<Linkout Systems, frameworks and architechture>
From
http://docforge.com/wiki/Content_management_system
On Content Management Systems
What are Content Management Systems (CMS)?
- A computer program that allows publishing, editing and modifying content as well as maintenance from a central interface.
- provide manual or automated procedures to manage workflow in a collaborative environment.
- Many corporate and marketing websites use CMSs.
- typically aim to avoid the need for hand coding but may support it for specific elements or entire pages.
- E-commerce systems, financial systems, and search engines are examples of systems which manage content, but are not described as CMS.
What are the Main Features of CMS?
- Function and use of content management systems is to present information on websites.
- Web-based publishing, format management, revision control (version control), indexing, search, and retrieval.
- serve as a central repository containing documents, movies, pictures, phone numbers, scientific data.
- Used for storing, controlling, revising, semantically enriching and publishing documentation
- Content management includes ECM, Web content management (WCM), content syndication, and media asset management.
Applications and Uses of CMS
- Blogs contain chronologically organized, and often categorized, content in a simple format.
- News and magazine style publishing has been adapted to the web from traditional paper distribution.
- Wikis are free-form sets of interlinked documents, often open to public editing.
- Online books assist authors and archivists publish content organized just as a traditional book. A CMS may also simultaneously publish the online book as an e-book, in a format supported by e-book readers.
Common Components of CMS
- Site Structure:
- CMS applications automatically generate site navigation elements and organize content. Typically content can be reorganized by administrators, automatically or manually organized.
- As a URL structure might be seen as a tree, a document tree might automatically be created as documents are added as children of other documents. Or documents of a certain type might all be organized and listed together on specific web pages.
- Example, the Drupal CMS has a programmatic, customizable menu system, built-in document lists, and taxonomy pages. Plone lets authors build folder hierarchies, effectively document trees.
- Security
- Session management and user accounts are typically included in a CMS. They are required for administrators and are also sometimes provided for public access to certain features, such as posting comments.
- Security features can include role-based and/or permission-based access control, filtering of user input, and other common best practices.
- Example: Drupal modules, for example, can each expose system permissions as simple text strings, such as "view content", "post comments", and "administer taxonomy". Roles can then be created and assigned any number of permissions. Users are then assigned roles, giving them each of the permissions included in those roles. I.E: an administrator might create an "Editor" role, assigning editing permissions of all content to that role, then granting that role to the appropriate user accounts. When users with that role log in, they automatically have access to edit content.
- Workflow
- Workflow features assist teams with the process of editing and publishing content. Immediate or scheduled publication of content is often available.
- The most simple type of workflow would add new content to a publishing queue, where it awaits final approval from a site administrator before the content appears on the web site. More robust workflow might delegate work to separate types of users, often based on security roles. An editor, for example, might automatically get notified when new content is posted, letting her edit and approve the content before publishing.
- Templating
- Sites can be styled by choosing prebuilt or customizing templates. Templating separates the code which provides functionality from the code which makes the content visible to the end user, which is generally considered a best practice. By separating logic, alternate views can be introduced without interfering with the content management process. Also, designers can focus on building templates without learning much of the internal logic of the system.
- Modularity
- While not an absolute requirement, many CMSs are built in a modular fashion, allowing additional features to be selectively added by an administrator. Code modularity also allows developers to more easily add functionality to the system.
- Drupal, for example, is built with functional programming, with each module in a separate file. By using specific naming conventions for functions, modules can hook into various parts of the system to add or alter features of the system. The core of the system is also modular, aiding distributed development and customizability. Blog, forum, and comment modules, for example, can easily be turned on or off by site administrators.
- Media Management
- Standard web pages are displayed in HTML format. But other document and media types are valuable supplements to textual content. Therefore many CMSs offer management and integration features for additional document types, such as PDFs, images, videos, and audio.
- A CMS may simply offer a file upload service, organizing new files in some standard fashion. They may also offer integration features, such as displaying a video within an article.
- Rich Text Editing
- The standard web interface for inputting large blocks of text is the HTML textarea. To format text using a textarea, a user needs to type HTML elements or some other application-specific markup. Some CMSs offer a simplified input markup syntax. Some include WYSIWYG editors, allowing the user to see what their content will look at while they are in the process of editing it. Advanced graphical editors assist with table layouts, multimedia integration, and other complicated tasks.
- Scalability
- As with many web applications, content management systems are often built on scalable architectures. Those that store content in relational databases, for example, can often scale using database replication.
- Content Distribution
- While the basic role of a CMS is to usually to display content to end users in their web browser, additional functionality may aid in content distribution to other computer systems.
- RSS feeds, for example, are a very common method of content syndication, allowing other software to aggregate content in an automated fashion for summarization, redistribution, or analysis. Some CMSs can automatically generate RSS, a form of an XML document, from the system's content.
- Email distribution, such as through newsletters, is another common CMS feature. Emails might be templated, and mailing lists managed, through the system. These might include automatic links back to content on the web site.
- CMSs may also expose more robust programmatic interfaces, or APIs, to other systems. For example, a CMS which exposes posting functionality through an API may allow desktop applications to submit content, bypassing the web interface for similar functionality.
