In this presentation, Wyatt explored the intersection of knowledge and content management and highlighted various knowledge models and content models. She illustrated common knowledge and content challenges such as metadata hierarchy, “strings” over “things”, and infinite reference loops and provided examples of how semantic knowledge models and content models can address those challenges with contextualized case studies of EK clients who use CMS to capture, manage, and act on knowledge. Attendees gained insight into:

• The types of information assets that cross the boundary of content and represent organizational knowledge;
• The role of the CMS integrated with a larger knowledge management ecosystem to not only engage and delight content consumers but also to enable organizational decision-making; and
• The integration of content models and semantic models to enable interoperable systems.

The post Getting More Value Out of Your Content appeared first on Enterprise Knowledge.

The Summit will be bookended by two panels: one representing the developer persona and one representing the marketing persona. Wyatt will participate in the marketing persona panel to discuss the authoring and content management needs particular to marketing professionals as they seek to curate and optimize engaging omnichannel experiences.

The Universal CMS Summit is an exclusive industry event designed to bridge the gap between developers and marketers in the realm of digital experiences. Wyatt’s panel takes place at 3:05 PM EDT. Register for the event.

The post EK’s Rebecca Wyatt to Serve As Panelist at The Universal CMS Summit appeared first on Enterprise Knowledge.

In the presentation, “Getting More Value Out of Your Content,” Wyatt will explore the intersection of knowledge and content management – illustrated with EK client case studies who are using CMS to capture, manage, and act on knowledge. Attend this session to discuss:

• The types of information assets which cross the boundary of content and represent organizational knowledge;
• The role of the CMS integrated with a larger knowledge management ecosystem to not only engage and delight content consumers, but also to enable organizational decision-making; and
• The integration of content models and semantic models to enable interoperable systems.

CMS Connect is an international conference dedicated to the global content management community. Wyatt’s talk takes place August 6th at 3 PM EDT. Learn more about this sold out event and join the waiting list.

The post EK’s Rebecca Wyatt to Speak at CMS Connect 2024 appeared first on Enterprise Knowledge.

SharePoint is one of the most popular Content Management Systems and one used by over 250,000 companies worldwide (ScienceSoft). While this white paper will focus on Document Management Systems and will include examples that are pertinent to SharePoint and SharePoint Online, the KM best practices in this white paper can be applied to almost any Content Management System.

1. Creating Rules and Governance for Your CMS

One of the most impactful things you can do for your CMS is create clear rules and regulations about what can be stored in your system, how it should be stored, and, critically, who is actually responsible for maintaining your content. The process of developing system governance will be different for every organization and CMS, but there are two approaches that we have seen consistently work for our clients: crafting system charters and designing role-based governance frameworks.

System Charters 

System Charters are the perfect lightweight backbone that can help inform every decision regarding your CMS. Your System Charter should include a one- to two-sentence summary of your system’s purpose, what should be stored in it, and its value to your organization. For example, a strong System Charter statement may look like this: 

“EK’s Knowledge Base was created to house thought leadership about knowledge management. Within the Knowledge Base, you will find blogs, presentations, podcasts, and case studies that teach readers about EK’s services and KM as a whole.”

This System Charter removes ambiguity about what should be stored in the Knowledge Base and introduces users to what to expect. 

System Governance 

With an overall framework in mind, you can begin to create roles and responsibilities for maintaining your system. CMSs can quickly get out of hand if every user has the ability to create folders, add pages, and upload content at will. However, users need some autonomy to manage their work and workspaces. My colleagues have explained content governance at length, but I want to highlight three key pieces of guidance for CMS governance here: 

1. Create a cross-functional team for overall system governance. This should be a team that includes staff representing all departments and teams using your system. This overarching team ensures there is accountability for all governance efforts. 
2. Formulate individual accountabilities for content you own. One of the best ways to avoid content being pumped into a system and never addressed is to create rules about what content owners must do with the content they’ve created. There is a fine line to walk here, as having heavy-handed rules will discourage knowledge sharing, but loose rules will allow a proliferation of bad content. To avoid issues, keep rules light and reward good behavior. 
3. Create role-based permissions wherever possible. If a role within your organization doesn’t need to edit the page’s overall appearance, don’t give them that permission. Providing additional permissions as needed is easier than walking back major changes or mishaps. In SharePoint, this can be done by tying the seven permission levels (View Only, Limited Access, Read, Contribute, Edit, Design, and Full Control) to individual roles through the Admin Center or the Active Directory. 

