On Thursday, February 11, 2010 non~linear creations (NLC) hosted a breakfast seminar jointly with Sitecore and Microsoft on Selecting a CMS. Over 40 people attended from a variety of industries to hear NLC experts share their thoughts on content management and for the chance to see the Sitecore CMS in action.
The seminar started off with Randy Woods presenting NLC’s thoughts on the CMS Deployment Lifecycle and how the selection is weaved into the larger project scope.Some key points during selection:
Answer threshold questions first. These help eliminate many products from your list quickly. Examples include the technical environment that must be supported and what type of implementation assistance you require.
Understand your own contractual context before you engage a vendor in negotiations. Decide which service model makes the most sense (for both of you): fixed cost, staged fixed cost or time and materials.
Evaluate products using scenarios driven from your business objectives. Define what is to happen in the scenario, but not how.
When evaluating integration partners look for proven track record and methodology for CMS deployments. Ensure their skill sets map to your project requirements for information architecture, design, training, etc.
The details of this selection process can be found in our whitepaper Choosing a Web Content Management System
I followed up this discussion with a run-down of 4 common project pitfalls and a demonstration of the Sitecore CMS. Those four pitfalls to watch for:
Poor content author usability
Implementation team lacks detailed understanding of the chosen product
Overly complex workflows in the CMS
Not allowing for enough time to write and migrate content