- A CMS might also support the APIs of other systems, letting them push content to external systems or notify them of updates. For example, a CMS might automatically notify a shared workflow system, subsequently notifying users or automating additional tasks.
- What is it?
- A bundled or stand-alone application software system
- Content creation, management, storage and deployment on Web pages.
- Web content includes text and embedded graphics, photos, video, audio, and code (e.g., for applications) that displays content or interacts with the user.
- Allows content to be Cataloged and indexed, selected or assembled at runtime, or delivered to specific visitors in a requested way, such as other languages.
- Collaboration foundation offering users the ability to manage documents and output for multiple author editing and participation.
- Control over
- HTML-based content, files, documents, and web hosting plans based on the system depth and the niche it serves.
- dynamic collection of web material, including HTML documents, images, and other forms of media.
- Website authoring, collaboration, and administration tools designed to allow users with little knowledge of web programming languages or markup languages to create and manage website content with relative ease. [A1]
- Content repository or a database to store page content, metadata, and other information assets that might be needed by the system.
- A presentation layer (template engine) displays the content to website visitors based on a set of templates, which are sometimes XSLT files [A2]
- server side caching to improve performance. This works best when the WCMS is not changed often but visits happen regularly.
- Administration is also typically done through browser-based interfaces, but some systems require the use of a fat client.
- requires a systems administrator and/or a web developer to set up and add features, but it is primarily a website maintenance tool for non-technical staff.
- Facilitates document control, auditing, editing, and timeline management.
- Capabilities
- Automated templates
- Create standard output templates (usually HTML and XML) that can be automatically applied to new and existing content, allowing the appearance of all content to be changed from one central place.
- Access control and User Group Support
- Control how registered users interact with the site. A page on the site can be restricted to one or more groups. This means an anonymous user (someone not logged on), or a logged on user who is not a member of the group a page is restricted to, will be denied access to the page.
- Scalable expansion
- Ability to expand a single implementation (one installation on one server) across multiple domains, depending on the server's settings. WCMS sites may be able to create microsites/web portals within a main site as well.
- Easily editable content
- Once content is separated from the visual presentation of a site, it usually becomes much easier and quicker to edit and manipulate. Most WCMS software includes WYSIWYG editing tools allowing non-technical users to create and edit content.
- Scalable feature sets
- includes plug-ins or modules that can be easily installed to extend an existing site's functionality.
- Web standards upgrades
- Active WCMS software usually receives regular updates that include new feature sets and keep the system up to current web standards.
- Workflow management
- workflow is the process of creating cycles of sequential and parallel tasks that must be accomplished in the CMS. For example, one or many content creators can submit a story, but it is not published until the copy editor cleans it up and the editor-in-chief approves it.
- Collaboration
- CMS software may act as a collaboration platform allowing content to be retrieved and worked on by one or many authorized users. Changes can be tracked and authorized for publication or ignored reverting to old versions. Other advanced forms of collaboration allow multiple users to modify (or comment) a page at the same time in a collaboration session.
- Delegation
- Some CMS software allows for various user groups to have limited privileges over specific content on the website, spreading out the responsibility of content management.[6]
- Document management
- CMS software may provide a means of collaboratively managing the life cycle of a document from initial creation time, through revisions, publication, archive, and document destruction.
- Content virtualization
- CMS software may provide a means of allowing each user to work within a virtual copy of the entire web site, document set, and/or code base. This enables changes to multiple interdependent resources to be viewed and/or executed in-context prior to submission.
- Content syndication
- CMS software often assists in content distribution by generating RSS and Atom data feeds to other systems. They may also e-mail users when updates are available as part of the workflow process.
- Multilingual
- Ability to display content in multiple languages.
- Versioning
- Like document management systems, CMS software may allow the process of versioning by which pages are checked in or out of the WCMS, allowing authorized editors to retrieve previous versions and to continue work from a selected point. Versioning is useful for content that changes over time and requires updating, but it may be necessary to go back to or reference a previous copy.
- 3 Major sub-types of deployment patterns when presentation templates are used to render webpages from structured content
- Offline processing or Static Site Generators [A7]
- pre-process all content, applying templates before publication to generate web pages. Since pre-processing systems do not require a server to apply the templates at request time, they may also exist purely as design-time tools.
- Online processing
- apply templates on-demand. HTML may be generated when a user visits the page or it is pulled from a web cache. Most open source WCMSs have the capability to support add-ons, which provide extended capabilities including forums, blog, wiki, web stores, photo galleries, contact management, etc. These are often called modules, nodes, widgets, add-ons, or extensions. Add-ons may be based on an open-source or paid license model.
- Hybrid systems[edit]
- Some systems combine the offline and online approaches. Some systems write out executable code (e.g., JSP, ASP, PHP, ColdFusion, or Perl pages) rather than just static HTML, so that the CMS itself does not need to be deployed on every web server. Other hybrids operate in either an online or offline mode.
- Advantages Vs disadvantages
- Advantages
- Low cost: Some content management systems are free, such as Drupal, eZ Publish, TYPO3, Joomla, and WordPress. Others may be affordable based on size subscriptions.[A8] Although subscriptions can be expensive, overall the cost of not having to hire full-time developers can lower the total costs. Plus software can be bought based on need for many CMSs.
