Content Management System Evaluation Checklist
4.8/5 with 127 votes
Table of Contents
Introduction
A good content management system (CMS) can help you develop and maintain a beautiful, functional website with very little or no knowledge of web technologies like HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. The number of content management systems available, however, make choosing the right one difficult, but this checklist can help you narrow your focus and find the CMS that best suits your needs.
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- Your Organization
- Sector.In which business field do you operate?
- Fiscal Model.Are you for-profit or non-profit?
- Size.How many people are in your organization?
- Revenue Sources.Will you be selling goods or services online?
- Your Target Audience
- Is your website audience internal or external to your organization?
- Customer type.Will your website target businesses or individuals?
- Income.What is the basic income level of your audience?
- Motivation.Will site visitors be looking to make a purchase, learn something, or interact?
- Demographics.Evaluate typical visitor age, gender, race, ethnicity, and geographic location.
- Tech Savvy.What do your visitors expect from a website?
- Communication.How does your audience prefer to communicate?
- Your Administrative Users
- Responsibility.Who will build and maintain your content management system website?
- Scope.How many departments will make content updates?
- Tech Savvy.How much training will staff require to administer the CMS?
- Scope.Will upper management access administrative functions?
- Your Website Project
- Budget.How much can you spend?
- Timeline.When do you need to start and complete your website implementation?
- Scope.What functionality do you need from your website?
- Staff.How much employee time can you devote to a CMS project?
- Potential Content Management Systems
- Price.How much do the software and associated licenses cost?
- Technology.Is the CMS hosted, or will you need servers and IT staff?
- Mobile Friendly.Does the CMS work on tablets and smart phones?
- Open Source.Is the CMS source code available?
- Customers.What organizations are currently using the CMS?
- Community.Does the software vendor provide a forum or mailing list for customer interaction?
- Support.How does the vendor help resolve customer problems?
- Training.What options exist for helping staff learn your CMS?
- Security.Can you limit access to certain parts of the content management system?
- Expandability.Can you add administrative users without incurring additional costs?
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Presented by:
Adam Hughes
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Details
Content Management System Evaluation Checklist Tips
- Because you will be using a content management system to build the site that represents your organization on the Internet, make sure that the CMS you choose is technically capable of presenting the image that you want to portray. Some CMS software works well for hobby sites, but not business sites, so pay attention to how the end-product looks.
- If your organization has an IT staff, then an open source CMS might be a good choice since it allows for the most customization. Open source projects also tend to have strong communities around them, so getting help with problems is generally not too difficult.
- If at all possible, get access to a trial version of each content management system that you are considering. At the very least, request a live demo from the software vendor.
- Consult with peers at similar organizations who have recently adopted a new CMS to find out why they made the choices that they did.
Who it's for
This Content Management System Evaluation Checklist is for teams that want consistent execution, less rework, and clear ownership.
- Standardize quality - run the same Content Management System Evaluation steps every time, regardless of who executes
- Save time - reuse a proven Content Management System Evaluation workflow instead of rebuilding processes from scratch
- Improve accountability - assign owners and see what's done vs. what's pending
- Onboard faster - use the Content Management System Evaluation checklist as the SOP and training guide
- Coordinate across roles - handoffs are clear and everyone works from the same source of truth
How to use it
How to use this Content Management System Evaluation Checklist:
- Start by saving it - save as a Template if you'll reuse it, or as a Checklist if it's a one-off project.
- Customize it once for your workflow - remove what doesn't apply and add your team-specific steps.
- Assign ownership and execute - set owners/due dates where needed and track completion as work happens.
- Reuse without rebuilding - when Content Management System Evaluation comes up again, start from your saved version and run it with clear ownership.
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Scores 4.80 with 127 votes