Home » Web Content » Technology » Content Management Systems (CMS) » Choosing a CMS

Choosing a CMS

A content management system (CMS) is a software program that allows publishing and formatting of digital content in a consistent and structured manner. It supports collaborative publishing, allowing varying levels of access to different content managers. It also ensures content is structured consistently, which is critical to improving how government exposes and shares information and data. A CMS makes it easier to deliver digital information anytime, anywhere, on any device, consistent with the open content principles of the Digital Government Strategy.

Click a note to go to a step in the CMS selection workflow process:

1 2 3 4 5 6

Move mouse over image

Decide if You Need a CMS

A CMS makes the content publication process much easier and more efficient. It can save time and money, improve customer service, and help your agency publish open content. This business case for CMS lays out strategic business benefits for implementing a content management system.

A CMS provides many advantages over static HTML content:

  • You can quickly update and publish content directly in the CMS without support from technical staff
  • Because a CMS typically has an interface similar to a word processing program, you don’t need to know markup language to add or edit content
  • Design templates can ensure that the “look and feel” of your site remains consistent
  • You can give contributors controlled access to the system, so some people can create, but not publish, while others have full control to create, publish, or delete content
  • You can improve search engine optimization and create open content by building forms to collect content and metadata elements in a structured, organized way

Using a CMS also facilitates open content and responsive design by making it easy to structure your content—by creating content in "chunks" (vs. "pages") which can be reassembled or aggregated in different ways, to meet specific user needs.

For example, if you post a catalog of items as structured content, the same information can be adapted to render correctly on different screen sizes and devices, so people can view the same catalog on their phone, tablet, desk top, or other device, and it will display in a format best suited to each device. Because a CMS gives you a standardized way to create and tag content, you only need to create the content once, but create it in a way that allows you to adapt it for many different needs.

  • Two sites that do this well are USA.gov and AIDS.gov. If you view each of these sites on your PC, you can see all the content available on the homepage, optimized for a large screen. View the same site on your mobile device, and you can see that top task content is presented prominently, in an easy-to-read format that’s been optimized for smaller screens.

Review Types of Content Management Systems

Content management systems come in many flavors, from proprietary, commercial tools with all the bells and whistles, to home-grown systems developed in-house, to open-source tools with a community of dedicated developers working to continually improve the product. Because there are pros and cons with any of these tools, the system you choose should reflect your agency’s goals and objectives.

The Case for Open-Source CMS

Open-source content management systems provide several advantages, the two most important being the ability to customize to your specific needs and support from active developer communities. Open-source software is generally free or has low-cost licensing fees, so an open-source CMS could provide substantial cost savings to agencies initially over licensing fees for a commercial product. Open-source systems also generally provide a lot of freedom to let you customize the system to meet your specific needs.

Open-source software is typically supported by a dedicated community of developers who share code and contribute modifications to continually improve the product. Open source offers the potential for collaboration across agencies to develop systems specifically tailored to government needs. Popular open-source systems widely used across the federal government include WordPress, Drupal, Joomla!, and Plone.

One downside to open source is that you generally need technical expertise on your team to maintain and keep it up-to-date. If you choose an open-source CMS, the initial cost may be low, but you’ll likely need to budget for technical resources to maintain it over time.

Using an open-source CMS doesn’t necessarily mean you’re automatically publishing open content, as required by the Digital Government Strategy. You need to configure any CMS you use to publish structured, open content.

Some resources to help you better understand the open-source CMS landscape:

Open-Source CMS in Government

Many federal agencies already use open-source content management systems, so you can learn from the experiences of other agencies.

Commercial Content Management Systems

Commercial or proprietary CMS tools typically offer a robust suite of features right out of the box. They may not require as much customization or configuration as some open-source tools, and can easily handle basic content management tasks. Many commercial products have been on the market for a while and have evolved to provide practically any functionality you might need.

Determine Maintenance Resources

Whether you choose an open-source or commercial product, it will require an investment of time, money, and staff resources to move your content to a CMS. Be prepared to do some initial development to integrate the CMS into your IT environment, and adapt the tool to your work processes.

Up-Front Development

All content management systems will require some initial IT support to install and configure.

  • Commercial products generally require a potentially significant up-front investment to purchase the software and user licenses. Licensing costs vary depending on the tool and implementation, so be careful to clarify these costs with the vendor. Read this article on Why CMS Licensing is so Complicated.
  • Open-source systems usually don’t cost anything to license or install
  • See if your agency already has a CMS solution that you could use without incurring new costs
  • Web teams and CIO staff should coordinate on any additional IT issues such as security scans, or whether or not you’ll need a Certification and Accreditation (C&A) review.

Long-Term Support

Web teams and CIO shops should discuss options for Web hosting. Your agency likely already has a hosting solution in place, so you’ll need to coordinate on how the site will be hosted. Be aware that if you have a high-traffic site, your current hosting solution may not be able to accommodate every CMS solution, so collaboration between Web and CIO teams is critical to choose the right CMS.

  • Commercial products generally don’t incur too many development costs after they’re installed and running properly. You will need developer support for ongoing general system maintenance.
  • Open-source systems can incur potentially significant development costs to maintain over time. Simple open-source tools such as WordPress are fairly easy to install and configure, but more complex open-source systems such as Drupal or Joomla! may require significant development support to take full advantage of all their customizable features. You’ll need ongoing developer support to keep your core system and all installed components/modules up-to-date.

Talk with other government agencies who already use a particular CMS, and who have sites comparable in size and scope to your own, to get an idea of how much developer support you might require.

