Framework/CMS suggestions for enterprise website & intranet (I've got to convince the president its solid!)

I agree with [Will's comments][1]. Building a CMS, an intranet, and a document management system sounds like a ton of work. My company would probably spend 6 months on the requirements for **one** of those systems and **still** hand off vague/incomplete requirements.

Here are a few questions:

1. Who will be maintaining the CMS and
Doc Management systems when you're
done? The odds of the apps being a
success go down if you drop a custom
Python app in the midst of a bunch
of salaried Java developers. I'm
not saying that it can't work, just
that the odds skew against it.
2. Are you looking for a single
app/framework to create the CMS for the
external sites, the CMS for the
intranet, and the document
management system? If so, that
should narrow the field of possible
CMSs considerably. For example, I
don't think that Drupal handles
Document Management well (if it
handles it at all.)
3. Who are the users of the systems?
Will the folks using the document
management system be the same ones
managing the websites and intranet?
4. Will the systems share workflow?
(Will document management system
content stay in its silo or can documents
migrate to the Web CMS or intranet?
Are there different "approvers" in
each area of the system or one set of overlords?)

Good luck!

[1]:

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Seth, if you really want a E-CMS, dont try to reinvent the wheel. There are plenty tested E-CMS around. For example some Zope/Python based solutions like Plone. It is Enterprise tested, so easy to use, extremly extensible (as you have a complete applicationserver in the backend), there are books around explaining it for authors/editors, webmasters and developers. Evolve it where it doesnt fit. If you need more info ask at IRC (OPN/freenode, #plone) or if one of the 59 World Plone Day [1] locations is not too far away go there at November 7th 2008 and get in touch with Plone and its huge and helpful community. [1]

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> CMS for a medium-big company is not about Software. It is about proccesses and policies.

Very true!

Association with prestigious names is not necessarily an indicator of pleasing end results.

I like Sony products, yes, but on the various occasions on which I have sought support from Sony sites I have felt like banging my head against a brick wall! Those head-cracking sites may not have been Drupal-oriented, I have no idea, but the point is: don't be sucked in by big names alone.

An issue you should expect is: preconceptions of what may be achieved (or constrained) by a system.

Allow yourself some learning time with Plone — ideally, for a large project such as this, *invest* in expert advice — and you'll realise that traditional-ish ideas of what a system can or should accomplish are mostly exceeded by Plone's capabilities.

Gauge user requirements with a very open mind (not based on simplicities such as "I'd like a system that's equal to system x") then come to plone.org | Support | Chat Room to further discuss your requirements.

Keep an eye on Flossquality - Open source quality research

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Concerning Flossquality and the three quality-related projects under that heading, at

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I imagined some questions that people in the open source communities (not just in Plone) might ask about the whole caboodle.

Very recently I received, off-list, some responses to those questions. As soon as I find time to read the relevant e-mails I'll aim to either share or at least abstract the responses.

"Enterprise" is a marketing term. It has pretty much zero technical meaning. If your boss wants to hear Enterprise, then he will, but this won't mean that a given system is suitable for your needs.

Beware of lists of companies that use a given suite of software. "Ebay uses Plone", and "Ebay runs on Plone" are two very different statements.

Mostly, if you're doing "Enterprise" CMS (for whatever that term is worth) you should expect to have a learning curve that will only just *begin* to flatten out by the end of a significant project.

For your project, I'd suggest you try to figure out what you really need. If you think TurboGears (or any other framework) is a good fit, discuss some risk management strategies with your boss. Maybe a small pilot to start with. Adopting a new technology is risky. Many "large corporation" web sites are mission-critical these days.

For what it's worth. I like Plone, but I've only ever used it for non-corporate stuff. I don't personally know of any "Enterprise" implementations. At work I use Tridion, and I know of numerous implementations at that level. (If you're looking for a choice that will let you work in Python, Tridion isn't a good fit.)