Content Management Plan

Definition

A content management plan is a content management work product which formally documents the content management team’s plans for performing the content management tasks.

Objectives

The typical objectives of a content management plan are to document plans for performing content management including documenting the:

• Content management work products to produce.
• Allocation of initial content management work products to milestones.
• Content management tasks to perform.
• Membership of the content management team.
• Content management system/tools to acquire or use.

Benefits

The typical benefits of a content management plan include:

• The existance of a content management plan increases the probability that the content will be properly managed.
• The existance of a content management plan minimizes risk due to inadequate planning.
• Everyone on the endeavor will understand how content management will be performed.

Contents

The typical contents of a content management plan are:

• Content Management Work Products
• Content Management Activity:
  • Content Management Tasks
• Content Management Team:
  • Overall Responsibilities
  • Roles with Responsibilities
• Content Management Tools
• Conclusion
• Appendices:
  • Major Issues
  • TBDs
  • Assumptions

Stakeholders

The typical stakeholders of a content management plan are:

• Producer:
  • Content Management Team
• Evaluator:
  • Content Management Inspection Team
• Approvers:
  • Technical Leader
  • Project Manager
  • Customer Representative
• Maintainers:
  • Content Management Team
• Users:
  • Content Management Team, which uses the content management plan to plan and organize their tasks.

Phases

A content management plan is typically developed during the following phases:

• Business Strategy: Not Applicable
• Business Optimization: Not Applicable
• Initiation: Optionally Started
• Construction: Started
• Delivery: Completed
• Usage: Maintained
• Retirement: Archived

Preconditions

A content management plan can typically be started if the following preconditions hold:

• The content management team is adequately staffed and trained in content management planning.
• An initial versions of the following documents are relatively complete and available:
  • System Requirements Specification
  • Glossary
  • Domain Model Document
  • Information Architecture Document
  • Database Design Document
  • Human Interface Design Document
• The user experience team is available.

Inputs

The typical inputs to a content management plan include:

• Work Products:
  • System Requirements Specification
    (Content requirements in the informational requirements section and personalization requirements in the quality 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

• This is a living model that is developed incrementally and iteratively in parallel with other work products (e.g., management plan).
• This document may overlap with the content management section of the process description document.

Conventions

A content management plan is typically constrained by the following conventions:

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

Examples

• Content Management Plan