As more companies strive to architect comprehensive XML content management strategies for their organizations, it becomes important to understand to common characteristics of successful designs of these types of systems. There are many vendors that target their products and services at portions of the XML content management architecture such as authoring or web delivery. However, there exists no turnkey solution that will handle the demands of every organization since system priorities vary greatly by company and industry. Consequently, managers face a difficult challenge when designing and implementing a large-scale content management system for their company.

There are three basic areas that have to be considered when designing XML content management systems. Content creation involves building a single interface for authors, editors and reviewers that handles multiple authoring tools. Additionally, content management involves storing document components, separating their content and structure from any formatting information to optimize re-use and facilitate dynamic distribution. Lastly, content distribution involves architecting multiple channels to deliver content to users including high-quality printed pages, wireless devices, electronic web pages and syndication engines.

This session gives an overview of the architecture of a typical XML content management system. From document creation and workflow control to data storage and online distribution, each structural component will be analyzed.