Feasibility Report on Content Management Systems

Feasibility Report

Our mail company, which mainly offers various services online, is considering moving from the current content management system to either Alfresco, which is part of the enterprise content management system (ECMS), Joomla, or CMS Made Simple. The current content management system has grown considerably, and therefore it is not as effective as it used to be. It is also not safe to retrieve information from this system when it is needed on time. This system has also become buggy. Due to the challenges posed by the current content management system, even marketing our services online has become a challenge. Other alternatives will help our company streamline its authoring process, update its website remotely, reduce the cost of website maintenance, and customize our site to meet various needs of our business. They will also ensure consistency in the appearance of our website, and lastly, they will make it easier for the company to use non-technical staff to make updates to the site. After meeting with our various teams in the company together with the chairman of the board of governors, multiple alternatives have been raised concerning the content management system. The IT department is in charge of the communication department in our organization.

After it held a few discussions with various staff members concerning the current content management system, it came up with new ideas which it proposed to the CEO of the company. The marketing department was also contacted to recommend the best CMS. Our IT director, who has considerable experience in content management systems, remembered that he once made two websites using Joomla. He proceeded to choose various individuals to help him conduct research on the best CMS to use. The team mainly conducted its study on companies that are doing similar business. The team also connected with various other units in the company to identify the multiple functionalities they wished to have. This was done by considering numerous aspects, such as how the site is to be updated, retrieval of information, and how the website can be used on different devices.

Criteria

The selection of the new CMS will ensure our company’s challenges are solved, and it will also perform some critical jobs. It will have to follow various processes before it is accepted for initiation, development, selection, and implementation. With many software vendors tailored to the pressure that a company must adopt new technologies, choosing the best CMS is very critical. A good software system ensures the success of a company, but it is still tough to have a good software system (Maass, 300). Research has shown that many enterprises are always unable to make the best selection of the CMS that fits their company needs. This has been attributed to failure in analysis during the period of selection. Based on our company requirements, the best CMS should have the following attributes.

It should be easier to use

CMS is meant to be used by all the staff in the organization. The team includes managers, supervisors and all other subordinates.

It should be flexible

Flexibility here implies that templates from the software can be changed. This depends on how the CMS is simplified compared to the rest. This is because the more significant a CMS is, the more a designer likes creating a template for it. Taking a close look at CMSMS and Joomla, we can identify that Joomla is more popular than CMSMS and therefore has more sources of templates. The same difference is observed in companies using these two types of CMS.

Extensibility

The fact that our company has outgrown the current CMS means that the next one to be adopted must not become buggy. On the other hand, our company’s website must look different and unique compared to the rest of the websites. Therefore, extensibility will help address these issues. The CMS to be used must have a lot of components that can be used when needed. This will make our company more effective, especially when it wants to add e-commerce, a blog, a newsletter, and forums to the website in the future.

Security

Information from the CMS must be secured. This is because company websites are at risk primarily from hackers and viruses. Therefore, the CMS to be adopted must have its own system which can deter any stranger from accessing any information. It also needs to have limitations on access.

Usage and Accessibility

This means that our company’s website should be accessible to customers when needed, and the CMS should also ensure that information is retrieved when needed. This is why the website content makers must be well informed of the characteristics of the CMS that a company needs. Website administrators need to have control over all other users. Therefore, every company needs to consider the usage and accessibility of a CMS.

Community

Through a CMS, a community is created that provides guidelines, documents, and support for work that the company cannot handle because of a lack of knowledge.

Optimized Performance

The CMS should be able to make our server and web pages accessible at high speed.

Research approach

Various types of CMS were studied before deciding which one was the best for our company. These included CMS Made Simple, Joomla and ECMS. Also, literature that concerns these CMSs was studied to identify the best CMS that fits our company needs and to construct a framework. This included the general factors and steps that affect change in the CMS. Later, an interview question was developed based on the context. After the interview, the information was categorized using the coding method. Finally, a conclusion was made from these interview questions.

Through website research, four companies were also selected, and they were contacted for their opinions based on the three types of CMS. It was discovered that a company that runs its website on its own server could access more information compared to a company that runs its site through a different server. Those who were interviewed must have had various experiences with the CMS. They also needed to be part of the IT teams in their companies that select CMSs. These interviews were conducted through chat messengers, and sometimes questions were sent through emails.

Classification of the CMS

In recent times, there are very many CMSs that are being used. In total, there are about 160 CMSs that are based on different platforms. However, content management systems can broadly be categorized into two: one that is based on the license and the other that is based on functionality.

• By Functionality

Classification based on functionality tries to identify the goal and the platform that a CMS uses. We have three categories of CMS based on the feature.

• Web CMS

It is the most popular CMS because it uses various languages for storing, maintaining, creating and publishing website content. It gives authority to clients to have control over files, content, web hosting plans and documents which are based on HTML.

