Just one more note regarding Joseph argumentation. I believe that he is arguing that a CMS do not deliver those benefits by itself. So basically any product brochure that says that a CMS delivers those benefits out-of the box their writers a lying. Furthermore because of this searching for metrics around these vectors is just a waste of time.
This is what I derive from: Joseph wrote: >... content freshness, quality, effectiveness, or accuracy is absurdly >tantamount to measuring Adobe Photoshop by the creativity, freshness, >quality, and originality of the images artists produce with it. .. and the fact that CMS brochures mention these vectors. I have a lighter opinion regarding this although I share most of his feelings. The fact is that we cannot argue that a tool do not help one be more productive or do a task more efficiently then a previous practice. In this sense one can always say that the tool deliver those benefits with a pinch of salt. For instance, take a Screwdriver (a tool). Before one would screw pins with a knife. It took a lot of time :) Then he bought a non automatic Screwdriver he become more efficient and the pins were better attached (quality?). The he bought an automatic screwdriver, he becomes even more efficient and the pins became even better attached. He could even screw more pins in less time. Of course the decision of using a screwdriver rather then a knife was made by the person (management?). Even the decision to use better and better screwdrivers was a management decision. So do these facts take the value out of the tool in terms of the final objective of the manager? I consider that it does not. So can I advertise (Productivity, Quality) enhancements as benefits that are derived by using the tool? Oh yes as long as you do not advertise what you do not have. Also it can be measured within a context of course. Joseph also wrote: >Look at content freshness. I'll use a news publishing example. For the >sake of discussion, let's say a particular CMS provides the ability to >publish content to an Internet site on a specific interval, or at a >specific date/time ..... I believe that this example is not relevant just because one is analyzing freshness from a developer's point of view not managers (by analyzing the scheduler audit information). Freshness is related having content up-to-date. The question is how can one measure the up-to-date/freshness "thing"? Maintaining content up to date from a managers perspective is done by assuring that content is made available within the time frame defined (content development project deadline?). This is where a CMS as a tool should be able to help a manager from the creation of content until it is delivered. This can be easily measured with a CMS system, and metrics can be provided. If eventually a lot of content development efforts within a CM practice do not meet the deadlines it simply means that content is not available at the requited time/date, so not fresh enough or Up-to-date. Best regards, Nuno Lopes Independent Consultant. -- http://cms-list.org/ trim your replies for good karma.
