CMS Management
CMS Management
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Effective CMS management requires a good understanding of the CMS platform being used and the content being managed. It also requires attention to detail, strong organizational skills, and the ability to work well in a team. I have worked with several CMS platforms and cross-functional teams, and I have developed frameworks for approaching:
Content creation and management,
User management,
System security and maintenance,
Analytics and reporting, and
Training and support.
CONTENT CREATION AND MANAGEMENT
Content creation can take many shapes, and content management often depends on the type and purpose of that content. For instance, when I managed the WordPress site for the RFID Lab at Auburn University, we stored images and documents in a database instead of using a WordPress media manager plugin. The purpose of this site was to provide industry partners with a way to easily search for and find RFID inlay images and correlating specification documents about the RFID inlays. Because of the search and filtering functionality on the site, using a database made more sense than using a media plugin to store images and documents.
CLIENT: RFID Lab at Auburn University
GOALS:
Ensure content was accessible and up-to-date
Add/remove content editors
Update the database of RFID inlay images and documents
CMS: WordPress
MY ROLE: CMS Administrator
CONTENT APPROVAL PROCESS:
The process of creating the content was complicated and involved benchmarking and approval processes before becoming available to suppliers.
CHALLENGES:
The RFID database housed ARC Program documents (PDFs) and images that needed to be remediated for WCAG2.0 and section 508 accessibility standards. This has presented the greatest ongoing challenge due to the technical nature of the materials.
SOLUTIONS:
To assist with the remediation of the PDFs, we employed the service of CommonLook. The descriptions of the inlay images involved subject matter experts' input and a strict approval process.
OUTCOMES:
The website has been hailed as a useful tool among retail, supply chain, manufacturing, and technology companies and has led to partnerships and sponsorships with many high-profile companies.
USER MANAGEMENT
CMS Platforms vary greatly in their user management capabilities. I really enjoy enterprise-level user management because it can be more granular and offers so many options. For example, when working for the Harbert College of Business at Auburn University, I developed an onboarding process for OmniCMS content, blog, and profile editors. The onboarding process included:
A formal request to add an individual as an editor to the CMS by their supervisor,
Training for the requested editor role,
Tracking of training completion and submitted acknowledgment statements via Qualtrics,
Adding the new user to Omni CMS,
Setting the user permission level, which ranges from 1-10, with 1 having only permission to view pages and 10 having full administrative permissions,
Adding the new user to groups with access to only certain sections of the site,
Setting up approval workflows,
Adding the user to the content refresh calendar as a point of contact for specified sections or pages on the site,
Scheduling notifications for users to update content, and
Communicating updates with editors and providing support as needed.
CLIENT: Harbert College of Business at Auburn University
GOALS:
User onboarding to CMS
Help keep content current, valid, and consistent with editor tracking, approval workflows, and content refresh notifications
CMS: OmniCMS
MY ROLE: CMS Administrator | Trainer
Training is essential for new user success and maintaining a consistent site
Access groups allow users to only access pages they have permission to edit
Approval workflows are great for ensuring content is consistent and valid
Content refresh calendars help editors and leadership keep content current
OUTCOMES:
The content editor onboarding process for the Harbert College of Business reduced training time, reduced user confusion of page ownership, and kept content current, valid, and consistent.
WEBSITE SECURITY AND MAINTENANCE
Website security and maintenance is a cross-functional team effort. I often work with server administrators, database administrators, networking managers, and CMS support to ensure a website is secure. Each CMS and implementation will have specific measures that need to be in place, but I have a general checklist that I use when ensuring web security.
Use HTTPS protocol
Keep software up-to-date (including CMS, plugins, and third-party software)
Secure Passwords
Implement user access control
Use firewalls on servers
Create regular backups of website
Monitor website logs
Use secure hosting
Use CAPTCHA or a Honeypot on forms
Regularly conduct security audits
Stay abreast of new and developing threats
ANALYTICS AND REPORTING
Most CMS platforms have built-in analytics and reporting capabilities to show you content editor activity, page publishing tracking, and other system information. However, most marketing and communication teams that I have collaborated with will use GA4, Tag Manager, and tracking pixels. I have also used applications like SiteImprove and Funnelback to report on website accessibility, SEO issues, and searchability. To distill important information for leadership so they may make better business decisions, I have implemented Looker Studio Dashboards.
TRAINING AND SUPPORT
I consider training essential for user success and happiness. Since not everyone is at the same level on any given application, I have found it useful to try and meet people where they are. One way I do that is by providing several types of training materials on the same subject that work for visual, auditory, and kinesthetic learning styles.
I like to create training documents, videos, and face-to-face training sessions for learners of all types.
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