Page 44 - FCW, April 2017

ExecTech
28
April 2017 FCW.COM
CMS 101
Content management systems have grown more powerful and easier to use, but there are still some important factors for government users to consider
BY WILLIAM FREEDMAN
“Content management system” is a fancy term for the back end of a web- site. Such systems do far more than manage web pages, however, and they put power in the hands of large and small organizations.
Even the most modest user can cre- ate a website whose content includes text, photos and streaming media. The site’s CMS can also send digests to customers via email and offer a fully functional and secure e-commerce gateway. And it can automatically update the user’s Facebook, Twitter and Instagram feeds.
But as things get easier for the aver- age American, they get more compli- cated for the government. Security, accountability, accessibility, political concerns and scrutiny that intensifies
in the wake of failures all place agency IT leaders in an increasingly fragile position.
Why it matters
An agency’s CMS is the point at which public service meets the public. Once agency content is posted online, it is in the public domain forever.
Delivering content management in the public or private sector involves “a lot of the same demands — inter- nal stakeholders with differing needs,” said Eric Uhlir, an associate creative director at Deloitte Digital. Even so, he noted that the government has an added layer of requirements. “Your customers are the citizens of the United States, which is a bigger tent of users.”
That tent includes journalists and activists who file Freedom of Informa- tion Act requests. And all that content comes with archiving requirements to ensure that the information doesn’t disappear.
All administrations are sensitive to public perception, but the Trump White House has demonstrated that it is fervently so. And considering that the current administration is presided over by one of the world’s most avid Twitter users, content management might be the one process an agency’s IT team must get right.
The fundamentals
CMS refers to web-based applications that publish content. Such systems comprise an interface that allows users