Execution of Web Content Management System For a Charity Team: Exploring the Use of Web Content Management Systems for Charity Organizations

Abstract

In the early days of theWorld Wide Web, web content management laid entirely in the hands of thewebmasters. With the evolution of the web technology and demanding businessrequirements, the responsibility of web contents management has shifted fromwebmasters to anyone without any level of web programming knowledge. A charity organizationintends to have a website to reach their online audience. They have decided todeploy a Web-based system that will allow the administrative members with basiccomputer skills to manage the web contents. This thesis addresses the issue bydeveloping Web Content Management System with simple user interfaces where theadministrators can manage digital contents. The system should allow end-usersto register on the website, upload photos, send emails and make donations. Thiswork evaluates three online payment systems: SMS payment, Google Checkout andPayPal. Eventually, the method that results to be most suitable for theorganization is chosen and implemented for online donations. Organizationsincreasingly utilize Web Content Management Systems (WCMS) to improvedevelopment speed, online flexibility and cost effectiveness for webapplications. However, organizations lack the organizational processes andstructure to effectively maintain WCMS. We propose a WCMS Process Framework forthe operation and maintenance phase of Web Engineering. In this paper weelaborate on the construction of the framework. It encompasses the descriptionof a generic IT Management framework and the inclusion of Web ContentManagement processes into a strategic, tactical, and operational level. The framework isvalidated through an expert validation consisting of three industry experts anda case study at a large Dutch telecommunications services provider. The casestudy substantiates our vision that the WCMS Process Framework contains a setof process descriptions that effectively supports the operations andmaintenance of web applications. Businesses are usingcontent management systems (CMS) to perform web administrative functions,manage assets, provide personalization and localization features, and muchmore. However, selecting an open source CMS is difficult because there are manyoptions. This report uses trend data from independent research organizations toform evaluation criteria that can be used to further analyze CMS software.Evaluation criteria were then used to evaluate three different open sourceproducts: Alfresco, Joomla!, and Drupal to determine which products weresuitable for different web requirements. Results indicate that Alfresco issuitable for websites that require advanced functionality such as detailedcontent analytics or document and knowledge management features. Drupal issuitable for sites that require intermediate level functionality, such as theability to grant access of one portion of the site to a subset of users, or theability to maintain multiple sites. Joomla! is suitable for basic sites thatrequire some intermediate level functionality, such as blogs and forums.