DXM Implementation Process

[MarcusEdwards]

Overview

Once you have understood the decoupled architecture of the Crownpeak CMS and the implications of that — crucially, that Crownpeak gives you the freedom to use whatever technology stack you need to get the job done — the next question is what does the implementation process look like.

The principle is always: start with the desired end goal.

Project Process

Whether you’re taking a content-first or design-first approach, the overall implementation process looks something like this:

You start with design iterate on that with your customer until you have an agreed design. Then the design is made concrete — you build the solution. When this is complete, you’re ready for acceptance testing, launch and then on-going maintenance.

You will be using some variation of this process whether you’re building a static HTML site, an ASP.Net MVC app, a React/Angular app or a mobile app.

And you will continue to use this process when you are looking at doing a Crownpeak DXM implementation. DXM should be used to introduce content management or digital experience features, it is not an application platform.

The best place to start the DXM implementation process is after the final build has been completed.

At this point, you know what content types you will have and how that content is going to be presented. Once you have the implementation done, you and your client can create all of the launch content and the process continues as it would have before.

CMS Implementation Process

In this process, we’re assuming that everything for the site or app is delivered through the CMS to the content delivery environment. See the 5 Implementation Patterns article for other configurations.

1. Start with the final build resources — everything needed to display and render the site or app.
2. Identify two types of content assets:
1. Digital assets: these are assets that have not content editors will _not_ be editing in the CMS or that will not require modification. Good examples of this type of asset would be: image, videos, PDF documents and so forth. However, text-based assets that aren’t expected to be modified are also good candidates. Examples here would be CSS and Javascript frameworks like Bootstrap or Foundation.
2. Templated assets: these are assets that content editors will create or or modify
3. Digital assets are uploaded to the CMS and stored until publishing is triggered.
4. For every templated asset, go through and identify the archetypes and the elements of each that a content editor would need to have control over. Typical archetypes are: article, blog entry, press release, job opening etc. Typical elements would be: title, byline, publish date, article body etc.
   The archetypes will become CMS templates and the elements will be the content fields.
5. Having planned your templates and fields, you are now ready to start implementing in the CMS:
1. Digital assets are uploaded as is and will be stored until publishing is triggered.
2. Templates are built for each page or content archetype.
3. Models for all content creation options should be created as well.
6. The CMS implementation code is ready and content assets can now be created using the models.
7. Once all the content has been either uploaded (digital assets) or created (templated assets), the content can be published. This is done using the workflow mechanism to push all content into a workflow state the triggered publishing.
   The content that is publish should be an exact match for the design that you started the process with — the CMS does not add anything extra.

Summary

In conclusion then, the best time to start a Crownpeak DXM implementation is when the final, CMS-agnostic design / build is complete. This allows you to focus on designing and building the solution your customer needs before you introduce content management. 

[eunice-richard]

Please, may i have the link to the "5 Implementation Patterns article for other configurations."

[MarcusEdwards]

The "5 Implementation Patterns" link was to a presentation that we, unfortunately, cannot share publicly. Instead, I will extract out the core information and create a new article with this information. I will update this article when the new content is available.

[MarcusEdwards]

An article talking about the "5 Implementation Patterns" has been published.