Practical Guide to Selecting a Web CMS for State and Local Governments

The Practical Guide to Selecting a New Web CMS

For State and Local Governments

Presenters

Tom Wentworth, CMO at Acquia- 13 Year CMS veteran at vendors Interwoven and

Ektron.

- @twentworth12 on Twitter

Nikhil Deshpande- Responsible for the digital presence and strategy

for the State of Georgia’s official web portal, www.georgia.gov

- User interface designer and a certified usability analyst with more than 10 years of digital media experience

- @nikofthehill on Twitter

What You’ll Learn in this Webinar

• Why Now is the Right Time to Select a New CMS- Mobile, Social, Open

• Running a CMS Selection Process- Defining requirements

- Selecting vendors

- Vendor demonstrations and presentations

- Selecting an implementation partner

• State of Georgia Case Study

2003-2010

2010 +

First Generation CMS

• Brochureware websites• Vendor pioneers Interwoven,

Vignette• CMS part of Enterprise Content

Management Suites

Second Generation CMS

• Dynamic Websites• Marketing-driven

• Business results focused

Third Generation CMS

• Mobile, Social, Personal, Cloud

History of CMS

1994-2003

Legacy CMS Challenges

• Mobile sites are an afterthought, or impossible

• They are expensive to own- High maintenance costs

- Difficult to find experienced development resources

• Plagued by Usability issues- Products were designed before the advent of modern

user interface best practices

- Return of the “Webmaster Bottleneck”

• Require multiple point solutions- Social communities

• 29% of Black Americans have no Internet access

• 51% have no broadband access at home

• 32% of Hispanic Americans have no Internet access

• 49% have no broadband access at home

• 38% of Americans who make less than $30,000/year have no Internet access

• 59% have no broadband access at home

• 46% of Americans with a disability have no Internet access

• 59% have no broadband access at home

• 57% of Americans with no high school diploma have no Internet access

• 88% have no broadband access at home

Source: Karen McGrane

Mobile First?

Yet 88% of Americans Have a Mobile Phone

We Need a Mobile First Approach:Responsive Design

One Design. Multiple Layouts.

Citizen Engagement. Everywhere.

Open Government

Open Data, Always Available

Running a CMS Evaluation

Identify Requirements +

Stakeholders

Define Vendor Shortlist

RFPVendor

Evaluations

Selections + Contracts

* Allocate 3-6 Months for Evaluation

Simplified Content Management Lifecycle

Create

• In-Line Editing

• Structured Content Authoring

• Drag and Drop Page Creation

Manage

• Workflow• Taxonomies• Metadata• Permissions

Publish

• Content Reuse

• Multi-format• Multi-

language• Multi-site

Key RequirementsContent Authoring

• Inline Editing- Edit content in-place

• Structured Content Authoring- Forms-based

• Drag + Drop Page Creation- Assemble pages

without developers

• Image Management- Resizing, Cropping

Key RequirementsWorkflow

• Approval Process for Publishing- Draft, In-Review,

Published

• Version History- Quickly compare

versions

• Audit Trails- Capture feedback on

changes

• Reporting- Bottlenecks

Key RequirementsMulti-lingual + Content Re-Use

• Separation of Content from Presentation- Create content once, re-use in

multiple locations

- Categorize content using taxonomies for automated placement

• Manage content in multiple languages- Manual or automation

translation support

- Define relationship between languages

Key FeaturesSecurity + Permissions

• Users- Authorized CMS users

• Groups- Collections of users

and other groups.

• Permissions- Define access levels

to folders and content

• Roles- Define access

privileges to users and groups

Key FeaturesSocial Communities & Collaboration

• Blogs

• Networking, Friending, and Following

• Ratings + Reviews

• Collaboration

• Content Moderation

There are Lots of Vendors…

Defining a Vendor Shortlist

• Pick a Development Platform(s)- .NET, Java, PHP

• Pick a Deployment Model- Cloud, On-Premise

• Select Vendors to Evaluation- Work with Analysts

• Forrester, Gartner, Digital Clarity Group, Real Story Group, others

- Evaluate Products• Downloads, Trials

- Engage Partners

Picking a Development PlatformAnd Does it Matter?

