Every corporate
intranet needs a Content Management System (CMS). But
buy the wrong one and you could be in for years of heartache.
Here, Steve Nichols of InfoTech Communications gives
10 questions you should ask before deciding which Content
Management System to buy.
A Content Management System (CMS) underpins a corporate
intranet. Without one, users are left to produce pages
and code HTML themselves. At one end of the spectrum,
the result can be a hotch-potch of designs, fonts, colours
and sizes as users are let loose with a program like
Microsoft FrontPage.
At the other, you could end up with no content at all
as users quickly switch off to the complexities of tables,
tags and FTP. A CMS is a way around the problem: letting
users create pages via their browser with no real knowledge
of what is going on behind the scenes.
The design is then fixed, leaving them to worry about
the words and photographs. But enter the world of CMS
at your peril! There are many on the market, ranging
from absolutely free to incredibly expensive. And to
be honest, you don't always get what you pay for. Here
is a checklist of questions to ask any provider before
you sign on the dotted line:
- Is the CMS intuitive? Can you learn
how to use it in half an hour? A CMS that is designed
with techies in mind and is so complex you can't make
head nor tale of it will become a nightmare to implement.
The end result will be content that never gets updated
or endless phone calls for support. If the CMS terminology
make no sense to you then it was not designed with
the end-user in mind.
- Can you paste in text from MS Word and
retain all the formatting? Most corporate
users will want to prepare their text in Word and
then paste it in. If they then have to go through
the whole document and use HTML tags to re-add bold,
italic and bulleted items they will soon get fed up.
Some systems work by uploading MS Word documents that
are then converted to HTML. These can produce bloated
HTML code and the finished item often looks nothing
like the original document. The acid test of any CMS
is to create a table and then import it. Table conversion
can be a nightmare and will soon show any deficiencies.
- Does the CMS let you preview the page before
you publish it? With the best will in the
world, everyone makes mistakes. A headline that seemed
like a good idea at the time, or a caption that runs
to 100 words, can look hideous when viewed as the
finished item. A good CMS should let you preview the
page in all its splendour. Only then will you easily
spot mistakes. This is also essential where you need
pages to be approved before they are published.
- How good is the search facility?
Does the CMS generate proper URLS that can be searched
for in the future? Some systems generate the URL when
the page is selected and can create hideously long
URLs. These are not user-friendly and do not work
well with some search engines. Others produce real
".html" addresses that are easier to remember
and work with.
- How easy is it to integrate the CMS into
my site design? Most CMS systems work by
using a database to hold the content. This is then
called onto the page at the time a page is selected.
Some languages are horrendous to code and a simple
change to a home page will have you running to a specialist
developer. Make sure you have access to someone who
can make the changes that you require. Some CMS are
extremely difficult to incorporate changes.
- Does the CMS have a WYSIWYG editor?
Does it work with all the platforms used in the company?
Most WYSIWYG systems tend to work with later versions
of Microsoft's Internet Explorer. If you use Apple
Macintosh machines or Netscape's Navigator software
the editor may lose its WYSIWYG capabilities.
- How easy is it to incorporate site redesigns
into the CMS? Some systems keep the content
and the look and feel very separate. A change of font,
say, from Arial to Verdana can be accomplished with
a single five-minute change of code. Others hard code
font size, colour and type into the document which
means site redesigns (which happen on a regular basis)
become a nightmare.
- What is your upgrade policy? Is
the CMS upgraded on at least an annual basis? Do you
have to pay for upgrades? Does the provider operate
a wish-list service where you can influence the development
of the CMS?
- Can I have a copy of all the manuals and
training materials for the system before we buy?
While one-to-one training is ideal, when the trainer
has left the office you are going to be on your own.
A good manual should let you find out how to access
many of the functions yourself. Good self-training
materials will also let new users learn how to use
the system in their own time. If training is left
to an existing member of staff you will get a dilution
of skills. That is, the new entrant will only learn
about the functions that the existing user understands,
not the whole system.
- Can you give me the names, addresses and
telephone numbers of five existing users in this country?
Make sure you get five and make sure you ring them
all. Find out how long they have been using the CMS,
what they think of it and what the back-up has been
like from the provider. The only way to really get
to know if a CMS does what it says on the tin is to
use it over an extended period. Those phone calls,
or perhaps even visits, could save you from big headaches
later.
© Steve Nichols 2005. Steve Nichols specialises
in online communications and has acted as consultant
and trainer for many blue-chip companies including Aviva,
AWG, Shell, Standard Life, HBOS, BNFL, AstraZeneca,
Diageo, Accenture and Australia New Zealand Bank.
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