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Before Making a System Change...

by Lisa Bos    Jan 2001

• Start with good strategic analysis. Step back and outline business goals. Think about things strategically, before thinking about what a particular technical solution might be. Ask yourself, "How is all of this content I'm trying to produce fitting into these goals? Will I see a return on my investment on managing the content with a sophisticated system?"
• Now you're ready to look at acquisition and architecture issues. This includes finding new sources of content, both internally and externally, that fit into the strategy that you build, as well as making sure that the data architecture is well thought out. If you don't identify up front what data slicing and dicing is necessary, you're going to capture your information inappropriately.
• When you're ready to look at solutions, take the time to do a full requirements analysis and match the system functionality to these requirements. Don't feel you must purchase the first thing you see—invest the time to understand fully what you need. Don't rush.
• Be sure you assess your own capabilities honestly. Some companies choose to support everything internally, while smaller clients might fully outsource system support. It really depends on how much money you feel you can invest.