Establishing usage guidelines through system charters and governance frameworks enables you to direct the evolution of your CMS and ensure its long-term maintenance, allowing you to focus on improving the actual experience for your users.

2. Design (Or Redesign) with User Experience in Mind

Many organizations see Content Management and Document Management Systems as utilitarian spaces that don’t need to cater to users’ needs and desires. However, developing a well-designed CMS interface and experience can reduce time spent searching for information, garner trust in the system, and encourage staff to give back to the tool. As such, ensuring your tool is easy to navigate and use is key to the success of both it and your staff. You can cater your CMS to your organization by:

1. Retaining interface consistency wherever possible. Your CMS will be one of many interfaces staff use daily; lowering the cognitive load by retaining consistent button placement and page layouts can streamline the user experience and reduce time to find. While no system looks exactly alike, making structural changes can impact overall staff satisfaction. Your cross-functional KM governance team can take responsibility for understanding the user experience across various sites. Creating design consistency means faster usage, more efficient interactions, and fewer errors – all of which can have a measurable, positive impact on your bottom line. One way to start is by creating a cross-site style guide to simplify the design process and prevent users from having to relearn each site they visit. 
2. Organizing your page based on new users’ needs. Set up your site or page to provide clear introductions to every visitor. You might try adding an introductory paragraph (a Site, Page, or System Charter typically fits well), adding quick links to the most critical and popular documents within your space, and adding contact information for any questions near the top of the page. While not all users will need this information, focusing on new users ensures the most visited and easy-to-digest information is close at hand. When using SharePoint, leverage Web Parts to create call-to-action buttons that users can use to navigate and jump around your site quickly. 

Consider creating a consistent navigational taxonomy to streamline your pages and system’s navigation and overall layout. While navigation by department or service area may be the best approach for some organizations, going through the navigational taxonomy design process is an opportunity to learn more about your end users and create a system that suits the needs of the largest user base. We have repeatedly seen the impacts and frustration caused by having radically different experiences from site to site, such as increased time-to-find and a disgruntled feeling that discourages users from complying with governance processes or disinterest in using the system at all. 

3. Organize with a Metadata Strategy

Metadata is descriptive detail used to describe or provide additional information about a piece of content. Most CMSs allow for the capture of metadata along with content. Metadata can improve knowledge management processes within your CMS by creating faceted searches, managing workflows and governance, and support access controls. 

With your cross-functional team, consider how the organization should use metadata within your CMS by prioritizing the KM processes you want to enable. Potential processes include increasing findability through search, managing and governing content via their applied metadata, presenting useful content to the individuals who will use it most, and enforcing nuanced access controls. To some extent, all of these processes can be started by creating content types. 

Content types are a foundational piece of almost any well-operating CMS. A content type is a reusable collection of metadata for a type of content. For example, a blog post is a content type that can have metadata fields such as title, author, topic, and date published. Most CMSs, like SharePoint, allow you to create custom content types. For a blog, for example, a system administrator could develop a defined content type that can be populated with content and metadata whenever a new blog is published. 

When creating content types, operate iteratively and start small by developing one or two at a time. An Agile approach will allow you to devote your efforts to iterative improvements with real user feedback as staff begins to interact with them, promoting effective, efficient, and focused user experiences. Additionally, always start with the content types you see most often. For example, if your organization posts a large number of News items, start by solidifying a News content type that reflects the standard form and information authors normally include. 

This relatively lightweight effort can be repeated over time and expanded as your content and user habits change. This will allow you to create powerful systems and workflows while keeping your content in manageable formats and repeatable frameworks. Keep in mind that content types work best when they work for the largest percentage of users. To achieve buy-in, ensure content types are designed centrally and communicated to the entire user base, emphasizing their power to make positive changes and improve the user experience. 

4. Workflows

Workflows are a key foundational element you can implement within your CMS. Automated workflows are a powerful tool that can boost the value and usefulness of your CMS if done correctly; however, if workflows are too rigid or slow down work, they can severely harm CMS adoption. Some popular workflows to get started with are content publishing, sunsetting content based on content types (now that you have your metadata strategy), and resurfacing content to be updated at predetermined times. Additionally, well-designed workflows will enforce the policies and procedures in your governance plan, ensuring it will be followed while creating greater usability. 

