Features of a CMS Package...

An organisation typically requires a Content Management System (CMS) when it creates and publishes large volumes of content, or when the publishing process is too time consuming and inefficient. CMS is also considered the white knight if there are so many publishers that the existing system has no standardised approach to efficiently publish, store and organise content for user consumption.

Many problems, including "information overload" and search engine ineffectiveness, explain why content management continues to be one of the most pressing and important issues facing Internet and intranet site managers.

In most organisations, content management can combat the inherent laziness and significantly improve the content publishing, storage and retrieval process.

Specifically, a CMS can offer many benefits and tools including:

• User-friendly, Web-based access and use
• Decentralised authoring, allowing many authors in multiple locations
• Document version and time controls
• Content approval workflow
• Database and template creation
• Dynamic page generation
• Link management
• Document conversion
• Personalisation
• Access control and built-in security
• Usage analysis
• Template and design standardisation

Not all systems offer these benefits, while some offer more or other benefits. Therefore, determining which systems and tools will best benefit your company depends on the your specific requirements.

One feature that links all of the above features together, is Dynamic Page Generation. This effectively creates the web pages "on-the-fly".