Why Content Management Fails

Of just under 100 companies, only 27 percent of companies surveyed planned to continue using their Web content management systems as they do now. So why do these CMS projects almost always fail?

Veen, Jeffrey. Adaptive Path (2004). Articles>Content Management>Assessment

Why Content Management Fails

The CMS idea is enticing. Empowered departments of a big enterprise, all publishing content directly to their customers through standard templates. The site continues to grow, but in a controlled way. And these business units have complete control of what is and isn’t online. Sounds good, but just try putting it into practice.

Veen, Jeffrey. Adaptive Path (2004). Articles>Content Management

Why Content Management Projects Fail: Interview with Rahel Bailie

Many content management projects fail because organizations are either too focused on tools before properly researching their needs and processes, or because they underestimate the difficulty of migrating and restructuring their content to fit the new content management system. In this podcast, Rahel Bailie explains these pitfalls and what companies can do to avoid them, as well as how companies can climb out of problems they’re currently in. Rahel also talks about how technical communicators can influence business executives and other key stakeholders to make better decisions about content management.

Bailie, Rahel Anne. Tech Writer Voices (2008). Articles>Interviews>Content Management>Project Management

Why Every Small Website Needs a Content Management System

While the web design house did a great job, you don't want to have to go back to them for every change.

Robertson, James. Step Two (2003). Articles>Content Management>Single Sourcing

Why Single-Source when you can Multi-Source?

Single-sourcing allows authors to re-use content in different deliverables. This article explores using XML and a CMS (content management system) to take a different approach--multi-sourcing.

KeyContent.org (2006). Articles>Content Management>Single Sourcing

Why Start with Analysis and Design?

One of the most common mistakes that we see is a company picking the tool first, then trying to make their content management requirements fit the functionality of the tool. However, analysis of why projects fail identifies that one of the main reasons for failure is lack of analysis and design. This article draws on recent literature to identify the main reasons for why content management projects fail and provides some possible solutions.

Rockley, Ann. Rockley Bulletin (2004). Articles>Content Management>Single Sourcing

Wikibility Cultural Key Drivers: Collaboration

The true collaboration occurs when people have the possibility to co-work on the same sub-task, activating a mechanism of new knowledge creation. Collaboration is not so obvious if is not clearly supported: the risk is to exchange this 'together' learning process with a simple cooperation process, producing not new knowledge but only a simple addition of individual regress knowledge.

Cammarata, Vincenzo. Grow Your Wiki (2008). Articles>Content Management>Collaboration>Wikis

Wikibility Cultural Key Drivers: Flexibility

A flexible workplace is characterized by the capability of individuals to manage not only their work, time or resources, but also the possibility to influence and operate in an active way inside the community (from team to organizational level) and for these reasons to be part of the operational process.

Cammarata, Vincenzo. Grow Your Wiki (2008). Articles>Content Management>Workflow>Wikis

Wikibility Cultural Key Drivers: Openness

Strictly linked with transparency concept, openness is at the base of the principle that people work better if they have access to the right information and possibility to assume that all over the organization. The simple access to other group member data or the possibility to know activities scheduled also in other groups are normal operations in a mature context such as is allowed to look to other team solutions or results in order to decide something for the own team.

Cammarata, Vincenzo. Grow Your Wiki (2008). Articles>Content Management>Collaboration>Wikis

Wikibility Cultural Key Drivers: Peering

A common element between Wiki philosophy and innovation successful case histories, is the partial or total absence of structure or, saying better, of hierarchy. The possibility, in fact, to contribute in the same way, indifferently at which level you are involved in the organization, is one of the first steps towards the reduction of barriers to collaboration, participation and involvement in the organizational life.

Cammarata, Vincenzo. Grow Your Wiki (2008). Articles>Content Management>Collaboration>Wikis

Wikibility Cultural Key Drivers: Sharing

The possibility of sharing improves an effective distribution of common resources (meeting room, projector, corporate car...). In a more general acceptation of the term, the availability to ideas or previous solutions useful for different use is an advantage that make co-creation of new knowledge and a healthy circulation of knowledge possible.

Cammarata, Vincenzo. Grow Your Wiki (2008). Articles>Content Management>Collaboration>Wikis

Wikis, Docs, and the Reuse Proposition

The Darwin Informaton Typing Architecture (DITA) is an XML-based document format that was designed from the ground up for reuse. It rocks. Content Managment Systms (CMSes) are designed to hold XML data. So in theory, a CMS system that lets you edit like a Wiki would be everything you need. But getting a system like that to work is a pretty tricky proposition.