The best way to approach workflows is by focusing on the following: 

1. Keeping it simple. Don’t over-complicate your workflows with too many steps or people that content needs to go through. Complex processes have more parts that can break down or create bottlenecks. Start by testing one small workflow that can be added to and iterated upon as it gets used and reviewed. 
2. Eliminating extra work. As a system owner, workflows can greatly reduce the burden of content management for you and your team; consider identifying the most tedious parts of content management and design workflows to start. For example, if you know News posts are only relevant for 1-2 months and you constantly have to rehouse them, create a workflow that automatically archives those posts. If this feels too permanent, you can set up a workflow that resurfaces the News post to a content or system owner for revision and repurposing rather than archiving. These simple workflows can save you time and energy, ensure stakeholders maintain content responsibly and help declutter your CMS for your users. 
3. Ensuring content is useful. Workflows can also serve as your automatic auditing system. Unfortunately, many content owners see their role as only content authors. With a fairly simple workflow, you can create a system that notices when a content item is 6 months old and automatically triggers an email notification to the content author to check in and revise their item. This normally isn’t enough to ensure it is actually updated, so consider adding a step that also notifies a new hire or volunteer to review and make notes about whether the item makes sense to them; the content owner can then choose to update, archive, or replace the item accordingly. This workflow can enable small efforts that continually improve and maintain your CMS.

Combine workflows with analytics to ensure that under-used, duplicated, or frequently edited content is addressed by content and system owners often. Think of analytics as another trigger for workflows that automatically point out difficult-to-notice trends or content issues and begin the remediation process for you.

Conclusion

CMSs are powerful tools that require a touch of Knowledge and Information Management best practices to reach their full potential. SharePoint is one of the many Content Management Systems that can be cumbersome, unwieldy, and a financial drain for your organization, but effective KM best practice implementation can transfer your Content Management System into a powerful and business-effective solution for your organization. You can start incorporating these best practices and processes today by starting bite-sized, iterative, and impactful engagements to help you and your users. This white paper is meant to inspire you to start your own CMS improvement processes tailored to your organization. Do you need help improving your CMS and the processes around it? Contact Enterprise Knowledge! 

The post Make Content Management Systems Work for You: Designing Your CMS to Deliver KM Solutions appeared first on Enterprise Knowledge.

The Solution

EK architected and built a collaborative authoring and multi-channel publishing content management system for the Operations Center. EK developers used ProseMirror, a collaborative text editing component, to create a custom text editor for Operations content. This editor includes pre-set templates depending on which content type is being drafted so that users do not have to spend time manually formatting their content. Additionally, the editor UI flags any content entry errors the user may have made so that the finished product is published without issues. Once users have completed their drafting process, they can publish their content as an email, PDF, and web page all in one click. To expedite the time to publish, the system also auto-classifies the document based upon the strictest classification of any single content component.

In order to facilitate the publication process, the CMS employs a set of microservices that render and assemble the content into its different formats. Content is stored in the backend as JSON files so that each component can be parsed and rebuilt correctly for each channel.

The EK Difference

EK was able to leverage the wide-ranging expertise of its staff to support this CMS implementation project. EK partnered with the operations office for a 3-year engagement that spanned the initial discovery and visioning phases of the product all the way through to developing the CMS into its maturity. EK employs experts in CMS architecture, development, content strategy, and product management who all collaborated on creating the best possible product for the operations center. EK staffed full-time resources on this project, eliminating the need to bring in subcontractors or outsourced resources. 

As experts in knowledge management and content management, EK delivered features and functionality beyond that of a typical CMS implementation. The CMS EK architected employs a componentized content strategy that stores and tags content as building blocks instead of whole documents. EK also designed custom taxonomies that reflect the way users think about and interact with content. Both of these advanced content services underpin functionality in the CMS, like customer self-subscription, which allows users to decide which published products are delivered to their email inbox, faceted search, and content reuse.

The Results

EK successfully partnered with the operations office to stand up a CMS that has been in production for several years and has matured through more than eight minor releases. A full-time EK team has been working on and maintaining this CMS for the duration of that time, implementing an agile product roadmap designed to grow the CMS from minimum viability to a full-scale content creation, publication, and discovery hub. EK was able to quickly provide value to the operations center by releasing the initial version of the product within the first year of the engagement, ensuring the customer was able to benefit from the product even as additional functionality was being developed. 