- Easy customization: A universal layout is created, making pages have a similar theme and design without much code. Many CMS tools use a drag and drop AJAX system for their design modes. It makes it easy for beginner users to create custom front-ends.[A9]
- Easy to use: CMSs are designed with non-technical people in mind. Simplicity in design of the admin UI allows website content managers and other users to update content without much training in coding or technical aspects of system maintenance.
- Workflow management: CMSs provide the facility to control how content is published, when it is published, and who publishes it. Some WCMSs allow administrators to set up rules for workflow management, guiding content managers through a series of steps required for each of their tasks.
- Good For SEO: CMS websites are also good for SEO. Freshness of content is one factor that helps, as it is believed that some search engines give preference to website with new and updated content than websites with stale and outdated content. Usage of social media plugins help in weaving a community around your blog. RSS feeds which are automatically generated by blogs or CMS websites can increase the number of subscribers and readers to your site. Url rewriting can be implemented easily which produces clean urls without parameters which further help in seo. There are plugins available that specifically help with website seo.
- Disadvantages
- Cost of implementations: Larger scale implementations may require training, planning, and certifications. Certain CMSs may require hardware installations. Commitment to the software is required on bigger investments. Commitment to training, developing, and upkeep are all costs that will be incurred for enterprise systems.[A10]
- Cost of maintenance: Maintaining CMSs may require license updates, upgrades, and hardware maintenance.
- Latency issues: Larger CMSs can experience latency if hardware infrastructure is not up to date, if databases are not being utilized correctly, and if web cache files that have to be reloaded every time data is updated grow large. Load balancing issues may also impair caching files.
- Tool mixing: Because the URLs of many CMSs are dynamically generated with internal parameters and reference information, they are often not stable enough for static pages and other web tools, particularly search engines, to rely on them.
- What is it?
- specialises in the creation of documents from component parts.
- manages content at a granular level (component) rather than at the document level. Each component represents a single topic, concept or asset (for example an image, table, product description, a procedure). tracks "not only versions of topics and graphics but relationships among topics, graphics, maps, publications, and deliverables." [B1]
- Standards for CCMS
- XML-based
- Darwin Information Typing Architecture (DITA):
- DITA XML for users to assemble individual component topics into a map (document) structure.
- S1000D
- About Components
- Components can be as large as a chapter or as small as a definition or even a word.
- Components in multiple content assemblies (content types) can be viewed as components or as traditional documents
- Challenges for the technical writers include topic-based authoring, that is shifting from writing book-shaped, linear documentation to writing modular, structured and reusable content component.
- Each component is only stored one time in the content management system, providing a single, trusted source of content. These components are then reused (rather than copied and pasted) within a document or across multiple documents. This ensures that content is consistent across the entire documentation set.[B2]
- Each component has its own lifecycle (owner, version, approval, use) and can be tracked individually or as part of an assembly. Component content management (CCM) is typically used for multi-channel customer-facing content (marketing, usage, learning, support). CCM can be a separate system or be a functionality of another content management system type (for example, enterprise content management or web content management).
- Benefits of managing contents at components level:
- Greater consistency and accuracy.
- Reduced maintenance costs.
- Reduced delivery costs.
- Reduced translation costs.[B3]
- Benefits of using a component content management system:
- Version and control over the documents and the contents - reused or not.
- Check impacts on reused content changes.
- Improved collaboration and automation with workflows.
- Manage documentation releases.
- Ease of links and content maintenance.
- Further reduce translation costs.
- Higher collaboration.
- Improved modularity.
- Integration with editors.
- What is it?
- organizes documents, contacts and records related to the processes of a commercial organization.
- structures the enterprise's information content and file formats, manages locations, streamlines access by eliminating bottlenecks and optimizes security and integrity.
- Distinguishing between the basic concepts of user and content, the content management system (CMS) has two elements:
- Content management application (CMA) is the front-end user interface that allows a user, even with limited expertise, to add, modify and remove content from a Web site without the intervention of a Webmaster.
- Content delivery application (CDA) compiles that information and updates the Web site.
- Official Definition
- The Association for Information and Image Management (AIIM) International, the worldwide association for Enterprise Content Management, defined the term in 2000. AIIM has refined the abbreviation ECM several times to reflect the expanding scope and importance of information management:
- Late 2005: Enterprise content management is the technologies used to capture, manage, store, preserve, and deliver content and documents related to organizational processes.
- Early 2006: Enterprise content management is the technologies used to capture, manage, store, preserve, and deliver content and documents related to organizational processes. ECM tools and strategies allow the management of an organization's unstructured information, wherever that information exists.
- Early 2008: ECM is the strategies, methods and tools used to capture, manage, store, preserve, and deliver content and documents related to organizational processes. ECM tools and strategies allow the management of an organization's unstructured information, wherever that information exists.[1]
- Early 2010: ECM is the strategies, methods and tools used to capture, manage, store, preserve, and deliver content and documents related to organizational processes. ECM covers the management of information within the entire scope of an enterprise whether that information is in the form of a paper document, an electronic file, a database print stream, or even an email.[C1]
- Current Definition
- What is it? ECM is an umbrella term covering document management, web content management, search, collaboration, records management, digital asset management (DAM), work-flow management, capture and scanning.
