A content management system (CMS) is a system used to manage the content
of a Web
site. Typically, a CMS consists of two elements: the content management
application (CMA) and the content delivery application (CDA). The CMA
element allows the content manager or author, who may not know Hypertext
Markup Language (HTML),
to manage the creation, modification, and removal of content from a
Web site without needing the expertise of a Webmaster.
The CDA element uses and compiles that information to update the Web
site. The features of a CMS system vary, but most include Web-based
publishing, format management, revision control, and indexing, search,
and retrieval.
The Web-based publishing feature allows individuals to use a template
or a set of templates approved by the organization, as well as wizards
and other tools to create or modify Web content. The format management
feature allows documents including legacy
electronic documents and scanned paper documents to be formatted into
HTML or Portable Document Format (PDF)
for the Web site. The revision control feature allows content to be
updated to a newer version or restored to a previous version. Revision
control also tracks any changes made to files by individuals. An additional
feature is indexing, search, and retrieval. A CMS system indexes all
data within an organization. Individuals can then search for data using
keywords, which the CMS system retrieves.
A CMS system may also provide tools for one-to-one marketing. One-to-one
marketing is the ability of a Web site to tailor its content and advertising
to a user's specific characteristics using information provided by the
user or gathered by the site (for example, a particular user's page
sequence pattern). For example, if you visit a search
engine and search for "digital
camera," the advertising banners will advertise businesses
that sell digital cameras instead of businesses that sell garden products.
A content management system (CMS) is a system used to manage the content
of a Web site.
Content management systems are deployed primarily for interactive use
by a potentially large number of contributors. For example, the software
for the website Wikipedia is based on a wiki, which is a particular
type of content management system. For the purposes of this page, Content
Management means Web Content Management. Other related forms of content
management are listed below. The content managed includes computer files,
image media, audio files, electronic documents and web content. The
idea behind a CMS is to make these files available inter-office, as
well as over the web. A Content Management System would most often be
used as an archive as well. Many companies use a CMS to store files
in a non-proprietary form. Companies use a CMS to share files with ease,
as most systems use server-based software, even further broadening file
availability.
As shown below, many Content Management Systems include a feature for
Web Content, and some have a feature for a "workflow process." "Work
flow" is the idea of moving an electronic document along for either
approval, or for adding content. Some Content Management Systems will
easily facilitate this process with email notification, and automated
routing. This is ideally a collaborative creation of documents. A CMS
facilitates the organization, control, and publication of a large body
of documents and other content, such as images and multimedia resources.
A web content management system is a content management system with
additional features to ease the tasks required to publish web content
to web sites.