Guide to Enterprise Content Management

Transcription

1 Guide to Enterprise Content Management February 2010 Version 2.1 1

2 Table of Contents introduction... 5 what is enterprise content management?... 5 capture... 6 manage and store... 7 deliver... 7 preserve... 7 capture... 8 capture- processes... 8 authoring... 8 acquisition... 8 conversion... 8 aggregation... 8 collection services... 8 capture - core technologies and application specific modules... 9 authoring... 9 aggregation... 9 document imaging... 9 workflow enterprise report management e-forms/web forms optical, mark, and intelligent character recognition manage and store manage and store -processes web content management copy deck processes records management processes RM ISO processes manage and store- core technologies and application specific modules document and library services

3 policy services repository services storage workflow search administration reporting and logging deliver publishing templates publishing services web publications other publications XML/DOM managed deployment capabilities preserve preserve - core technologies and application specific modules information protection retention and disposition schedule data destruction legal hold process storage management trends and solution approaches in enterprise content management trends emergence of Microsoft Sharepoint solution approaches business case for enterprise content management business drivers back-office and front-office benefits economic considerations enterprise content management vendors and packages

4 further information and references References ISO Standards

5 introduction Enterprise Content Management (ECM) and Content Management Systems (CMS) have matured and now serve diverse business needs. These range from basic document management to collaborative social networking. Content management is comprised of a set of technologies, strategies, and processes that enable businesses to employ applications such as web content management, document management, records management, management, collaboration, social networking, and business process management. Providing a broad view of the content management discipline, this guide defines and discusses the core functions, components, and processes that comprise enterprise content management. Written at the end of 2009, it presents the major trends, and challenges facing businesses in 2010, and the associated vendor offerings and implementation models. For those evaluating the application of content management, it outlines key economic and business case considerations. In addition, it addresses Microsoft SharePoint, the upsurge in the use of SharePoint, and its role in future enterprise implementations. Lastly, it includes a bibliography for further information. what is enterprise content management? The majority of information technology efforts to-date have dealt with structured data. Structured data is characterized by well-defined data types, formats and relationships. Stored in databases, this data is manipulated to serve the transactional needs of businesses. But the use of structured data is not sufficient to support today s business needs. In fact, the Gartner Group estimates that the majority (80%) of business conducted today uses unstructured information. This information resides in documents, s, presentations, videos, images, operating procedures, to name a few. This unstructured information is called content and it is loosely defined as information put to use or information that has context and purpose. Solidifying the definition, the Association for Information and Image Management (AIIM) has defines ECM as follows: ECM is the strategies, methods and tools used to capture, manage, store, preserve, and deliver content and documents related to organizational processes. ECM tools and strategies allow the management of an organization's unstructured information, wherever that information exists. Implicit in this AIIM definition is that ECM addresses the organization, processes, administration and control of content. 5

6 Figure: ECM 101 Source: AIIM and Doculabs Visually ECM 101 (see the figure above) illustrates the technologies that contribute to ECM and categorizes them into four processes: 1. Capture 2. Manage and Store 3. Deliver 4. Preserve capture Capture addresses the authoring, collection and ingestion of content into a managed information repository. The capture function is comprised of processes and components for: 1. Authoring creating content from scratch 2. Acquisition acquiring and loading unstructured information in an electronic format using technologies such as document scanning, XML, and electronic forms 3. Categorization defining the metadata that defines the content and applying technologies such as document imaging, bar coding, and forms processing to capture content, as necessary 6

7 manage and store The centerpiece of the ECM 101 graphic is Manage and Store. Manage addresses a broad range of technologies and services for administering content. Basically, these are services provided to the applications listed on the center ring of the ECM 101. Examples of these services with respect to specific applications are listed below. 1. Document Management library services such as: document check-in/checkout, version management and search. 2. Collaboration groupware and collaboration functions such as: whiteboarding, video conferencing, scheduling, project management, joint information databases, and information integration. 3. Web Content Management (WCM) services for administering the creation, publishing, and delivery of Web material. 4. Records Management (RM) services for the administration of compliance functions such as: file planning, retention, and disposition (destruction). 5. Workflow and Business Process Management (BPM) services to guide, manage, and control business processes used in the delivery of information. The Store part (of Manage and Store) refers to the repositories, file directories, and system structures used to store content. Key components of this store function are: deliver preserve 1. Repositories information administrative technologies (such as file systems, directories, content databases, and control/configuration databases). 2. Library Services search and retrieval of information located in various repositories. 3. Storage Technologies physical maintenance of information using technologies such as: read and write magnetic media, magnetic tape and digital optical media. Deliver refers to the publishing (output) of information in response to business process needs. Major components of this function are: 1. Transformation preparing the information for distribution via technologies such as templates, XML, compression, and syndication. 2. Security ensuring appropriate information access and tracking. 3. Distribution delivering the information to the appropriate delivery channel (portals, , fax, XML, and paper). Preserve is closely aligned with Store. It addresses the retention, archival storage, and subsequent disposition of stored information. Preserve works in concert with content management requirements and records management processes and technologies. Typical technologies employed for preservation are optical disk and tape, specialized magnetic disk storage such as content addressable storage, storage networks, and in some instances, microfilm. The following further breaks down the elements and components of enterprise content management. 7

