Requirements checklist for Kentico CMS

Introduction

This post sets out a requirements checklist for content management systems developed with Kentico CMS.

Its purpose is to help potential clients consider what is possible with a Kentico CMS web site, and what is necessary to run it successfully.  In turn, the answers to the questions will help Appetere produce an accurate quote for the work.

The list below is quite long, which simply reflects Kentico's adaptability from small & simple to large & complex requirements.  It is worth noting that functionality can be added to a Kentico site in phases, and this can often be done more efficiently if it is known at the beginning the general direction the site is expected to develop in.

If we asked you to review this list before a meeting you may like to print off & complete a copy, which we can discuss together.
 

Design Services

	Options	Notes
	Design of web site structure & navigation
	Web site graphic design
	Branding & logo design
	Copywriting of content
	Image creation (photography or digital)
	Video creation (filmed or animated)

Content Pages

	Standard features	Notes
	Pages can be quickly added, edited or deleted
	Flexible hierarchy (menu structure) of documents
	Text styling & formatting with WYSIWYG editor
	Images can be added to page content
	Image editing & resizing utility
	Spell checker
	Time-based publishing and expiration of content
	Options
	Multi-lingual pages (content must be translated)
	Custom document types
	Secure pages (using https)

Functionality

Kentico Modules

Kentico CMS has a range of modules & functional building blocks ("Widgets") which can be used to quickly implement commonly required functionality.  The most common options are listed here:

	Options	Notes
	Blogs
	Booking system
	Business forms (eg a Contact Us form)
	Content Rating
	Document downloads
	Ecommerce
	Event Calendar
	Forums
	Geomapping (Google Maps)
	Image galleries
	Messaging
	Polls
	Reporting
	Search
	Social networking (friends, groups)
	Social bookmarking
	Tagging & categories for documents
	User contributions (Wiki)
	Video playback

Custom Functionality

Kentico has an open architecture which allows custom functionality to be added.

	Options	Notes
	Example:- Device-specific pages (eg for iPhone)
	Example:- Google custom search
	Example:- Dynamic effects & animations
	Other custom functionality (please specify):

Services

End User Logins

	Options	Notes
	User logins
	Self-service user registration
	Document-level permissions to control which pages are available to which users / roles
	Personalised content

Communicating with site users

Kentico provides several mechanisms to provide users with information from your site, without them having to visit it.

	Options	Notes
	RSS feeds for articles like news, or blog posts
	Newsletters with managed subscription list
	Notifications by email when a page's content changes
	Notifications by email when a new forum post is added
	Send email to a distribution list

Search Engine Optimisation

Effective SEO can be split into two parts:

1. Technical infrastructure, which allows the site to be built in a search engine friendly way (see below) 
2. Digital marketing activities which create traffic to various landing pages within your site (see Ongoing Activities) 

	Standard features	Notes
	Pages available at meaningful URLs, eg /products/phones/nokia, rather than: /products.aspx?cat=14390&man=f45kk
	Complete control over search-engine sensitive content: Headings (h1, h2, etc) Content text Meta data Page title Page description Keywords
	Search engine friendly links in menus (eg not hidden from a search engine by using JavaScript or Flash).
	Google Sitemap
	Options
	WebAnalytics reports for monitoring traffic & campaign results.
	Google Analytics
	Automatic permanent redirection of pages to new URLs after a site re-organisation (helps preserve Page Rank).
	Pages can have multiple URLs, so they appear in different parts of a site, with (optionally) one canonical address, to maximise Page Rank.

Performance & Scalability

	Standard features	Notes
	Scalable solution suitable for small & large sites alike (1,000,000 users and 100,000 documents in the database is fully supported).
	Options
	Permissions & personalisation to give different Content Editors access to different parts of the system.
	Workflow (eg to separate generating content & approving it)
	Page check-out during editing (so only one person makes changes at a time)
	Version control of pages

Training & Support

	Standard features	Notes
	Context sensitive help for standard content management & administration functions
	User's Guide for standard content management
	Developer's Guide & API
	Options
	Bespoke training courses
	Bespoke user's guide
	Bespoke online help topics
	Help & support by phone and email

Hosting Infrastructure

Kentico is built using Microsoft's industry standard ASP.NET technology and requires IIS, a SQL Server database and an SMTP mail server.

	Options	Notes
	The type of hosting will largely be determined by: Traffic estimates (hits, bandwidth) Storage needed (for documents, pictures, videos) The main options are: Shared server (inexpensive, some limitations) Dedicated server Web farm Cloud computing
	Content staging server (if an intermediate step is required between development & production servers).
	Domain name(s) rental
	Security certificate rental (for https protocol)

Standards & Technology

	Standard features	Notes
	Web Content Accessibility Guidelines followed
	Cross-browser compatibility
	Cascading style sheets (CSS) for formatting
	Kentico is built using Microsoft's industry standard ASP.NET technology and runs on IIS, using a SQL Server database.
	XHTML 1.0 compliant
	AJAX support
	JQuery support
	Kentico API open & documented

Ongoing Activities

Content Editors

Content Editors are responsible for the day-to-day adding, editing and deleting of content in a site. This is normally carried out by the customer, but Appetere are available to help with specific tasks, if required.

	Options	Notes
	Day to day content management (adding / modifying / deleting content).
	Copywriting
	Sourcing content

Administrator

	Options	Notes
	Installation & configuration of infrastructure
	Existing data import
	Health Monitoring Event logs Bandwidth & storage quotas
	Disaster Recovery Backup & restore strategy & tests

Developer

	Options	Notes
	Periodic updates to the system: Functionality changes / additions Version upgrades

Digital Marketing

Whether these type of activities are required will depend on the nature of the web site.

	Options	Notes
	Campaign creation
	Monitoring page stats (visitor trends, search terms, etc)
	Link building
	Social networking (Twitter, Facebook, etc)
	Pay per click advertising (eg Google AdWords)

Licencing

Kentico CMS is licenced according to the functionality you wish to use.  This ranges from a free edition for relatively simple web sites, through to the Ultimate Licence which includes all available functionality.  For further details please see:

• Kentico feature matrix

	Standard features (paid for licences only)	Notes
	One-off licence payment, to use Kentico CMS	A licence gives you the right to use the functionality, but configuration is still needed in most cases.
	1 year Maintenance and Support Agreement Unlimited technical (phone and email) support during your maintenance period The right to use all major and minor upgrades released during your maintenance period.
	Options
	1 year Maintenance and Support Agreement renewal (for subsequent years)

Summary

Thank you for reading to the end! If we have already arranged a meeting with you, then we look forward to it.  Otherwise if you would like to discuss your requirements, please do contact us.