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CMS Requirements

When I wrote the thesis about implications of using open source and open standards in Content Management Systems, I needed a set of requirements that would fit the structure of the rest of the thesis. Now I probably started off with a typical list of Bob Boiko's, but over the months of writing it sort of morphed and evolved into its present state.

I divided CMS requirements into 6 categories:

  • Technical (the requirements from this point of view, typically formed by the people who have to install and maintain the CMS)
  • Management (the users, the content managers' needs)
  • Globalization
  • Content Delivery (the needs of the audience, the content readers)
  • Costs
  • Extensibility

Not sure this table will come out right in the blog, but I attempt to paste it in:

Requirement

Keywords

Technical

Deployment

Installation, migration, environment

Integration

Infrastructure, architecture, connection

Templates

Consistency, graphical profile, re-use, customization

Backup

Exporting content, security

Monitoring

Site traffic, status, measure returns

Logging

Error handling, notification, security

Management

Creation

Editing, authoring, WYSIWYG

Publishing

Public content, drafting

Workflow

Content process, roles, responsibilities

Administration

User administration, access rights, configuration

Globalization

Internationalization

Translation, multi-language sites

Localization

Locale, format date, time, currency

Content Delivery

Syndication

Export, XML, E-mail, news-feed

Accessibility

Disabled content readers, limited devices

Search

Search-engine, intelligent searches, tuning

Communication

Visitor feedback, forum, comments, chat

Costs

Extensibility


Over the next few weeks I'll do some posts detailing these requirements.

Until then, have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, everyone!
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