CMS A TO Z

Ok - so we just completed an evalutation for a client who need an enterprise level CMS to manage their member base of more than 8,000 member.

Core functionality requirements were:

• Store basic member minformation
• Allow members to modify their user names and passwords
• Enforce periodic password changes
• Allow the uploading of photos and severl types of media (mostly pdfs and word docs)
• Password retrieval (via email)
• Moderated join requests (members had to be approved)
• Customizable fields that could be managed via the admin interface
• Categorization of the members into several groups
• A customizable member directory
• And an internal messaging system with email aerts

We looked at a large number of options, all of which were hosted cms solutions, because the client wanted to reduce the start-up costs for the system, and wanted to avoid having to hire a technical person to manage the system after it was up and running.

While it's not so important which system we ended up choosing (or even which systems we evaluated), it is important the the evaluation was fairly straight forward because the criteria we used made the decision fairly easy.

So I wanted to share our process:

Our first step was to compile a list of hosted cms systems, and track where the "lead" came from. Priority was given to those systems that either came to us by recommendation from either vendors (who used them, not who produced them), and secondary priority was given to those that were built by vendors we already used (which included to of the systems). Least priority was given to those that we found on sites like this one or that were found via google search.

Our second step was to do a prelimiary evaluation of whether or not the systems met our core criteria for the member management system (outlined above). While this is not a comprehensive set of criteria, it actually knocked out about 80% of the systems from the running. The most important bit was the customization of the fields. Fewer than expected had this feature. The internal messaging system also turned out to be less available than expected without jumbing through hoops or trying to make modules work in ways they were not built for.

Our third step was to evaulate the remaining 5 solutions with the following checklist:

1. Does the hosted cms service provide 24 hour support (our clients often work odd hours)?
2. Does the cms allow us to export the member data easily in case we need to change providers for some reason?
3. Do the cms developers support customized modules in case our needs change later on?
4. Can we start with a canned design (preferably one provided by the cms service) and then change to a custom design if the system is popular?

It all sounds pretty simple, but in the end, only 2 providers met the criteria. Once we had that information, we wer ready to evaluate the systems more fully, and the decision turned out to be pretty simple. There was nearly unanimous agreement that one of the CMS systems was more intuitive (especially for the end-users). It also came with functionality that we had not even considered in our discussions but which we could see being very useful in the long run.

And it turned out that the system we chose had come via recommendation, which solidified the confidence on our choice.

So I guess the bottom line is: If you are looking for a hosted CMS solution, make sure you know what your "can't do without" criteria are, and stick to them. Don't be sold on stuff that seems cool, but doesn't really get you what you NEED.