Special UB column on how to survive a CMS implementation: 5 tips from Rose Pruyne, Web Administrator at Penn State

Last July, I conducted several email interviews to prepare my column on how to survive a Content Management System (CMS) implementation for the October 2006 issue of University Business: “10 Tips for Surviving a CMS Switch”

Rose Pruyne, Web Administrator for the Department of Dairy and Animal Sciences at Penn State University, shared 5 tips of her own at this time.

Don’t get more CMS than you need.
Many are overgrown and unnecessarily complex. They’re expensive, difficult to install, and a pain to use. Avoid saddling your organization with a feature-cluttered behemoth that has a nasty learning curve – keep in mind that the idea is to make managing content easier.

Hammer out your requirements before looking at content management systems.
If you do it the other way around, there’s a temptation to spend more time comparing systems than matching them to your needs—and vendors will have an easier time convincing you that you need features you really don’t.

Consider Open Source.
Some of these blog/CMS tools—WordPress comes to mind—make it simple to get a streamlined version up and running quickly. After that, you can add features if and when you need them.

If a CMS does not generate Web Standards-compliant code, don’t just walk away from it. Run.

Don’t assume that a content management system will solve all your problems.
They don’t write content all by themselves. They don’t edit shoddy writing all by themselves. They don’t organize mismanaged content all by themselves. They don’t make strategic decisions about your site by themselves.