A Content Management System (CMS) is an environment which is designed to manage large sets of data. A CMS can be as simple as updating a small portfolio website with new words and images, or it can encompass a full e-commerce product-order-fulfilment system.
Generally, CMS’s are categorised as:
- Enterprise CMS (ECMS)
- Web CMS (WCMS)
- Document Management System (DMS)
- Mobile Content Management System
- Component Content Management System
- Media Content Management
Here at e-volve we have developed numerous CMS systems which run alongside our various web applications. Each of these have many fundamental and common elements, however, one CMS won't necessarily integrate with two different web applications (or intranet systems). We therefore always work closely with our clients to identify their specific needs, and then integrate the required functionality where necessary.
What is a Content Management System?
A CMS essentially allows an administrator direct access to a database, and therefore an easy way to quickly update their associated website. This may be as simple as changing the words on a particular page, or the ability to upload new image galleries, or even the management of their entire customer - product - order - fulfilment process.
Clearly, the CMS has to work with your business, and since more and more traders are choosing to sell online, the CMS systems are becoming increasingly complicated.
What is involved in creating a Content Management System?
A CMS is designed to handle multiple objects, here are a few examples:
Users
Users are defined in the CMS according to their roles. This allows us to lock certain groups of people out of certain elements of the system. In most cases, Users would generally be grouped as Administrators, Staff Members, Customers, Drivers to name but a few.
A User itself can be defined as simply as:
- Contact Details (Name, Telephone etc)
- Address
- Log in Details (username and password)
However, in most systems, there are many more properties that are required to define the individual user.
Customers
Customers are a group of Users. Customers generally only have access to front-end web applications so that they can make purchases through the system. Their login details will only get them access to the relevant 'My Account' section, but will prevent them access to the administration system. A customer will generally include (further to that of a user) billing addresses, payment card details and preferences.
General Pages
General pages are pages which we would expect to appear on almost every website. An example of these would be; the home page, a contact us page or an about us page.
A general page consists of a set of required information and a further set of optional information. Whether something is required or not will be dependent upon the application. We force some required data to both ensure the continuity of the website, but also to provide at least a basic set of information which a search engine can pick up when spidering the website.
Products
In the case of an e-commerce application, products are fundamental to the success of the system. Within the CMS, products can be added or updated, stock levels can be managed and reports can be displayed showing the success or failure of the item.
Orders
All order history, including fulfilment processing can be managed through a CMS. Product warehousing, shipping company services and packaging can all be dealt with, and the system can calculate any relevant margin numerics.
All payment card authorisation data can be monitored and diagnosed within the CMS.
Blog Section
Blogs have become increasingly popular over the last couple of years as a means to communicate with customers. Within a CMS, administrators can add new blog entries and handle the responses from customers (as you can appreciate, sometimes some people leave comments that are not appropriate for display).
News and Events
Like the blog, the news and events section allows a website owner the ability to communicate with their customers. However, a news item is generally specified so that it is much more search engine friendly, and hence certain elements are mandatory.
FAQs Section
This section allows clients to answer all those questions which are either not answered anywhere in the website or to provide a easy and quick way of answering those questions which crop up now and again. These questions and answers are very easily managed and can appear anywhere on the website.
Themes, Events and Promotions
Many websites promote their products or services through these comparable but different features.
The Theme feature allows clients to apply a site wide theme to their website. An example of this would be a Christmas theme, where for example a Christmas style background can be applied to website or banners which would include the Christmas style theme. The main distinction from Events or Promotions is that the Theme is always site-wide. A client would use the CMS to create these themes, inputting any required data and uploading images as appropriate. Themes can be displayed when required but only one Theme would ever be set to display in a single instance.
Events and promotions differ from a theme in that they would generally promote specific products, however these two features could also relate to a theme, such as Christmas events or promotions.
Marketing
When customers visit the website they may join a mailing list. Depending on the client there may be more than one mailing list. These mailing lists might be specific to products, promotions, newsletters and so on. The CMS gives us the ability to output specific data so that we can market specific customers.
In addition to the mailing lists, customers can also be asked to provide information on where they heard about the client. Depending on the client this again could be as simple or complex as is required. In its simplest form the customer can select from a simple list of sources such as Google, Newspaper/Magazine, Radio and so on.
Record of Change
In order to preserve data integrity, and to ensure there is a good record of traceability, all elements within the database have the modifier and the date modified attached to any changes.
If you are interested in this service, or would like some additional information or explanation, then please give us a ring on 01670 501 599.