8 capture Content management systems (CMS) are tailored to meet the expectations of the purposes they serve. Each requirement, audience, content type, and publication is formulated to serve the goals of the system. The front-end of the CMS is responsible for ingesting and structuring content. It consists of the following processes: authoring, acquisition, conversion, aggregation, and collection. capture- processes authoring The authoring process is primarily a user-driven process to create and revise content, e.g., updating or creating a new web page. It is typically a manual process aided by tools such as web-based forms for drafting and revising. Some of the tools used for authoring are templates, pre-defined formats, and desktop office suites. acquisition Within the capture process, acquisition addresses the gathering information that wasn t created natively by your CMS. For example, syndicated news is a source of information created externally and designed to be used in diverse ways. A CMS provides capabilities to collect, package and distribute this information. conversion In many instances, information that is created or acquired has to be converted to a format that is usable within your CMS. Conversion typically consists of stripping (e.g., removing headers/footers), format mapping (changing to the format supported internally by the CMS), and structure mapping (making the information s structure explicit through tagging). In many instances, information requires conversion to digital form prior to ingestion into the CMS, for example ingesting analog photos. The conversion process takes inputted data and ensures that it conforms to the format and structural tagging of your CMS. aggregation Aggregation operates in concert with the authoring or acquisition of information. It is the process of bringing information into the CMS in a unified (normalized) way to ensure consistency, styling, and usage. This process is sometimes referred to as the development of content components whereby data is named (tagged), fitted into context, and made available through the use of a consistent set of rules. Aggregation is often part of the conversion process. An example of an aggregation process is the editorial process used by professional publishing groups. The editorial process is basically a framework and rules for ensuring correctness and consistency of content. Without such rules, publications would lack unity, organization, and professionalism. This same consistency is required within a CMS. collection services Collection services are services that aid in the ingestion of content into the CMS. They allow for either authoring directly into a CMS or loading previously created content into the CMS. Two examples of a collection services are: 1) using web-based forms for gathering content; and 2) applying collection tools for the bulk loading of data records. 8

9 capture - core technologies and application specific modules Most organizations work in a hybrid electronic (digital) and hardcopy (paper) environments. For this reason, different capture technologies come into play. These diverse technologies enable services for authoring, aggregation, document imaging, workflow, enterprise report management, electronic forms, and character recognition. authoring Authoring technologies allow a user to define, create, and revise initial content. Today s content management systems have intuitive user interfaces (UI) for content contributors. These UIs either provide 1) in-line and in-context editing to enable management of content in context; or 2) integrate desktop authoring tools. In the case of in-line, in-context editing, the CMS provides aids such as templates, controlled vocabularies, and standard data for specific content types. Templates set up header, footer, titles, body copy blocks, sidebars and navigation. Authoring works with the workflow environment and user defined processes for: 1) Discovery and clarification gathering data 2) Framing the copy outlining content 3) Writing creating the copy deck 4) Publishing posting, reviewing, editing, and auditing of content In those instances where content creators want to use native desktop tools (integrated desk top tools), the CMS provides an authoring environment comprised a full application suite such as Microsoft Word or extensions to the author s native environment. For example, basic integration enables content creators to check in/check out, and publish content from the Microsoft Word application. aggregation In addition to authoring content or acquiring pre-existing content, it is necessary to bring this content into the CMS through a structured process. This process is called aggregation. Aggregation consists of editorial processing, breaking information in content components, and fitting content into the prescribed structure of the CMS. Aggregation ensures that the content components are defined by the rules and metadata guiding the CMS. Editorially, there are business rules and templates for correctness and consistency, and content is segmented through the use of a content model. For example, this model may be XML-based with an explicit markup. document imaging Document imaging is another common capture technology. The purpose of document imaging is to convert hardcopy documents into digital formats. Users typically go through a four-step process: 1) Input use scanners to convert hard copy to digital information. 2) Identify tag and index this digital information for retrieval. 3) Store use CMS facilities to store the imported digital information into content repositories. 4) Retrieve use CMS facilities to retrieve, view, or modify digital content. 9

