Abstract
When we looked at the characteristics of document and Web content management in Chapter 3, we noted that there could be many limitations with how enterprises manage content published to Web sites. In Chapter 4, we demonstrated that subsystems exist within the IDCM framework to address these types of limitations. The importance of relevant and timely content cannot be understated. Its presence has a significant impact on the quality, effectiveness, and popularity of a Web site, with some observers (Chatelain & Yen, 2000) jesting that “content is the next frontier” on the Internet. If visitors to a site are not satisfied with its content, the “one click” factor applies — these visitors are one click away from moving from one Web site to another site. Depending on the nature of the Web site, the effectiveness of content might be measurable using a range of performance criteria. For example, transactional logs stored on Web servers may provide an indication of how much navigation is carried out within a site. There has also been a great deal of analysis of how the content may best be structured in an information architecture (Rosenfeld & Morville, 1998), and development of evaluation schemes that establish qualitative criteria for evaluation of various factors, such as how the functionality, design, authority, and validity of a site influence the substance of the content (Auer, 2002). In this chapter, we extend our discussion on the capabilities of IDCM systems to manage Web content, irrespective of whether the content is targeted for Internet or intranet sites. We review the functional requirements for a managed IDCM environment that provides cohesive end-to-end management of processes associated with the development and management of Web content. Our objectives are as follows: • Review the types of functionality offered by IDCM solutions for implementing management services over the Web content life-cycle. • Provide a checklist of functionality that provides a primer for organizations when considering their specific requirements for managing Web content.