Document Your CMS Requirements

Business needs should be the primary driver in your choice of a content management system for your agency (see the business case for CMS). Start with your content strategy, then focus on the CMS features and functionality that support that strategy. Which digital services do you need to offer to support your organization’s mission and goals? How will you need to communicate with customers? How will you offer services via mobile and other devices? Identify metrics and key performance indicators, and document how they support business decisions and shape your choice of a CMS. Consider:

Ease of Use

  • Is the interface WYSIWYG and easy-to-use, or will your content managers need to learn HTML? Are training resources are available, if needed?
  • Is it intuitive to complete basic content management tasks (e.g., create, edit, publish, or remove a page)? How easy is it to find your content within the system? Is it easy to move content off the site or to an online archive?
  • Can you easily save and roll back different versions of pages/content?
  • Are admin functions, such as adding a new user, intuitive?

Functionality

  • Is it flexible and easy to customize, such as turning features on/off, or customizing fields to match your content types?
  • Is the tool designed to support the size and type of website you have?
  • Does it support well-defined roles and permissions, so only certain people can perform tasks such as publishing or deleting content?
  • Are there extra bells and whistles that you don’t need and will never use?
  • Can you adapt your content workflow to the new system?
  • Does it support content lifecycle management with features such as the ability to automatically archive pages after a certain date?

Support for Open Content and SEO

Integration into Current IT Environment

  • Are there restrictions around licensing? How much will it cost to purchase additional licenses if you need them?
  • Is it secure, stable, and extensible?
  • Web teams and CIO staff should work together to identify and mitigate any possible security concerns with the tool you’re considering.
  • Will it work with your current Web hosting platform and other IT systems? Not every CMS will work with every hosting solution. Again, Web and CIO staff must coordinate to make sure you have the technical resources to implement and support your tool of choice.

Use these tools to document how well different products match your requirements. This will help you to identify the one that will work best for you.

  • CMS Solution Evaluation Tool (MS Excel, 36 KB, 1 sheet, November 2012)—a sample spreadsheet used by the HowTo.gov team at GSA to compare, rate, and rank different CMS tools side-by-side, based on features and functionality
  • Enterprise Content Management System Requirements—developed by the Australian government; we acknowledge the Office of the Chief Information Officer, Government of Victoria, Australia for making the intellectual property associated with the Enterprise Content Management business requirements available for use
  • CMSmatrix.org—this online tool lets you compare features of many different CMS products side-by-side
  • Comparing Open-Source Content Management Systems—Nonprofit Technology Network article comparing WordPress, Drupal, Joomla!, and Plone

Use this sample Web CMS Requirements doc (MS Word, 90 KB, 27 pages, December 2012) as a model to document everything that your CMS should do.

Select the Right CMS Tool

As you work through your requirements list, a few systems will begin to stand out as possible candidates. Once you’ve narrowed down the top 3-6 CMS, it’s time to take a test-drive.

Include Both Technical and Content Needs

Involve both content and tech teams in the process. Identify user types and common tasks. Have content contributors give the tool a test-drive, and try completing basic content management tasks, to see how easy it is to use the system. Web managers should verify with their CIO shop that the system being considered is compatible with your agency’s current Web hosting platform and other IT systems; and that your agency has the necessary technical expertise to support your selection.

  • Use this sample CMS User Roles and Needs (MS Word, 13 KB, 1 page, December 2012) to document different types of CMS users and the common tasks each will need to perform

Get the Real Story

Don’t make your selection in a vacuum; hear from both sides to get a balanced perspective. Set up meetings with vendors to learn more about the product. See what content management systems are used by federal agencies, and talk with agencies who are using the tools you’re considering. Do stories from real users match vendor claims? Does the tool really do everything it proclaims?

Avoid Common Mistakes

Read about the Top 10 Mistakes in CMS selection, and avoid issues such as limiting your search to just a few tools, or approaching the selection as an IT (instead of business process) problem.

Is One CMS Enough?

Many agencies use a combination of commercial and open-source tools to meet different publishing needs.

  • Do you manage several different websites?
  • Do you manage both a website and a blog?
  • Do you support different types of websites (informational vs. transactional)?

You may find that a commercial tool is the best choice to manage your website, and an open-source tool (such as WordPress or Tumblr) is the best fit for your blog. What works at one agency may not work for another, depending on staff skills, resources, and budget.

Bottom line: your choice of CMS tools should support the business needs and goals of your organization.

Case Study

Avoid Common Mistakes

These tips will help you make the right CMS choice for your particular situation.

Don’t Skip the Content Strategy

You need to develop a content strategy before you worry about the CMS. Once you identify the features and functionality you need to meet your business goals, it’ll be easier to find the right CMS.

Focus on Outcomes Over Processes

Focus on what you want to accomplish, instead of trying to make existing work processes fit into a new system. A new CMS tool may offer a more efficient way to work, so be open to finding the best tool to reach your goal, not the tool that most closely mimics your current processes.

Test Everything

Create a test instance of your site, and install and test upgrades there first, to make sure you don’t “break” anything when trying out new features. Don’t install updates to your live site until you’ve configured new modules or components to work properly in your test environment. Subscribe to security release emails to stay current with patches and issues.

Learn from the Community

If you choose an open-source CMS, urge your team to actively participate in user community forums such as the Plone support center. Contribute by answering questions, writing a component/module, testing new versions, or writing documentation. Join relevant communities of practice such as Drupal4Gov, or attend events such as a WordPress WordCamp. If you share knowledge and help others, people will be more likely to help you when you need it.

Next Steps

Once you’ve chosen a CMS, you’ll need to:

Resources

 

Content Lead: Rachel Flagg
Page Reviewed/Updated: January 7, 2013

You are now leaving the HowTo.gov website.


CancelView Link