Website managers are struggling to maintain their static websites. Often times, the content experts responsible for updating the information do not have the skills necessary and must rely on the web team, creating bottlenecks and publication delays. In other cases where responsibility for the site content has been disbursed across the staff, coding errors can cause inconsistencies in the page design, formatting, or navigation.

A Content Management System (CMS) can solve these problems. Some of the benefits of this type of system include:

• Giving control back to content owners, allowing them to user their web browser to add and edit content on the site with no special knowledge required.
• Separating page content from format and design, creating a more consistent look and feel across the site
• Faster publication of content and updates as well as immediate site-wide changes
• Automation of all navigation, internal links, and other site sections where rules can be imposed on content, eliminating internal broken links or orphaned pages
• The ability to schedule the publication or expiration of a page and all links to that page.
• Development of workflow and approval processes; turning management of your website into a business process
• The ability to customize the level of design and formatting control given to site authors

CIT offers CMS as a service to NIH website owners. We have partnered with the Hosting Services Branch (HSB) to ensure a complete solution for development of a new site, hosting, and on-going maintenance and support. This service offers a number of advantages to NIH clients, including:

• The hardware and software required is leveraged across multiple sites, greatly reducing the investment required for each site.
• The development staff works fulltime on CMS development, making them experts in the field. This eliminates costs associated with start up and learning curves.
• Because we work with multiple NIH organizations, we can apply knowledge and experiences from previous sites when developing new sites.
• Any custom functions created for a specific client site can be offered to new and existing clients to be integrated into their site. For example, the ability to generate print-friendly versions of pages.
• A complete turnkey solution for all development, hosting, maintenance, and support.
• Integration with existing NIH network accounts, lessening the burden of user management.

The following tasks are included in the one-time, fixed-fee (per website) development charge:

• Development of user templates for content delivery using existing site design or in conjunction with a site redesign.
• Development of customized approval workflow.
• Creation of user accounts and roles to fit your desired level of control and access.
• Integration with existing applications and databases.
• User training to assist content authors in becoming familiar with the system.

The hosting fee is a separate, annual charge payable to HSB. While we will work with HSB to migrate the site to production, financial arrangements must be made with HSB separately.

A demonstration is the best way to understand how CMS works and the benefits you can realize by migrating to this system. If you would like to see how CMS works, please contact Michele Felton at dockerym@mail.nih.gov, 301-594-0790, or Tim Pickett at pickettt@mail.nih.gov, 301-435-2777.

If you are a current CMS customer, please visit our Customer Resources page for helpful information in managing your CMS Web site.