Barry Schaeffer

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Navigating the Content Management Jungle A
survival Guide

• Barry Schaeffer

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Many organizations wonderwhether they
needcontent management.

• In truth, everyone who uses Windows Explorer on
  their computer is performing content management,
  so the question is not whether but how best.
  This presentation offers some thoughts on that
  question.

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Only by creating the appropriate content to
deliver to users and storing it for active
retrieval by people or by technology, can we keep
the promise of CM from Content Management
for Dynamic Web Delivery. by Dr. JoAnn Hackos
This quote establishes the baseline for CM as
functional rather than structural. In a moment,
well see why that distinction is so important.
First, a word about why content management is
so important
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First, a word about why (cont.)
Providers
Consumers
Content management is a technical resource that
sits, somehow, between content creation and
delivery, but is independent of both.
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First, a word about why (cont.)
Providers
Consumers
Content management is an integral extension of
the value definition, capture and delivery
process.
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CM includes every step from author to consumer
Content preparation delivery
VALUE
SUCCESS
In a perfect world, the path between provider and
consumer would be smooth, linear and highly
efficient.
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CM includes every step from author to consumer
Content preparation delivery
VALUE
SUCCESS
In the real world, this process is complex,
multi-step and often requires significant and
costly manual support and intervention
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So What the heck IS content management?

• Its not something you GET, its something you
  DO!
• CM has no usable definition outside your list of
  requirements (and someone who says they do
  content management isnt telling you very
  much.)
• Everyones CM list is slightly (or maybe very)
  different, so you must compile your own
  carefully.
• Without a CM requirements list, you cant
  evaluate products, concepts, approaches, costs
  anything.
• Remember, CM includes functions from content
  definition and modeling to delivery and
  productive use and every step in between.
• Even within the vendor community, there are at
  least three functional areas into which CM falls
• Web Content Management
• Source Content Management
• Digital Assets Management

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OK, so whats included (1)?

• First, you cant manage what you cant create,
  so CM includes functions you may have thought of
  as editorial, like
• How you tag your content for multiple media and
  audiences
• How you allow, mark and manage revisions to your
  content
• How you author and manage links and associations
  among content elements
• How you organize your work place and support
  collaboration among your staff
• How you record, manage and communicate
  information about your content, its status and
  visibility to users and managers

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OK, so whats included (2)?

• Next, how you manage logical access to your
  content is closely tied to how you physically
  store it
• There are several approaches
• Fragmentation to RDBMS tables meta data
• Document BLOBs or CLOBS to RDBMS meta data
• File system with RDBMS meta data
• Native XML with DOM access meta data
• Each has limitations that materially affect your
  ability to do CM successfully
• You must use your CM function list to drill below
  the demo level or you have no idea what youre
  buying

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Steps to effective CM implementation

• Design your target content environment first you
  cant decide how to manage content until you know
  what youre managing.
• Flesh out your list of CM functional requirements
  and send it to prospective vendors as an RFI
  (RFPs get rigid responses.)
• Ask each vendor how he would support your
  requirements, end to end, and general cost
  figures to do so.
• Call in only those that return direct answers to
  your questions and have the experience to prove
  they know what theyre saying.
• Ask those called to describe in detail and (if
  possible) demonstrate how they will support your
  requirements, if possible with your data.
• Base your purchase decisions on who does the best
  job of meeting YOUR short and long term needs.
• In short, buy functions, not technology.