Efficient Management of Data - Essay Example

?Applied Data Management Table of Contents Research Background 3 Purpose of the Research 3 Rationale for Selecting WCMS 4 Target Audience of WCMS 4 Features and Facilities of WCMS 4 Non-technical Aspects of WCMS 5 Benefits of WCMS 8 Criteria to Compare WCMS 9 Recommendation for Board of Directors of S&R Consultants 9 Steps Required to Select and Implement WCMS 9 Website Management Policies 11 References 12 Research Background Efficient management of data is important prerequisite for an organisation. As business grows, the requirements of maintaining proper information regarding every communication, reports, outcome of every survey, financial statements and description of services among others also increase. Besides, since data backup is also necessary, constant retention of data also increases the volume of information, making it difficult for any organisation to find proper data and to manage in such a way so that it can enhance business effectiveness. Focusing on this aspect, the research aims at addressing data management problem of S&R Consultants. For about 30 years, the organisation has grown steadily in home (i.e. Australia) and overseas nation. However, with the increase in business issues regarding data management frequently becomes a great challenge for the S&R Consultants. In such condition, the use of web content management system (WCMS) would be beneficial for S&R Consultants. However, as it is a new technology, WCMS is characterised by several non-technical issues, which must be considered before implementing the new technology. Purpose of the Research Based on the use of WCMS in S&R Consultants, the research intends to explore how it can be proved beneficial for the organisation. Besides the purpose of undertaking the research is to generate features and facilities of WCMS, which can fulfil the requirements of S&R, to recommend certain criteria to compare and choose apparent WCMS, to provide recommendations to the board of directors of S&R Consultants about steps required to select and implement WCMS and about website management policies for proper integration of website into the business operations. Rationale for Selecting WCMS The rationale for selecting WCMS is that it can allow S&R Consultants to rapidly react with the business situation and to make important materials available on website. Besides, WCMS is much effective in updating latest information without assistance of technical experts. In S&R Consultants, WCMS might assist in making different workflows more efficient than before, because it can provide timely publication of contents and also ensure that those contents are satisfactorily revised before publication (The Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, 2008). Target Audience of WCMS In order to ensure that the WCMS is kept relevant, there must be clear idea about the target audience. Target audience can help to understand the key prerequisites of WCMS system and therefore can support S&R Consultants to make decisions regarding useful contents. Besides, target audience also allow for developing proper investment strategy for development of website (Perriss & et. al., 2006). Since, the website of S&R will be a private website the key audiences will be the existing clients and other prospects who desire to obtain services from the organisation. Features and Facilities of WCMS WCMS can provide the following features to S&R Consultants: Document Management System: WCMS is intended to manage and store internal organisational data and corporate information. It helps in document workflow and interpretation of data. Electronic publishing: WCMS tools are developed for supporting online publishing of news and other reports, which are essential for key stakeholders. WCMS enable simple workflow and quick publication of contents. E-commerce facility: WCMS also authorises e-commerce through enabling online shopping and electronic relationship management for S&R Consultants (Browning & Lowndes, 2001). WCMS provides three core facilities for S&R Consultants namely versioning, workflow management and integration. Versioning can allow the staffs of S&R consultants to perform safely and to recollect older versions of databases. Workflow management help to ensure that website contents go through an evaluation, review and quality assertion procedure. WCMS also delivers better integration of the new system to existing business process so that data can be stored in manageable manner. Non-technical Aspects of WCMS There are several non-technical aspects of WCMS, which must be considered by S&R Consultants before implementation. Security: Security signifies protection of information from any kind of unauthorised access, modification and destruction of information in website content. The key issues with respect to security of WCMS are confidentiality, integrity, accessibility and authenticity. Breach of confidentiality can occur from unauthorised disclosure of information, stolen information and breaches of privacy among others. On the other hand, integrity can be violated, through deletion of vital information, misrepresentation of data and alteration of data in incorrect manner among others. Concerning accessibility, it can be hampered by power outages, hardware and software failure, server breakdown and system upgrade. Furthermore, denial of service also has negative impact on accessibility. Finally, violation of authenticity occurs through incorrect identity or misrepresentation of users (Feruza & Kim, 2007). Usability: One of the key issues of WCMS is its usability. Usability in this context signifies simplicity of using WCMS. Additionally, the usability of WCMS also comprises how rapidly and easily users can learn about the system, efficiency of the system for regular users and how the regular users can manage any kind of errors or idyllically prevent errors. Usability is a major factor for introducing WCMS in S&R Consultants (Step Two Designs, 2006). Access via internet and intranet: The success of WCMS depends on interaction between the users and computers at large scale. In this context, it can be stated that WCMS must be accessed via both internet and intranet in order to ensure an inexpensive way of enhancement of business for S&R Consultants. WCMS has exclusive blend of flexibility, portability and accessible features, which differentiates it from other facilities provided through internet (Thakur & et. al., 2013). Data backup facilities: Data backup is vital part of WCMS because data is important for proper functioning of the organisation. In WCMS, different type of incidents such as manual error, system failure, link failure and natural disaster among others can damage vital file and documents of organisation. There are several backup options for WCMS users, which are subject to complexity of the system. The following figure demonstrates different tires of backup for WCMS. Fig 