Content Acquisition

Definition

Content acquisition is the content management task during which potential informational content (data components) is acquired from external content sources.

Objectives

The typical objectives of content acquisition are to:

• Identify external potential content to be acquired:
  • Textual content.
  • Numerical content.
  • Audio content.
  • Graphical content.
  • Video content.
• Develop templates and tools for converting external content into the proper format.
• Develop metadata about the external content and store it in the content metadata database of the content management system.
• Acquire the external content from the external content sources.
• Reformat and store the external potential content in the draft content database of the content management system.

Preconditions

Content acquisition typically can begin when the following preconditions hold:

• The construction phase has started.
• The initial conventions for content acquisition (e.g., guidelines, standards) have been produced during the process engineering activity.
• The following documents are largely complete and are relatively stable:
  • System Requirements Specification
  • Domain Model Document
  • Information Architecture Document
  • Database Design Document
  • Human Interface Design Document
• The content management team has been adequately staffed with content entry clerks who have been adequately trained in content acquisition.

Completion Criteria

Content acquisition is typically complete when the following postconditions hold:

• All required external content has been acquired.
• The retirement phase has started.

Steps

Content acquisition typically involves the following teams performing the following steps in an iterative, incremental, parallel, and time-boxed manner:

• Content Management Team:
  • Determine the need for new content by reading and understanding the associated:
    • Informational (data) requirements in the:
      • System Requirements Specification
      • Glossary
      • Domain Model Document
    • Information architecture:
      • Information Architecture Document
    • Content design:
      • Database Design Document
      • Human Interface Design Document
  • Identify, evaluate, and select potential external content and its sources for:
    • Applicability.
    • Reliability.
    • Operational availability.
    • Purchase, setup, and ongoing costs.
  • Develop tranformational templates or software that will automatically transform the external content into the correct format during acquisition.
  • Develop metadata describing the external content and store it in the content metadata database.
  • Acquire the potential new content from the external content sources:
    • Textual content.
    • Audio content.
    • Graphical content.
    • Video content.
  • Store the acquired content in the draft content database.

Techniques

Content acquisition can typically be performed using the following techniques:

• Reuse
• Conventions (e.g., standards and guidelines for evaluating and transforming external content).
• Reusable Templates

Work Products

Content acquisition typically results in the production of the following work products:

• Data Components:
  • External Potential Content:
    • Textual content.
    • Numerical content.
    • Audio content.
    • Graphical content.
    • Video content.
  • Content Metadata

Guidelines

• Content acquisition should be performed iteratively, incrementally, and in parallel with other content management tasks.
• Content acquisition is only required for endeavors if reusable content is available externally to the operations organization.