Content

Definition

Content is a content management work product which is a kind of data component of one or more applications that are published (and therefore visible) to their audiences of users.

Objectives

The typical objectives of content vary greatly depending on the:

• Type of Content:
  • Text.
  • Numerical data
  • Static or animated graphics.
  • Audio files.
  • Video movie files.
• Purpose of the application(s).

Benefits

The typical benefits of content are to:

• Provide useful information to users.
• Enable software component to execute.
• Enable the associated applications to meet their requirements.

Contents

The typical contents of content varies greatly depending on the type of content:

• Text.
• Numerical data
• Static or animated graphics.
• Audio files.
• Video movie files.

Stakeholders

The typical stakeholders of a content management plan are:

• Producer:
  • Content Management Team
• Evaluator:
  • Content Editor
  • Content Publisher
  • Content Management Inspection Team
• Approvers:
  • Content Approver
• Maintainers:
  • Content Management Team
• Users:
  • Users, who read and use the content to perform their tasks.

Phases

Content is typically developed during the following phases:

• Business Strategy: Not Applicable
• Business Optimization: Not Applicable
• Initiation: Not Applicable
• Construction: Prototype Content Created
• Delivery: Initial Content Created
• Usage: Production Content Created
• Retirement: Archived

Preconditions

Content can typically be produced if the following preconditions hold:

• The construction phase has started.
• The initial conventions for content (e.g., standards, inspection checklists) have been produced during the process engineering activity.
• The following documents are largely complete and are relatively stable:
  • System Requirements Specification
  • Glossary
  • Domain Model Document
  • Information Architecture Document
  • Database Design Document
  • Human Interface Design Document
• The following content management tasks have been performed for the content:
  • Content Management Planning
  • Content Ordering
  • Content Design
• The content management team has been adequately staffed and trained:
  • The content creator(s) have been adequately trained in content creation.
  • The content entry clerk(s) have been adequately trained in content migration.
  • The content designer(s) have been adequately trained in content acquisition.
• The user experience team is available.

Inputs

The typical inputs to content include:

• Work Products:
  • System Requirements Specification
    (Content requirements in the data requirements section)
  • Glossary
    (Informal English definitions of content types)
  • Domain Model Document
    (Formal definitions of content types)
  • Information Architecture Document
    (Information architecture documenting major content data components)
  • Database Design Document
    (Database declarations of content types and their locations)
  • Human Interface Design Document
    (Formal documentation of which data components are presented to the user)
• Stakeholders:
  • User Experience Team

Guidelines

• Content typically has the following relatively sequential state model (life cycle), the states of which correspond to completion of the content management tasks:
  1. Content planned.
  2. Content ordered.
  3. Content designed.
  4. Content created, acquired, or migrated.
  5. Content entered.
  6. Content internationalized.
  7. Content edited.
  8. Content approved.
  9. Content published.
  10. Content personalized.
  11. Content transformed.
  12. Content accessed.
  13. Content usage analyzed.
  14. Content archived.

Conventions

Content is typically constrained by the following conventions:

• Work Flow
• Content and Format Standard
• MS Word Template
• XML Template
• Inspection Checklist

Examples

• Content