Why Content Management?: Part One

The Brook Group Content Management System Value on Investment series is a set of brief discussions about the issues faced by organizations that introduce content management systems into their Web publishing operations. To learn more about content management consultations, and Tacklebox, Brook Group’s award-winning CMS, contact Brook Group at 410-465-7805, or info@brookgroup.com.

Why Content Management?

I recently participated in a conference for Webmasters, I was slated to speak about implementing content management systems. At a group dinner the first evening, one participant across the table looked very much like she wanted to ask me a question, but she repeatedly stopped herself.

As the dinner wore on, and the conversation broke into smaller groups, she finally approached me. She pulled up a chair beside mine, and leaned over to me, talking quietly and a little sheepishly.

“I hate to admit this,” she said.  “But I’ve been asked to evaluate content management systems for our site, and I don’t have a clue where to begin. I mean, how do I evaluate something I’ve never seen, and when I don’t really know which features are important, or how to tell one product from the other?”

Getting Started

If you’ve never used a content management system, getting started is one of the hardest issues.  First, let’s get some of the clutter out of the way. If you’re in a large organization or if you watch the Web and the journal literature, you know that there is all sorts of jargon that swirls around the content management industry.

There are a number of primary technologies – Web content management, document management, digital asset management, portal technology, enterprise content management – which are supplemented by a number of ancillary and sub-issues, from XML compatibility to enterprise integration to single sign-on to CRM system integration and many others. Where do you begin determining your place in this mess?

For now, you can ignore the ancillary issues. Focus first on which of the primary technologies you really need. For the purposes of this paper, we are going to focus on Web content management systems (CMS).

Step 1: Where Am I?

We find that one of the most useful beginnings for our clients is to assess their place in the Web universe. The CMS Market Maturity Model (figure 1) provides a simple look at the way Web sites have evolved since the early 1990’s. 

The lower left corner represents the earliest evolution of organizational Web sites: simple HTML-based, static sites. As you move up and right in the diagram, the technologies become more sophisticated, until at the upper right you reach enterprise-level Web operations using state-of-the-art technology.

Determining your place in this continuum is vital to evaluating realistically where you’re headed. Surprising to some people, most organizations are still in the lower left quadrant of this chart. If you are looking at content management for the first time, you are almost certainly there. You have an HTML site, perhaps with some database connectivity, some scripting, perhaps an intranet, maybe even some rudimentary home-grown CMS functionality. But you haven’t got a true publishing system.

Figure 1

Your place in the CMS continuum is an important reality check, because part of Step 1 is realizing that you want to set your expectations appropriately. In most organizations, more than one technology initiative is in the works, and often a lofty vision prevails as to where the organization wants to go.

Organizations that are firmly placed in the lower left of the Market Maturity Model often see their rightful place in the upper right – and they may well be correct. But if we have learned anything from technology projects in the past couple of decades, it is that they are always more complicated, expensive, and time-consuming than expected.

Even though the ultimate goal may be a fully-integrated e-commerce-driven, ECM/Portal solution, it probably is not practical to start there. Each step up the continuum brings its own challenges, lessons, and direction changes. And, while we all like to dream, it may be that the basic CMS world (lower left of the grey CMS box) is as far as your organization needs to go. Only the most complex and resource-rich organizations will move beyond the CMS realm. The Crawl – Walk – Run approach makes sense for most organizations. Begin with Web content management (a substantial cost and effort in itself) and then see how far beyond you need and can afford to go.

Step 2: Who Am I?

So you’ve looked at your place in the Market Maturity Model and realize that you’re looking for a Web content management system. Now, it’s time to see what systems are out there. You’ll soon find that there are hundreds of CMS systems, from enterprise CMS platforms that require seven-figure implementation budgets, to small, unsupported open-source systems with minimal functionality – and everything in between.

In order to qualify the candidates, and to bring the number down to something you can manage, you need to create a qualification checklist. And the first step in doing that is to describe your internal Web publishing situation, limitations, goals, and assets.

A number of questions early on in your checklist can help you quickly define your possible candidates:

• Budget.
  Knowing how much you have to spend – even in broad, “guesstimate” terms – will often narrow the field substantially. And remember that every CMS has costs that go well beyond the license fee. Implementation costs, training, infrastructure, internal staff time spent in implementation, all enter into the equation. Some CMS’s will require you to hire consultants to help you implement them.

  A simple rule of thumb is to double the license fee for an overall estimate. You know your organization. Is your Web staff able to handle this project while keeping the site going? What is your organization’s financial chokepoint? How much IT support do you have?

• Technical Limitations and Preferences.
  Most IT operations have some platform preferences based on their staff knowledge and experience and existing infrastructure. Is your IT group a Microsoft shop? Sun/Solaris? Open source? The IT group can help you sift through the choices and may surprise you with insights and expertise that can quickly help you pare down the vendor list. What if you don’t really have an IT infrastructure? There are many hosted CMS solutions for organizations unwilling to take on the cost of supporting an in-house CMS.

  Remember, even CMS vendors who are platform-agnostic may be more friendly toward – or have more experience with – certain technologies. Know where you’re coming from before you talk to them.

• What is my current publishing workflow?
  If you are not yet familiar with the concept of “workflow,” get ready. You’ll be an expert before your CMS implementation is complete. In some organizations, requests to post Web content fly over the transom to the Web team on everything from an outdated word-processing document to a spreadsheet to the back of a napkin, with little or no guidance on format, priority, or placement. At the other end of the spectrum, some organizations have very clearly defined publishing processes. If you can define your current and desired publishing flow, you will be able to look at the systems and determine whether they can match your existing business process, or whether they force you to change the way you do business.

• What is my corporate culture?
  This is often a disregarded factor in planning technology projects, but always an issue at implementation time. When you choose a CMS vendor you are establishing a relationship. You may know that your organization needs a lot of hand-holding, or that it’s extremely cost sensitive, or that it works best in long-term vendor relationships.

  In addition to being comfortable with the vendor staff that you meet during the evaluation period, you need to think about how your organization will work with the vendor. Some organizations distinctly prefer big-name, big-budget vendors, while others want the personal service that a small or medium vendor often provides.

  Remember, a CMS package is not shrink-wrapped software. More often then not, particularly for first-time CMS buyers, the vendor is teaching you about content management at the same time they are providing the software and services. A CMS system is software, a vendor, perhaps consultants, and your staff working as a team.

  Why do I need content management?
  Clearly, this is the most important question:  A CMS can achieve any number of goals for you. If you can list the specific outcomes you seek, in priority order, this will be a fundamental guideline for all of your internal discussions, and for evaluating systems. The following are some of the standard benefits companies associate with content management:

Conclusion

Evaluating a new technology is a daunting task at best. The first two steps in attacking it involve self-evaluation.

• Where Am I?
  If you can identify your organization’s place on the CMS Maturity Model, you can make realistic decisions about how to reach your CMS goals, regardless of how grand or modest they are.
• Who Am I?
  Defining your internal parameters, from publishing goals to technology to culture to desired outcomes, will give you the groundwork to get beyond the “Getting Started” stage.

Now you’re ready. Get started!