Content management
Organisations require strategies, methods and tools to capture, manage, store, preserve, and deliver content and documents. It's not enough to "manage" content. Of course, the ability to access the correct version of a document or record is important, but companies must go further. Content must be managed so that it is used to achieve business goals. Central to this strategy are the tools and technologies of Enterprise Content Management (ECM), which manage the complete lifecycle of content.
Application Solutions has developed and implemented various solutions based on best of breed software, platforms and technologies that resolve the unmanaged chaos of unstructured content including documents, e-mail messages, videos, instant messages, web pages, and more. Recreating this content as valuable assets lead to enhanced knowledge sharing, improved customer communications and increased process efficiency.
The following Methodologies are applied when designing a Content Management Strategy:
• Compliance
• While compliance is not always a technology problem, information technology, and the massive growth of unstructured content, contributes to corporate exposure. The tools of Content Management, properly used, can help reduce the overall cost of compliance to the business.
• Collaboration
• Collaboration is the art of working together. The key to a strong collaboration is utilising the set of technologies such as instant messaging, whiteboards, online meetings, and email, that allow work to take place wherever and whenever needed.
• Continuity
• Content Management has a key role to play in continuity. After all, without access to the most vital electronic documents, a business is dead in the water. ECM technologies allow the creation of centralised repositories where all vital corporate information can reside.
• Business Process Management
• Business Process Management solutions are frameworks that can be used to develop, deploy, monitor, and optimise multiple types of process automation applications – including processes that involve both systems and people.
• Forms Processing
• Business forms are ingested into the system. Most forms today are "structured" – the locations of the form elements are known. The ability to process unstructured forms, those without a pre-defined form template, is improving.
• Categorisation or Taxonomy
• Taxonomy provides a formal structure for information, based on the individual needs of a business. Categorisation tools automate the placement of content (document images, email, text documents and so forth) for future retrieval based on the taxonomy. Users can also manually categorise documents. Critical to this process is to ensure that content is properly stored.
• Document Management
• Document management technology helps organisations better manage the creation, revision, approval and consumption of electronic documents. It provides key features such as library services, document profiling, searching, check-in, check-out, version control, revision history, and document security.
• Records Management
• Content of long-term business value is managed according to a retention schedule that determines how long a record is kept based on either outside regulations or internal business practices. Any piece of content can be designated a record.
• Web Content Management
• Web content management technology addresses the content creation, review, approval, and publishing processes of Web-based content. Key features include creation and authoring tools or integrations, input and presentation template design and management, content re-use management, and dynamic publishing capabilities.
• Digital Asset Management
• Similar in functionality to document management, Digital Asset Management is focused on the storage, tracking, and use of rich media documents (such as video, logos or photographs). Roots of the technology are in the media and entertainment industry, currently experiencing growth, especially in marketing departments. Digital assets typically have high intellectual property value.
• Content Integration
• Enables disparate content sources to look and act as a single repository.
• Migration
• As storage media ages, content must be moved to new media for continued accessibility.
• Syndication
• Distribution of content for reuse and integration into other content.
• Localisation
• Recasting content based on the needs and cultural mores of different global markets.
• Personalisation
• Drawing on taxonomy and based on established user preferences, various types and subjects of content can be delivered via user-defined preferences.
• Publish
• Content moves to its ultimate destination through a number of tools. Content can be delivered via print, email, websites, portals, text messages or RSS feeds.
• Security
• Restricts access to content, both during its creation and management as well as when delivered – via Digital Rights Management and Digital Signatures.