Armstrong, Eric. Sun Microsystems (2007). Articles>Content Management>XML>DITA

Words Drive Action: An Interview with Gerry McGovern

Gerry McGovern is a world-renowned content-management expert and author of the books, 'Content Critical' and 'The Web Content Style Guide'. User Interface Engineering's Christine Perfetti and Josh Porter recently talked with Gerry about the importance of an editorial perspective in a web development process. Here is what Gerry had to say about his experiences.

Perfetti, Christine and Josh Porter. User Interface Engineering (2002). Articles>Content Management>Web Design

A Writer's Guide to XML Content Management  

A discussion of how XML changes what you do as a writer.

Hackos, JoAnn T. and Tina Hedlund. ComTech Services (2000). Articles>Content Management>XML>Writing

XML and Content Management Systems

This article explores the role of XML in the context of content management systems, focusing specifically on the business issues.

Robertson, James. Step Two (2003). Articles>Content Management>Single Sourcing>XML

XML and Single-Sourcing with FrameMaker, Word, InDesign, XMLSpy, and More!  

Getting software to cooperate reduces the amount of editing you need to do, and creates better documents.

Aschwanden, Bernard. STC Region 7 Proceedings (2003). Articles>Content Management>Single Sourcing

XML Authoring: Coming to a Desktop Near You

XML for use in technical publications is growing in popularity. As the author explains, technical writers are likely to become more and more involved in XML document production in the future. This article looks at the many benefits of XML authoring and the trend that's moving technical publications toward structured content.

Abel, Scott. Writing Assistance (2007). Articles>Content Management>XML>Technical Writing

XML Repositories: An Idea Whose Time has Finally Come

This white paper discusses the role of an XML repository into today’s enterprise infrastructure. Virtually every database and repository provide some degree of XML support; however, there are important distinctions between support for XML as a data type and the role of a repository whose architecture and operations are optimized to support the broad family of XML recommendations and standards. Specifically, this white paper will explore: The nature and extent of XML use across the enterprise, cost and quality of service implications of an infrastructure with, and without, an XML repository, the evolution of XML repositories from both a technology and a market segment perspective, criteria to determine when an XML repository would add significant value to an existing infrastructure, and capability and packaging recommendations for XML repository functionality that can be used to evaluate specific offerings.

Holst, Sebastian. Gilbane Report (2004). Articles>Content Management>Information Design>XML

XML Solves Tech Publishing Problems

If you are a technical writer or manager of a documentation group you have probably encountered or been faced with solving problems like: single-sourcing, collaborative authoring, cross-platform editing, multi-channel publishing, improving information quality and consistency, enhancing functionality of electronic output, negating technology lock-in, and even reducing costs without reducing team head count. This article explores how the use of XML technologies within your authoring system can help you achieve each of these objectives.

InWords TechDoc Solutions (2003). Articles>Content Management>XML

XML Syndication Set to Explode - Are You Ready For Big Change?

Since version 1.0 of XML was released by the W3C in early 1998, its use has been growing by leaps and bounds. Content managers and software packages were early adopters and enterprises are increasingly implementing XML-based systems. A number of events are now converging which will make available an unprecedented number of XML documents on the internet. The implications are numerous and will have trendendous impact on many of the fundamental dynamics of the Internet as we know it today.

Ismail, Salim. Rockley Bulletin (2006). Articles>Content Management>XML

XrML and Emerging Models of Content Development and Distribution  

With the publication of XrML 2.0, ContentGuard provides an open, flexible, and extensible means of expressing digital rights that not only addresses copy protection, but, as importantly, offers a much broader and powerful means for publishers to experiment with and deploy new business models.

Trippe, Bill. Gilbane Report (2005). Articles>Content Management>Standards>XML

Developers as Users of SharePoint

In SharePoint, we are likely to think of developers as people who work to customise SharePoint, but there are a lot of developers out there who are simply end users of SharePoint. How do they like the system?

Technical Writer (2007). Articles>Content Management>Software>Microsoft SharePoint

Joomla: Another Simple Content Management System

Joomla is more complex than WordPress but it has more power. Because it’s a real content management system—unlike WordPress which is a blog with content management capabilities—you don’t have to customise it to make it look like one. Other people have also created templates you can use.

Technical Writer (2007). Articles>Content Management>Software

WordPress as a Simple Content Management System

I know that some users of high-end CMS’s may dispute this definition, as a high-end CMS does a lot more. But what is a content management system really? It is content, stored in some kind of database, accessed via a front end. That is exactly what WordPress is.

Technical Writer (2007). Articles>Content Management>Software

Using DITA to Develop a New Information Architecture at BMC Software

The need for us to customize BSM solutions by integrating different software solutions, combined with the maturation of tools for XML-based authoring, make this an ideal time to implement a new information development strategy. After researching materials about content management and studying success stories from companies who have implemented structured authoring, we launched a pilot project.

Rockley, Ann. Rockley Group, The (2007). Articles>Content Management>Case Studies>DITA