Using the new system, content authors are able to complete the publication workflow 20% faster than they were using the old process, giving them more time to perform mission-critical analysis of global events. Additionally, in their old infrastructure, emails sometimes took up to 75 minutes after sending to reach customer inboxes. Now, distribution channels have been streamlined so that content reaches its final destination in a matter of seconds. 

Content consumers now benefit from a searchable repository of published content that they can use to analyze trends and patterns in global events, in addition to receiving timely updates in their inboxes. Prior to the CMS existing, there was no way for them to access and search through historical products unless they had saved them in their email inboxes.

The post <strong>Multi-Channel, Collaborative Authoring CMS for a Government Office</strong> appeared first on Enterprise Knowledge.

What are CCMSs?

Fundamentally, CCMSs are content management systems that manage content at a component level as opposed to a document level. To break that down further, let’s first define how traditional content management systems (CMS) store content. Traditional CMSs store and tag content by document, even if it consists of many different elements or topics within it. A CCMS, on the other hand, stores content as components that can be combined to build documents dynamically. These components can be thought of as the smaller chunks of content that make up a larger document. For example, a proposal writing team might leverage components to reuse elements of proposals and prevent the need to write from scratch during each effort. The company description, pricing, and legal section might all be separate components that can be selected and reused in as many proposals as needed. This granular level of management creates opportunities to leverage and reuse content in new and valuable ways. Teams no longer have to spend time either searching for and then copy-pasting content from one document to another or simply writing new content. With a CCMS, content teams know they have pre-written and approved sets of content components they can rely on when composing and publishing new content. 

Signs a CCMS is Right for Your Org

Below are a few factors that you can use to assess if a CCMS is right for your organization.

1. Your users need to find pieces of information quickly. Search experience can be improved immensely with a CCMS. For example, users in a call center or help desk environment need to quickly and authoritatively respond to customer questions and requests. If they have to make multiple clicks and scrolls to get to the information they need and then have to spend time assessing whether they’ve found the correct information, this consumes precious time during customer interaction. A CCMS can serve specific, scannable information to users based on their search terms so that they more quickly arrive at the answer they’re looking for. This is especially powerful when users have to navigate through numerous versions of similar information, like product-specific guides or State by State laws/policies. 
2. Users have to “Ctrl-F” to find what they need within documents. If your users frequently access documents that require performing a search within the document itself to drill down on a topic, a componentized content strategy, and consequently a CCMS, can revolutionize the way they interact with this content. Similar to the previous use case in which users can find small pieces of information more quickly through enterprise search, large documents can be componentized in order to save users time and clicks finding information.  
3. Content frequently needs to be updated in multiple places. Research, laws, best practices, and other information related to specific knowledge domains are constantly evolving. The impetus is on content teams to maintain and update their organization’s content when new information becomes available. A CCMS allows users to edit components in one place and then push the update to all of the content it appears in their systems. This saves time and ensures that components are uniformly and accurately updated across all of the content it is a part of. 
4. You are looking to implement a Knowledge Graph or advanced search application. A CCMS provides an excellent head start to implementing cutting-edge content management and search functionality. Content components can be used to assemble intuitive, specific search results and even underpin functionality like a knowledge panel. Check out one of the ways EK paired a CCMS with a knowledge graph to produce a flexible, adaptive, and customized content experience for a financial solutions provider.
5. You are looking to implement more personalization. Customers have come to expect that the content they receive is contextualized for their specific needs. Audience groups would rather receive specific pieces of content relevant to their interests than longer documents that they need to spend time combing through to find the right information for them. A CCMS lets content teams compose personalized content by making it easy to assemble content using only components relevant to different audience groups. To dig into this further, read about how a CCMS paired with a Knowledge Graph can take personalization to the next level.  

CCMSs have value beyond the use cases listed here, but this should get you thinking about how a CCMS might fit into your content ecosystem. You can read another example of how EK partnered with an organization to implement a CCMS here. If you are ready to explore CCMSs, EK has experts ready to advise on and implement a strategy that is best for you. 

The post What is a CCMS and Why Do I Need One? appeared first on Enterprise Knowledge.