- What does ECM do?
- ECM is primarily aimed at managing the life-cycle of information from initial publication or creation all the way through archival and eventually disposal. ECM applications are delivered in three ways: on-premise software (installed on the organization’s own network), software as a service (SaaS) (web access to information that is stored on the software manufacturer’s system), or a hybrid solution composed of both on-premise and SaaS components.
- ECM aims to make the management of corporate information easier through simplifying storage, security, version control, process routing, and retention.
- Benefits of ECM to an Organisation
- improved efficiency, better control, and reduced costs.
- Banking example, many banks have converted to storing copies of old checks within ECM systems versus the older method of keeping physical checks in massive paper warehouses. Under the old system a customer request for a copy of a check might take weeks, as the bank employees had to contact the warehouse to have someone locate the right box, file and check, pull the check, make a copy and then mail it to the bank who would eventually mail it to the customer. With an ECM system in place, the bank employee simply searches the system for the customer’s account number and the number of the requested check. When the image of the check appears on screen, they are able to immediately mail it to the customer—usually while the customer is still on the phone.
- Characteristics
- Part of CMS. Therefore, along with Document Related Technologies or Document Lifecycle Management, ECM is just one possible catch-all term for a wide range of technologies and vendors.
- Enterprise content management is working properly when it is effectively "invisible" to users. ECM technologies are infrastructures that support specialized applications as subordinate services.
- ECM is a collection of infrastructure components that fit into a multi-layer model and include all document related technologies (DRT) for handling, delivering, and managing structured data and unstructured information jointly. As such, enterprise content management is one of the necessary basic components of the overarching e-business application area. ECM also sets out to manage all the information of a WCM and covers archiving needs as a universal repository.[C4]
- The content and structure of today's outward-directed web portal will be the platform for tomorrow's internal information system.[C3]
- Enterprise content management as integrative middleware
- ECM is used to overcome the restrictions of former vertical applications and island architectures. The user is basically unaware of using an ECM solution. ECM offers the requisite infrastructure for the new world of web-based IT, which is establishing itself as a kind of third platform alongside conventional host and client/server systems. Therefore, EAI (enterprise application integration) and SOA (service-oriented architecture) will play an important role in the implementation and use of ECM.
- Enterprise content management components as independent services
- ECM is used to manage information without regard to the source or the required use. The functionality is provided as a service that can be used from all kinds of applications. The advantage of a service concept is that for any given functionality only one general service is available, thus avoiding redundant, expensive and difficult to maintain parallel functions. Therefore, standards for interfaces connecting different services will play an important role in the implementation of ECM.
- Enterprise content management as a uniform repository for all types of information
- ECM is used as a content warehouse (both data warehouse and document warehouse) that combines company information in a repository with a uniform structure. Expensive redundancies and associated problems with information consistency are eliminated. All applications deliver their content to a single repository, which in turn provides needed information to all applications. Therefore, content integration and ILM (Information Lifecycle Management) will play an important role in the implementation and use of ECM.
- 5 ECM Components and Technologies (Capture, Manage, Store, Preserve, Deliver)
- ECM combines components which can also be used as stand-alone systems without being incorporated into an enterprise-wide system.[C4]
- Capture
- Non-digital Vs Digital Capture
- Non-digital to Digital Conversion of information from paper documents into an electronic format through scanning.
- Digital Collection of electronic files and information into a consistent structure for management. Documents already in digital form can be copied, or linked to if they are already available online.
- Automatic Vs Semi-automatic capture
- use of EDI or XML documents, business and ERP applications, or existing specialist application systems as sources.
- Recognition technologies: used to extract information from scanned documents and digital faxes, including:
- Optical character recognition (OCR): Converts images of typeset text into alphanumeric characters
- handprint character recognition (HCR): Converts images of handwritten text into alphanumerics. Gives better results for short text in fixed locations than for freeform text.
- Intelligent character recognition (ICR): Extends OCR and HCR to use comparison, logical connections, and checks against reference lists and existing master data to improve recognition. For example, on a form where a column of numbers is added up, the accuracy of the recognition can be checked by adding the recognized numbers and comparing them to the sum written on the original form.
- Optical mark recognition (OMR): Reads special markings, such as checkmarks or dots, in predefined fields.
- Barcode recognition: Decodes industry-standard encodings of product and other commercial data.
- Image cleanup: Image cleanup features include rotation, straightening, color adjustment, transposition, zoom, aligning, page separation, annotations and despeckling.
- Forms processing:
- In forms capture, there are two groups of technologies, although the information content and character of the documents may be identical. Forms processing is the capture of printed forms via scanning; recognition technologies are often used here, since well-designed forms enable largely automatic processing. Automatic processing can be used to capture electronic forms, such as those submitted via web pages, as long as the layout, structure, logic, and contents are known to the capture system.
- COLD
- Computer Output to Laser Disc (COLD) records reports and other documents on optical disks, or any form of digital storage for ongoing management by ECM systems. Another term for this is enterprise report management (ERM). Originally, the technology only worked with laserdiscs; the name was not changed after other technologies supplanted the laserdisc.
