How many times have you had a client say to you "But my kid brother says we should really use CMS X", "Our IT guy says Drupal isn't 'Enterprise'" or "We're moving from CMS Y and we hate it, why should we go with CMS X?" This talk will be a comparison of various CMS platforms across PHP, ASP.NET and JAVA (closed source, open source, free and pay) to better enable you to make informed decisions for yourself and your customers. This session won't be overly technical but it will be focused for users who understand basic CMS concepts. I highly recommend it for anybody who will be involved in the CMS decision making or sales process for a CMS based project. I have a small confession to make, Drupal was the first CMS I used and interestingly enough it gave me a very warped view of the landscape. When the time came for me to use other CMSs, I was shocked at the features (or lack of) that some offered. Fast forward to a few years later, I had a client come to me and ask which CMS I would use for their large project. After about 10 seconds deliberation I said Drupal, it's been my go-to for over three years now -- of course Drupal would work for what they wanted. Well, it turned out that Drupal couldn't offer exactly what the client actually needed so it was time to put on the research cap and really take a look at what's out there. To make a long story short I fell for the classic "When all you have is a hammer..." when it turns out for some parts of the project there were better tools (and for some parts, Drupal was the still right CMS). Join me as I walk you through the decision making proces that we followed, the CMSs we reviewed, their strengths, weakness and overall questions that you just know the client is going to ask. Disclamer: This won't be a Drupal, Drupal, rah-rah-rah (biased) talk. I'll cover: Why choose one CMS over another? Strengths and weaknesses of the CMSs. Comparison projects between two CMSs to show the time/cost difference. Saas CMS vs hosting your own. The dreaded "Enterprise" word How does Drupal 6/7 stack up? What I won't cover: Language vs Language Hosting architectures (aside from SaaS)

1. Not all CMSs are
created equal
Andrew M Riley
October 2nd, 2010

2. "It is tempting, if the only tool you have is a hammer, to
treat everything as if it were a nail." -Abraham Maslow

3. Overall Process
1. Determine needs
2. Evaluate contenders
3. Estimate
4. Profit? (or Implement)

4. Needs
Identify what type of site you’ll be creating. This decision will affect the
following steps.
Is it Social? Brochureware? Application Site?
Users will be logging in to Just about any CMS out
Your application may or
your site, doing lots of there can do a basic
may not have lots of
database writes, will it brochure site. Is the cost of
database writes, will it
scale? Does the software the software + development
scale? Does the CMS license
allow you to open your site worth it?
allow for modification and
up to the public to make This type of site pretty much
redistribution?
updates? Are there already excludes “Needs” from the
made modules that will save process.
Are there already created
you from re-creating the
modules that you can use or
wheel?
is this from scratch?

5. Evaluate (Key Features)
• Robust WYSIWYG editor
• Content approval
• Granular privileges
• Advanced caching
• Load-balanced environment capable
• Multisite support
• Multilingual support
• Mobile integration

6. Interwoven TeamSite
Target Market
•Enterprise eBusiness
•Ultra-large single site
Strengths
•Best in class personalization support via LiveSite module
•Broad functional feature set
•Strong integrator and developer communities
Weaknesses
•Underlying technology platform is 10 years old - recent
acquisition casts doubt on likelihood of platform updates
•Weak asset management without optional MediaBin module
•Content syncing and deployment is a serious area of frustration
for developers and administrators

7. Day Communique
Target Market
•Global Enterprise
•Global Intranet
Strengths
•Exceptionally mature, standards-driven technology platform
•Flexible deployment capabilities: coupled, decoupled, hybrid
•Good internalization support
Weaknesses
•Company’s engineering emphasis overshadows feature
development
•Limited partnerships makes experienced third-parties hard to
find
•Deployment architecture not well suited for smaller-scale
deployments

8. FatWire Content Server
Target Market
•Interactive Marketing
•Global eBusiness
•Microsites
Strengths
•Focused on the needs of interactive marketers
•Strong personalization and content targeting
•Deep LDAP integration supports centralized security models
Weaknesses
•Considered a complex system to roll out and maintain
•Multiple contributor interfaces adds complexity and confusion

9. SDL Tridion
Target Market
•Interactive Marketing
•Global Enterprise
•Microsites
Strengths
•Best of breed multilingual support
•Comprehensive XML support well suited to content reuse
•Company is aggressive about developing new features
Weaknesses
•Emphasis on functional development overshadows need for
architectural overhaul
•Mediocre UI usability
•Weak North American presence yields limited third-party
availability

10. Open Text (RedDot)
Target Market
•Interactive Marketing
•Ultra-Large Single Site
Strengths
•Mature, stable codebase
•Excellent content versioning and archiving support
•Highly usable drag-and-drop workflow designer
Weaknesses
•Requires proprietary RQL scripting language
•Unforgiving platform configurations quickly lead to poor
performance
•Future in doubt after Vignette’s acquisition

11. Drupal
Target Market
•Community-oriented Sites
•Interactive Marketing
Strengths
•Very feature-rich with thousands of add-on modules
•Excellent integration platform
•Large developer and user communities
Weaknesses
•No multi-tier deployment capabilities
•Limited post-publish workflows

12. Sitecore
Target Market
•Interactive Marketing
•SMB Intranet
Strengths
•Highly extensible and componentized platform
•Pure .NET 3.5 implementation highly intuitive to developers
•Best in class UI for features and usability
Weaknesses
•Current UI is resource intensive
•Workflow config is more developer friendly than user friendly
•Most support comes from consulting firm partners