10 workflow Content management systems are guided by workflow capabilities and components. This central component is responsible for coordinating, scheduling and enforcing schedules and tasks. The workflow system provides for routing, tracking, and administering the flow of information within the CMS. There are three types of workflow: 1. Administrative these are workflow processes that rarely change and are used to administer and control the system, e.g., standard backup and archiving tasks 2. Ad-hoc- these are workflow processes that are defined to perform a particular job 3. Production- production workflow combines administrative and ad hoc workflows to provide extensive monitoring, tracking, logging, and reporting capabilities, e.g., XSLT style sheets The workflow system consists of processes, queues, monitors, tools, and business rules. Business rules are defined to be responsive to established policies that address content creation, review, approval, conversion, administration, and publishing. Tools supporting workflow include forms processors, word processors, terminal emulators, and sometimes legacy application interfaces. enterprise report management Enterprise Report Management (ERM) is a technology inherited from Electronic Document Management Systems. It is either integrated or used in concert with a CMS to store electronic formatted reports. Formerly called Computer Output to Laser Disk (COLD), ERM technologies provide an integrated hardware and software solution for storing and indexing formatted computer output pages onto optical disk or other storage media. Examples of formatted output are point-in-time transaction reports, statements, and invoices. These can be viewed or distributed to internal workstations or external partners. The capabilities underlying ERM are derived from two major procedures: 1) recording which includes indexing and storing data, and 2) retrieving (providing user access to ERM data). The recording process includes transferring the data to the host repository, extracting index keys, compressing, writing to optical storage, and adding index records. Once a report is ingested into the host repository, it is accessible for analysis. e-forms/web forms The utilization of electronic (e-forms) or web forms is a means to consistently capture data in a standard format. E-forms are often created using a forms design package or standard HTML editors. The use of forms is widespread as a vehicle for consistently preparing and managing the population of content into a CMS repository. optical, mark, and intelligent character recognition Optical, mark, and intelligent character recognition (respectively, OCR, OMR, ICR) are technologies applied in the acquisition process to capture electronic data from hardcopy documents. There are differences among these technologies: 10

11 Optical character recognition (OCR) is used to scan and capture electronic data from documents. Optical mark recognition (OMR) is used to capture marks or checks from documents (portions of documents). Intelligent character recognition (ICR) is used to capture hand-written information from documents. These technologies aid in the collection of data from hard-copy documents and minimize manual input. 11

12 manage and store The Manage and Store component is the centerpiece of a CMS. Collectively, they are responsible for the management and storage of content from diverse sources, as well as the administration, workflow, and connections to other systems. Manage and store capabilities are implemented as services that enable specific applications such as: Web content management Records management Document management Business process management Publishing (hard copy and web publishing) Contract management Legal matter management manage and store -processes All content management applications address the life cycle of information, the flow of information from creation to destruction. Since the applications listed above (e.g., records management) have different purposes, they embody processes attuned to their function. Without getting into extensive detail, the following discusses two key processes: 1) copy deck used in web content management, and 2) the ISO chartered records management process. web content management copy deck processes Web content management is an extensively used capability under the umbrella of Enterprise Content Management. It is one of the fastest-growing areas of ECM. Copy deck is a process used in web content management. The Copy Deck is the road map for the pages and the flow of the site. It lays out the pages, the pictures or graphics to be used, the content and finally the navigation between the pages. High level processes are: 12

13 Copy Deck Processes 1. Discovery 2. Clarification 4. Content & Data Management 4. Outlining 3. Creating the Framework 5. Creating the Copy Deck 6. Publishing 7. Posting, Reviewing, Editing records management processes RM ISO processes Records Management processes are chartered with retention and destruction of business data and documents necessary to meet operational, legal, and regulatory requirements. The diagram below illustrates the records management processes derived from the ISO standard for records management. Governance Planning RM Life Cycle Processes* 1. Records Capture, And Transfer 2. Register 3. Classify & Index 4. Content & Data Management 5. Access & Security 4. Storage & Handling 6. Use & Tracking 7. Disposition Management *ISO Other applications, such as contract management and legal matter management, have similar process characteristics. manage and store- core technologies and application specific modules Referring to the ECM 101 picture, the management component provides document and library, policy services, and repository services. These are enabled by core 13