- Aggregation
- Aggregation combines documents from different applications. The goal is to unify data from different sources, forwarding them to storage and processing systems in a uniform structure and format.
- Indexing components
- Creation of metadata (index values) that describe characteristics of a document for easy location through search technology.
- For example, a medical chart might include the patient ID, patient name, date of visit, and procedure as index values to make it easy for medical personnel to locate the chart.
- Indexing improves searches, and provides alternative ways to organize the information.
- Manual indexing assigns index database attributes to content by hand, typically used by the database of a "manage" component for administration and access. Manual indexing may make use of input designs to limit the information that can be entered; for example, entry masks may use program logic to restrict inputs based on other information known about the document.
- Both automatic and manual attribute indexing can be made easier and better with preset input-design profiles; these can describe document classes that limit the number of possible index values, or automatically assign certain criteria.
- Automatic classification programs can extract index, category, and transfer data autonomously. Automatic classification or categorizing, based on the information contained in electronic information objects, can evaluate information based on predefined criteria or in a self-learning process. This technique can be used with OCR-converted faxes, office files, or output files.
- Manage
- Document management (DM)
- Collaboration (or collaborative software, a.k.a. groupware)
- Web content management (including web portals)
- Records management
- Workflow and business process management (BPM)
- About
- The Manage category connects the other components, which can be used in combination or separately. Document management, web content management, collaboration, workflow and business process management address the dynamic part of the information's lifecycle. Records management focuses on managing finalized documents in accordance with the organization's document retention policy, which in turn must comply with government mandates and industry practices.[5]
- All Manage components incorporate databases and access authorization systems. Manage components are offered individually or integrated as suites. In many cases they already include the "store" components.
- Document management
- In this context, refers to document management systems in the narrow sense of controlling documents from creation to archiving. Document management includes functions like:
- Check in/check out: For checking stored information for consistency.
- Version management: To keep track of different versions of the same information with revisions and renditions (same information in a different format).
- Search and navigation: For finding information and its associated contexts.
- Organizing documents: In structures like files, folders, and overviews.
- document management increasingly overlaps with other "Manage" components, office applications like Microsoft Outlook and Exchange, or Lotus Notes and Domino, as well as "library services" for administering information storage.
- Collaboration
- Collaboration components in an ECM system help users work with each other to develop and process content. Many of these components were developed from collaborative software, or groupware, packages; ECM collaborative systems go much further, and include elements of knowledge management.
- ECM systems facilitate collaboration by using information databases and processing methods that are designed to be used simultaneously by multiple users, even when those users are working on the same content item. They make use of knowledge based on skills, resources and background data for joint information processing. Administration components, such as virtual whiteboards for brainstorming, appointment scheduling and project management systems, communications application such as video conferencing, etc., may be included.
- Collaborative ECM may also integrate information from other applications, permitting joint information processing.
- Web content management
- The scope of Enterprise content management integrates web content management systems. WCM as ECM component is used to present information already existing and managed in the ECM repository.[6] However, information presented via Web technologies — on the Internet, an extranet, or on a portal — uses the workflow, access control, versioning, delivery and authorization modules of the WCM instead of integrated ECM functionality. There are only few examples of successful implementations whereby a shared repository for documents and web content are managed together.[citation needed]
- Records management (file and archive management)[edit]
- Unlike traditional electronic archival systems, records management refers to the pure administration of records, important information, and data that companies are required to archive. Records management is independent of storage media; managed information does not necessarily need to be stored electronically, but can be on traditional physical media as well. Some of the functions of records management are:
- Visualisation of file plans and other structured indexes for the orderly storage of information
- Unambiguous indexing of information, supported by thesauri or controlled wordlists
- Management of record retention schedules and deletion schedules
- Protection of information in accordance with its characteristics, sometimes down to individual content components in documents
- Use of international, industry-specific or company-wide standardized metadata for the unambiguous identification and description of stored information
- Workflow/business process management[edit]
- Workflow
- The objective is to automate processes as much as possible by incorporating all necessary resources.
- Workflow can be implemented as workflow solutions with which users interact, or as workflow engines, which act as a background service controlling the information and data flow.
- Types of workflow:
- production workflow uses predefined sequences to guide and control processes
- ad-hoc workflow, the user determines the process sequence on the fly.
- Workflow management includes the following functions:
- Visualisation of process and organization structures
- Capture, administration, visualization, and delivery of grouped information with its associated documents or data
- Incorporation of data processing tools (such as specific applications) and documents (such as office products)
- Parallel and sequential processing of procedures including simultaneous saving
- Reminders, deadlines, delegation and other administration functionalities
- Monitoring and documentation of process status, routing, and outcomes
- Tools for designing and displaying process
- Business process management (BPM)
- BPM aims to completely integrate all of the affected applications within an enterprise, monitoring processes and assembling all required information. Among BPM's functions are:
- offers complete workflow functionality, providing process and data monitoring at the server level.
- Enterprise application integration is used to link different applications. Business intelligence, with rule structures, integrates information warehouses and provides utilities that assist users in their work.
- Store
- Store components temporarily store information that isn't required, desired, or ready for long-term storage or preservation. Even if the Store component uses media that are suitable for long-term archiving, "Store" is still separate from "Preserve."
