to fit in one person's head. For example:????

• With this in mind, a big system has:– A lot of content. By the time a Web site reaches 1000

pages, it is too big to be managed informally.

– A lot of content types. A content base of 1000 components all of the same type is obviously easier to manage than a base of 1000 components of 5 different types.

The Amount of Content

• Content management systems are needed when there is too much content to process by hand.

• While a content management framework can help you with even small projects, you may not see enough cost savings to justify the effort involved in constructing a solid content management system until you have a larger system

The Amount of change

•Most people focus only on the volume of content that they have. However, once the system is up and running, it is the amount of change, not the volume of content, that determines a site's complexity.– A 1000 component system is simple if it

never changes.

Changes

• There are two sorts of changes that most directly affect complexity:– Component throughput– Frequency of design change

Component Throughput

• is the number of content components that are modified in some way per unit of time.

• For example, if you intend to create 100 new components per week, and believe that about 50 per week will become outdated and need to be deleted or archived, and about 50 will need to be edited in the same period of time, your throughput is 200 components per week.

Frequency of design change

• Is the rate at which you plan to do major layout, look, or navigational redesigns on your publications. In the Web world it is not at all unusual for redesigns to occur monthly.

Number of Publications

• Even a small system can be complex if you need it to create a number of distinct publications.

– For example, compare two businesses which sell the same 100 vacation packages. Company A has a single printed brochure for each package.

– Company B, on the other hand,

• has brochures for each package,

• a Web site that lists all of the packages,

• a printed magazine which features some of the packages,

• and a set of one page black and white faxable fact sheets.

– All other factors being equal, Company B clearly has a much more complex task managing their content. In gauging how many publications you have, there are 2 factors to consider:

Personalization

• How many publication types you have. – In our example, Company A has 1 publication type (a brochure) and

the Company B has 4 (brochures, Web site, magazine, and fact sheets).

• How highly personalized your publications are. – Complexity would certainly rise for the company only creating

brochures if they decided that they needed 5 variations on each vacation package, based on the income level of the recipient.

Ball parking complexity

•For the purposes of level-setting and ball parking, this formula will yield a rough guide to the complexity of your content system:

• Components X Types X Throughput X Publications X Personalization X Redesigns

Where:• Components is the number of components in the system at its inception.

For 1 to 500 components, the value is 0.5For 501 to 1000 components, the value is 1For over 1000 components the value is the number of components divided by 1000

• Types is the number of component types in the system.For 1 to 3 types the value is 0.5For 4 and 5 types the value is 1For over 5 types the value is the number of types divided by 5

• Throughput is the number of components created or modified per week plus the number of components archived or deleted per week.For 1 to 25 components, the value is 0.5For 26 to 50 components, the value is 1For over 50 components, the value is the number of components divided by 50

• Publications is the total number of different publications the system must create.• Personalization is the degree of personalization you intend for your publications on a scale of 1 to 4.

1 indicates no personalization2 indicates that you will personalize for a small number of large user segments3 indicates that you will personalize for a large number of small user segments4 indicates that you will personalize for each user

• Redesigns is the number of major layout, look, or navigational redesigns you plan to perform per year. For 1 to 2 redesigns, the value is 1For over 2 redesigns per year, the value is the number of redesigns divided by 2

Equation

• The equation is designed so that a result of 1 is the breakpoint for recommending a content management system.

• At this value and above, the chances are good that a system would be a valuable asset to manage your complexity.

• For results less than one, the value of a content management system is questionable. As the result goes up from one, the necessity of a system increases.

Vacation package company A.

• Let's start by following the example of the brochure-only vacation company used earlier. In addition to what has already been stated, let's assume that they produce or change 2 new brochures per week, and redesign the brochures twice per year.

• Components 100• Types 1• Throughput 2• Publications 1• Personalization 1• Redesigns 2• The calculation is as follows:• (.5) X (.5) X (.5) X 1 X 1 X 1 = .125• At a complexity value of 1/8 this company's need for a content

management system is small.

Vacation package company C.

• Let's look at a vacation company with a big need. – Let's assume that they want to dominate the vacation package industry.– They will handle 1600 packages with 10 types.– Each week, 100 of these packages change in some way.– In addition to their Web site, which they want to redesign twice per year, they will produce

a printed catalog and a set of Faxable data sheets.– They would like to personalize at least to the level of broad user segments.

• Components 1600• Types 10• Throughput 100• Publications 3• Personalization 2• Redesigns 2• The calculation is as follows:• (1600/1000) X (10/5) X (100/50) X 3 X 2 X 1 = 38.4At a complexity value of 38.4, this company definitely needs a content management

system.

