Evaluating a CMS Part 1: Purchased, Open Source or Homegrown

One of the most important decisions in deploying or relaunching a website is how to handle production and publication of content. The wrong choice can lead to a nightmare of emails and project requests every time the simplest of updates is required.

In the earlier days of the web, sites were built with hand-coded HTML. Then came the rise of WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) editors, which allowed non-programmers to develop sites.

Finally along came Content Management Systems (CMS) which allowed the content (the words) to be separated from the structure (layout, fonts, navigation, etc.). Anyone in an organization could make updates to text, upload new files, and take care of all the minor changes without having to know anything about how their site was actually built.

Most sites today are built using some sort of CMS, either homegrown, open source, or purchased. How do you decide which is right for you?

Purchased

Purchased CMSs are just that: they cost money up-front. You don’t have to do the development work to build it, the vendor takes care of updates, and provides technical support. Most will also offer hosting so you don’t even have to install the CMS yourself.

Despite these upsides, purchased CMSs do have their drawbacks. Usually you cannot install plugins to extend the capabilities of the CMS. These products are not necessarily designed to be interoperable with other systems, much like desktop software, and any extended capabilities involve a feature request and/or waiting for a product update. However, if your needs are straightforward and your resources for in-house support are limited, a purchased “out-of-the-box” CMS could be a good choice for you.

Homegrown

A custom developed or homegrown CMS is a route often taken by larger companies with IT and programming resources in-house. Developing a custom CMS is quite an undertaking, the same as writing any software. This is a road you should travel down with caution.

A homegrown CMS can be a beautiful thing for a business. It’s software developed by you and for you, so (hopefully) it acutely and precisely addresses the needs of your organization. It eliminates the need for third-party applications, and can be written to conform to your existing web platform (ASP.NET, JSP, PHP, Ruby on Rails, etc.). New features can be developed and tested in-house, and deployed safely and securely.

But every one of these advantages can also be a disadvantage. Whether developed by your own IT or web team, or outsourced to a web shop, developing a custom CMS is a lengthy process involving needs assessment, programming and coding, testing, evaluation, and so on. What this means is money. You’ve got to pay the salaries of everyone involved during the process, and that’s money that might otherwise be spent on other projects.

Third party applications are much the same: while there might be any number of plugins or extensions to a purchased or open source CMS, for a custom CMS to accomplish the same new task it must be developed from the ground up. And if you decide to move from a .NET web environment to PHP, your CMS must again be redeveloped.

Open Source

Open source (free) CMSs are very popular for businesses of all sizes. They eliminate the need for ground-up development and provide access to a wealth of third-party extensions and plugins to enhance their functionality. All updates, security patches and the like are handled by the developer, and are also provided free of charge.

Being open source, you are free to make modifications to the programming to suit your needs. Regardless of your web platform, there is an open source CMS to meet your needs.

As with a homegrown CMS, an open source platform demands resources and time to maintain. Whether those resources are in-house or outsourced, you will spend money for system upkeep. They also require developers who are fluent in the CMS‘ programming language and a tight integration of your web and IT teams for maximum efficacy.

Summary

All three types of content management systems–purchased, custom developed, and open source–have advantages and disadvantages. These variables will vary in relation to the resources you have at hand. All three also have costs involved: just because a platform is free to obtain doesn’t mean it’s free to maintain; conversely, just because a platform costs money up front doesn’t make it the most economical choice. You must consider your organization’s needs, resources, and flexibility in evaluating the right CMS.

Next Steps

In part two, we’ll look at the types of features and capabilities of content management systems that must be evaluated.