Content management system governance capabilities in Drupal

This short article covers content management system (CMS) governance and what it means. We also explore how the right CMS governance strategy can help your business.

CMS governance is a set of policies, roles, responsibilities and processes that guide, direct and control how your content management system is used to accomplish your business’s goals. Through a set of workflows and permissions, implemented in your CMS, you are able to align your people and content into a cohesive system. No more wondering who is doing what, or limiting your team.

What CMS governance also means is that your company is set up with authoritative administrative structures that set policy and standards for web product management. This means, in plain speak, that everyone has a set of rules to play with and makes sure that all content stays true to your brand.

How does adopting a CMS governance strategy help your business?

Removes IT bottlenecks

With well-thought-out and detailed workflows, a CMS governance system can help the people in your company that need to publish content deliver consistent and timely information. It can also allow for a staging environment to develop and publish content on your live website without the help of IT.

Empowers content authors that manage their own content

The CMS your organization uses should enable you to assign ownership to anything from individual content blocks, static pages and dynamic content, to documents and files, images, or even contact forms. Whether this is a single person, or multiple team members functionally grouped in a role, you may want to split your website into sections, much like your org chart or the branches of the tree, and assign content ownership.

Enforces standards across your web properties

By using a CMS governance structure to enable site admins to set workflows ensures better accuracy, maintains brand or voice and makes sure that no piece of content incorrectly advances to the next stage of the content governance strategy

Automates processes for greater efficiency

A CMS can define roles and responsibilities and automatically direct approvals to the right people, clarifying a timeline for when things have to happen for the project to stay on track. By automating processes through your CMS, you are taking human error out of the equation and eliminating potential delays in your development process.

Allows you to manage web content as a proper digital asset and your website as a proper channel

Whether you manage a single website or deliver content through multiple channels, the ability to fine-tune access to different content types and parts of the website translates in greater accuracy, improved productivity, brand affinity and ultimately… a fluid and cohesive sales path.

How can Drupal make CMS governance easier?

“Drupal is designed to be the perfect content management solution provider for non-technical users who need both simplicity and flexibility. It accomplishes this through its modular approach to site-building. Unlike other CMSs, Drupal isn’t a prefabricated toy truck, but rather a collection of wheels, windshields, axles, frames, etc., that a toy-maker can easily connect together. With Drupal, a maker could create a toy truck and similarly can also create a toy such as an airplane, submarine, or robot. For this reason, Drupal may be described as both a content management system and a content management framework—one unified system that strives to have the strengths of both, without their deficiencies.” — Drupal.org

Getting started with a CMS governance strategy doesn’t have to be complex. But it is not something that should be easily dismissed either. User roles and permissions are not there to restrict writers, but to help them focus on what they do best. CMS Workflows foster productivity and ensure better brand consistency and voice across multiple properties and channels.

Want to learn more about Drupal’s CMS and how it can help you build a better governance system for your content publishing? Reach out to our team of CMS experts.