Case study 5 - Content and web management
Description:
Our client had a main Web site and a number of micro-sites and the content management system (CMS) that supported them had been written in-house by a developer who subsequently left the organisation. They needed to replace the CMS with a standard, 3rd party application in order to remove their reliance on one person for its maintenance and development.
MCL's analysis:
The client had people skilled in running Web sites and in the back-end integration with other sites and systems. However, they had little experience with 3rd party CMS software and insufficient time to be able to gain that experience.
Their Web sites comprised "standard" content with nothing out of the ordinary but they did have requirements for the CMS to be integrated with other sites and services. They also needed the CMS to have a development roadmap, ie they had to be confident that it would continue to improve.
Traditional way of addressing these problems
Many organisations would use Google to draw up a list of the top 5-10 CMS providers and download trials. They would use each one and see which "felt" right and might use a checklist to tick off the functions that they required.
They may also try to look at what similar organisations used in the way of a CMS but often they wouldn't be told.
Having shortlisted, they'd ask the providers to present and they would see examples of good sites that had been created using the respective CMS packages. But they may not know what questions to ask in order to determine if each CMS would or wouldn't be a good solution in every respect.
The final choice may or may not be the right one. And it may attract high costs, not only of purchase but also of ownership.
MCL's solution:
MCL planned and delivered a programme of replacement comprising
- Creating and managing business requirement and functional requirement summaries to establish what was REALLY wanted
- Researching the market for software that would fit the requirements
- Creating a running a programme of evaluation and further, more detailed checks against the requirements summaries
- From the shortlist, interview the suppliers and follow up on reference sites - to further shorten the list to three suppliers
- Arrange supplier presentations
- Create checklist from requirements and check the software against it
- Supported client in selection process, helping them to resolve conflicts of opinion
- Completed selection process and followed up with support on implementation
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