14 technologies such as SAN and NAS storage technologies, and software for search and retrieval. Starting with document and library services, some of the more salient capabilities are presented below. document and library services Document and library services are core capabilities that enable the CMS to manage digital content. These services allow users to: Import digital documents directly into the content management system Tag this content with data that describes it (metadata) Create containers (folders) that link documents together Restrict access to collections or specific documents Check documents in/out Perform versioning Track document versions Convert from one format to another, e.g., XML conversion Apply security access and restrictions Apply security at the document and file level These capabilities work with the repository, and policy services capabilities to index and store content, to provide search, access, and retrieval capabilities. policy services Policy services furnish capabilities for implementing the business rules (policies) specified for handling and managing content. For example in records management, policy services implement the retention and disposition policies for business records. In most records management applications, the user interacts with the content management system by creating, editing, and approving documents, without any awareness of the retention policies. Retention assignment and policy implementation are triggered by user actions, workflows and document lifecycles. Often these policies are applied to folders, repositories, and individual documents/objects. repository services storage The repository is responsible for housing and protecting data. A repository is comprised of databases, file structures, directories, and other system structures. These are used to house content, as well as control and configuration data for the used by the CMS. Control and configuration data includes: publishing templates, user definition files, business rules, indices, metadata, system catalogs and registries, scripts. Content databases are built upon relational database technology, XML object databases, or custom tailored storage approaches. Content management systems operate in conjunction with the technology infrastructure and storage technologies such as SAN and NAS, and use media such as optical disc, and magnetic storage. Enterprise, unlike departmental, content management systems apply tiered storage and interoperate with policy-based approaches that implement content storage services within the infrastructure. 14

15 Storage services are orchestrated through policies aimed at enabling efficient information lifecycle management (ILM). These policies are defined by administrators and deliver policy-based allocation, movement, and archival storage across tiers based on the data s changing value and access requirements. Enterprise systems provide detailed reporting and auditing, and reduce the risk of noncompliance. Additional capabilities include content compression and de-duplication. workflow The workflow components of the CMS are responsible for scheduling, coordinating, triggering, and enforcing tasks. These workflow actions are based on pre-established business rules and affect all major systems/subsystems within a CMS. In the capture system, workflow guides content creation, collection, aggregation, and ingestion, and in some instances, conversion. In the management system, workflow handles the assessment, review, and verification of content, as well as standard administrative tasks, e.g., backup/recovery, security. In the delivery system, workflow directs the publishing cycle. The publishing cycle is responsible for pulling content from the repository and creating publications. Workflow guides steps such as layout/design, conversion, review, and delivery. search Two varies of search capabilities exist in content management systems: 1)standalone search, and 2) federated search. 1) Traditional search or stand-alone search solutions are characterized by crawlers (programs) that crawl information sources and create a static, master index from the individual index of each repository or source. Early content management systems embraced this approach. But limitations and problems exist. a. First, the master index is constantly updated, consists of duplicate information and often requires extensive resources to maintain. b. Second, and most importantly, the crawling approach breaks the security model of each repository it is indexing in order to generate a master index. It then reconstructs this model for each object often creating legal, regulatory, and security risks. 2) Federated search solutions search each repository or source index in place. There is no security protocol duplication and there is access to an unlimited number of information sources with a single query. Moreover, a number of solutions like EMC Documentum employ information rights management that secures and tracks information wherever it resides, e.g., within a workgroup, across departments, or with external partners.. administration The administrative components of a CMS affect the capture, manage, and delivery systems within a CMS. For example in the capture subsystem, roles and access 15

16 privileges are managed; in the manage subsystem, the security, indexing, storage, and control are guided; and in the delivery subsystem, the publication structure and services are coordinated by administrative services. Security is a major aspect of administration. Capabilities are in place to authenticate users. This includes authors, editors and reviewers, with the ability to delegate and assign permissions. reporting and logging Within the majority of content management systems, logging keeps track of what is happening within the system. Typically, the management system maintains logs for web server activity, workflow, versioning and sharing, transactions, and processes. Reporting in most systems is achieved through the embedding or external execution of a reporting package like Crystal Reports. 16

