The Classification and Evaluation of Content Management Systems
Evaluation of the CMS
Here are a few criteria to evaluate the CMS on:
· Content Creation – the CMS must provide a conducive environment for content creation. It must allow multi-user authoring, content re-use, Meta data creation and linking. It should also allow for removal and archiving of content.
· Content Management – the most important part of a CMS is its central repository, which is supported by a range of tools for manipulating and managing content. Some key requirements here are version control and archiving, intelligent and flexible workflow models, integrated audit trails, and flexibility for integration into existing business systems. It should also enable the production of an extensive range of reports, for both users and administrators.
· Publishing – the CMS should have flexible and expandable style sheets, templates and support for multiple formats.
· Personalization – the CMS must allow personalization, enabling users to work within their comfort zones.
· Analytics tools - a good CMS must allow for comprehensive usage statistics to be gathered, including most popular pages, daily usage, and search engine usage. This allows you to track your site and its usability.
· Presentation – The CMS must allow for customization to present data in the required format.
It is easy to say that ‘a good CMS must be usable, easy to learn, efficient, adhere to standards put down by the W3C Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI), and offer cross browser support.’ But the reality is that few systems will match all of this: you will simply have to find the best available combination of these attributes.
The right CMS must also be supported by documentation for users, administrators and developers; it must provide training materials for your users and have a maintenance agreement. In the case of purchased CMS applications, make sure you have a warranty. Whichever CMS model you eventually settle for, it is also useful to ask the vendor for reference sites where the application is successfully running.
Know Your ROI
Enough has been said about the importance of ROI, so we will simply provide a sample of an ROI calculator that should help you know just where your CMS dollars are doing their best work:
SaaS: Leading the Game?
Gartner pegs SaaS market size to reach $19.3 billion by 2011. Hosted CMS is fast breaking ground as an affordable and feature-rich option. With no hardware to buy or software to install, the subject matter experts within your organization can focus on what they do best – generate content – without worrying about html, formatting, or non-compliance with brand guidelines.
The SaaS option not only saves scarce resources, it also put the onus of installation, maintenance, and upgrades largely on the vendor. You only pay a fixed monthly or quarterly subscription fee. Vendors like CrownPeak offer an intuitive browser-based interface, smart workflow and publishing features, database management, wireless compatibility and more. With lifelong Active Support thrown in, it is easy to see the advantages of such a CMS model.
For more info: http://www.crownpeak.com
About the Author:
This article is contributed by Rob Rose - Vice President of CrownPeak. CrownPeak offers a cost effective and user friendly Content Management System (CMS).
http://www.crownpeak.com