Security
Author fields are an excellent method of restricting access to particular documents for editing or content changes. I've frequently used these to list and define my content owners. This is only one of many different ways that you could employ Notes security in managing the content of the site. Other suggestions are to take advantage of Notes hiding functionality, group users by access type or need, and to restrict who can make changes live.

Versioning
Site updating is a tricky thing. Most Web masters have defined processes for how they do it. Some use a staging server where changes can be reviewed. Others have a long process of revision approval via email. This same line of thinking must be employed with a distributed content-based site. It's tempting to remove versioning entirely when you have a distributed content-based site -- where, rather, you simply have the content owners manage when their changes go live. But, like most temptations, this one is fraught with dangers. Unless you have the process down and a secured workflow in place that verifies and approves content changes before they go live, you will not want to give in to this one.

Most organizations employing a distributed content management system of any kind will likely utilize a combination of many of the above; likely employing both workflow and staging server models to control what goes live on the site.

In conclusion
The primary benefit of the DCM model for site content management is that it truly places the power of content ownership in the hands of the content owners. This is a critical step in the transformation from a business to an e-business. DCM can be utilized within an intranet or on the Internet quite effectively. But it must be implemented with care and forethought; a great deal of consideration needs to go into how to structure the site, define access and security, handle versioning and approval, and define processes to balance the content owners with the overall site administrators.

Each of these caveats can define success or failure for a DCM initiative. A successful initiative can have several very positive benefits, reduce the cost of overall site administration, and make a site considerably more current. It can also dramatically increase the accessibility of publishing to the web for many companies by easing the process.

Steve Niles is Senior Editor for ZATZ Publishing. He is also an independent filmmaker and freelance writer. For more information, visit http://www.sn-films.com.