There are three types of WCMS: offline processing systems, online processing systems, and hybrid systems. The main advantage of this kind of CMS is that it is usually made for non-technical users. It is preferred by organizations where employees are required to work on the website.

This type of CMS is used by the organization for organizing, sharing substantial content and coordination. The material defined in this section ranges from files, images, and texts (Barker, 367). It becomes easier for businesses to handle a significant amount of content. ECMS uses different other tools like the media manager, content organization, and WCMS. The primary objective of this system is to enable employees to get company information quickly instead of searching through various software applications (Barker, 278). Through this, the company can simplify business processes, which saves time and money. This type of CMS can store information without it running out of date. Various kinds of ECMS include SharePoint, IBM Lotus, RedDot, and Alfresco.

• Mobile CMS

The recent innovations in the mobile industry have given birth to new mobile devices like the smartphone. It is not a surprise for us to have a CMS which is based on mobile phones. The fact that these types of phones are usually in high demand and have every kind of user makes it necessary to have a CMS on mobile phones to help in the management of ringtones, text messages, news and even games. Mobile CMSs range from small ones to large ones which can hold a more substantial amount of information. Others are just portrayed as features or ads. The main advantage of this kind of CMS is that it is easier to use, read and navigate through because the mobile phone is small in size.

• Component CMS

This type of CMS creates documents from component parts. It mainly deals with links, graphics, complete paragraphs or even words. The main advantage of this type of document is that it can use content in various documents.

CMSs classified according to the license include:

• Commercial CMS

This type of CMS is usually owned by a person, and one must obtain a license to use it. It includes Amaxus and Sitecore.

Joomla

Introduction

Joomla is one of the most popular content management systems with a robust extension system which is mainly used to develop other different applications on the website (Barker, 100). Recently, it has become one of the top three commonly used CMSs globally together with WordPress and Drupal.

Joomla has two versions of the software. The first version is 2.5x, which most people are recommended to use. The second one is 3.0x, which is supported by developers and users because it has more features compared to the first one. The number of times Joomla systems have been downloaded is 2.5 million. It happens to be the second most used CMS. Joomla content management is classified under an open-source software license (Maass, 46). It means that an individual can develop CMS software for a company without being charged anything (Addey, 32). Since it is free, one can easily access its source code and quickly make changes. Joomla is made up of HTML, CSS, SQL, PHP, and MySQL.

Technical Requirement

It is very significant for an individual to understand the technologies that are associated with Joomla (Maass, 112). It will help an individual understand the various components needed to develop a Joomla site. Different technologies used when developing Joomla are a language interpreter, database, and web server.

CMS Made Simple

It was developed to make CMS easier to use and administer.

Technical requirement

It is clear that CMSMS does not restrict choices of operating systems because it is capable of running on all the operating systems that exist. The various technologies that need to be considered are the web server, language interpreter, and database.

Alfresco

Alfresco is used to manage all content within an enterprise. Alfresco systems have servers that persist content, associations, full-text indexes, and metadata. Programming systems have multiple languages through which developers create custom solutions and applications. Alfresco is suitable for systems that have Java Enterprise Edition.

Decision Matrix

Recommendation

After considering all other types of CMS and the decision matrix, I would recommend that our mail company consider Joomla since it is one of the most popular CMSs. This makes it easy to find a developer. Besides, the software keeps updating, which will help since technology keeps changing. It is also preferable because it has many users who can help with extensions and components (Addey, 108). Lastly, it is fast compared to the rest of the software, and it will help solve the challenges our company is facing with the current content management system.

Work Cited

Barker, Deane. Web Content Management. O’Reilly Media, 2016. Internet resource.

Maass, Wolfgang, and Tobias Kowatsch. Semantic Technologies in Content Management Systems [recurso Electrónico]: Trends, Applications, and Evaluations. Alemania: Springer Healthcare Ltd, 2012. Internet resource.

Web Content Management Systems (cms): High-impact Strategies – What You Need to Know; Definitions, Adoptions, Impact, Benefits, Maturity, Vendors. Australia, 2011. Print.

Addey, Dave. Content Management Systems. Birmingham: Glasshaus, 2003. Internet resource.

Editorial Staff

Academic Master Education Team is a group of academic editors and subject specialists responsible for producing structured, research-backed essays across multiple disciplines. Each article is developed following Academic Master’s Editorial Policy and supported by credible academic references. The team ensures clarity, citation accuracy, and adherence to ethical academic writing standards

Content reviewed under Academic Master Editorial Policy.

• Editorial Staff

  Trademarkia And The Future of Intellectual Property
• Editorial Staff

  A new UK trade agreement with Pacific countries can prevent Britain from rejoining the EU
• Editorial Staff

  Aluprof MB SkyLine Panoramic Sliding Doors
• Editorial Staff

  Online Freedom, Security, and Anonymity – All in One