13. Refresh SR2
Target Market
•Enterprise eBusiness
•Global Enterprise
Strengths
•Strongly OO system emphasizes component and content reuse
•Strong taxonomy support
•Well suited to enterprises with extensive delivery tier investments
Weaknesses
•No delivery tier integration
•Editorial features are awkward and lack usability
•Simplistic workflow

14. Sitefinity
Target Market
•Corporate Brochure
•Community-oriented Sites
Strengths
•Shallow learning curve for .NET developers
•Comparatively large collection of add-on modules
•Frequent functionality upgrades
Weaknesses
•No multi-tier deployment capabilities
•Poor taxonomy support
•Potentially serious performance issues with large sites

15. CrownPeak
Target Market
•Corporate Brochure
•Microsites
•SMB Intranet
Strengths
•Solid multisite management
•Only product with a real API in its class
•Vendor works well with consultancies and agencies
Weaknesses
•No in-context editing
•Very limited interactive functionality
•Templating via COM/VBScript API

16. Editor Features
SDL
Interwoven Day FatWire Open Text Drupal Sitecore Refresh Sitefinity CrownPeak
Tridion
Asset
Manager
Content
Scheduling
Image
Editing
In-Context
Editing
Workflows
WYSIWYG
Editor
Cross-
Browser
Editing

17. Content Features
SDL
Interwoven Day FatWire Open Text Drupal Sitecore Refresh Sitefinity CrownPeak
Tridion
Taxonomy
Templating
Multilingual
Support
Mobile
Integration
Content
Reuse
Personali-
zation
Theming

18. Security Features
Interwoven Day FatWire SDL Open Text Drupal Sitecore Refresh Sitefinity CrownPeak
Tridion
Content
Auditing
Admin
Auditing
Captcha
Content
Approval
Email
Verification
Granular
Permissions
Login
History
Error
Logging
SSL Support
Versioning
Error
Reporting

19. Performance Features
SDL
Interwoven Day FatWire Open Text Drupal Sitecore Refresh Sitefinity CrownPeak
Tridion
Advanced
Caching
Load-
Balancing
Support
Multisite
Support
Multi-tier
Deployment

20. SEO Features
SDL
Interwoven Day FatWire Open Text Drupal Sitecore Refresh Sitefinity CrownPeak
Tridion
Friendly
URLs
Metadata
Management
Site Maps
URL Aliasing
Accessibility

21. Standard Functionality
SDL
Interwoven Day FatWire Open Text Drupal Sitecore Refresh Sitefinity CrownPeak
Tridion
Blog
Calendar
File
Distribution
Graphs /
Charts
Mail Forms
Photo
Gallery
Polls
RSS
Site Search
UGC
Management
User
Dashboard

22. Product Support
SDL
Interwoven Day FatWire Open Text Drupal Sitecore Refresh Sitefinity CrownPeak
Tridion
Commercial
Support
Commercial
Training
Developer
Community
Online
Documentati
on
Third Party
Developers

23. Features vs Complexity
Features
Complexity
Interwoven Day Open Text FatWire
SDL Tridion Drupal Sitecore Sitefinity
Refresh SR2 CrownPeak

24. Technology Basics
SDL
Interwoven Day FatWire Open Text Drupal Sitecore Refresh Sitefinity CrownPeak
Tridion
IIS +
Web Server TeamSite Tomcat Tomcat IIS Apache IIS JBOSS IIS Hosted
Tomcat
Windows
Operating Windows / Windows / Windows / Windows /
Windows + Unix Windows Windows N/A
System Unix Unix Unix Unix
Windows /
Unix
COM COM COM /
Language Java Java Java + .NET + + .NET + PHP .NET Java .NET SOAP +
Java / .NET Java VBScript
File Oracle / Oracle / Oracle / Oracle / Oracle /
Database MySQL MSSQL MSSQL Internal
System MSSQL MSSQL MSSQL MSSQL MSSQL

25. Drupal 6
How did it stack up?
• Editor Features - Good
• Personalization - Good
• Security Features - Excellent
• Performance Features - Average (Multi-tier deployment and Database support)
• SEO Features - Good
• Standard Functionality - Excellent
• Product Support - Good

26. Drupal 7
How will it stack up?
• Editor Features - Good
• Personalization - Good
• Security Features - Excellent
• Performance Features - Good (Multi-tier deployment possibly an issue)
• SEO Features - Good
• Standard Functionality - Excellent
• Product Support - Good moving to Excellent

27. Estimate
General Features - Image/Video Submission
Support
• Lowest $8,600
moderation*, Promo Code generation and reclamation,
multi-step user registration*, Auctions*, Points
• Drupal $8,600 system*, Facebook Connect*, Games, Polls*, Twitter
• Highest Re-tweet
$1,200,000
• SaaS $85,000 • Drupal - 467 hours (89% of Sitecore)
• Average • Sitecore - 524 hours
$253,000
Need to note what the
highest was

28. Overall Process
1. Determine needs
2. Evaluate contenders
3. Estimate
4. Profit? (or Implement)

29. Things you should know
• Truly understand what type of site you need
• Never trust vendor sales - test it yourself
• Don’t choose a new CMS on the biggest site you’ve
ever done
• Advise your client if they need to shift their CMS
technology - don’t sweep it under the rug
• Give your client options*
• CMS Watch actually includes Open Source software

30. Not all CMSs are
created equal
Andrew M Riley
@andrewmriley