EVALUATING A CMS: A CHECKLIST.

LETS GET STARTED.

Importance Rating

Content Creation
WYSIWYG authoring
Authoring is done in a what-you-see-is-what-you-get environment. Should be web based, no browser plug-in. Supports paragraph and character styles. WYSIWYG table editing: row and column spanning table headers and footers limited formating control over tables

Creation of hyperlinks, both to pages within the cms and to external sites. Ability to restrict or remove specified formatting options (fonts, colours, etc). Additional authoring tools, such as MS Word integration, XMLbased authoring tools. Image manipulation tools, such as resize, layout, styles.

Structured authoring
Supports a number of highly-structured content types. Content is mapped to a specific area via templates. Templates should be created using non-technical toolkit style engine, supporting HTML elements. Additional authoring environments, such as enterprise apps. Ability to choose template to match content type.

Online forms
Forms can be created online, validated and stored in a database.

WYSIWYG form editing. Full range of form fields supported (text field, text box, drop-down list, check-box, radio buttons, file upload). Support for complex forms, such a multiple choice, multiple pages, and pre-populated forms from external source. Ability to restrict input to a spectic data type. Form validation capabilities. Storage of data entered in repository. Exporting data from forms to formats such as XML or CSV.

Spell checking
Authoring environment must incorporate spell checking. Integrated into content editor. Automated suggestions and corrections. Localised main dictionaries (tailored to specific languages). Support for custom/user dictionaries. Thesaurus and grammar.

Non-technical authoring
Not be required to use technical knowledge when creating pages No HTML skills required. No 3rd party editor software.

Separation of content and presentation

Styles-based authoring to allow publication in a number of formats. All formatting applied by publishing engine. Styles-based authoring (i.e. paragraph character styles). Restrict manual formatting. Format neutral, no presentation mark-up applied to content. Separate layers for managing content, presentation and site structure.

Metadata support
Auto-creation of Metadata. AGLS, Australian Government metadata standard. Dublin-Core. Simple tools for entering metadata, such as text fields, drop-down list, radio buttons. Mark certain fields as mandatory. Pre-populate certain fields such as content author, page title, page drop date. Configurable metadata.

Index support
Ability to enter index terms (keywords) for each topic created. Should support a controlled-term thesaurus. Global search and replace of index terms. Index restructuring. Ability to tag content with keywords for use such as see also.

Content re-use
Ability to publish content from a number of sources. Having a single page of content appear in multiple locations. Formatting multiple occurrences to match the appearance of each site section. Publishing a page to multiple sites (such as an intranet and internet). Re-purposing small content units (such as individual paragraphs) to assemble published pages. Identify versions of content item in use across pages

Multi-user authoring
Support for editing a page by two different users simultaneously. Vendor needs to demonstrate how they prevent this locking of assets, such as check in / check out.

Immediate previews
Preview the draft content from within the authoring environment. Should see page as appears on final site. Page layout and navigation. Hyperlinks (which should be fully functional). Related topics. Results of content re-use.

Low-bandwidth authoring
How effective and usable the CMS is over slow-speed network.

Content migration
Ability to import content from an existing CMS. Support for multiple formats, such as MS Office. Highly-configurable conversion process. Mapping styles. Reworking document structure. Removing inappropriate formatting. Splitting source documents into multiple topics.

Enforcing accessible content

Ensuring the addition of alt tags and other accessibility issues. Alt tags. Semantic markup of tables. Valid XHTML.

Global search & replace

Conduct full-text searching across the entire content repository.

Consistent interface
Standardised interface for authoring.

Consistent keyboard shortcuts and menu items. Identical use of terminology.

Cross-platform authoring
Ability to author in any web browser on any operating system. Consistent functionality should be available across all versions. Which browsers the authoring tools support. Capabilities are the same across all browsers. Any required plugins, such as Java, Flash.

Collaborative authoring
Collaborative creation of content by separated groups of staff. Online whiteboard facilities. Annotation and revision marking. Instant (peer-to-peer) messaging between authors.

