Portal Content Management

When evaluating the current state of many organizations' portal solutions, we often encounter employees who are either overloaded by content, confused by redundant messaging across multiple channels, or unable to locate the required information they're searching for. To maintain user trust and sustain adoption, the portal must stay vibrant and relevant; it must present content that is accurate, timely, and easy to find. Realizing these goals requires a Portal Strategy to address each step in the content lifecycle — from template selection through content retirement.

Elements of an Effective Content Strategy

An effective Content Management strategy defines:

• Roles: The roles and responsibilities for each member of the publishing team.
• Rules: The business rules that govern how content is published to the portal and how content reviews will be enforced. For example: Will exemptions be granted for legacy content? Will news published to all employees require a different review/approval process than articles published to a single location?
• Process: Keeping the portal fresh requires a process that defines the owner, approver, author, and review frequency for each content asset. And to ensure ongoing findability, the portal team must govern how new business processes, applications, or topic areas are incorporated into the portal structure.
• Standards: The guidelines for writing content are typically expressed in a Copy Style Guide that defines the writing and stylistic considerations for content development such as the target readability level, the use of global English (if applicable), punctuation and capitalize rules, accepted organizational and business terms, and the desired tone for different types of content.
• Templates: Defining appropriate templates for supported content and asset types ensures consistency and streamlines content publication.
• Metadata: The categories and metatags that will be associated with content assets. Defining a standard set of content categories and metatags makes it easier for users to search for content and helps authors publish their content to the appropriate location on the portal.