broaden your horizons
The ECMS Core is where all solutions begin; all modules rely on the core for one reason, consistency. All display formatting, forms, users, and media are processed by parts of the core and because all modules utilize these same functions over and over you can rest easy knowing that with every new module you add to your system, you will always find a familiar interface.
Not only does the Core bring together all other modules, but it also provides a host of functions that compile information from each of them for publishing and specialized use. Core functions include:
Some of the more important functions of the Core though are things like Security, Navigation and Content Control; these and others are explained in more detail below...
A website content management system has to deal with administrative accounts and security as a rule. However, if it is to be of any use in tracking and analyzing trends, it should also be capable of managing non-administrative registered users or visitor accounts. This means potentially thousands of user accounts depending on the application.
ECMS utilizes the very same model for security and account management used in modern Operating Systems; a group based system where User Groups are assigned certain permissions and through membership in these User Groups a specific user will inherit the rights of that group.
All information in the User Database can be exported for use by other programs or for further analysis or use in direct marketing promotions.
An issue that many websites face is maintaining a consistent structure in the many forms used across the site. Users are often faced with different ways of navigating through a form, unclear formatting rules, and a range of other inconsistencies. The ECMS Forms Processor exists to eliminate this problem entirely.
All forms both internally in the ECMS administration console and across the public site are built and processed by the Forms Processor. This means that every form on the site will always have the same visual layout and formatting, rules are enforced the same way, and the form itself is always clear and unambiguous to help people through quickly and efficiently.
The forms processor is capable of producing many types of fields for specific uses such as long and short text fields, email addresses, phone numbers, etc. as well as more specialized fields such as GPS coordinates, and scheduling. In all there are more than 50 different types of fields to help create forms that make it as easy as possible for all level of user to complete.
Potentially the most important field type the ECMS Forms Processor can produce is WYSIWYG editor (What You See Is What You Get). This field allows you to edit content in the same way as you would a document on your own computer with buttons for things like bold, text justification, tables or bullets. A familiar interface allowing you to make significant changes to your sites content without ever having to learn additional skills. These types of fields are utilized my many of the ECMS Modules and can also be used in custom forms based on your needs.
The ECMS Template system allows for the customization of virtually any form used in the site both internally and externally. Default forms are the starting point for any implementation of ECMS and are customized on a client by client basis to ensure the most efficient and uncluttered forms are presented. Templates are also used to enforce restrictions and limits in some modules, and to modify system messages helping create a truely personalized solution.
ECMS provides the capability to update its templates automatically from the eCommunities servers allowing you to quickly and easily take advantage of new features. Any templates you choose to create can also be uploaded to the eCommunities server providing a secured backup of your work.
All ECMS Templates are built using standard XML, the most widely accepted standard format for data exchange in the world.
Just as you can store different types of content (such as files on your home computer) in folders, the same holds true with the ECMS Categories and Navigation system, although we store content such as Pages, Articles, Listings and Media.
These containers are not simply used for storing content. They actually become part of the navigation system utilized in the public site. Media and containers can be placed within other containers creating a complex navigational hierarchy that is directly representative of the menus and categories displayed on the public site.
The containers, however defined by their templates, can store information about what's contained within themselves as well, such as full descriptions, images and other media. More complex information such as Content Birthdays and Expiries that dictate when that content will be available on the website are also utilized.
Although media is used all over ECMS for different reasons and in different ways, the Media Manager will make the chore of organizing and using those files simple and straightforward no matter what the application.
The ECMS Media system utilizes templates as well to dictate how many and of which type of media file can be uploaded for specific applications, and once uploaded what to do with it.
ECMS is compatible with all forms of media including Images, Audio, Video, Documents, Programs, Archives, etc. and helps you organize and search for those files in a variety of ways. File “Tagging” allows you to provide a list of keywords that aid in searching by letting you look for a specific keyword or combination of keywords to find very specific results. Combined with the filename, description and in the case of some document formats, even the contents of the file, the search system helps you keep tabs on a large library of media with ease.
Most media systems will limit you to a specific use for a file, however ECMS Media Manager has been designed with the future in mind. Any file uploaded to ECMS for a specific use such as an image for a Category, will be stored in two ways. The first is as a Master; a full resolution copy of the file uploaded from your computer; and the second is a resized copy of that image for use by the category.
The Master files can be used by all other ECMS Modules for any other reason and reduce the need to continually upload redundant copies of files when they need to be used in different ares of your site. Because every file is stored as a Master you'll never have to worry about your media collection not conforming to your future needs.
A complex statistical tracker allows you to see on a page by page basis, or even by groups of pages: how many times that page or group was asked for, from where they were requesting and finally how they left the page. With these statistics you can gauge the performance of different portions of the site in relation to others and identify whether visitors are following the intended navigational paths your site was designed to direct them on. In addition the statistical system can give you a wide variety of stats on specific users or groups of users.
The ECMS Core allows other modules to utilize a versioning system that will maintain state for a content item within the system until such time as a designated administrator can approve it for elevation to the public site.
This gives your administrators the final say over content but also allows any number people to manage the content on your site distributing the burden over a wider group of people and increasing the reach of your organization.
Versioning also allows you to revert to older forms of a content item if and when the need arises.