Content Management
Version control
Ability to roll-back to previous versions. Simple tools to locate a previous version and restore. Red-lining within content, similar to MS Words track changes.

Compare versions
Ability to look at different versions of a page. Built-in tools for comparing versions of a given page. Ability for workflow approver to compare pages.

Date-based snapshots
Ability to look up how a given page looked at a given date. Product should version all items in the system: pages templates style sheets users security settings images documents

Audit trails and activity logs

Comprehensive logs must be kept of all actions performed. Generated automatically by the system. Log files must be rotated to offline storage. Expose the logs for external access ODBC, XML.

Workflow
Ability to control the approval process before a page is published.

Simple workflow support:

Multiple status settings for content items, such as draft, in review, published, expired, etc. Simple linear workflows with a limited number of steps. Capture of comments entered by reviewers. Non-technical authoring for creating workflows.

Advanced workflow support:

Parallel workflows. Unlimited number of workflow steps. Graphical views and editing of workflows. Dynamic routing based on defined rules.

Workflow administration:

Creating and deleting workflows. Updating roles or steps within workflows. Modifying conditional rules.

Allow for workflows to be overridden. Support tracking and reporting on workflow stages. Support live previews for workflow approvers. Support for nested workflows.

Aggregation of content from 3rd parties

Able to include syndicated content from outside providers. Major syndication formats (such as RSS) Automatically filter incoming content.

Proactive notification
Able to actively notify of errors such as broken links or pages. Should not need to run specific reports. Notifications to groups, such as publishers and site owners.

Automated release & expiry of topics

Content can be published or removed on a given date Release and expiry date for each topic in the repository. Content owners must be notified in advance of the expiry date. Exact time release option for topics.

Automated archiving of content

Expired content should be moved to an archive area Should faciliate the moving to offline storage. Establish rules for the handling of topic archival. User intervention should not be required at any stage.

E-mail notifications
Facility to send notifications, warning and error messages to users SMTP POP3 Microsoft Exchange Server

Integration with corporate directory or authentication service

Ability to control access using University LDAP and ADS systems Support for LDAP/ADS groups, inc nested, multiple. Management and authoring functions require authorised users and groups to authenticate. All password transactions should be via secure channel. Ability to cascade / inherit permissions.

Image repository
To allow re-use and consistent use of resources Should contain all features of document repository. Automatic generation of thumbnails for previewing.

Document repository
A simple document repository, into which files can be uploaded Capturing metadata when documents are added. Searching or browsing tools for documents. Versioning and workflow of items. Optionally restrict authors to only use documents stored. Limit the size of uploaded documents (no larger than a specified value). Allow specified users to be given the rights to upload.

Document management capabilities

Beyond a simple document repository Version control, check-in, check-out features. Integration with third-party DMS products.

Publishing
Stylesheets
All elements must be controlled through the use of stylesheets. Includes the text, tables, links and images. The authoring environment must enforce style-based editing. Prevent the use of custom formatting.

Page templates
Page layout of published pages must be specified via templates. Non-technical interface is provided for template administration. Preview how templates will appear on the final site. Possible to apply different templates to specific sections of the site, allows customised information to be presented. Support multiple, multi-level nested templates.

Support for multiple sites

A number of separate websites need to be published Specific multiplesites features required include:

Point-and-click interface for creating and configuring. Different domain name and URL for each site. Different page layout and formatting to each site. Option for different metadata schemas for each site.

Specific microsites features required include:

Limited number of templates and formatting optionS. Restricted site size. Highly simplified editing tools.

Flexible licensing methods.

Publishing of PDF Documents

High-quality PDFs will be used on the website PDF generated directly from the web pages OR Can be formatted independently from website design. Is any third-party software is required?

Publishing hand-held or mobile formats

System must be able to publish to these devices

Publishing XML
Be able to publish content in eXtensible Markup Language (XML) Supoort for required DTD or schemas.

Automated printable version of pages

Should be capable of automatically creating a printable version Printer-ready view of information via icon support.

