Content Management System

• Organize city electronic files in a central, secure, searchable location

• Improve the web site so it is attractive, has consistent formatting throughout, has features like automatic calendar, news, polls, and forums.

• Make the web site much easier to manage. No special software is required, just fill out forms on a web site.

• Assign roles to individuals so they can be authors in their own areas of the web. For example, committee secretaries could put committee minutes directly on the web themselves and update their own committee sections of the web site.

• Use workflow function so that authors create drafts and submit them for publication and a reviewer then takes action such as publishing the document before it becomes visible to the public.

See for example this presentation about the Governor of Hawaii's CMS portal.

Benefits

• Improve consistency and reduce effort in communication to and from the public.

• Improve management of electronic files and discussions among city staff and with committee members and the public.

What We Did

• Used free CMS software Plone (used by the Hawaii site above).

• Paid Corvid Computing for installation, customization, initial training, and conversion from the current web site and electronic files ($3,000 budgetary estimate).