Evaluation and Procurement Phase

In this phase you chose the CMS solution. There are just a few basic approaches: custom develop a system, purchase out-of-the-box software, or a hybrid between the two.

• Custom Developed Solutions
  
  In the early days of the web this was the only solution available. Custom solutions are often the most expensive approach, both as to development and maintenance costs. Today there is so much proprietary software available--most of it customizable--it's unlikely that, for most organizations, a custom solution is going to be cost-effective.
  
  That being said, there may be some special situations for which a custom solution would be appropriate. Not sure how to decide? Contact us (here), we can help!
  
  
• Proprietary Software
  
  Today there are literally hundreds of products available in all three of the CMS implementation categories we identified (see here). We believe it is important for organizations during their selection process to focus on looking for products that contain the core features they truly need. Products should be based on, or at least compatible with, industry standards. The product should also be written in a well-adopted programming language and should be open and accessible to customization.
  
  
• Hybrid Solutions (Customizing Proprietary Software)
  
  Many CMS implementations today are actually hybrid solutions. No matter how many features a CMS may have, it is fairly typical for some level of customization to be required in order to fully meet each organizations unique requirements. No matter how well thought out a CMS software product may be, it is simply not feasible for software designers to anticipate every possible requirement that an organization may have.

We strongly recommend that during this evaluation phase one should (a) select proprietary software the contains (within your budget) the most complete set of the specific features actually needed  and (b) that the software is easily customizable.