In our experience at Enterprise Knowledge (EK), we consider the following to be core and essential systems for most integrated KM technology solutions:

• Content Management Systems
• Taxonomy Management Systems
• Enterprise Search Tools
• Knowledge Graphs

The systems mentioned above are essential tools to enable successful and mature KM, and when integrated with one another can serve to revolutionize the interaction between an organization’s staff and its information. EK has seen the most success with client organizations once they have understood the need for a blended set of technological tools and taken the steps to implement and integrate them with one another.

Once this need for a combined set of specialized solutions is realized, the issue of how to implement these solutions becomes ever-present and must be approached with a specific strategy for design and deployment. This blog will help to outline some of the key tips and guidelines for the implementation of a KM technology solution, regardless of its current state.

Prioritizing Your Technology Needs

When thinking about the approach to implementing an organization’s identified technology solutions, there is often an inclination to prioritize solutions that are considered “state-of-the-art” or “cooler” than others. This is understandable, especially with the new-age technology that is on the market and able to create a “wow” factor for a business’ employees and customers. However, it is important to remember that the order in which systems are implemented relies heavily on the current makeup of the organization’s technology stack. For example, although it might be tempting to take on the implementation of an AI-powered knowledge graph or a chat-bot that has Natural Language Processing (NLP) capabilities, the quality of your results and real-world usability of the product will increase dramatically if you also include other technologies such as a graph database to provide the foundation for a knowledge graph, or a Taxonomy Management System to allow for the design and curation of an enterprise taxonomy and/or ontology.

Depending on your organization’s level of maturity with respect to its technology ecosystem, the order in which systems are implemented must be strategically defined so that one system can build off of and enhance the previous. Typically, if an organization does not possess a solidified instance of any of the core KM technologies, the logical first step is to implement a Content Management System (CMS) or Document Management System (DMS), or in some cases, both. Following the “content first” approach, commonly used in web design and digitalization, organizations must first have a place in which they can effectively store, manage, and access their content, as an organization’s content is arguably one of its most valuable assets. Furthermore, one could argue that all core KM technologies are centered around an organization’s content and exist to improve/enhance that content whether it is adding to its structure, creating ways to more efficiently store and describe it, or more effectively searching and retrieving it at the time of need.

Once an organization has a solidified CMS solution in place, the next step is to implement tools geared towards the enhancement and findability of that content. One system in particular that helps to drastically improve the quality of an organization’s content by managing and deploying enterprise wide taxonomies and ontologies is a Taxonomy Management Systems (TMS). TMS solutions are integrated with an organization’s CMS and search tools and serve as a place to create, deploy, and manage poly-hierarchical taxonomies in a single place. TMS tools allow organizations to add structure to their content, describe it in a way that significantly improves organization, and fuel search by providing a set of predefined values from a controlled vocabulary that can be used to create facets and other forms of search-narrowing instruments. A common approach to implementing your technology ecosystem involves the simultaneous implementation of an enterprise search solution alongside the TMS implementation. Once again, the idea of one solution building off another is present here, as enterprise search tools feed off of the previously implemented CMS instance by utilizing Access Control List (ACL) specifications, security trimming considerations, content structure details, and many more. Once these three systems are in place, organizations can afford to look into additional tools such as Knowledge Graphs, AI-powered chatbots, and Metadata Catalogs.

Defining Business Logic and Common Uses

There is a great deal of preparation involved with the implementation of KM technologies, especially when considering the envisioned use of the system by organizational staff. As part of this preparation, a thorough analysis of existing business processes and standard operating procedures must be executed to account for the specific needs of users and how those needs will influence the design of the target system. Although it is not always initially obvious, the way in which a system is going to be used will heavily impact how that system is designed and implemented. As such, the individuals responsible for implementation must have a well-documented, thorough understanding of what end users will need from the tool, combined with a comprehensive list of core use cases. These types of details are most commonly elicited through a set of analysis activities with the system’s expected users.

Without these types of preliminary activities, the implementation process will seldom go as planned. This is because various detours will have to be taken to accommodate the business process details that are unique to the organization and therefore not ‘pre-baked’ into software solutions. These considerations sometimes come in the form of taxonomy/controlled list requirements, customizable workflows, content type specifications, and security concerns, to name a few.

