Content Management Best Practices
The Vasont® CCMS is an extremely useful system for organizations of any size. To make the most of it, however, proper strategizing is necessary at the organizational level. In this article we review some of the best practices for choosing, using, and implementing a CCMS.
Incorporating a Content Management Strategy Into Your Business Plan
Building effective content management strategies into the organizational structure of your business is essential. Use your business plan to spell out your current challenges and priorities, and to establish metrics for the successful implementation of a CCMS. Key issues you should address include:
- Technology requirements, staffing needs, and logistics
- Stakeholder identification and key project deliverables
- Ongoing shortcomings in your present strategy, as well as the associated costs and anticipated future consequences
Having identified these and other issues, you can use your business plan to create a road map for more accurate content delivery.
Preparing Existing Systems for Change
Once you've identified areas for improvement in your current content management strategy, proper preparation is essential before implementing across-the-board changes. Two key areas to focus on include:
- Content: Your existing content will need to be prepared for migration to a CCMS. Do this by taking an inventory of your internal and external documents, analyzing the content, and converting it to a structured format. It is recommended to begin any migration project with a single test case in order to properly troubleshoot the process.
- Staff: Your staff will be the primary users of your new CCMS, and they will be fully trained on the new system beforehand to maintain productivity during the switch. Establish a timeline which gives staff ample opportunity to complete all available education and technical support modules.
Organizing Content for Optimum Delivery
While the Vasont CCMS gives you several tools for organizing content effectively, some strategizing beforehand is necessary to make the most of it. Things to consider include who the content is intended for, what technical skills they will need to have in order to view it, where they will be accessing it from, and how they will be interacting with it. For example, documents such as user guides, disclosures, and training modules all have different purposes, and these purposes should be considered when the content is being published.
Other Considerations
- Translation: Translation and localization play an important role in any large-scale CCMS. A multi-lingual CCMS can deliver lower translation costs and faster cycle times.
- Security: Keeping data safe across a large organization requires the ability to easily assign user privileges that grant or restrict access as necessary.
- Budgeting: A more effective CCMS will have positive effects on your bottom line; productivity will improve and fewer resources will be spent troubleshooting problems.
To learn more about content management best practices, our Crash Course for Content Management is an excellent introduction for novice administrators, as well as a useful refresher for seasoned users.