Jeff Cram tells us all to stop letting people use your CMS. To quote: I can’t tell you how many times we’ve seen organizations buy a CMS, take their same content structure, and simply distribute authoring ownership to every far flung corner of the organization. And let’s not entirely blame ...
Articles tagged: content management systems
Our department is different!
Jeff Cram and Jeni Cram write about the challenges of rolling out an enterprise CMS. To quote: “Our department is different!” This is a common and legitimate response from groups used to managing their own websites. They argue that their needs are so specific there is little chance a common ...
The myth of the occasional CMS user
Seth Gottlieb challenges the idea of the occasional CMS user when rolling out a new solution. To quote: Often, one of the big justifications for a CMS is removing the webmaster bottleneck and delegating content entry to the people who have the information. The implicit assumption is that everyone wants ...
Are big CMS vendors hungry enough?
I'm working with a state government agency to help them select a CMS at the moment. The product is for their intranet, as part of a wholesale site redevelopment (much needed!). They have an incumbent provider of enterprise solutions, one of the large vendors, who they'd like to evaluate alongside other ...
When it is not all about the CMS software
Seth Gottlieb writes about choosing a good CMS partner, not just the right product. To quote: In one case there was a comprehensive site redesign that included digital strategy, re-branding, and information re-architecture as well as implementing new functionality. In another case, the client was shifting to an outsourced model ...
The value of drop-in labs
Jeni Cram has written on the the value of drop-in labs when launching a new CMS. To quote: Drop-in labs are a great way to make the rollout process smoother. A drop-in lab is simply a set time where you invite users to a working session with staff on hand ...
Integrating CMS with recordkeeping?
I provided a CMS short-list to a client today, just one of a number of CMS selection projects that we currently have underway. What made this different, however, was the requirement for integration between the CMS and TRIM, their records management system (RMS/EDRMS). Their needs were fairly straightforward: Take documents stored in ...
Do you really need in-context content editing?
Apoorv Durga asks: do you really need in-context content editing? To quote: Many Web CMS products tout "in-context," wiki-like content editing as an important feature or enhancement. In-context means letting contributors create or edit content from within the context of the site, without actually having to retrieve a content item ...
JSR cheat sheet for content technologists
Adriaan Bloem has posted a handy summary of JSR standards for content management. To quote: If you're following the content management space closely, but aren't a Java wizard, the JSR (Java Specification Request) numbers can become a bit of a puzzle. I've recently had several conversations that went something like this. ...
Back-end designs and the CMS cycle of disillusionment
Adriaan Bloem has written a post on the problems with back-end CMS interfaces. To quote: Over the years, I've seen a large number of web site functional designs, technical designs, requirements, wireframes and mock-ups. But usually, the one thing missing from the planning of a WCM-driven web site is what's ...
Coupled vs decoupled CMS
Andrew Webb writes about coupled vs decoupled CMS. To quote: The technical infrastructure underpinning web sites has also evolved significantly since WCM was born. We have moved far from the early days of HTML pages and CGI scripts that add dynamic content often from a single database to platforms ...
Sanity check: the final short-list of CMS products should be similar
There are literally hundreds of content management systems in the marketplace. The goal of any selection process is to progressively cut these down until only one remains: the chosen solution. Regardless of which type of evaluation process is being followed, there is a final short-list of typically three vendors. These vendors ...
Insist on a good CMS demo in 60 minutes
Janus Boye makes some excellent recommendations on getting a good CMS demo in 60 minutes. To quote: It is not unusual for vendors to ask for several hours to do a product demonstration and then only reluctantly show the product towards the very end of the sales meeting. Even when ...
CMS selection: reveal budget in the RFP?
Peter Sejersen asks the question: should we reveal the budget in a CMS tender? To quote: Vendors love when budgets are included in the RFP. This enables them to fit their proposal around the budget, naturally ensuring they spend every penny of it. As a customer you have to be ...
Three types of web content management projects
The CMS Myth writes about three types of web content management projects. To quote: We’ve identified three primary types of web content management projects. Consider this a starting point to determine how to right size the approach to a CMS project. Each type requires different staffing, planning, timelines and roll ...
Why IT should not run a CMS selection project
Dorthe Raakjær Jespersen has written a post on why IT should not run a CMS selection project. To quote: This discussion often comes up during CMS selection projects, sometimes even after the process is well underway. The consequence is a delayed project, with much time wasted on meetings and emails ...
The boondoggle that is software maintenance fees
Tony Byrne writes about software maintenance fees for CMS and other similar solutions. To quote: Our research reports also instruct technology buyers how to negotiate down annual maintenance rates. In the field, we sometimes receive slack-jawed responses from both the customer ("you mean we can do that?") and the vendor ...
