Content Management Process

Originally published on January 25, 2017

19th in a series of 50 Knowledge Management Components (Slide 27 in KM 102)

Content management: creating, managing, distributing, publishing, and retrieving structured information — the complete lifecycle of content as it moves through an organization

Managing content is a key discipline that is not unique to knowledge management, but that is definitely related. Components of a content management process include creation, presentation, information architecture, infrastructure, and governance.

If your organization produces and maintains a large quantity of documents and presentations, internal and external web sites, or recordings and videos, then a content management process will be important for ensuring that content can be collected, delivered, used, maintained, and deleted effectively. And a related content management policy may be required to specify how content is created, stored, reused, and archived.

In the context of a KM program, content management should be applied to documents, methods, and templates stored in standard repositories. It especially applies to the creation, submission, and management of reusable documents. The goals are that content is presented in a consistent format; is reviewed and approved before being made available; can be readily found through browsing, searching, and notification; and is regularly reviewed, updated, and retired.

Insights

1. The process of content management in Wikipedia:

Content management is an inherently collaborative process. It often consists of the following basic roles and responsibilities:

• Creator — responsible for creating and editing content.
• Editor — responsible for tuning the content message and the style of delivery, including translation and localization.
• Publisher — responsible for releasing the content for use.
• Administrator — responsible for managing access permissions to folders and files, usually accomplished by assigning access rights to user groups or roles. Admins may also assist and support users in various ways.
• Consumer, viewer or guest — the person who reads or otherwise takes in content after it is published or shared.

A content management system is a set of automated processes that may support the following features:

• Import and creation of documents and multimedia material
• Identification of all key users and their roles
• The ability to assign roles and responsibilities to different instances of content categories or types
• Definition of workflow tasks often coupled with messaging so that content managers are alerted to changes in content
• The ability to track and manage multiple versions of a single instance of content
• The ability to publish the content to a repository to support access
• The ability to personalize content based on a set of rules

2. Seven Stages of the CM Lifecycle by Bob Doyle:

1. Organization/Information Architecture/User Centered Design
2. Creation/Capture/Acquisition /Aggregation
3. Storage/Repositories
4. Workflow/Roles/Editors/Casual Contributors
5. Versioning/Version Control/Templates
6. Publishing/Delivery/Multi-Channel/User Testing/User Experience
7. Archives/Retention/Preservation/Destruction

3. Master Your Content Using the Content Management Lifecycle by Erik Hartman defines six phases:

1. Plan

• Analyze
• Quantify
• Align
• Design

2. Develop

• Create
• Capture
• Collect
• Categorize

3. Control

• Store
• Secure
• Review
• Approve

4. Deploy

• Assemble
• Syndicate
• Personalize
• Localize
• Publish

5. Preserve

• Archive
• Backup
• Migrate
• Destroy

6. Evaluate

• Audit
• Measure
• Research
• Adapt

Examples

1. HP’s Content Management Domain

2. Deloitte’s Content Management Life Cycle

Resources

1. Articles About Content
2. Are you content with your content?
3. Content rating is different behind the firewall than it is on the Internet
4. Seven Stages of the Content Lifecycle by Bob Doyle
5. Content Management Systems by Alan Frost
6. Designing Content Workflow for Your CMS by Rick Allen
7. What is Enterprise Content Management? by Laserfiche
8. Content management as a process by James Williamson
9. CMS Fundamentals by James Williamson
10. Architecting an Enterprise Content Management Strategy by Abhishek Kumar
11. Is Enterprise Content Management as We Know it Done? by Virginia Backaitis
12. How to Design Your Content Strategy in 12 Steps by Erik Hartman
13. Content Management: Enablers of Effectiveness by APQC
14. Connecting People to Content (Collection) by APQC
15. Want Better Enterprise Content Management? Make Your Audience Happy by Lauren Trees
16. Can Enterprise Content Management be Fast, Findable, and High-Quality? by Mercy Harper
17. KM and content management, the turf war by Nick Milton
18. 5 points of difference between Knowledge Management and Information/Content management by Nick Milton
19. What is Enterprise Content Management (ECM)? by AIIM
20. Toolkit: How to Develop an ECM Strategy by AIIM
21. 14 Steps to a Successful ECM Implementation by AIIM
22. Infographic: Current State and Future Trends in Enterprise Content Management by Sean McGauley
23. 23 Things I Wish I Knew When I First Implemented a Content Management (ECM) Project by John Mancini
24. Content Management by AIIM
25. Building an Effective Content Management Strategy by Seth Earley
26. Developing a Content Maintenance and Governance Strategy by Seth Earley
27. Content Management by Seth Earley
28. Content Management and Information Architecture — interview with Lou Rosenfeld by Tony Byrne
29. Content curation by Martin White
30. Content Management by James Robertson
31. Metrics for knowledge management and content management by James Robertson
32. So, what is a content management system? by James Robertson
33. Content Management Requirements Toolkit by James Robertson
34. Content Management Requirements Toolkit sample by James Robertson
35. Requirements-focused CMS selection by James Robertson
36. Choosing the right CMS authoring tools by James Robertson
37. Losing sight of the content in a content management system by James Robertson
38. How to revive a zombie CMS by James Robertson
39. Top 10 mistakes when selecting a CMS by James Robertson
40. KMWorld
41. SIKM Leaders Community discussions

Books

1. The Content Management Handbook by Martin White
2. Content Management Bible (2nd Edition) by Bob Boiko
3. Content Critical: Gaining Competitive Advantage Through High-Quality Web Contentby Gerry McGovern and Rob Norton
4. Content Management for Dynamic Web Delivery by JoAnn Hackos
5. Managing Enterprise Content: A Unified Content Strategy (2nd Edition) by Ann Rockley and Charles Cooper
6. Enterprise Content Strategy: A Project Guide by Kevin Nichols and Ann Rockley
7. Enterprise Content Management in 7 Steps: Make your information simple, secure and mobile by Hannah Madsen
8. Enterprise Content Management: A Business and Technical Guide by Stephen Cameron
9. Enterprise Content and Search Management for Building Digital Platforms by Shailesh Kumar Shivakumar
10. The Content Strategy Toolkit: Methods, Guidelines, and Templates for Getting Content Right by Meghan Casey