One of the challenges in this selection process is that because we want a CMS as a service we are actually evaluating both CMSs and hosting providers. An example of this is the all-of-government Common Web Platform, where Silverstripe is the CMS and Reviera is the hosting provider. Rather than evaluate multiple offerings of the same CMS I think we are best to select one or two for each CMS listed.
CMS
There are literally dozens of CMS that can do most of what we require, but the field narrows considerably when we consider access to a large developer pool, much of it being local in Wellington. The most obvious contenders for consideration are then:
- Squiz: https://www.squiz.net/
- Silverstripe: https://www.silverstripe.org/
- Wordpress: https://wordpress.com/
- Drupal: https://www.drupal.org/
Hosting providers
Or the CMS as a hosted service
- Squiz offer hosting for their own CMS.
- Silverstripe: We could consider the CWP offering through Rivera and also a 'vanilla hosted offering from Silverstripe or another vendor (e.g. Catalyst IT).
- Wordpress: Hosted by Wordpress.com.
- Drupal: Hosted by Catalyst IT
Questions
- Do we want the hosting provider to be a 'development shop' so we could also have a negotiated rate for units who want development (i.e. optional)?
- CWP seems expensive, but I haven't seen other prices. Are we allowed to go elsewhere?
- If we do select Silverstripe, could we start outside of the CWP and enter if and when ready?Should we try to start