Tridion Content Analysis: Part 3, Inventory

1. The Trivial Example and Question
2. Context
3. Inventory
4. Process
5. The Answer

In Part 1 of this Tridion Content Analysis series, we saw the trivial article example and knew something didn't quite fit. Part 2 explained why context matters. Let's clarify the details by taking a content inventory.

Part 3: Inventory

For each of your page and content types, if possible bring:

• Wireframe, screenshot, or comps
• Content details (including hidden information such as alt text and SEO metadata)
• Business and technical terms
• Who authors which parts
• Where else you use all or part of this content
• Priority and update frequency
• Existing content management system (CMS) entry forms
• How you expect this to be managed in the CMS, used within your website framework, and possibly incorporated with your build process

Here's an example inventory. I don't necessarily collect and write down all these details each project, but this reflects the conversations, notes, and meetings I've had and seen for Tridion functional analysis. You can feed any formal content audits into this as well; I've excluded the typical "identifier, audience, and URL" suggested by Content Strategists.

Content Type	Field or asset	Example / Estimated instances	Author(s) and Layout	Also used in	Managed?	Priority and Frequency
Product Teaser	Image	Picture of book/ Dozens	Nivlong	Product Details	Custom CMS	High, updated annually
Product Teaser	Product name	“Create and Break, The Book”/ Dozens	Nivlong	Product Details	Custom CMS	High, rarely  updated
Product Teaser	Short description	"A blog about nothing, really"/ Dozens	Nivlong	none	Custom CMS	High, updated monthly
Product Teaser	Price	$0.01/ Dozens	Automatic	Product Details	From external feed	Low, auto- updated daily
Product Teaser	Read more link	Dozens	Templated		From template	High, rarely changes
Product Details	Product name	“Create and Break, The Book”/ Dozens	Nivlong	Product Teaser	Custom CMS	High, rarely updated
Product Details	Image	Picture of book/ Dozens	Nivlong	Product Teaser	Custom CMS	High
Product Details	Price	$0.01/ Dozens	Automatic	Product Teaser	From external feed	Low, auto- updated daily

I'm not sure if such an inventory is commonplace, but it makes implicit assumptions explicit.

We can then "refactor" fields to get a high-level approach at schema design and template logic. Each duplicate item might be a shared schema field. Each presentation variation suggests a different template.

For example:

Possible Schema Fields	Template(s)
Image	Product Full Product Summary
Product name	Product Full Product Summary
Short description	Product Summary
Price (from external feed)	Product Full Product Summary
	“Read more” link in Product Summary

Tridion is flexible enough to handle the details, you just need to specify what goes where.

The specific format you collect this information in doesn't matter as much as going through the process; I don't care if you do this in your head (impressive if you can), use magnets and a white board, follow Big Design Up Front, practice agile (big or little "A"), or do a POC with a follow-up "real" implementation.

Feel free to recommend other columns or analysis questions. I've seen the basic approach at converting page and content types into schemas and templates dozens of times, but I'm curious how the details differ between consultants, projects, and regions.

When the architect says, "no no no no no, Alvin, the crucial thing is..." or your technical shakes his head with, "it won't work," or the infrastructure guru gives you a wink and remarks, "well, you could do that..." it means they've processed this input and see something you've missed.

Let's break that process down in Part 4.