CMS: Costs More Skronk

I just finished reading the following article: "Building a local CMS at Kent State", by Rick Wiggins, Jeph Remley, and Tom Klingler, of Libraries & Media Services, Kent State University. To summarize, the Kent State University Library website, made mostly of static html pages built in Dreamweaver, was looking and functioning worse and worse due to inconsistencies created in the collaborative environment in which it was being created. The project was undertaken to create a website for the library that more effectively met the needs of the library's staff and users, including metadata creation and more effective database functionality. A variety of Content Management Systems were researched by the project team, who determined that none of the CMS's they examined was the right fit. The project then became the writing of a local Content Management System, with the team for this new project given the tight deadline of fourteen months to accomplish the task. The new CMS was developed using the input of focus groups, then implemented with the training of staff. The layout of the site, including the content creator interface, and the tools for the varying levels of management, have been laid out in the article. The CMS and resulting site have been pronounced successful.

Of all the articles about CMS's in Library Hi Tech's 2006 issue, which focused entirely on these systems, I was interested in this one because I have just begun working with Drupal, and I was curious what needs the Kent State Library had that Drupal could not meet. It seems the main areas of unmet need, in the original project researchers' 2006 estimation, centered on metadata. First, they wanted metadata to form a basis for the site. The resulting CMS uses metadata to organize the pages, and allows metadata search, as opposed to keyword search. Another need not met by Drupal or the other existing CMS's was to have the site send an email when a new resource was added that would alert library staff to play their respective roles in metadata creation. This was also ultimately accomplished by the new CMS and site.

The site in question, http://www.library.kent.edu if I'm not outdated, is indeed smooth and professional. It feels like there is more content and more streamlined function than many of the Drupal sites I've seen. But I wonder if project 1 would have turned into project 2 in, say, 2009? Not likely. For one thing, the metadata tools they required may have been added to one of the Open Source CMS's by then. Plus, days grew dark. As in:

Question: "Should we initiate project costing many thousands of dollars, or just create a module for Drupal or another pre-existing CMS?"

Answer: "Well, considering we just cut all of our part time staff...".

But this article is a valuable resource, a map of a road less traveled, successfully illuminated. So libraries, mark the metadata below. When the recession is over, you'll know where your roadmap is!

Article Type:

Technical paper
Keyword(s):

Content management; Information management; Libraries.
Journal:

Library Hi Tech
Volume:

24
Number:

1
Year:

2006
pp:

69-101
Copyright ©

Emerald Group Publishing Limited
ISSN:

0737-8831

Project Management, in case your manager didn't tell you...

Project Management is very complex! Let's simplify.

What is a project?
A project is an effort with some kind of measurable result, an effort that is definitely going to end.

What are the stages of a project?
These 4 stage are also known as the project "life cycle":

1. Initiation - defining objectives, critical factors, and success
2. Planning - breaking it down into tasks
3. Execution - carrying out the plan
4. Closure - completion and review

What is a program?
A program is a group of related projects. A program will only end if all of its projects are over.

What is an organization?
An organization is a group of people and resources employed together with the same objectives. An organization is not definitely going to end. However, an organization may employ people specifically for projects or programs. These people should know that their jobs may end when their main projects or programs end, even if the results of the project live on.

What is Project Management?
Most simply, Project Management (PM) is the use of models to manage the scope, time, and budget of a project.

What are the parts of Project Management?

There are 9 Knowledge Areas of PM and 5 types of processes in PM, often laid out this way:

	Initiating	Planning	Executing	Monitoring and Controlling	Closing
Integration
Scope
Time
Cost
Quality
Human Resources
Communications
Risk
Procurement

Why use PM?
Here are some of the risks if we don't use PM:

• "Scope creep" is adding new objectives as you go along, and it can seriously blur the original objectives.
• A lack of common understanding among team members always keeps them from performing well.
• Projects that take a while (and most of them do!) run out of steam if all involved don't know what stage it is in.
• Running out of money is such a drag!
• When there's trouble there's panic UNLESS the possibility of that trouble and a solution to it were addressed in the plan.

Do I really need to know all this?
This entire list is not something all staff members of every organization involved in projects need to know. However, the project manager should be sure that all staff members have a general idea of their roles in both the project and the organization.

Where can I find more information?
Look at http://pmi.org for more information, or if you're involved in a project, ask your project manager for a breakdown.