Design the CMS around the people who maintain it

Model content before drawing screens

Identify the records the business maintains: services, projects, articles, resources, vacancies and navigation. Decide which fields are shared and which depend on the record type. A clear model helps editors understand what belongs where and reduces inconsistent pages.

Give each role an appropriate workspace

An editor may need pages and media, a sales team may need enquiries, and an HR team may need applications. Access must be enforced on the server for every action. Hiding a menu alone does not protect a record.

Make publishing reversible

Drafts, previews and previous versions let a team review a change before it becomes public. Scheduling needs an explicit timezone. Archiving should preserve the ability to recover a record, while public routes should accurately reflect its publishing state.

Treat media as maintained content

Images need meaningful alternative text, a clear filename and appropriate delivery sizes. Editors should understand where a file is used before removing it. Brand assets need special protection because they appear across many pages.

Plan the operational handover

Document how to publish, recover an edit, respond to an enquiry, manage access and restore a backup. Validate these tasks with the people who will use the system. The CMS is part of the website experience, even when visitors never see it.