Internet and Businesses Articles

A CMS -- or Content Management System -- is a system to setup and maintain content. And this articles focuses on systems to support the content of your website. The system provides you with standard functionality to setup a site, to use a database, to standardize new web pages, al by means of some prefabricated routines, modules and tables. As any other standardized system, a CMS delivers some standard functions which can be parameterized; you are flexible up to the space left from these parameters.

But when should you use such a system? There are some advantages and disadvantages to consider.

Standardized systems get build because many users face familiar (design) issues. We all need a Web Site, like most companies need some kind of a ERP (enterprise resource planning) system. First these systems are designed in house, like people build their own web applications. Then, specialized companies dedicate their time and focus on building a standard solution for common problems.

The solution a CMS provides is a default design and easy maintenance of a common Web Site. As many people require a space on the virtual world, a CMS could help them.

But first you need to know whether your case really requires a CMS. Although such a decision is not that hard, there are many advantages and disadvantages. If you take these into account your step to implement a Web Site with (if the advantages match your situation) or without a CMS is just one further down the road.

A good example of the environment where the CMS is used is the news agency. The journalist writes either content on a PC (workstation) at the office or off side on a PDA and through an interface this content is transferred to the CMS and merged with the rest of the content flow; some content takes only the webroad, other only the printed version and yet other takes both...

© 2006 Hans Bool

Hans Bool is the founder of Astor White a traditional management consulting company that offers online management tools. Have a look at some of our free management tools. http://www.astorwhite.com/