Content management system (CMS) is used to manage the content of a website. A CMS consists of two elements: the content management application (CMA) and the content delivery application (CDA). The CMA allows the content manager/author, who may not know Hypertext Markup Language (HTML), to manage the creation, modification, and deletion of content from website without the help of a webmaster. The CDA uses and compiles the information to update the website. The tools of a CMS system vary, but most of them include web-based publishing, format management, revision control, and indexing, search, and retrieval.

Web-based publishing feature permits users to use a template or a set of templates approved by the organization, as well as wizards and other tools to create or modify web content. The format management tool allows documents including legacy electronic documents and scanned paper documents to be converted into HTML or Portable Document Format (PDF) for the website. The revision control feature allows content to be updated to a newer version or restored to a previous version. Revision control also tracks any changes made to files by individuals. An additional feature is indexing, search, and retrieval. A CMS system indexes all data within an organization. Individuals can then search for data using keywords, which the CMS system retrieves.

A CMS system may also provide tools for one-to-one marketing. One-to-one marketing is the ability of a website to make its content and advertising to a user’s specific characteristics using information provided by the user or gathered by the site (for example, a particular user’s page sequence pattern. If you visit a search engine and search for “Laptop,” the advertising banners will advertise businesses that sell laptops instead of businesses that sell fertilizers.

There are factors to be considered before an organization decides to invest in a CMS. First, an organization’s size and geographic details must be considered especially if an organization is spread out over several countries. For these type of organizations, the transition to CMS is more difficult. Secondly, the diversity of the electronic data forms used within an organization must be considered. If an organization uses text documents, graphics, video, audio, and diagrams to convey information, the content will be more strenuous to manage.