Advantages%20of%20CMS

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Advantages of CMS

• CMS Debate Challenging the Consensus
• Piero Tintori - TERMINALFOUR
• piero.tintori_at_terminalfour.com
• Stephen Pope - Eduserv
• stephen.pope_at_eduserv.org.uk

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Agenda

• Defining Web Content Management
• What is a WCMS?
• What isnt a WCMS?
• The key advantages of a WCMS
• Life without a WCMS

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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

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Defining Web Content Management

• What is also WCMS?
• Blogs simple content management
• Wiki
• Discussion boards
• What isnt a WCMS?
• A database on its own (no business logic)
• Unstructured files

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• The key advantages of a CMS
• Stephen Pope
• stephen.pope_at_eduserv.org.uk

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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 1159pm
  /

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Workflow

• Enforce standards
• Editorial Control
• Editor final approval / Preview content in place.
• Version control instant rollback nothing
  overwritten.

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Workflow

• Publishing Control
• Hide / Schedule / Expire / Archive
• Quality Control
• Compel alt tags / tidy html / check spelling
• Accountability / Paper trail

9
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!

10
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

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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 !

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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

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System Integration

• Doesnt 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

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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

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• Life without a CMS
• Stephen Pope
• stephen.pope_at_eduserv.org.uk

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Problem Areas

• Tedious Web Management
• The Webmaster Bottleneck
• Enterprise Cut and Paste
• Corporate Governance
• Reuse of Content

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Tedious Web Management

• Your spend most of your time making minor changes
  to areas that wont even be appreciated by people
• Fixing broken links
• Restructuring Site Map
• No time to work on more interesting features and
  developments

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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 dont understand the work
  involved

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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?

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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

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Conclusion

• WCMS will make you life easier
• Your internal publishers will be happier
• Your visitors will have up-to-date and consistent
  / accessible content

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Conclusion

• CMS may change your life.