1: Tires of Backup for WCMS Source: (Zhu & et. al., 2004) From the above figure, it can be observed that in tier 1, there is requirement for only basic backup strategy. However, as complexity increases with tier 2, 3 and 4 the backup options also extends for the users. Most frequently there are three prevalent backup options that can be used by WCMS users namely cold backup, warm backup and hot backup. These backup options allow users to reload the data when alerted, deleted or damaged (Zhu & et. al., 2004). Reliability: Reliability issues can cripple in WCMS when load on a specific website accelerates. In order to ensure reliable performance, WCMS of S&R Consultants should be able to sustain constant stress and load applied through users’ activities. The possible problem areas with respect to reliability of WCMS are memory consumption, computer utilisation and reaction time of users’ requests among others (Iyer & et. al., 2006). Benefits of WCMS WCMS can provide benefits to S&R Consultants in following ways: Automate data management: Historically, website content contained static pages and HTML files. Data management in website content necessitated understanding about HTML language and involved manual updating of data content and design, which was clearly a time consuming and a complex process. In contrast, WCMS can minimise the complexity of data management and also automate the administration of contents. Better data control: WCMS can also help to distribute the data management responsibilities to individual staffs. As a result, they can easily obtain tools to maintain data contents without having concrete knowledge on HTML language, graphic design methods and website publishing techniques among others. Separation of content from layout and design: In WCMS, data contents can be stored distinctly from its publication format. For example, the financial statement of S&R Consultants or description of different services can be saved in text format or image format as required in order to replicate distinct graphic design for both internet and intranet websites. Database driven content: Database is the key for WCMS implementation. In WCMS, static and flat HTMS pages do not exist, rather the computer system place most content in relational database, which is able to store diverse information. The database can also act as central repository for content, templates and graphics (Powel & Gill, 2003). Basically, WCMS can provide benefits with respect to streamlining the authoring process, quick turnaround for creation of new webpages and changes in website contents, increased consistency of data management, improved website navigation, enhanced website flexibility, reduced duplication of information, better capability for growth and low website maintenance expenses (Shaikh & Fegade, 2012). Criteria to Compare WCMS Selecting a WCMS system is a complex and challenging task, because numerous vendors are available, which claim to provide different WCMS tools for website design. In most circumstances, organisations face four basic choices. For example organisations with large number of staffs desire to develop custom solution for WCMS, where others might desire to explore development framework of WCMS. Then again, many organisations also desire to consider marketable and packaged solution of WCMS, and finally others wish to follow open source solution for WCMS (Powel & Gill, 2003). Basically, in order to compare and select WCMS solution, there are different criteria, which must be considered by S&R Consultants namely core functionality, editing interface, management of organisational assets, search functions, level of customisation, user interaction, authorisation, versioning, multi website support and multi-language support. These attributes are important part of WCMS and must be considered while selecting the solution. Recommendation for Board of Directors of S&R Consultants Steps Required to Select and Implement WCMS WCMS can be selected and implemented by three logical steps. The first step for successful WCMS is to develop an idea or concept regarding content management. This step comprise making decisions regarding development of website, manipulation of data, publication of information, website and data representation, and update of information. These aspects are based on target audience and their factors of satisfaction. The second phase comprises of publishing and visualising. After deciding the WCMS solution and level of data to show or hide from users and public, there emerges the need to concise the relevant content of webpages. These contents are then published with proper templates and visualisation methods. In second step S&R Consultants can obtain assistance from internet or other media in order to develop well-managed WCMS system. The third step comprises creation of MIS and content database for development of websites for S&R Consultants (Shaikh & Fegade, 2012). The following figure demonstrates the steps that should be followed by S& R Consultants in order to select and implement WCMS. Fig 2: Steps for Selecting and Implementing WCMS Website Management Policies In order to ensure integration of the website of S&R Consultants into its business operations, there is need to develop a policy comprising minimum standards and rules that will be followed by the staffs of the organisation. The policy should describe about relevant legislation concerning website contents, guiding principles of website publishing, accuracy of information, removal of obsolete contents, role and responsibilities of different users regarding WCMS and resulting action in case of violation of rules and guidelines (University of Cape Town, 2012). References Browning, P. & Lowndes, M., 2001. JISC TechWatch Report: Content Management Systems. University of Bristol. [Online] Available at: http://www.jisc.ac.uk/uploaded_documents/tsw_01-02.pdf [Accessed October 31, 2013]. 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[Online] Available at: http://www.steptwo.com.au/files/cmb_usability.pdf [Accessed October 31, 2013]. Thakur, A. & et. al., 2013. Intranet Based Academic Web Server. International Journal of Emerging Technology and Advanced Engineering, Vol. 3, Iss. 4, pp. 678-681. The Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, 2008. Web Content Management System. Hong Kong SAR Government. [Online] Available at: http://www.infosec.gov.hk/english/technical/files/web.pdf [Accessed October 31, 2013]. University of Cape Town, 2012. UCT Web Content Management Policy. UCT Administrative Documentation. [Online] Available at: http://www.uct.ac.za/downloads/uct.ac.za/about/policies/WebContentManagementPolicy.pdf [Accessed October 31, 2013]. Zhu, W. J. & et. al., 2004. Content Manager Backup/Recovery and High Availability: Strategies, Options, and Procedures. Redbooks. [Online] Available at: http://www.redbooks.ibm.com/redbooks/pdfs/sg247063.pdf [Accessed October 31, 2013]. Read More