Browsable index and glossary

Should generate a fully-browsable index and glossary from metadata. Index terms for topics. Global thesaurus.

Global taxonomy or topic map.

Load balancing
Load balance across multiple servers to reduce server load. Pages that are delivered to end users should be automatically cached by the publishing engine. Load balancing for real-time page creation directly out of the content repository.

Dynamic content assembly

Able to assemble pages based on a users profile

Search engine
Search engine as part of the overall content management solution.

Robust and powerful full-text searching, with support for industry-standard searching functionality. Both simple (quick) search and advanced search interfaces. Search and results pages should follow design and styles. Meta tags used by the search engine during its indexing. Use of synonyms or thesaurus. Automated spell-checking. Search reports, such as most popular terms, failed searches that returned zero results.

Human-readable URLs
Should publish human-readable URLs for all pages. Automatically generated by the CMS. Be search engine friendly for listing on Google etc.

Redirection of deleted or moved pages

Should automatically redirect page requests to the correct location.

Presentation
Accessibility
Allow access by users with a wide range of disabilities. W3C Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI): indicate what level of accessibility (A, AA, AAA) should be met.

Cross browser support

Pages should be viewable in major web browsers. Limit the use of browser-specific features. Consistent look and functionality on any browser type.

Valid HTML
HTML validates to web standards..

Effective navigation
Contains navigations aids. A_Z index Breadcrumbs Quicklinks

Contract and Business

Product licensing
What licensing models are available. Supports an unlimited number of end-user visitors. Supports an unlimited number of content contributors. Supports an unlimited number of concurrent users.

Backup & disaster recovery

Ensure the safe-keeping of the information stored within the system. Rapid recovery from near-line backup. Full recovery from off-line backup. Major disaster recovery procedures.

Integration with existing enterprise backup systems.

System technologies
What system technologies does the CMS product support. High availability. Scalability. Server hardware types: IBM System X. Virtualisation technologies: VMware. Operating systems: Windows Server, Red Hat Linux. Database systems, Oracle, MS-SQL

RFP / RFT CONSIDERATIONS

Capability to automatically capture web bases records within Web CMS product and export them as records for management within external records management system, such as TRIM. The Web CMS product supports PRODUCTION, QA, and DEVELOPMENT servers. Ability to host the Web CMS product locally. Specify the required browser support, Preferred Mozilla Firefox, secondary choice Microsoft Internet Explorer 7+. Specify that that application should be accessible on any operating system that supports the above browsers, namely Microsoft Windows and Apple OSX. Availability of 24x7 support for problem resolution from either vendor or integration partner. Provision of appropriate communication mechanisms for problem resolution, such email, telephone, remote assistance) Availability of maintenance contracts. Vendor supplied best practice for backup, maintenance, and high availability. Provision of multiple customer references for installed Web CMS base in Australia. Availability of user support groups. Clearly defined procedures and response mechanism for handling bug reports and enhancement requests. Provision of programmer tools to perform system customisation, system monitoring and reporting. Provision of tools for analysis of the Web CMS logs, including error and exception reports. Provision of tools to check internal and external links. Tools should be able to check specified sections and provide user-friendly outputs. Should provide mechanism for moving content/files and have system automatically update links. Provision of tools for analysis of Web server engine. Should be comparable to depth of popular web server log analysis tools. Should be able to map activity through to specific sections from specified entry points. Provision for asset management tools, including the provision of comprehensive information on all items within the Web CMS. This should include creation, modification, activity, expired, and orphaned items. Include review tools that streamline quality assurance processes by validating the page output against technical standards, such as the WAG guidelines. Provision of tools that can identify similar or duplicated items within the Web CMS by a variety of selectors, such as metadata, attachments, referring links. Availability of context-sensitive help messages, including the ability to customise help and error message content to express our own recommendations and suggestions. Availability of comprehensive electronic documentation, with permission to excerpt and adapt to our needs, such as help/error messages, user authentication, workflow process and customisation, system integration and administration.