- The Store components can be divided into three categories:
- However, security technologies, including access control, are superordinated components of an ECM solution.
- Repositories (Storage Locations)
- Different kinds of ECM repositories can be used in combination. Among the possible kinds are:
- File systems: File systems are used primarily for temporary storage, as input and output caches. ECM's goal is to reduce the data burden on the file system, and make the information generally available through Manage, Store, and Preserve technologies.
- Content management systems: This is the actual storage and repository system for content, which can be a database or a specialized storage system.
- Databases: Databases administer access information, but can also be used for the direct storage of documents, content, or media assets.
- Data warehouses: These are complex storage systems based on databases, which reference or provide information from all kinds of sources. They can also be designed with global functions, such as document or information warehouses.
- Library services (administration components for repositories)
- administrative components of the ECM system that handle access to information. The library service is responsible for taking in and storing information from the Capture and Manage components. It also manages the storage locations in dynamic storage, the actual "Store," and in the long-term Preserve archive. The storage location is determined only by the characteristics and classification of the information. The library service works in concert with the Manage components' database to provide the necessary functions of search and retrieval.
- While the database does not "know" the physical location of a stored object, the library service manages online storage (direct access to data and documents), nearline storage (data and documents on a medium that can be accessed quickly, but not immediately, such as data on an optical disc that is present in a storage system's racks but not currently inserted in a drive that can read it), and offline storage (data and documents on a medium that is not quickly available, such as data stored offsite).
- If the document management system does not provide the functionality, the library service must have version management to control the status of information, and check-in/check-out, for controlled information provision.
- The library service generates logs of information usage and editing, called an "audit trail."
- Storage technologies
- These infrastructure components are sometimes held at the operating system level (like the file system), and also include security technologies that work in tandem with the "Deliver" components.
- A wide variety of technologies can be used to store information, depending on the application and system environment:
- Magnetic online media: Hard drives, typically configured as RAID systems, may be locally attached, part of a storage area network (SAN), or mounted from another server (network-attached storage).
- Magnetic tape: Magnetic tape data storage, in the form of automated storage units called tape libraries, use robotics to provide nearline storage. Standalone tape drives may be used for backup, but not online access.
- Digital optical media: Besides the common Compact Disc and DVD optical media in write-once or rewritable forms, Storage systems may use other specialized optical formats like magneto-optical drives for storage and distribution of data. Optical jukeboxes can be used for nearline storage. Optical media in jukeboxes can be removed, transitioning it from nearline to offline storage.
- Cloud computing: Data can be stored on offsite cloud computing servers, accessed via the Internet.
- Preserve
- What is it?
- Preserve involves the long-term, safe storage and backup of static, unchanging information. (Eventually, content ceases to change and becomes static)
- Temporary storage of information that does not need to be archived. Electronic archiving, a related concept, has substantially broader functionality than ECM Preserve components.
- How is it Accomplished?
- Typically accomplished by the records management features of an ECM system and many are designed to help companies comply with government and industry regulations
- Features
- Electronic archiving systems: A combination of administration software like records management, imaging or document management, library services or information retrieval systems, and storage subsystems.
- Other forms of media: If the desire is merely to ensure information is available in the future, microfilm is still viable; unlike many digital records, microfilm is readable without access to the specialized software that created it. Hybrid systems combine microfilm with electronic media and database-supported access.
- Continuous Migration: Timely planning and regular performance of data migrations, in order to keep information available in the changing technical landscape. As storage technologies fall into disuse, information must be moved to newer forms of storage, so that the stored information remains accessible using contemporary systems. For example, data stored on floppy disks becomes essentially unusable if floppy disk drives are no longer readily available; migrating the data stored on floppy disks to Compact Discs preserves not only the data, but the ability to access it.
- The Preserve components contain special viewers, conversion and migration tools, and long term storage media:
- Long term storage media
- WORM optical disc: Write once read many (WORM) rotating digital optical storage media, including the 5.25-inch or 3.5-inch WORM disc in a protective sleeve, as well as CD-R and DVD-R. Recording methods vary for these media, which are held in jukeboxes for online and automated nearline access.
- WORM tape: Magnetic tapes used in special drives, that can be as secure as optical write-once, read-many media if used properly with specially secured tapes.
- WORM hard disk drive: Magnetic disk storage with special software protection against overwriting, erasure, and editing; delivers security similar to optical write-once, read-many media. This category includes content-addressable storage.
- Storage networks: Storage networks, such as network-attached storage and storage area networks, can be used if they meet the requirements of edit-proof auditing with unchangeable storage and protection against manipulation and erasure.
- Microform: Microforms like microfilm, microfiche, and aperture cards can be used to back up information that is no longer in use and does not require machine processing. It is typically used only to double-secure originally electronic information.
- Paper: Paper still has use as a long-term storage medium, since it does not require migration, and can be read without any technical aids. In ECM systems, however, it is used only to double-secure originally electronic information.
- Long term preservation strategies
- To secure the long term availability of information different strategies are used for electronic archives.
- The continuous migration of applications, index data, metadata and objects from older systems to new ones generates a lot of work, but secures the accessibility and usability of information. During this process, information that is no longer relevant can be deleted. Conversion technologies are used to update the format of the stored information, where needed.
