We here at the Harvard Art Museum recently launched a new website utilizing a CMS. Our collections search tool was also reimplemented to integrate with this CMS, and thereby the rest of the website, but the collections data continues to be managed through our TMS system, in its own database. So while the collections search runs as a "module" of the content management system, none of the data it exposes is actually managed through that system.
Although I was not part of the decision making process, it was a conscious decision to implement things this way, and here are some of the reasons I'm aware of: - to make the collections search stand out as a more visible part of the overall website - to allow tighter linkage between the collections search and other types of content, such as events, exhibitions, etc. (though this may not be fully realized yet) - to use styling, or "look and feel" that's consistent between the collections search and the rest of the site I imagine that if you wanted to use the CMS for content management on the collections data, you would have to devise a way to keep your web-exposed data consistent with whatever you currently use to manage the collections data. Chris ------ Chris De Angelis Java Applications Developer 617-495-9535 chris_deangelis <mailto:chris_deangelis at harvard.edu> at harvard.edu Harvard Art Museum 32 Quincy Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 www.harvardartmuseum.org Original Message: > Later this year or next we will be implementing a content management > system for our web site. Currently we do not plan to content-manage our > online collections search. It would run on its own, with its own > separate underlying database. But I've lately been wondering whether > this is the best approach (though it is certainly simpler and less > expensive, at least in the short run). > > Do some of you run your online collections through your cms? Yes or no, > was this a conscious decision and if so what was the rationale? > > Will Real > Carnegie Museum of Art > Pittsburgh, PA
