CARMINE ON: BluElvis Content Management
BluElvis is the enterprise content management system from The Donaldson Group. So, what's a content management system and why do you need one?
I started writing this article as a sort of Frequently Asked Questions of content management. But I've changed my mind. This article is about the questions that don't get asked. These are just a few:
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Q: Will BluElvis solve my content problems?
A: No. Well that was easy. If you ignore this NAQ, you may fail to address what may have lead you to initiating a CMS project in the first place; a poorly structured and out of date site. BluElvis, like all CMS tools, is an enabler. It makes publishing easy, but it won't write the copy for you. To solve content problems, you need to address NAQ #2 in addition to establishing a tone and language guideline. Set aside sufficient time before and after site launch to ensure the quality of content is improved and stays that way. -
Q: How will BluElvis fit into my business process?
A: BluElvis is the last step in the publishing process. To "fit in" a business process some how-to training is involved, but that's it. Before publishing, appropriate authoring models need to be established if your website is to remain up-to-date. In plain English, this means each section of the website should have a business department charged with monitoring visitor behavior, trends and requests, and determining creative ways to "push" marketing information. How it's handled from there depends on the culture of your organization. Your business processes may or may not need a change, but BluElvis fits right in at the end. -
Q: Will my organization resist adapting to a web CMS?
A: Yes. Does this sound familiar? Adoption is patchy, some departments are buying in and others are completely ignoring a recently introduced practice or application. It will be the same with BluElvis. There are ways around this. Usually, a department is ignoring recently added tasks because they are just too busy. We need to be practical about adding workload to staff. We often find resistance from staff until they get their hands on BluElvis and start making changes to a website. When they see how easy modifications are and see changes that reflect visitor trends, they get very excited.
Oh sure, you're squirming in your seat thinking about these issues. It might be easier to just stop reading right now and push the Never Asked Questions (NAQ's) out of your mind and forget about them: they might go away. Besides, isn't content management a technology discussion? Sorry, when it comes to successful content management it's all about people power.
There are plenty more NAQ's. Perhaps you have a few derived from a recent endeavor. We get our NAQ's from looking at projects in retrospect, and we say "I should have asked."
Carmine Morra
Director, Interactive Media
