October 23, 2000

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Implementation Requirements For Content Management

By Kelley West, Rich Huff, and Pat Turocy

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ere are some key aspects of implementing a Web content-management system that require assistance from an integrator or implementation work on the part of the company:

• Organization of metadata: Metadata is information that's collected for describing and categorizing content. A company must determine the structure of its metadata taxonomy, or system of classification. This task requires determining which metadata must be captured for each type of content that will be maintained in the system. A company needs to develop a classification system with an extensible design, meaning that it extends to the business level, as opposed to departments. The classification scheme should include "also required" and "optional" fields. For content that already exists, a company must go back and assign the appropriate metadata before the content can be added to the repository. A company that has extensive content should look for a product with an autoclassification tool for automatic assignment of metadata.



• Policies and procedures: Web content management is only as good as the policies and procedures surrounding it. These policies should be in place before people begin using the system. In addition, a company needs to verify workflow with the individuals that take part in the content-creation and approval process before actually building the processes.



• Mass import and mass conversion migration: Unless the system is for a new company, content will have to be imported once the system is implemented. Find out if the solution has utilities for importing content, if it will require coding, or if it will be a manual effort. Also, check if the import or conversion is part of the integrator's work or if your company will be responsible for it.



• Integration with desktop applications: Most Web content-management products can be integrated with desktop and publishing applications. Ask your vendor or integrator how they plan to integrate your existing applications with the product. For example, can it be done over the network or the Web, or only at the desktop level? For large companies, this will be a considerable undertaking. Find out if it's in your contract, how long it will take, and what the service costs.



• Content removal: Not all Web content-management systems can purge content from the repository. Make sure your Web content-management system can track where elements are used and delete expired content.



• Training: Find out how much training is required so your users can effectively interact with the system. Who will do the training? Will they train trainers within your company? Also keep in mind that if your Web content-management solution is distributed, your administrators will need training on distributed environments.

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