The CMS decorator pattern
Seth Gottlieb has posted a blog entry on republishing data via a CMS. To quote: A common pattern when you want to present highly structured, relational data on a website alongside managed content is to manage those data outside the CMS and then use the CMS to organize and augment ...
Large web site migration checklist
David Hobbs has written a post on content migration for large websites. To quote: How do you even get started in your planning for a large Web Site migration? Of course, you want to have strong Web Strategy, Web Governance, and Web Team in place. Probably another useful step ...
Testable stories
Janus Boye has written a post on testable stories (what we call scenarios), and how these can be used during CMS selection. To quote: Testable stories is something we at J. Boye have developed and refined together with several community of practice members and consulting customers since early 2008 whenever ...
Is there a best CMS tool for your industry?
Tony Byrne debunks the myth of industry-specific CMS solutions. To quote: For web content management I don't believe your industry matters very much. If it did, there would not be 30+ individual Web CMS vendors and open source projects with installations in the U.S. federal government space, and nearly that ...
Who is choosing the new CMS?
Having been involved in many content management system (CMS) selection projects, we've seen a number of common causes of delays arise. Of these, the biggest stumbling block is a lack of structure around the selection project: who is doing what, when will it happen, and how are decisions going to be ...
Online CMS demos: do they work?
Part of my job is to keep up with the the web content management systems in the market: new ones that arrive in Australia and the constant upgrades of existing products. Normally I get vendors to drop by to give a face-to-face demo, allowing me to ask a whole pile ...
CMIS gets new momentum, thanks to Chemistry
Kas Thomas has written a post on the Chemistry project to implement CMIS (the CMS interoperability standard). To quote: There's been an interesting development with regard to Content Management Interoperability Services (CMIS, the new, yet-to-be-ratified content API being considered by OASIS). The Apache Foundation, it turns out, has begun incubating ...
Don’t miss out: Sydney workshops are filling up
The second reminder for today is about our upcoming events in Sydney, which are down to the last handful of places: Expert session: intranet strategy and managementSydney, 7 May 2009 This intensive intranet strategy session will give you the tools, ideas and methodologies you need to make a success of ...
Beyond web-centricity in content management
Gadgetopia has written a post about separating presentation from content, using announcements on an intranet as an example. To quote: Consider an intranet. A company decides it needs a centralized “announcements” system — a communication vehicle to get information to various people in the company. So, they grab some Web content ...
CMS selection – death to the features matrix
Seth Gottlieb has written an article arguing against feature matrix in CMS selection. To quote: Nothing looks more convincing than a score where one option has more points than another. But, users don’t necessarily want to use a system just because it has the highest cumulative, weighted score. They want ...
Expert session: CMS selection strategies (Sydney, 14 May 2009)
Learn from the foremost experts to save money and mitigate technology risks. Choosing the right web content management system (CMS) is vital. Spend a day with James Robertson, one of the foremost experts on CMS, ...
Everyone still wants a CMS
Even in these tough financial times, many organisations are looking to implement or replace their web content management systems (CMS). This is not surprising: these projects have often been in the pipeline for years, driven by a need to streamline publishing, or to eliminate the pain of legacy tools. Even with ...
A reality checklist for vendors
Kas Thomas has written a post arguing for a reality checklist for CMS vendors. To quote: The two worlds are diverging rapidly. Traditional enterprise software development (the kind associated with "programming in the large") tends to be slow, costly, inflexible. Solution sales, marketing, and support tend to be correspondingly process-heavy ...
Software vendors need to understand how the web really works
Kas Thomas argues that software vendors need to understand how the web really works. To quote: It's amazing to me that so many of the vendors we cover at CMS Watch (even some that claim to have deep expertise in marketing and social-web sorts of things) still haven't figured out ...
Picking the right supplier in a recession
Alan Pelz-Sharpe writes about picking the right supplier in a recession. To quote: "Nobody ever got fired for buying IBM" -- so the saying goes. And in tough times there is without a shadow of a doubt, a tendency for procurement and IT buyers in general to lean heavily toward ...
Professional services: do you know what you are really buying?
The CMS Myth asks about professional services: do you know what you are really buying? To quote: Professional services are the other half of any CMS implementation, but could the services company you selected pass the same scrutiny your CMS endured during its selection process? From some of the ...
Three steps to a successful web content management (CMS) implementation
Raymond Schauer provides three steps for successful CMS implementation. To quote: More often than not, it comes down to process. How was the CMS implemented? How was it introduced to your users? How was their feedback received and incorporated into subsequent updates? Contrary to popular belief, a website with a CMS ...
17 usability tips to make your CMS rock
Patrick Kennedy has posted a superb article containing 17 usability tips to make your CMS rock. To quote: More than likely your content management system (CMS) will have many usability problems if you just use it “out of the box”. Having been involved in a number of projects tasked with ...