The following table provides a general framework for evaluating your own situation:

Complexity Your need for a Content Management System

Below 0.25 Little need for a system.

0.25- 0.5 Could begin thinking about a system if you believe that your need will grow.

0.5- 0.75 Should begin thinking about a system if you believe that your need will grow.

0.75-1 This is the beginning of the gray zone between a need and no need. In this range go with your intuition. Consider whether your complexity will grow. If it will, this is a good time to begin a content management analysis preparation. If your need will not grow, a system may well be more effort than it is worth.

1-1.5 This is still in the gray zone. However, a system is more likely than not needed in this region. Even if your complexity will not grow, a system may save more than it costs.

1.5- 10 A system is recommended. You may be able to start slowly, or cover the factors that have the highest values, but eventually you will want to implement a system.

Above 10 A system is needed. You are likely experiencing content management problems now. If your complexity is well above 10 and is still growing, you may need to act quickly to either control complexity growth, or implement the parts of a system that relieve the highest pressures.

How to Choose a Content Management System

A Decision Process

Web Sites Without a CMS Have Challenges

• Not updated in a timely manner.

• Have pages that are erroneous or obsolete.

• Evolve to have inconsistent information architectures.

• Cannot accommodate redesigns and navigation change requirements.

The Process for Choosing a CMS

1. Define the Decision Team.

2. Determine Business Objectives and Constraints.

3. Evaluate Vendors.

4. Evaluate TCO & ROI.

5. Gather the Decision Team and Decide.

Define the Team• Information

technologists • Corporate marketers• Product Marketers• Marketing writers• Web designers• Web programmers

• Technical writers • PR personnel• Editors• Customer support• Finance personnel

Determine Business Objectives and Constraints

• What benefits do you hope to gain?

• Budget constraints?

• Headcount constraints?

• How much risk can you afford?

• When do you need to deploy?

• When do you hope to see a clear return on investment?

Evaluate VendorsFour main approaches:

• Manual Content Management

• Server-Based Content Management

• Homegrown Content Management

Evaluation Criteria• Features

• Scalability

• Deployment Time

• Ongoing Costs

Manual Content Management - Approach

• Create every page by hand using tools such as Dreamweaver or GoLive.

Manual Content Management - Costs

• HTML Designers and producers to create pages and link into site.

• Project Manager to traffic projects.

• QA Engineer to review every page and link.

• Design tools and training.

Manual Content Management - Advantages

• Low startup costs, other than labor costs.

• Predictable but significant ongoing costs. Every page takes at least one or two hours to produce.

Manual ContentMgmt – Disadvantages (1)

• Information architecture can rapidly get out of hand.

• Ongoing costs are high due to lack of automation.

• Web team can become a bottleneck.

Manual ContentMgmt – Disadvantages (2)

• Vacations and sickness can delay changes.

• Human error easily introduced.

• Redesigns are difficult because content not separated from presentation.

Server-Based ContentMgmt - Approach

• Buy CMS software, hardware servers, databases, IT infrastructure (backup, power)…

• Manage all IT and programming tasks surrounding the CMS.

Server-Based ContentMgmt - Costs

• CMS software such as Vignette, Interwoven, Microsoft CMS.

• Database such as Oracle, MS SQL.

• Hardware servers for the CMS and Database.

• Programming and deployment.

• Colocation and ongoing IT management.

Server-Based ContentMgmt - Advantages

• Content creation delegated to content owners.

• Workflow allows only authorized editors to manage content.

• Information architecture kept consistent as content is added.

• Can integrate with back-end systems such as ERP.

Server-Based ContentMgmt - Disadvantages

• High upfront costs due to significant engineering and IT efforts.

• High ongoing costs due to IT and maintenance.

• Time to deploy usually 6 months or more.

• Risk of “shelfware”, where CMS never deployed.

• Downtime due to staff being on vacation or sick.

Homegrown ContentMgmt - Approach

• Hire programmers, QA engineers, and engineering management to create your own CMS from scratch.

• Purchase hardware, databases, and other IT requirements.

Homegrown ContentMgmt - Advantages

• Same as Server-Based Content Management.

• Custom features can be created to meet specific needs.

Homegrown Content Mgmt - Disadvantages

• Same disadvantages as Server-Based CMS, plus:

• High development costs.

• High risks if software development is not your core competency.

• Time to deploy 9 months or more.

• Turnover in engineering staff can add risk to future development.

Conclusions• Choosing a CMS is a crucial decision, and

can significantly improve your Web site.

• Define the decision team and follow a process to make the best decision.