If the proper arrangements aren’t made before implementing software and integrating with additional systems, it will almost always affect the scope of your implementation effort. Software implementation is not a “one size fits all” type of effort; there are certain design elements that are based on the business and functional requirements of the target solution, and these must be identified in the initial stages of the project. EK has seen how the lack of these preparatory activities can have impacts on project timelines, most commonly because of delays due to unforeseen circumstances. This results in extended deadlines, change requests, additional investment, and other general inefficiencies.

Recruiting the Proper Resources

In addition to the activities needed before implementation, it is absolutely essential to ensure that the appropriate resources are assigned to the project. This too can create issues down the road if not given the appropriate amount of time and attention before beginning the project. Generally speaking, there are a few standard roles that are necessary for any implementation project, regardless of the type or complexity of the effort. These roles are listed and described below:

• KM Designer/Consultant: Regardless of the type of system to be implemented, having a KM consultant on board is needed for various reasons. A KM consultant will be able to assist with the non-developmental areas of the project, for example designing taxonomies/ontologies, content types, search experiences, and/or governance structures.
• Senior Solutions Architect: Depending on the level of integration required, a Senior Solutions Architect is likely required. This is ideally a person with considerable experience working with multiple types of technologies that are core to KM. This person should have a thorough and comprehensive understanding of how to arrange systems into a technology suite and how each component works, both alone and as part of a larger, combined solution. Familiarity with REST, SOAP, and RPC APIs, along with other general knowledge about the communication between software is a must.
• Technology Subject Matter Expert (SME): This role is absolutely critical to the success of the implementation, as there will be a need for someone who specializes in the type of software being implemented. For example, if an organization is working to implement a TMS and integrate it with other systems, the project will need to staff a TMS integration SME to ensure the system is installed according to implementation best practices. This person will also be responsible for a large portion of the “installment” of the software, meaning they will be heavily involved with the initial set up and configuration based on the organization’s specific use of the system.
• KM Project Manager: As is common with all projects, there will be a need for a project manager to coordinate meetings, ensure the project is on schedule, and facilitate the ongoing alignment of all engaged parties. This person should be familiar with KM so that they can align efforts with best practices and help facilitate KM-related decisions.
• API Developer(s): Depending on the level of integration required, a developer may be needed to develop code to serve as a connector between systems. This individual must be familiar with the communication logic needed between systems and have a thorough understanding of APIs as well. The programming language in which any custom coding is needed will vary from organization to organization, but it is required that the developer has experience with the identified language.

The list above is by no means exhaustive, nor does it contain resources that are commonly assumed to be a part of any implementation effort. These roles are simply the unique ones that help with successful implementations. Also, depending on the level of effort required, there may be a need for multiple resources at each role, such as the developer or SME role. This type of consideration is important, as the project will need to have ample resources according to the project’s defined timeline.

Defining a Realistic Timeline

One final factor to consider when preparing for a technology solution implementation effort is the estimated time with which the project is expected to be completed. Implementation efforts are notoriously difficult to estimate in terms of time and resources needed, which often results in the over- or under- allocation of financing for a given effort. As a result of this, it’s recommended to err on the side of caution and incorporate more time than is initially estimated for the project to reach completion. If similar efforts have been completed in the past, utilize informal benchmarking. If available resources have experience implementing similar solutions, bring them to the forefront. The best way to estimate the level of effort and time needed to complete certain tasks is to look at historical data, which in this case would be previous implementation efforts.

In EK’s experience implementing large scale and highly complex software and custom solutions, we have learned that it is important to prepare for the unexpected to ensure the expected timeline is not derailed by unanticipated delays. For example, one common consideration we have encountered many times and one that has created significant delays is the need to get individuals appropriate access to certain systems or organizational resources. This is especially relevant with third-party consultants and when the system(s) in question have high security requirements. Additionally, there are several KM-related considerations that can unexpectedly lengthen a project’s timeline, such as the quality/readiness of content, governance standards and procedures that may be lacking, and/or change management preparations.