17 deliver The delivery or publishing subsystem provides the capabilities for getting the right content to right audience on the right device. It controls the assembly of content components into final products and guides their delivery. delivery - core technologies and application specific modules publishing templates Publishing templates are the mainstay of the delivery subsystem. They bridge the content in the repository with the particular needs driving the publication. A publication could be a web page, an electronic publication, a print publication, or syndication of content. Unlike Microsoft Word templates, publishing templates are comprised of formatting information, as well as logic that specifies how the publication is to be built. Templates include: Static information such as text and media Logic such as calls to publishing services that retrieve and format content Calls to services outside of the CMS that integrate the publication into a wider organizational infrastructure publishing services Publishing services are application services that are used in the creation of publications. They enable personalization, conversion, content extraction, PDF output, print output, web page updates, and others. The most common use of a CMS today is to create and maintain web publications. web publications Web publications are those pages formatted and posted for viewing and use on the internet and intranet. These pages are a combination of content elements and formatting drawn from templates and style sheets. other publications A CMS can also be used for the design/layout, formatting, and delivery of print, electronic, and syndication-oriented publications: 1) Print publications content and metadata are retrieved, and converted to print format 2) Electronic publications content and metadata are retrieved, formatted, and delivered to CD-ROM, DVD, and other non-html media 3) content is delivered to channels 4) Syndications content is published for distribution and reuse in publications other than your CMS or web site, e.g., other web sites or portals 17

18 XML/DOM XML (Extensible Markup Language) is a set of rules for encoding documents electronically. It is a markup language that surrounds content and indicates what the content is (its structure) and what it should look like (its format). XML markup tags have a distinct syntax and well-defined meaning. These are used extensively in content management systems to structure, store, retrieve, and administer content. XML is also used as a data exchange format and a command interchange format for content management systems. XML is used to wrap data and commands so that they can be interpreted by other applications. XML is used extensively with the Document Object Model (DOM) to give programs complete and comprehensive access to XML structures. The DOM is an object model with properties and methods for manipulating XML. managed deployment capabilities Supporting the process of delivery, the delivery subsystem has management capabilities. These enable the managed deployment and delivery of content to web servers or site management systems. 18

19 preserve The preserve capability focuses on the long-term preservation of content. This is often associated with the legal and regulatory requirements for records management, and the long-term access to business data, e.g., tax returns. Fundamental to the preservation of content or records is the ability to ensure that the content is trustworthy. Trustworthy has been defined by standard bodies as records that possess the following attributes: Accessible the record must be made available promptly Authentic the record is what it purports to be and is free from tampering or corruption Integrity the record is complete and unaltered Reliable the record can be trusted as the full and accurate representation of the transaction, activities, or facts to which it attests, and it can be depended upon in the course of subsequent transactions and activities The following exemplifies the records retention periods for a few of the many regulatory requirements facing businesses today: Government - OSHA Life Sciences/ Pharmaceutical (21 CFR Part 11) Toxic exposure 30 years Records for food (manufacturing, processing, packing) 2 years after release Records for drugs (manufacturing, processing, packing) 3 years after distribution Records for bio products (manufacturing, processing, packing) 5 years after end of manufacture Healthcare HIPAA Financial Services (SEC 17a4) Sarbanes-Oxley Medical records Hospital (either original or legally reproduced form) Medical records for minors from birth to 21 possibly life Medical records 2 years after patient death Financial Statements Member registration for broker/dealers end-of-life of enterprise Trading account records end of account plus 6 years Financial and correspondence data 4 years after audit Years Example of Retention Requirements 19

20 preserve - core technologies and application specific modules The technologies that apply to capture, manage, store, and deliver content are also those that assist in the long-term preservation of content. These technologies are not discussed in this section. Instead, this section highlights auxiliary technologies brought to bear to support content preservation and records management: information protection, retention and disposition, data destruction, legal holds, and storage management. information protection The protection of information assets is critical to the long-term preservation of data. Data protection has roots in clearly defined policies, standards, and guidelines for information and security. These intersect with the guidance for data/records classification, and guidelines for handling electronic information. The use of ISO/IEC 17799:2005 (ISO/IEC 27002) as a code of practice for defining information protection and controls is a typical starting point. retention and disposition schedule A retention and disposition schedule is the focal point of any preservation or records management program. It specifies how long, where and in what format records will be kept, and how they will be destroyed at the end of their lifecycle. This schedule is a part of a file plan. A file plan lays out the key elements of long-term preservation by describing: 1) file assets, location, and ownership 2) records retention/disposal 3) policies and procedures for organizing, identifying, and classifying files File plans and retention/disposition schedules are usually implemented through the policy services within the CMS. data destruction Guided by retention and disposition policies, technologies are available to digitally shred records that are no longer of value. This include the shredding of media such as computer disks, CDs, CD-ROMs, DVDs, backup and VCR tapes in addition to binders, folders, transparencies, films, microfilms, X rays, photos, blueprints, credit cards, and IDs. Digital shredding makes data on media or storage devices undeterminable even through forensic techniques. For magnetic and tape storage media, there are Department of Defense (DoD) grade degaussing devices to permanently destroy the storage media. Specific guidelines are given in Department of Defense standard M whereby each storage media erased receives an individual certificate of erasure, system-generated upon verified completion. There are also service providers that specialize in digital shredding such as Iron Mountain. legal hold process A legal hold is an activity mandated by law. It is used by organizations to preserve all relevant information when litigation is anticipated. As such, it is a critical process that impacts the retention and disposition of electronic information. When an organization 20