• .NET Framework- Microsoft-only

- Mature development environment

• Java- Cross-platform

- Popular among larger enterprises and specific verticals like financial services

• PHP- Cross-platform

- Fastest growing CMS development platform

PHP Content Management Systems Growing Fastest

Open Source vs. Proprietary CMSTop Five Myths About Open Source WCM

1. Open Source is just for blogs and simple sites

2. Open Source isn’t secure

3. Open Source won’t scale to handle the world’s largest sites

4. Open Source requires tribal knowledge

5. Open Source won’t work well with my marketing tools

Building a good RFP

• Project overview- Provide a detailed written description of the problems you

are trying to solve.

• Process- Clearly describe your end-to-end evaluation process w/

timeframes

• Requirements- Articulate your requirements. Avoid “Yes/No” questions in

favor of open ended

• Scenarios- Frame your requirements into actual real-world usage

scenarios but don’t prescribe the solution

Evaluate Scenarios

Okay Example

• The Press Release module is one of the most heavily used features of our current CMS. Demonstrate how to create and post a press release.

Great Example

• One of the major weaknesses of the current CMS is not having the ability to create a new website. Demonstrate how to create a new website including:

• Creating a homepage

• Developing templates and style sheets for the underlying pages. Templates will carry the same footer across all pages of the website.

• Creating a subsite with a different homepage but with design elements that tie it to the overall website.

• Show how subsites work with a different domain (e.g., xyz.city.gov)

Vendor Presentations… or the Dog & Pony Show

• Allocate enough time to cover your scenarios and requirements

- Typically 90-120 minutes

• Ask the vendor to bring the right resources- The Sales Engineer is your friend

• Ask the vendor to minimize the “About Us” pitch

- Important, but should have already been covered during initial diligence

• Segment the presentation by audience

- Developers/Designers vs. Business Users

Evaluate Usability not Curb Appeal

Typical License and Deployment Models• Deployment Model

- On-Premise: Software is deployed on owned servers.

- Cloud: Software is deployed in the cloud.

- Hybrid: Authoring servers on-premise, delivery servers in the cloud

• License Types- Perpetual: You buy the software up-front, and pay

the vendor a yearly fee for access to upgrades and support.

- Subscription: You rent the software, services, and support typically on an annual basis.

- Open Source: No software license fee. Vendors like Acquia provide support.

Selecting an Implementation Partner

• Working with Vendor Professional Services vs. an Implementation Partner

• Types of Partners- Global, Regional, etc.

• What is their implementation methodology?

• Do they understand your key drivers?

• What is their comfort level with the technologies?- You’d be surprised…

Don’t Forget about Training!

• For Developers- Learn the fundamental concepts and techniques for

developing CMS applications, including page design, APIs, content models, and more.

• For Administrators- Lean server administration concepts and best practices,

from installation and configuration through ongoing health, performance, and availability.

• For End Users- Teach users the basics of content management

including authoring, workflow, and publishing.

Case Study

WE NEED HELP!

• Proprietary CMS • 2 versions• Cost

Choosing a New CMS

WE <3 DRUPAL

• Second largest CMS worldwide• Worldwide community of support

and developers• Open source!

GOING OPEN SOURCE

• Security• Free• Total cost of ownership• Is it ready for “prime time”?

Community

PLATFORM • Multi-site, multi-database

• Single code base • Cloud hosting• Search • Responsive design

CONTENT FIRST • Content beyond pages

• Design based on data and user expectations

55 REDESIGNS? • Template based

• Styletiles• Demo websites

Classic Patriotic Friendly Official

Redesign