The term "Content Management System" (CMS) has always been for me rather non-descript, but somewhat effective in describing a range of ideas... in three words or less!

So what is a content management system exactly?

To break it down, it is any system (generally electronic in nature) that manages (manually or automatically) content (anything from images to music to documents or other data). Whew! Clear as mud.

Maybe we should consider some systems that are useful to us in social, economic and other contexts.

Content Management Systems for Photographers

If we look at, say, a photographer or photographic library, in both cases there will often be a tremendous number of images and derivative images (different sizes, edited, cleaned) that need to be managed. In the past these would have been on physical media such as slides, negatives and transparencies, but the trend is towards digital formats and electronic media.

There are various software products available that offer the management of vast libraries of photographic (and other) images, all of which could be classified as content management systems. These offer the ability to not only associate images together in families (catering for derivative images) but also to categorize through tagging, date, roll and even location. The same could be done with online content management systems, with the further advantage of being able to apply the content in other innovative ways. A slideshow of the photographers best work for a portfolio, perhaps.

Document Management Systems

A recent project we had was for the management and classification of a large number of electronic documents. This is useful in a number of industries and situations, for example, a manufacturer may have a number of documents not only associated with products (manuals, safety, procedural, marketing) but also for particular machines, such as engineering drawings, operations manuals and so on.

Using a content management system as a document management system means the manufacturer is easily able to classify documents into categories, associated products or equipment, company departments, dates, marketing campaigns, or virtually any other conceivable classification, which allows the end user fast and simple access to the right document at the right time.

These documents could be of any electronic format, attached to the appropriate page with the necessary metadata embedded on the page, or even a physical medium, where the page indicates the exact location of the document, such as the office address, room number, file, shelf, etc.

Asset Management Systems

Speaking of physical media, how about actual assets? Assuming every asset can be classified according to various categories and other metadata, why not have an electronic asset management system using a content management system? If the asset is large and mobile, one could even have GPS coordinates as metadata. Fortunately, talented programmers are able to integrate just about anything to content management systems.

Catalog Management/Inventory

A very popular catalog management application in use is an online store or online catalog. Here, each product can have various metadata allowing the appropriate classification of each product and product variation (blue caps, red caps, Canucks caps) so that they are easy to not only find, but to price.

The product nodes can have metadata such as stock volume, price, discounted price, input cost, SKU, location, history (previously owned products), color, shape, images, availability. Additionally, sites could have reviews, ratings, and related products.

Content Management Systems are Everywhere

As you can see, there are many, many applications and definitions of content management systems. The advantages of using them for organization, classification and management of content are tremendous.

Here at Southernwood Express, we make use of several open source content management systems for building our sites, including Drupal. We find Drupal has very strong content management capabilities, including the ability (through a few mechanisms) to add a multitude of metadata fields and classification categories, as well as various exceptional ways of allowing users to find the right content at the right time.

How would a content management system help in your business?