21 reasonably anticipates litigation, all activities associated with the destruction of relevant data must be prevented until the associated legal matter is formally settled. Vendors have built into their content management systems the ability to put a legal hold on specific categories of information and to protect this information from destruction or modification. These categories are defined in the file plan and are enabled by metadata, workflow, and business rules. storage management Preservation relies on the capabilities of the storage infrastructure. Enterprise Content Management implementations are supported by tiered storage management that allow for the migration of data from online to near-line to offline. Tiered storage management applies optical and magnetic storage, and in some instances, specialized appliances such as EMC s Centera for long-term storage and access. 21

22 trends and solution approaches in enterprise content management The explosion and continued growth of unstructured data is one of the biggest challenges facing business today. In the same vein, the selection by buyers of technologies to manage content is daunting task. Numerous products and vendors exist all offering a solution. Within this section, current trends (circa 2009) and solution approaches including the use of Sharepoint are discussed. trends Gartner, Doculabs, Forrester Research, Aberdeen Group, and AIIM have all published assessments about the state of enterprise content management systems in All are reflective of the state of the economy and movement toward cost-cutting initiatives. In spite of the economy, the analysts see continued investment in content management technologies with a focus on improved web site customer experience and enhanced business processes. The majority of efforts are focused on web content management (WCM). The prevalent trends: 1. Web content management (WCM) has emerged as the fastest growing area of Enterprise Content Management. According to Gartner, WCM accounts for more than 25% of the enterprise content management marketplace. This is reflective of the use of WCM by businesses as a tool for gaining revenue and cutting costs through their web presence, especially in marketing, relationship management, and ecommerce. 2. The use of content management as a persuasive technology. Forrester uses the term persuasive content architecture to describe the movement of content management technologies from storage and publishing toward creating strategic business value. Examples include: audience targeting, increased sales conversion rates, improved customer service, and marketing resource management. 3. There has been a consolidation of content management vendors; this reflects the role of content management as driver of greater strategic value. In March 2009, Autonomy acquired Interwoven; in July 2009, Open Text acquired Vignette. 4. CMS vendors are eyeing the social network space. With the demand and buzz for social network and community-oriented features, the established CMS vendors recognize the opportunity for generating more revenue. Although, no specific movements have occurred in 2009, the analysts are closely watching the big CMS players and their potential role in developing social networking platforms, e.g., SharePoint Content management as infrastructure. Until recently, ECM solutions were applications aimed at vertical applications, e.g., online news within the publication industry. Today, ECM is emerging as infrastructure, whereby users have access to consolidated unstructured data for a variety of applications and purposes. This emergence is comparable to the rise of enterprise resource planning systems. 22

