[Sigia-l] "Study: Content Management Tools Fail"

[Ann Rockley]

At 05:43 PM 2/28/2003 +0000, John O'Donovan-INTERNET wrote:

>With a CMS people think of it as a procurement then realise they have
>actually purchased a platform which they have to configure and develop with
>extensively. And I mean extensively. Except for the simplest of publishing
>tasks, my experience of CMS is that they just don't deliver much out of the
>box, for web projects especially.

Buying the product is really only the beginning, or as is our preference 
the end step. Customers need to do a great deal of analysis (business 
needs, user needs, information) to define their purchasing requirements. 
Then they need to spend a considerable chunk of time on information 
architecture (content modeling, modeling for reuse, metadata, repository 
design) then focus on workflow and delivery design. A lot of this can be 
done well before they get the tools, though a person who is familiar with 
the functionality of a CMS is required to ensure the modeling and 
architectural decisions are appropriate.

We don't advocate buying the tool until the architecture has been designed. 
Then they should develop a prototype to test design decisions.



>And the consultants? They just get paid. If no-one is listening they will
>eventually lock the issue in a box, sail to the middle of a deep ocean and
>throw it over the side...

There a few of "us" good ones out there :) We pride ourselves on empowering 
the client, working closely with the client throughout the entire process 
so that they are doing as we are doing, and ensuring the appropriate 
knowledge transfer happens for everyone in there organization. I'll admit 
that with some clients it is hard slogging because the knowledge and skills 
are not there. We have developed a series of workshops and facilitated 
sessions to bring the client up to speed wherever possible. Failure is not 
an option. Sometimes success comes "out of our pocket" in terms of cost, 
but we always ensure we have a self sufficient client when we leave.

This profession can offer a tremendous amount of knowledge and skills to 
organizations struggling through this process.

_____________________________

"Managing Enterprise Content: A Unified Content Strategy" (ISBN 0735713065)
by Ann Rockley with Pamela Kostur and Steve Manning is now available from 
<http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0735713065/therockleygro-20>amazon.<http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0735713065/therockleygro-20>com 
or 
<http://www.amazon.ca/exec/obidos/ASIN/0735713065/therockleyg08-20>amazon.ca. 
For more information visit www.managingenterprisecontent.com.

Ann Rockley
The Rockley Group Inc.
905-415-1885
rockley at rockley.com
Web: www.rockley.com