Conclusion

There are many factors that go into an implementation effort and, unfortunately, a lot of ways one can go wrong. Very seldom are projects like these executed to perfection, and a majority of the times that they fail or go awry is due to one or a combination of a few of the factors mentioned above. The good news and common theme with these considerations is that these pitfalls can mostly be avoided with the proper planning, preparation, and estimates (with regards to both time and resources). The initial stages of an implementation effort are the most critical, as these are the times where project planners need to be honest and realistic with their projections. There is often the tendency to begin development as soon as possible, and to skip most of the preparatory activities due to an eagerness to get started. It is important to remember that successful implementation efforts require the necessary legwork, even if it may seem superfluous at the time. Does your company need assistance implementing a piece of technology and is not sure how to get started? EK provides end-to-end services beginning with strategy and design and ending with the implementation of fully functional KM systems. Reach out to us! Contact us with any questions or general inquiries.

The post Constructing KM Technology: Tips for Implementing Your KM Technology Solutions appeared first on Enterprise Knowledge.

Join the webinar “From Docs to Components” on January 27 from 3:00 PM – 4:00 PM EST to learn more about how to enable full flexibility for a tailored user experience.

Register for the event here: Online event registration | Drupal4Gov 

The post EK’s Ivanov and Taylor to Speak At Upcoming Webinar On Content Management: “From Docs to Components” appeared first on Enterprise Knowledge.

Enterprise Knowledge (EK) is a Core Sponsor of Drupal GovCon 2021! The virtual conference will take place from October 13th to the 15th. This year five EK experts will lead two half-day training sessions at the Drupal GovCon conference. Drupal GovCon brings together people from all over the country who use, develop, design, and support the Drupal platform. Although there is a focus on government, there is also a heavy representation of attendees from the private, non-profit, and education sectors. 

Andrew Ratner, Consultant, will lead a training session with Yanko Ivanov, Principal Solution Consultant, and Nick Sacoman, Drupal developer, on “Designing User Experiences for Headless Drupal” on Wednesday, October 13th, 2021 from 9 AM to 1 PM ET.

Their session will focus on the principles of user-centric design that should be leveraged when designing multi-channel user experiences. Additionally, the session will discuss where the future of content management is going and how to best leverage content components in Drupal. With instructional guidance from EK’s experts, participants will have an opportunity to create and design a user journey map to deliver targeted omnichannel content, restructure large documents for content reuse, and perform semantic content modeling.

Lisa McCray, Senior Drupal developer, and Corinne Aherne, Senior Analyst, will lead the training session “Designing Custom Content Models and Search HIT Types” on Thursday, October 14th, 2021 from 9 AM to 1 PM ET.

Their training session will focus on industry best practices for developing a successful content strategy, including how to use elements of content structures to both build content types and design content models. McCray and Aherne will guide participants through an analysis of unstructured content to identify important semantic patterns and will then teach participants how to apply the findings when defining content types. Participants will also learn skills for intentionally structuring their content to improve search. 

Register first for the conference by creating an account here: Drupal GovCon 2021 in order to access EK’s half-day training sessions Designing User Experiences for Headless Drupal and Designing Custom Content Models and Search HIT Types.

The post Enterprise Knowledge to be a Core Sponsor and Training Leader at Drupal GovCon 2021 appeared first on Enterprise Knowledge.

Every organization has content/information that needs to be treated as confidential. In some cases, it’s easy to know where this content is stored and to make sure that it is secure. In many other cases, this sensitive or confidential content is created and stored on shared drives or in insecure locations that employees could stumble upon or hackers could take advantage of. Especially in larger organizations that have been in operation for decades, sensitive content and data that has been left and forgotten in unsecured locations is a common, high-risk problem. We call hidden and risky content ‘Phantom Data’ to express that it is often unknown or unseen and also has the strong potential to hurt your organization’s operations. Most organizations have a Phantom Data problem and very few know how to solve it. We have helped a number of organizations address this problem and I am going to share our approach so that others can be protected from the exposure of confidential information that could lead to fines, a loss of reputation, and/or potential lawsuits.

We’ve consolidated our recommended approach to this problem into four steps. This approach offers better ways to defend against hackers, unwanted information loss, and unintended information disclosures.

1. Identify a way to manage the unmanaged content.
2. Implement software to identify Personally Identifiable Information (PII) and Personal Health Information (PHI).
3. Implement an automated tagging solution to further identify secure information.
4. Design ongoing content governance to ensure continued compliance.

