Key Lessons Learned in Implementing a CMS Solution
Implementing a content management system (CMS) can be like a well-orchestrated dance—with the right partner, good choreography and supporting resources, you can move to an automated workflow seamlessly, with few missteps. That's not to suggest that implementing a CMS is effortless. On the contrary, an effective solution involves a keen understanding of your organization's culture, business requirements, technical capabilities and willingness to foster change. But if you plan effectively, you can eliminate many of the challenges others have faced. Here are a few lessons learned along the way.
1. Ready, set, pilot. Prove you can reduce the time, cost and perceived risk associated with a new implementation. Sound familiar? It's one of the reasons pilots have evolved as a way to test the waters before making a buying decision. So how do you know when a pilot is right for your organization? There are many factors to consider, including your own state of readiness. Resources, be it people, time, funding or equipment, as well as data availability and management authorization all play a key role. The most efficient and cost effective pilot is a phased implementation, as it allows the deployment team, end users and management to realize system progress and benefits in an accelerated timeframe. In a phased implementation, you and the vendor together define and codify the requirements and responsibilities, and commit resources necessary to configure, test and deploy the system for production use. Staying focused on your overall goals and objectives during the implementation phase allows for uninterrupted progress from phase to phase.
2. Migration—not just for the birds. Many CMS projects include changing the format in which your content is written, processed and stored. Often that means migrating from an unstructured authoring environment like Word or Frame to XML, a structured format that lends itself to automation and reuse. Three important lessons we've learned to help facilitate a more seamless move to XML:
- Choose a CMS that can manage both structured and unstructured content. This gives you the flexibility to introduce the new CMS while you maintain a managed environment for your existing content. Then phase in new XML authoring tools and processes over time.
- Plan for the conversion of your data. Whether you do the conversion work within your company or outsource the conversion work to specialists, it will take time to move your existing content into XML. With proper planning your CMS project will stay on schedule.
- Understand the structure of your content. Take the time to analyze your content and understand its structure. Doing so will enable you to make sound decisions about how you might componentize content, how you will manage and reuse those components, and what provides the biggest business payoff in your new managed environment.
3. Know thyself. You'll want to understand your organization's strengths and determine the responsibilities you'll keep inhouse versus those you'll ask your vendor do. Knowing how much technical work you want to own will help solidify the role you want your vendor to play in the short/long term. Take time to explore such cultural issues as whether your company has deep rooted processes, or an environment that is used to adapting to shifting conditions. Do departments work autonomously collaboratively? If the implementation will represent a significant disruption to "the way we've always done things," take steps prepare the organization, and select team members who can strike the balance between preserving the good elements existing processes, while remaining open innovation.
What individual strengths are on the team? Select a team leader or evangelist who open to change, and can lead others accordingly. The right candidate will bring that innovative spirit to design discussions, helping to preserve important processes and workflows, but also shedding unnecessary steps. Being technically courageous and possessing sales savvy are also key attributes, as this person will help to drive acceptance throughout the organization.
One final requirement is support. It is critical that this evangelist be supported by highlevel sponsors to ensure business goals and metrics are clearly defined and communicated.
4. Should you be your own general contractor? Implementing a CMS solution seems pretty straightforward. So, why not become your own general contractor?
Implementing a CMS has a lot in common with building a house. You need a solid foundation, accurate blueprints and someone to make sure everyone adheres to the plan, schedule and cost.
Similarly, the blueprint for a CMS implementation needs to be a detailed implementation plan that defines the requirements, expectations, functionality, critical success factors, and roles and responsibilities for the project. Equally important, the plan should identify requirements that are out of scope so everyone is clear on what is not being done.
The general contractor for a CMS implementation is the project manager, who not only helps coordinate and develop the plan, but oversees the project throughout the implementation process. When things get off track—and they will—the project manager provides the early warning, calls together the required parties, negotiates appropriate plan accommodations and moves the project forward.
Optimally, your solution provider should offer these services. The ROI in cost, time and success makes this a sound investment. Still want to do it yourself? It can be done, but you might want to talk to someone who tried building a house on their own—most wouldn't do it the next time around!
Moving Forward...
Selecting and implementing a CMS solution can be one of the most important projects your IT department will undertake. Choose your vendor wisely. Communicate your expectations, assess vendor strengths relative to your business needs, and consider the level of service you'll want for implementation, and beyond. By selecting a vendor that best mirrors your organization's culture, business processes and content management requirements you'll have taken a critical step in implementing an effective CMS solution.
XyEnterprise develops and implements content management and enterprise publishing solutions that enable organizations of all sizes to dramatically reduce the cost, time and resources required to create and deliver mission-critical information. With over 20 years of experience, XyEnterprise excels at delivering proven, scalable solutions to meet the needs of commercial, technical documentation, aerospace/defense, financial and reference multi-channel publishing environments. For more information visit
www.xyenterprise.com.