Web management software

By Kevin JonahSpecial to GCNContent. That's what the Web is all about. And government agencies have plenty of content to put on the Web. But the nature of that content has changed dramatically since the beginning of the Web age way back in the mid-1990s.Once upon a time'maybe two years ago'your agency Web site probably was made up mostly of static pages with a few well-placed applets and perhaps even some script-driven pages and a search engine. And back then, managing all the content on a site was a challenge.Now, without the proper tools, it's darn near impossible. Web sites increasingly are an application platform more than a home for static content, with dynamically rendered content and thousands of lines of back-end code in multiple scripting and programming languages.Where once agency sites were primarily collections of useful documents in electronic form, they now are self-service centers, purchasing systems, executive support systems and personalized information portals'often all wrapped up into one.For example, there's NASA's new NASA Technology portal. The home page, developed using software from Allaire Corp. and other companies, carries a wide variety of content, including dynamically rendered self-scrolling text fields and even embedded streaming video.As a result, content management tools have evolved from essentially glorified link-checkers to suites that handle most of the tasks required to maintain a bleeding-edge site. They provide sets of integrated tools that cover at least some aspect of site development and deployment tasks.The leading products in the content management field offer a consistent set of core features that handle the big tasks of content management: checking links, site deployment, versioning and rollback, site design and page authoring, controlling site access, change routing and notification, and other diagnostics such as site visualization.In some cases, the software products are really complete Web development platforms that handle additional tasks such as personalization, workflow and process automation, and even the development of Web applications.Of course, the core functions of any product claiming to be a content management tool are still things such as link maintenance and site diagnostics'the well-established domain of the webmaster.But the broad range of skills required to develop and deploy sites, along with the varying content being brought to the Web, has spread the job around to software developers, database administrators and knowledge workers within the organization. And all of them need software tools to help them pitch in.Many content management suites offer browser interfaces to reduce the problem of distribution and maintenance of client software, which is just what you'd expect from Web management software. But in some cases the browser interface is limited'and in other cases, browser-based administration of the site isn't supported at all.Database connectivity has become a critical element of many Web applications; more and more content is generated dynamically from databases. As a result, database management has become a bigger part of the overall content management problem. To make the most of enterprise data, content management systems have to allow site managers to manage database connections just as they manage other components of the site.A good example of this is the recently announced deal between the General Services Administration and Computer Technology Associates Inc. of Bethesda, Md., to upgrade the agency's GSA Advantage site with such capabilities as personalization based on a user's profile.The site will use software from content-management tool vendor BroadVision Inc. to manage the user experience and software from Sybase Inc. to manage the back-end database connections.It's important that your content management tool be flexible enough to handle a wide variety of content types'more than just good old Hypertext Markup Language and GIF and JPEG graphics. It should be able to handle JavaBeans, Perl scripts and other non-static content. And it's especially important that it handle Extensible Markup Language, which is becoming increasingly important as the reach of Web applications goes beyond traditional Web clients.While flexibility is key, it doesn't help if the content management tool you choose does not integrate well with Web site development tools your developers use. Many products work across a number of servers and content types, but it's important to pick the one that integrates best with your development tools so developers can be part of the Web site workflow.If your site, for example, relies heavily on Microsoft Corp.'s Active Server Pages technology, you'll want a content management tool that integrates with Microsoft Internet Information Server and handles ASP files. On the other hand, if you're using a Web application server that supports Java, JavaServer Page support is more important.Some content management tools go even further to include integrated development environments, such as BroadVision's One-To-One, Allaire's Spectra, and NetObjects Inc.'s Collage. These products take a nearly complete approach to producing pages as well as to managing content.All of these platforms also directly support a wide variety of third-party Web page development tools.As content generation becomes more of a distributed task, workflow and routing becomes another critical content management system feature. Some tools provide for the assignment of tasks to various content team members, the routing and approval of new content, and e-mail notification of team members to alert them when items have moved to their part of the workflow.BroadVision's One-To-One also provides a workflow tool, with a graphical workflow design interface.Perhaps the most important function of any content management tool is version control. When a new component of the site is rolled out, version control ensures that it is applied consistently across the site'and that it can be rolled back to a previous version if there's a problem. Often, these tools allow you to roll back a single element of the site, or roll back a page, set of pages, or even the whole site itself if necessary.There are different levels of versioning available. Some tools, such as Running Start Inc.'s ArticleBase, provide element-level versioning that allows webmasters to control deployment of graphics and other page components. Many others provide only page-level versioning granularity.Managing deployment goes hand in hand with workflow and versioning. The best content management tools allow you to deploy new content to multiple target servers'first to test servers, then to test the full site, and then to Web and application servers.Good content management tools allow you to schedule content deployment so sites are updated at a predetermined time, usually at the time of the lowest level of site traffic or at the beginning of a day, and can happen unattended.Another feature linked to deployment is content aging. The best content management systems can assign a lifecycle to each part of a Web site and automatically remove or archive stale content. This both saves storage space and cleans out obsolete data'an especially important feature if you have a dynamic site.With the tasks of content management becoming more decentralized, the importance of access control has been increased. This is especially true when members of the content team are off-site, gaining access through a browser or other remote network connection.Some content management systems provide roles-based security, limiting access to the functions and content of each team member's authority. Depending on your preferences and the profile of your content management team's organization, you may want a system that integrates with your organization's authentication system or directory service.Most of the major tool vendors offer several options: a Lightweight Directory Access Protocol interface for user authentication, an operating system-based user authentication or a standalone access control list separate from the system's database and the operating system.If you have remote users, you'll definitely want a system that supports secure Internet protocols such as secure Hypertext Transfer Protocol or Secure Sockets Layer as well as Data Encryption Standard or RSA encryption and possibly certificate-based authentication.In the end, the biggest part of making a decision on content management software is whether you want a point solution'one that picks the best individual tool for each function of site management'or a top-to-bottom integrated solution.Products such as BroadVision's are broad-based solutions; they're effectively application server solutions more than content management systems, and they cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to deploy. On the other end of the spectrum are products such as Watchfire's Linkbot Pro and Macrobot, which take on smaller chunks of Web publishing while leaving the development platform choice to the user. These products cost considerably less than broad-based suites.No matter how complete the product, you'll still need tools to test your site before deployment, and often you'll need still more tools to monitor site usage and log files. But at least you'll have the content under control.XXXSPLITXXX-