Advantages of CMSCMS Debate: Challenging the Consensus
Piero Tintori - TERMINALFOUR [email protected]
Stephen Pope - [email protected]
Agenda
• Defining Web Content Management–What is a WCMS?
–What isn’t a WCMS?
• The key advantages of a WCMS
• Life without a WCMS
Defining Web Content Management
• Our definition:
– Software automation of the tasks involved in publishing and managing content on a website
– A system that allows users update content on a website
Defining Web Content Management
–What is also WCMS?
• Blogs – simple content management• Wiki• Discussion boards
–What isn’t a WCMS?• A database on its own (no business
logic)• Unstructured files
The Manual Edit ..
• Someone in the company wants an important press release put on the web site.
• Release is emailed (probably in word format) to the web team (or external company)
• Web team have to download the original page from the website / create a new page from a template then manually convert the text/formatting into HTML.
• Press release has to go live at 12 midnight so someone has to wake up and upload it at 11:59pm :¬/
Workflow
• Enforce standards
• Editorial Control– Editor final approval / Preview
content in place.– Version control – instant rollback
– nothing overwritten.
Workflow
• Publishing Control– Hide / Schedule / Expire / Archive
• Quality Control– Compel alt tags / tidy html /
check spelling
• Accountability / Paper trail
Security
• Granular role based security– No more ‘Pandora's Box’ –
people only see what they are allowed to see.
• Delegate Responsibility– Different people can be in charge
of their own parts of the web site (press/events)
– No need for everything to pass through the web team!
Content Delivery
• Scheduled Publish / Archive• Multiple Platforms
(Web/Mobile/RSS)• Multiple Languages• Multiple Audiences (Metadata)• Edit in place• Publish to Staging / DR / Static• SES URLs / Aliases• Snapshots for FOI requirements
Rapid Development
• Separation of content from presentation– People of all skill levels involved– Design– Content Migration – Quick re-skinning
• Reusable elements such as templates and renderings (breadcrumb / nav. menus)
• Centralised Content / Documents (extranet / intranet) / Links – Update Once !
• Security / Workflow controls• Modules - Probably been written before !
Maintenance
• Rapid Updates– Common Interface– Quick to train– Content users in charge of their own
content not web devs.• Import / Paste from office apps• Manage many users• Workflow
– Distributed contributions– Rollbacks
• Centralised document management
System Integration
• Doesn’t all have to be out of the box – Security - Integrate with
LDAP/Athens/Shib– Documents – Sharepoint /
Central Store– Search Engines –
Google/Dtsearch/Ultraseek– Data-Providers (XML/SQL)– Stats
• Will always needs customisation
Open Standards
• Information freely available• Data in XML
– Route out–Minimise Migration
• Presentation in XSLT– Small changes can be made by
people with HTML knowledge– Not locked into custom API for
presentation
• XAML / SAML / XACML
Problem Areas
• Tedious Web Management
• The Webmaster Bottleneck– “Enterprise Cut and Paste”
• Corporate Governance
• Reuse of Content
Tedious Web Management
• Your spend most of your time making minor changes to areas that won’t even be appreciated by people
– Fixing broken links– Restructuring Site Map– No time to work on more
interesting features and developments
The Webmaster Bottleneck
• You become the typing pool of the organisation– “Enterprise Cut and Paste”– Build up of frustration• Publishers want to publish faster
and have control• Webmasters find that “Cut and
paste” is boring work
–Would be publishers don’t understand the work involved
Corporate Governance
• “Extra bureaucracy to cover ourselves from complaints”– Version control – snap shots =
Lots and lots of backup tapes!
–Who signed off what… in the absence of an audit trail who is responsible?
Reuse of Content
• If you have good content… get more value from it… reuse it– Five websites = five times the
work– 5 Languages = five times the
work excluding translation– Different versions of the same
content in different places
Conclusion
• WCMS will make you life easier…• Your internal publishers will be
happier…• Your visitors will have up-to-date
and consistent / accessible content…