- Emulation of older software allows users to run and access the original data and objects. Special viewer software can identify the format of the preserved objects and can display the objects in the new software environment.
- Standards for interfaces, metadata, data structures and object formats are important to secure the availability of information.
- Deliver
- Presententation of information from the Manage, Store, and Preserve components.
- The AIIM component model for ECM is function-based, and doesn't impose a strict hierarchy; the Deliver components may contain functions used to enter information into other systems (such as transferring information to portable media, or generating formatted output files); or for readying information, such as by converting its format or compressing it, for the "Store" and "Preserve" components. The Deliver category's functionality is also known as "output"; technologies in this category are often termed output management
- The Deliver components break down into three groups:
- Features
- Transformation and security, as services, are middleware and should be equally available to all ECM components. For output, two functions are of primary importance: layout and design, with tools for laying out and formatting output, and publishing, with applications for presenting information for distribution and publication.
- In short, ECM delivery provides information to users. Secure distribution, collaboration, and version control take the forefront. In some cases, these components are still deployed as stand-alone systems without being incorporated into an enterprise-wide ECM system.
- Transformation technologies
- Transformations should always be controlled and trackable. This is done by background services which the end user generally does not see. Among the transformation
- technologies are:
- Computer output to laser disc (COLD): Unlike its use in the Capture stage, when used for delivery COLD prepares output data for distribution and transfer to the archive. Typical applications are lists and formatted output (for example, individualized customer letters). These technologies also include journals and logs generated by the ECM components. Unlike most imaging media, COLD records are indexed not in a database table, but by absolute positions within the document itself (i.e. page 1, line 82, position 12). As a result, COLD index fields are not available for editing after submission unless they are converted into a standard database.
- Personalization: Functions and output can be customized to a particular user's needs.
- XML (Extensible Markup Language): A computer language that allows the description of interfaces, structures, metadata, and documents in a standardized, cross-platform manner.
- PDF (Portable Document Format): A cross-platform print and distribution format. Unlike image formats such as TIFF, PDFs permit content searches, the addition of metadata, and the embedding of electronic signatures. When generated from electronic data, PDFs are resolution-independent, allowing crisp reproduction at any scale.
- XPS (XML Paper Specification): An XML specification developed by Microsoft, describing the formats and rules for distributing, archiving, rendering, and processing XPS documents.
- Converters and viewers: Serve to reformat information to generate uniform formats, and also to display and output information from different formats.
- Compression: Used to reduce the storage space needed for pictorial information.
- Syndication: Used for presenting content in different formats, selections, and forms in the context of content management. Syndication allows the same content to be used multiple times in different forms for different purposes.
- Security technologies
- Security technologies are available to all ECM components. For example, electronic signatures are used not only when documents are sent, but also in data capture via scanning, in order to document the completeness of the capture. Public key infrastructure is a basic technology for electronic signatures. It manages keys and certificates, and checks the authenticity of signatures. Other electronic signatures confirm the identity of the sender and the integrity of the sent data, i.e., that it is complete and unchanged.: In Europe, there are three forms of electronic signatures, of different quality and security: simple, advanced, and qualified. In most European states the qualified electronic signature is legally admissible in legal documents and contracts.[citation needed]
- Digital rights management and watermarking are used in content syndication and media asset management, to manage and secure intellectual property rights and copyrights. Digital rights management works with techniques like electronic watermarks that are integrated directly into the file, and seeks to protect usage rights and protect content that is published on the Internet.
- Distribution
- All of the above technologies serve to provide an ECM's contents to users by various routes, in a controlled and user-oriented manner. These can be active components such as e-mail, data media, memos, and passive publication on websites and portals where users can get the information themselves. Possible output and distribution media include:
- The Internet
- extranets
- intranets
- E-business portals
- Employee portals
- E-mail
- Fax
- Data transfer by EDI, XML or other formats
- Mobile devices, like mobile phones, PDAs, and others
- Data media like CDs and DVDs
- Digital TV and other multimedia services
- Paper.
- Methods
- On-premise
- developed as a traditional software application that companies implemented on their own corporate networks. In this scenario, each individual company manages and maintains both the ECM application, and the network storage devices that store the data. Many on-premise ECM systems are highly customized for individual organizational needs. A note about Capture: since paper document capture requires the use of physical scanning devices, like scanners or multi-function devices, it is typically performed on-premise. However, it can be outsourced to businesses that provide scanning services. Known as Service Bureaus, these companies complete high-volume scanning and indexing and return the electronic files to organizations via web transfer or on CDs, DVDs, or other external storage devices.
- Software as a service (SaaS)
- SaaS ECM means that rather than deploying software on an in-house network, users access the application and their data online. It is also known as cloud computing, hosted, and on demand. As SaaS distribution technologies mature, businesses can count on receiving the same features and customization capabilities they have come to expect from on-premise ECM applications. SaaS delivery allows companies to more quickly begin using ECM, since they do not have to purchase hardware or configure the applications, databases, or servers. In addition, organizations trade the capital costs associated with a hardware and software purchase for a monthly operating expense and storage capabilities that grow automatically to accommodate company growth.