Manage Unmanaged Content

Shared drives and other unmanaged data sources are the most common cause of the Phantom Data problem. If possible, organizations should have well-defined content management systems (document management, digital asset management, and web content management solutions) to store their information. These systems should be configured with a security model that is auditable and aligns with the company’s security policies.

Typically we work with our clients to define a security model and an information architecture for their CMS tools, and then migrate content to the properly secured infrastructure. The security model needs to align with the identity and access management tools already in place. The information architecture should be defined in a way that makes information findable for staff across business departments/units, but also makes it very clear as to where secure content should be stored. Done properly, the CMS will be easy to use and your knowledge workers will find it easier to place secure content in the right place.

In some cases, our clients need to store content in multiple locations and are unable to consolidate it onto a single platform. In these cases, we recommend a federated content management approach using a metadata store or content hub. This is a solution we have built for many of our clients. The hub stores the metadata and security information about each piece of content and points to the content in its central location. The image below shows how this works.

Once the hub is in place, the business can now see which content needs security and ensure that the security of the source systems matches the required security identified in the hub.

Implement PII and PHI Software

There are a number of security software solutions that are designed to scan content to identify PII and PHI information. These tools look at content to identify the following information:

• Credit card and bank account information
• Passport or driver’s license information
• Names, DOBs, phone numbers
• Email addresses
• Medical conditions
• Disabilities
• Relative information

These are powerful tools that are worth implementing as part of this solution set. They are focused on one important part of the Phantom Data issue, and can deliver a solution with out-of-the-box software. In addition, many of these tools already have pre-established connectors to common CMS tools.

Once integrated, these tools provide a powerful alert function to the existence of PII and PHI information that should be stored in more secure locations.

Implement an Automated Tagging Solution

Many organizations assume that a PII and PHI scanning tool will completely resolve the problem of finding and managing Phantom Data. Unfortunately, PII and PHI are only part of the problem. There is a lot of content that needs to be secured or controlled that does not have personal or health information in it. As an example, at EK we have content from clients that describes internal processes, which should not be shared. There is no personal information in it, but it still needs to be stored in a secure environment to protect our clients’ confidentiality. Our clients may also have customer or product information that needs to be secured. Taxonomies and auto-tagging solutions can help identify these files. 

We work with our clients to develop taxonomies (controlled vocabularies) that can be used to identify content that needs to be secured. For example, we can create a taxonomy of client names to spot content about a specific client. We can also create a topical taxonomy that identifies the type of information in the document. Together, these two fields can help an administrator see content whose topic and text suggest that it should be secured.

The steps to implement this tagging are as follows:

1. Identify and procure a taxonomy management tool that supports auto-tagging.
2. Develop one or more taxonomies that can be used to identify content that should be secured.
3. Implement and tune auto-tagging (through the taxonomy management tool) to tag content.
4. Review the tagging combinations that most likely suggest a need for security, and develop rules to notify administrators when these situations arise.
5. Implement notifications to content/security administrators based on the content tags.

Once the tagging solution is in place, your organization will have two complementary methods to automatically identify content and information that should be secured according to your data security policy.

Design and Implement Content Governance

The steps described above provide a great way to get started solving your Phantom Data problem. Each of these tools is designed to provide automated methods to alert users about this problem going forward. The solution will stagnate if a governance plan is not put in place to ensure that content is properly managed and the solution adapts over time.

We typically help our clients develop a governance plan and framework that:

• Identifies the roles and responsibilities of people managing content;
• Provides auditable reports and metrics for monitoring compliance with security requirements; and
• Provides processes for regularly testing, reviewing, and enhancing the tagging and alerting logic so that security is maintained even as content adapts.

The governance plan gives our clients step-by-step instructions, showing how to ensure ongoing compliance with data protection policies to continually enhance the process over time.

Beyond simply creating a governance plan, the key to success is to implement it in a way that is easy to follow and difficult to ignore. For instance, content governance roles and processes should be implemented as security privileges and workflows directly within your systems.

In Summary

If you work in a large organization with any sort of decentralized management of confidential information, you likely have a Phantom Data problem. Exposure of Phantom Data can cost organizations millions of dollars, not to mention the loss of reputation that organizations can suffer if the information security failure becomes public.

If you are worried about your Phantom Data risks and are looking for an answer, please do not hesitate to reach out to us.

The post The Phantom Data Problem: Finding and Managing Secure Content appeared first on Enterprise Knowledge.