Content Management

Content management is the controlled publication of websites. It can also encompass the management of dynamic website information available for user retrieval – the presentation of search results for example.

At mindwrap, we feel strongly that content management is different from document management, regardless of current fads to the contrary (remember when document management tried to become knowledge management?). The skill sets, techniques, knowledge, and resources needed to manage a website are substantially different from those needed to manage business documents.

Content Management is primarily concerned with website content – its presentation, graphics design, formatting, and wordsmithing. The contents of a corporate website, for example, are most often an expression of the marketing and sales departments and represent a narrowly focused (and sanitized) view of a company.

In contrast, Document Management is primarily concerned with organizing, processing, and safeguarding large internal (meaning not public and not on the web) document sets. The skills required for this task involve database design, business process analysis, and archival methodologies. And these managed (and definitely unsanitized!) documents span the enterprise and fuel the day-to-day operations of the company. Operations that most certainly happen out of sight of the public website visitors.

Almost inevitably, the unique needs of employees charged with managing documents become overshadowed when this function is “lumped in” with Content Management. Because a website is visible and typically has intense management and marketing scrutiny, the needs and requirements of the day-to-day document managers become secondary. It is for this reason that we prefer to highlight the needs of both by maintaining their separate terminology. And certainly, if you are not tasked with managing website contents, why be forced to buy that functionality? At mindwrap, we sell “pure” document management and workflow systems. We speak your language.

Of course, we recognize that interaction between websites and document repositories can be vitally important for certain applications. Optix WEB supplies a rich set of Java Servlets and Java Applets that leverage XML to easily integrate secure access to your Optix document repositories with your website.

Try our humorous take on the difference between content management and document management.