- Hybrid
- composed of both SaaS and on-premise software work best for their situation. For example, hybrid ECM systems are being used to bridge the gap during company moves or to simplify information exchange following an acquisition. Hybrid is also being used when companies want to manage their own ECM on-premise, but also provide easy web access to certain information for business partners or customers using a SaaS model. Hybrid makes the most sense when the two technologies are provided by the same manufacturer, so that features and interfaces are an exact match.
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_content_management_system
- A1 Mike Johnston. "CMS or WCM - Which is Which?". cmscritic.com. Retrieved 2011-09-07.
- A2 Woric Faithfull. "Using XSLT to Make Websites". woric.net. Retrieved 2007-11-08.
- A3 Mike Johnston (2009). "What is a CMS?". CMS Critic. Retrieved 2009-02-13.
- A4 Multiple (wiki). "Content management system". Docforge. Retrieved 2010-01-19.
- A5 "Everything you need to know about WordPress". QualiThemes. Retrieved 20 October 2011.
- A6 Jovia Web Studio (2009). "Is a Content Management System Right for You". Jovia Web Studio Blog. Retrieved 2009-02-
- A7 "32 Static Website Generators For Your Site, Blog Or Wiki": http://iwantmyname.com/blog/2011/02/list-static-website-generators.html
- A8 "SharePoint". Archived from the original on 8 July 2012. Retrieved 17 March 2011.
- A9 "AJAX - WordPress Codex". Retrieved 17 March 2011.
- A10 "The 5 hidden costs of running a CMS". Retrieved 17 March 2011.
- A11 Pearlman, Shane (29 November 2011). "How WordPress Took the CMS Crown from Drupal and Joomla". wp.smashingmagazine.com. Retrieved August 10, 2012.
- A12 W3Techs - Usage of content management systems for websites
- A13. http://www.joviawebstudio.com/index.php/blog/is_a_content_management_system_right_for_you/
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Component_content_management_system
- B1 Howard Schwartz. "Why CCM is not a CMS: Or Why You Shouldn't Confuse a Whale and a Fish". The Center for Information-Development Management.
- B2 "Crash Course for Content Management: What is content management?". Vasont Systems.
- B3 Ann Rockley and Steve Manning. "Component content management: Overlooked by analysts; required by technical publications departments". The Rockley Group Inc.
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enterprise_content_management
- C1 "What is Enterprise Content Management (ECM)?". AIIM. Association for Information and Image Management. Retrieved September 20, 2010.
- C2 Evolving Electronic Document Management Solutions: The Doculabs Report, Third Edition. Chicago: Doculabs, 2002.
- C3 Ulrich Kampffmeyer, "ECM — Herrscher über Informationen". ComputerWoche, CW-exktraKT, Munich, September 24th, 2001.
- C4 Trends in Records, Document and Enterprise Content Management. Whitepaper. S.E.R. conference, Visegrád, September 28th, 2004 PDF original source of this Wikipedia article by the German consulting company Project Consult Unternehmensberatung
- C5 Kampffmeyer, Ulrich (2006). "ECM: Enterprise Content Management". DMS EXPO 2006, Köln (in English, French, and German). Hamburg: PROJECT CONSULT. ISBN ISBN 978-3-936534-09-2. Retrieved September 20, 2010.
- C6 Ulrich Kampffmeyer, Enterprise Content Management, 2006
- C7 "OpenText profiting from acquisitions as it extends reach". July 13, 2011. Retrieved August 25, 2011.
- C8 "HP to Acquire Leading Enterprise Information Management Software Company Autonomy Corporation plc". August 18, 2011. Retrieved August 25, 2011.
- C9 Manoj Jasra (April 17, 2007). "CMS Watch Releases Enterprise CMS Comparison Report". Retrieved September 21, 2010.
- C10 Alan Pelz-Sharpe (August 19, 2007). "Open Source ECM continues to grow". Blog. Real Story Group. Retrieved October 16, 2013.
- C11 "Sense/Net 6.0 (Enterprise Portal & Enterprise CMS)". CMS Matrix. Plain Black Corporation. October 2, 2008. Retrieved October 16, 2013.
- C12 "Enterprise CMS Socialism: Sense/Net Supports CMIS". CMS Wire. Simpler Media Group. November 14, 2008. Retrieved October 16, 2013.
- C13 Tessa Magee (October 27, 2011). "Accusoft Pegasus Celebrates 20th Anniversary". Retrieved November 29, 2011.
- C14 Ismael Ghalimi (2007-04-10). "First Koral, then ThinkFree and EchoSign". ITRedux.
- C15 DM, Rank and file: A case study. Retrieved 10 November 2010 from http://www.document-manager.com/articles/reviews.asp?a_id=336
- C16 Brice Dunwoodie, "What is Web Engagement Management (WEM)?", CMSWire, 2010-05-05
- C17 Elcom, "Web Engagement Management (WEM)", Elcom, 2010-11-22
- C18 Bell, Toby; Shegda, Karen M.; Gilbert, Mark R.; Chin, Kenneth (November 16, 2010). "Magic Quadrant for Enterprise Content Management". Gartner.com. Gartner. Retrieved August 25, 2011.