23 6. Enhanced usability for nontechnical users. Especially in the WCM space, the push as been to make the interface for internal contributors easier to use. 7. Service oriented architecture (SOA) has evolved as a viable architecture for ECM to communicate and share information more readily. SOA offers the potential to reduce the cost of implementing ECM, especially the costs associated with data conversion and migration. 8. Increased interest and popularity in open-source CMS offerings. According to Gartner, although the open source CMS offerings represent less than 4% of the overall WCM marketplace, they are seeing growing interest in open-source concepts and projects. 9. The Content Management Industry Specification (CMIS) is evolving as a standard for interoperability amongst content management systems. IBM, Microsoft and EMC (and others) have collaborated on a draft specification of the Content Management Interoperability Services (CMIS). The CMIS specification is comprised of two components - Common Domain Model for CM, and Bindings - and focuses on SOAP, REST and Atom to enable communication with and between ECM systems. 10. There has been a steady and significant growth in the adoption of Microsoft SharePoint. emergence of Microsoft Sharepoint In 2009, Microsoft continued to gain a foothold in the ECM marketplace. But according to a recent AIIM survey (AIIM 2008), In spite of growing sophistication around social networking functions, complex content management underpinnings and a boat load of partners, a recent survey conducted by AIIM and Information Architected found that an astounding 47 percent of users still use SharePoint primarily as a file share. This means that many SharePoint users are failing to take advantage of large swatches of functionality. The survey indicated that a large percentage of people are not employing the sophisticated capabilities of SharePoint, and some suggested that out of the box, SharePoint was nothing more than "an enhanced network drive. Nonetheless, many of the mainstream vendors of ECM are losing market share to SharePoint. Speaking about futures, Microsoft s strategy is to integrate Outlook, SharePoint and Office more tightly together in a product called SharePoint It is also rumored that the future product will have better records management features to overcome the deficiencies in the much-hyped but hardly-used SharePoint records centre. This includes better support for hierarchical file plans. Regarding SharePoint has a WCM platform, Gartner sees SharePoint has having significant strength in the intranet domain. Within this domain, the combination of its portal, Web 2.0, data management capabilities and ease-of-use make it a compelling choice for many companies. Likewise, Microsoft and its community of partners have a strong vision for the continued development of SharePoint. From the AIIM 2009 survey: 23

24 The uptake of SharePoint 2007 has been dramatic in the last two years, with 50% of organizations polled using or implementing SharePoint with a further 13% having plans to do so in the next months. (AIIM 2009) On the cautionary side, Gartner views Microsoft SharePoint as a development platform. It has a long software development lifecycle which increases the total cost of ownership and causes reticence in its use for external websites. Gartner also indicates that SharePoint needs to mature as WCM offering, particularly in areas such as ease of content reuse, multisite management, workflow and enterprise-level federation capabilities, such as replication and multiform synchronization (Gartner 2009). solution approaches Two predominant deployment models define current ECM implementations: 1. Centralized ECM the traditional model for ECM is a single system centralized to store, classify, manage, and apply business rules to guide governance, workflow, and other life cycle tasks associated with content. 2. Manage in Place evolving as a new deployment model for ECM, manage in place allows organizations to manage and control multiple, heterogeneous repositories and content systems through an ECM management layer. This ECM management layer is policy-driven and usually resides in host ECM system. This host system manages the connectors to diverse systems and is guided by business rules and policy services to classify, govern, and apply retention rules. The later manage in place is being assisted by a new emphasis on managing disparate information sources, the rise of SharePoint, the movement away from centralized repositories, and the potential technical standards being promoted in CMIS, see trend 9 above. 24

25 business case for enterprise content management Today s organizations are demanding a solid business case and return-on-investment (ROI) before deploying a content management solution. The first challenge is to define what you are trying to accomplish and the business value targeted. Businesses must identify and prioritize their content management requirements based on their business needs. These needs must be couched in the business processes and context rather than the underlying technologies. The project should have cleared defined: Business objectives Business functional requirements Business expectations Critical success factors The perspective taken in the guidance that follows is general in nature. But since the business case will vary based on application, for instance, records management or web content management, the business case must tailored to the application. business drivers In 2009, the key business drivers impelling investment in content management technologies are: Compliance requires the management and accessibility of specific types of documents to meet legal and regulatory obligations when requested by regulators. Litigation discovery (ediscovery) has a broader purview than compliance and applies to a diverse set of content that goes beyond those documents managed for compliance. Litigation discovery calls into play the ability to produce any relevant document relevant to the matter at hand. This includes documents, , structured data, and other forms of content. Cost-cutting in light of current economic conditions, businesses are embracing new ways to cut costs through more flexible, yet automated work processes. Examples include using search techniques to decrease talk-time in call centers. The business case must address the key business drivers while defining, in addition to technology, all the organizational and process elements that factor into achieving targeted business value. back-office and front-office benefits Content without easy and timely access is worthless. At its highest level, Enterprise Content Management enables businesses to make better use of all their information assets. ECM makes information assets available when they are needed. From a back-office perspective, ECM is applied to deliver: 25