Custom code, CMS and portals
In the early days, intranets and websites consisted of pages and pages of static content. Originally published by hand, many of these sites migrated to a content management system (CMS) in due course. Over time, more sites started to include a range of rich interactive functionality. This included publishing content from ...
Robertson’s rule of CMS usage
We're just wrapping up a review of the content management system within an Australian government agency. Their story is typical: Lifecycle of a CMS Some years back, a CMS was purchased to manage the websites and intranet of this agency. This was a powerful and complex product, produced by a small vendor. ...
What’s happening with mid-market CMS vendors in 2009?
The CMS Myth writes about the mid-market CMS vendors in 2009. To quote: 2009 in particular looks to be an interesting year for the mid-market CMS market. While we don't claim to have a crystal ball (and certainly aren't calling out specific vendors), we are observing some macro trends that may ...
The five stages of CMS grief
The CMS Myth writes about the five stages of CMS grief. To quote: While a unified CMS strategy can be smart for the organization, it takes control away from independent web authors, changing web publishing life as they know it forever. Dealing with the loss of total web authoring control and ...
What should you look for in your CMS license contract?
Janus Boye provides practical advice on what to look for in CMS license contracts. To quote: Don’t accept the standard payment terms. Usually software vendors like to get their money up-front, but you can typically negotiate much better terms, e.g. a very small up-front payment, and then the rest when ...
Cancel your CMS maintenance contracts
Janus Boye controversially suggests that you cancel your CMS maintenance contracts. To quote: Here’s a tip that can save you some money in 2009: Cancel your maintenance and support (M&S) contracts with your CMS and enterprise portal vendors.
Don’t expect CMS consolidation in 2009
Janus Boye argues that CMS consolidation won't happen in 2009. To quote: I don’t have enough insights into the North American web content management (WCM) marketplace to comment on local marketplace dynamics “over there”, but for the European marketplace, I don’t expect any significant consolidation among CMS vendors and CMS ...
Two types of CMS users
Content management systems are frequently rolled out widely across whole organisations, following a 'decentralised authoring' model. As discussed in the earlier article The importance of CMS usability, a new CMS product will only be a success if staff make use of it. For this to happen, authors must be able ...
Should you throw out the CMS or just the implementation?
The CMS Myth asks: should you throw out the CMS or just the implementation? To quote: Most organizations we talk to are often looking at their second or third CMS implementation, so by no means are they strangers to the promise of web content management. But almost half the ...
Building a CMS from scratch is so 1990s
Paul Chin argues against writing your own CMS. To quote: I was recently asked something that I myself have been wondering for a while: Does anyone still build intranet-based content management systems (CMS) from scratch? And more importantly, is there any real advantage in doing so?
Do automated review dates work?
Keeping content up to date is hard. Whether on a website or intranet, organisations constantly battle with outdated or incorrect information. One of the primary goals of a content management system (CMS) project is therefore to improve the quality of content on the site (or sites). One of the key mechanisms ...
Practical ways to assess CMS usability
The usability of a content management system is paramount. If authors and site owners can't work out how to use the CMS, you've got nothing. The CMS can have all the functionality in the world, but usability trumps it all. I've written about this before, outlining 11 usability principles for ...
Accessibility is getting better in CMS products
I've been facilitating CMS vendor demos for most of this week, as part of the final stages of a University CMS selection project. One of the things that has changed in the products is their support for accessibility, generally for the better. The good news There have been some encouraging improvements: Some now ...
Leading CMS requirements
Seth Gottlieb has written a piece on writing good CMS requirements. To quote: Generic requirements gathering processes are self absorbed. They are optimized to comprehensively find business requirements, not understand them within the context of business goals. And the more the requirements are abstracted from the goal of managing content, ...
De-hyping CMIS
Barb Mosher provides an overview of Content Management Interoperability Services (CMIS), the latest standard for content management interoperability. To quote: The Content Management Interoperability Services (CMIS) spec was created by a group of ECM vendors — specifically, Microsoft, IBM, EMC, Oracle, Alfresco and Open Text. The purpose of the specification ...
Gottllieb’s 2nd Law of CMS implementation
Seth Gottlieb has published his 2nd law, which states: Novelty + Urgency = Chaos. In the context of CMS implementation: Here is how it usually plays out in the world of web content management. A company buys a new CMS and intends to migrate 50-100 sites onto the new platform. ...
Online education courses from CMS Watch
CMS Watch are some of the wisest folks in the enterprise content management market. Their pragmatic and fearless reviews are built on an encyclopedic knowledge of products and vendors, and they've also learnt a lot about what works (and what doesn't). That makes their recently-launched online education courses of ...
Podcast: out of the box content management
On Monday I was interviewed by Phil Dobbie of BTalk Australia. The podcast on out of the box content management has now been published. To quote: (15min 54) There are a huge amount of content management systems (CMS) available, from free open source platforms through to advanced commercial solutions. That ...
