Multibase was asked to advise on rebuilding an underperforming web site. Its proprietary content management system was not available for third parties to licence or support. Since the relationship with the CMS vendor had broken down, the web site was meant lost opportunity instead of revenue - and looked like being expensive to replace. The customer needed new interactive features on the web site to grow the business. An open source CMS was requested, so that the customer was not locked into one supplier.

The customer’s budget would normally build a productive, attractive web site, with many standard content management system features such as forums, blogs, articles and document storage – but the request for these to work in particular ways outside the standard feature set would mean custom development. In addition, the interactive functions that would give the customer its competitive edge were not available in any existing CMS and would require custom-built modules. The likely cost would exceed the budget.

Multibase's consultancy showed that if the customer accepted standard functions for the most standard features of the web site, then more of the available budget could be used for a dynamic look and feel and the specialised modules, rather than custom programming for features that could be found in any CMS.

An open source CMS would mean that software licences, initial implementation and ongoing maintenance were less costly – but the original request for highly customized programming of standard features would mean that maintenance would be expensive and locked in to the original developer unless budget was allowed for extensive documentation.

The solution offered the customer a choice. Firstly, an expensive custom-built system that provided exactly the functionality initially requested – but which didn’t in fact meet all its stated needs in terms of maintainability. It would be expensive to support in the medium term, and risked more expensive daily maintenance. Or secondly, use a standard content management system and employ standard, existing modules where possible – and concentrate the budget on building the functions that really made the web site unique.

Multibase was asked to advise on rebuilding an underperforming web site. Its proprietary content management system was not available for third parties to licence or support. Since the relationship with the CMS vendor had broken down, the web site was meant lost opportunity instead of revenue - and looked like being expensive to replace. The customer needed new interactive features on the web site to grow the business. An open source CMS was requested, so that the customer was not locked into one supplier.

The customer’s budget would normally build a productive, attractive web site, with many standard content management system features such as forums, blogs, articles and document storage – but the request for these to work in particular ways outside the standard feature set would mean custom development. In addition, the interactive functions that would give the customer its competitive edge were not available in any existing CMS and would require custom-built modules. The likely cost would exceed the budget.

Multibase's consultancy showed that if the customer accepted standard functions for the most standard features of the web site, then more of the available budget could be used for a dynamic look and feel and the specialised modules, rather than custom programming for features that could be found in any CMS.

An open source CMS would mean that software licences, initial implementation and ongoing maintenance were less costly – but the original request for highly customized programming of standard features would mean that maintenance would be expensive and locked in to the original developer unless budget was allowed for extensive documentation.

The solution offered the customer a choice. Firstly, an expensive custom-built system that provided exactly the functionality initially requested – but which didn’t in fact meet all its stated needs in terms of maintainability. It would be expensive to support in the medium term, and risked more expensive daily maintenance. Or secondly, use a standard content management system and employ standard, existing modules where possible – and concentrate the budget on building the functions that really made the web site unique.