Irina Guseva: Random Thoughts on CMS, WCM, ECM and Other Acronyms

Open Source ECM vendor Nuxeo included several new features in the latest release of Nuxeo Document Management. Nuxeo DM 5.3 highlights include support for OpenSocial API, tagging, SharePoint and interoperability with CMIS Server as an add-on component.

On top of that, Nuxeo EP 5.3, the vendor’s enterprise content management system core, reached the RC stage.

Nuxeo DM 5.3

This time around, Nuxeo concentrated on the increasingly popular social applications support and a few other things that many DM users may find helpful and welcome.

Using Nuxeo’s support for OpenSocial — a common API for social apps access across various websites — users can add and/or build social networking gadgets, for example.

Nuxeo DM 5.3 serves as both the publisher of gadgets and the OpenSocial container. Just for comparison, other known OpenSocial containers include MySpace, Ning, LinkedIn, iGoogle and many others.

CrownPeak, a SaaS Web CMS vendor, also did an OpenSocial integration back in early 2008.

Microsoft SharePoint can be accessed from Nuxeo DM 5.3 for basic library services and common file operations. For those die-hard fans of Windows Explorer, there’s a native integration, so they may not even know they’re working with another document management system.

There’s also a Microsoft Office integration that allows opening, saving, editing of files directly to/from Nuxeo DM.

It was about time Nuxeo put more effort into tagging and metadata capabilities of their DM system. The new tagging service is fairly easy to use and allows users to categorize content by applying existing or adding new tags. Tagging can then result in more ways for retrieval and display of content stored in Nuxeo DM.

Tagging recommendations and dynamic tag cloud are also part of the deal.

Nuxeo DM 5.3 Tag Cloud

The vendor also says they improved search and indexing, which should play in nicely into the tagging offering.

Having been longtime fans of CMIS, Nuxeo added interoperability into this release as well with their add-on CMIS Server, which is based on the CMIS draft 0.62. The most current (and the official OASIS Technical Committee) CMIS draft is 0.7.

The idea here is that organizations can use Nuxeo DM, while also being able to search across multiple ECM, ERP, DM and other systems.

Nuxeo EP 5.3

Currently an RC, the new version includes that same WSS (MS SharePoint), tagging and OpenSocial widgets support we’ve seen in DM 5.3. In addition to that, the import/export service was improved and performance is said to be enhanced following some benchmarking efforts.

The Nuxeo EP 5.3 RC also features a CMIS implementation based on Apache Chemistry that we discussed early spring — both with Nuxeo’s Florent Guillaume and Day Software’s David Nuescheler.

It would be unreasonable not to notice the wave of recent activity at this Paris-based open source ECM vendor. With new people on board and an aggressive product roadmap, Nuxeo (if not disrupting) is clearly starting to gain more traction in the global enterprise CMS market.

In the end, when it comes to open source, successes can be measured by the activeness of the community, as well as customer growth — among other metrics. In the U.S., for example, Nuxeo still has quite some space to spread its wings, if the vendor wants to. And we tend to think it will.

Cross-posted on CMSWire.com: Open Source Nuxeo EP and DM 5.3 Support OpenSocial

With SharePoint 2010 quickly approaching, it is probably safe to say that interest in this Microsoft product-zilla is not likely to go away.

Companies like Colligo take full advantage of market conditions and keep churning out products that (hopefully) make SharePoint experiences more enjoyable and productive. Please meet Colligo 4.0.

According to Barry Jinks, founder and CEO of Colligo, being in the niche allows Colligo to be very much involved with MSFT on the technology and product side. It is quite clear that Microsoft cannot fill this niche on its own, and is more than happy to refer customers to Colligo.

Given that Colligo is fairly successful, there’s clearly a need in the market that still needs to be addressed, when it comes to SharePoint usability, customization and satisfying business requirements that fall outside of out-of-the-box scenarios.

“The fight is over. Everybody needs to figure out how to cooperate with SharePoint. It is not going away,” concluded Jinks.

More on CMSWire: Colligo 4.0: Making SharePoint Experiences More Enjoyable

Step by step, from version 5.0 to now 5.1 — while still embracing all things SharePoint — Clearview announced updates to its enterprise CMS.

They include a new Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) services-based API, Business Process Management (or Workflow in Clearview’s terminology) module and a number of less substantial (yet important) enhancements.

The 64-bit 5.1 release also includes intelligent indexing and index validation, external data access and compatibility with Kofax 8.0.

Full story on CMSWire: Clearview ECM 5.1 Gets New API and Workflow Module

AIIM has released its annual State of the ECM Industry research report. And although the term Enterprise Content Management was coined about eight years ago, the research findings are still not very optimistic in some areas.

Not surprisingly, the bottom line is that electronic content in many of its shapes and forms in the organizational landscape is still (mainly) a mess.

AIIM has found that managing electronic documents is still a challenge for a whopping 47% of organizations. On top of that, business communication channels like IMs, text messages, blogs and wikis are uncontrolled and off the corporate radar for 75% of businesses.

Looks like ECM is still an industry in the process of growth with all the growing pains that come along with it.

Full article on CMSWire: State of the ECM Industry 2009: Content Still a Challenge

It’s hard to review two so seemingly close, yet so strikingly different product releases on the same day.  Especially, when it comes to the integration of social media and ECM/WCM.

EPiserver has done their version of it. Day and Vignette played in on the same day. The big V has released the updated Vignette Community Applications 7.1.

This social media solution targets organizations looking to engage with internet audiences and spice up their online presences with communities, social interaction and collaborative communication. The goodie box has all the usual suspects: blogs, wikis, forums, ratings and reviews, user-generated events, ideas management, photos, calendars,  community spotlight and the sharing of multimedia assets including videos and podcasts.

My main concern with VCA 7.1 is its complex architecture. The entire Vignette Community Application 7.1 engine is comprised of several moving parts. On the presentation layer you have Vignette Portal. On the portal side, you have an aggregation of JSR-286 portlets. There are 78 of them shipped with the license, and you can add more. MOSS integration is also possible, as Vignette continues to enamor SharePoint.

The social media engine is separate. Vignette’s WCM system part is yet another separate bit that is not integrated with the social media engine.

The whole architectural design may sound a bit clunky; but, surely, those already working with Vignette are used to this approach. If you don’t already use Vignette Portal, you will need to buy an extra license; although, a limited portal license is included. This is the reason they’re called “modular products,” and it is up to you what to choose.

Full article on CMSWire: Managing Social Media With Vignette Community Apps 7.1

Are you tired of hearing of this draft CMIS thing yet? I am! Content management software companies aren’t. No rest until everyone comes up with something CMIS-compliant. Most recently, EMC released an updated CMIS-compliant version of its Documentum ECM platform.

CMISis still in the draft, pre-born stage, but everyone wants a piece of it. Reminds us of the SharePoint saga, only MOSS is already bearing lotsa $$$ behind it.

In CMIS case, it’s all about interoperability and inter-CMS-ial, inter-repositorial camaraderie. Kind of like an Enterprise CMS socialism.

The Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards (OASIS) has appointed a technical committee to develop the CMIS standard. The schedule of current and future activities can be found here.

Skepticism related to new standards aside, let’s just wait and see what comes out of this CMIS story. Chuck Hollis of EMC insists that CMIS is not JAS (Just Another Standard). No BS.

Full story on CMSWire: Enterprise CMS Socialism: Documentum Supports CMIS