26 Efficient processes, e.g., simplified access to application, work-order, and other data Compliance benefits, e.g., satisfy organizational and/or government regulations for document retention Cost reduction, e.g., decreased storage and administration costs From a front-office perspective, ECM is used to support growth initiatives: Create relationships with target audiences (customers, partners, prospects) Improve revenues, profit and customer satisfaction Improved services economic considerations The economic considerations are many. Below we illustrate some of the typical costs, savings, and benefits underlying the business case. Once again, these have to be tailored specifically to business issue being served. Costs: Software licenses Hardware costs Services (e.g., Consulting, Hosting) Personnel (e.g., Business users, Developers) Training Administration Savings: Business saving (e.g., Outside Legal Services, Fines & Penalties) Storage and supplies Administrative Transactional (e.g., reduced cycle times and costs per transaction due to information sharing and automatic work item routing) Soft Savings Improve overall process efficiencies Increase business user productivity (e.g., elimination of paper-intensive tasks) Resulting loss of business or opportunity Lost opportunity cost Potential damage of losing the legal matter Benefits Improved customer experience Increased quality of content Improved findability of information Improved legal and regulatory compliance New business channels Speed up time-to-market to capitalize on new business opportunities Increased process efficiencies(e.g., web publishing): o Reduced time to implement web site changes o Cost-effective processes 26

27 o o Remove expensive paper-based processes Reuse of content 27

28 enterprise content management vendors and packages Gartner s yearly round-up of challenges and leaders is good indication of where the market is going. Since web content management is the fastest growing segment of the ECM marketplace, we have included Gartner s Magic Quadrant for Web Content Management (Gartner 2009). Source: Gartner (August 2009) Gartner has placed SDL Tridion as one of the leaders in the web content management space. This is attributed to innovation in multisite management. SDL has strong multichannel and multilingual capabilities built on the Darwin Information Typing Architecture (DITA). This architecture is an XML-based architecture for authoring, producing, and delivering information. It modularizes and enables integration and reuse of content. It is touted for its ease-of-use and integration with SharePoint. Forrester puts SDL Tridion at the forefront of persuasive content experience, offering strong functionality in the areas of content targeting, multisite management, rich media capabilities, and social computing (Forrester 2009). In the Gartner Magic Quadrant for Web Content Management Microsoft and EMC appear as niche players. Again, the focus is on web content management and Gartner views SharePoint as requiring maturity. Gartner also views EMC as a leader in the broader ECM market, but that within WCM, EMC requires clarity of message and improvement in its strategy. Forrester s assessment indicates that Microsoft is enhancing SharePoint s capabilities for public-facing (external) web sites, but that it still does not have functionality comparable 28

29 to best-of-breed counterparts. EMC, on the other hand, has aimed to offer unified capabilities in ECM and WCM. In the persuasive content management category, as defined by Forrester, it has limited functionality and lacks a user-friendly tool set. The bottom-line in these assessments is to understand your unique requirements and what s important to your organization. Any selection should be buyer-specific and a leader, challenger or niche player may well offer the best-fit solution for your organization. 29

30 further information and references References Enterprise Content Management Forecast 2009: Compliance and Ediscovery, Advanced Search, Sharepoint, and Business Process Management Dominate Christmas Wish Lists, Doculabs, James Watson, et al. Magic Quadrant for Web Content Management, Gartner RAS Core Research Note: G , Mick MacComascaigh et al., 5 August Recommended Practice: Analysis, Selection, and Implementation of Electronic Document Management Systems (EDMS), AIIM ARP1-2009, June 5, State of the ECM Industry 2009: Who s achieved it, how are they doing it and is it working for them?; AIIM Market Intelligence, The Forrester Wave: Web Content Management for External Sites: Q2 2009, Forrester Research, Inc, Stephen Powers and Tim Walters, Ph.D., June ISO Standards ISO/DIS 10244, Document management Business process/workflow baselining and analysis ISO/TS 12032, Document imaging Statistical sampling for document images ISO/TR 12033, Electronic imaging Guidance of document image compression methods ISO/TR 12037:1998, Electronic imaging Recommendations for the expungement of informationrecorded on write-once optical media ISO :2000, Electronic imaging Test target for the black-and-white scanning of office documents Part 1: Characteristics ISO :2000, Electronic imaging Test target for the black-and-white scanning of office documents Part 2: Method of use ISO/TR 12654:1997, Electronic imaging Recommendations for the management of electronic recording systems for recording of documents that may be required as evidence, on WORM optical disk ISO/TR 14105:2001, Electronic imaging Human and organizational issues for successful electronic image management (EIM) implementation ISO/TR 15801, Electronic imaging Information stored electronically legal admissibility and evidential weight ISO Information and Documentation-Records Management-Part 1: General ISO/TR Information and Documentation-Records Management-Part 2: Guidelines 30

31 ISO Information technology -- Security techniques -- Code of practice for information security management.. 31

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