CMS versus ECM – What's the difference?
posted by Anna Mar, November 29, 2011There's quite a bit of confusion about three common content management acronyms: WCM, CMS and ECM.
There's so much confusion that many a diplomatic person has dropped all three terms in favor of "content management". Others have jumped to the assumption that all three are essentially the same thing. The web is full of conflicting definitions of all three terms.
Here's what you need to know to get above the confusion — to use these terms confidently and correctly.
Web Content Management System (WCM or WCMS)
WCM systems allow users to collaboratively edit, publish and manage websites. This often includes:document management
content management workflow (e.g. content approvals)
the ability to publish rich internet applications
collaboration tools such as wikis
version control and collaborative editing tools
search engines
metadata management tools
website administration tools
social media tools and integration
web analytics and optimization tools
digital asset management
In other words, WCM gives users the tools they need to create and manage web 2.0 websites without help from web designers and programmers.
Content Management System (CMS)
Content Management Systems (CMS) allow users to collaboratively edit and manage content.Most CMS systems are focused on web content. That's why the terms CMS and WCM are often used interchangeably.
A CMS system could be used to manage non-web content. For example, a CMS could be used to manage electronic medical records. Therefore, CMS and WCM are not really the same thing.
Enterprise Content Management System (ECM)
ECM systems have a much broader scope. They manage enterprise content and documents throughout the entire content lifecycle. This includes:transactional content management
knowledge management
document management
web content management
social content management
email management
content for business continuity
management of content and documents that are subject to legal and regulatory controls
enterprise content retention policies and audit trail
enterprise metadata management
ECM are often part of the base infrastructure for mega software packages such as ERP systems.
|
Think your website is safe from DDoS? Think again. |
|
Enterprise Architects must choose their words very carefully. |
|
Understand the threats to your organization. |
|
What is the value of your EA project in 9 words or less? |
Recently on Simplicable
|
| The Big List of Information Security Vulnerabilitiesposted by John SpaceyUnderstanding your vulnerabilities is the first step to managing risk. |
| The Big List of Information Security Threatsposted by John SpaceyUnderstand the threats to your organization. |
| 8 Enterprise Architecture Risksposted by Anna MarEnterprise Architecture (EA) is supposed to help manage IT risks — but is it possible that EA itself introduces new risks? |
