OUTSIDE THE BOX
Three Things to Consider Before Upgrading Your Web CMS
by Marianne Kay
NOTE: This article appears in the September 2021 print edition
of Information Today under the title "What to Consider Before Upgrading Your Web CMS."
The half-life of knowledge—explored in the book The Half-Life of Facts: Why Everything We Know Has an Expiration Date by Samuel Arbesman—refers to the time it takes for half of all facts in a certain subject area to become obsolete. We can’t predict which ones will be disproved, but we know that some of the facts will eventually get replaced by new, more advanced knowledge in the future. Physics and mathematics are relatively slow-moving in this respect, with a half-life of 13 and 9 years, respectively—whereas half of medical facts expire in 2 years.
Those of us who work in software development know from personal experience that technology is a fast-paced industry. Web developers and digital marketing professionals have to learn new things every day just to stay relevant, and software vendors release product updates at a mind-boggling frequency. Applying software upgrades is not optional, because they often contain security measures and bug fixes that are essential for the smooth running of the system. However, the process of implementing upgrades in a large, complex organization is not always as straightforward and risk-free as software vendors may lead you to believe.
There is a subtle difference between the terms “upgrade” and “update.” An upgrade is a major release featuring new or significantly improved functionality, while an update is a smaller release usually limited to security and bug fixes. At a high-level planning stage, these terms are often used interchangeably. Web CMS vendors release product upgrades and/or updates multiple times a year. The following are the the number of releases issued by some of the well-known web CMS vendors in 2020:
- Optimizely (previously called Episerver)—95 releases
- WordPress—28 releases
- Adobe Experience Manager (as a cloud service)—11 releases
Does this mean that organizations using these systems need to upgrade dozens of times a year? It depends. To determine the optimal frequency of upgrading web CMSs in your organization, explore the following areas:
- Technical complexity
- Testing
- Security and compliance
TECHNICAL COMPLEXITY
Determine the complexity of the upgrade by investigating the different flavors of custom code that your organization added to the out-of-the-box CMS product. These can include the following:
- Number and complexity of customizations of the core CMS product—These will be overwritten by the upgrade and will need to be reimplemented.
- Custom plugins, widgets, and extensions—Code that interacts with CMS features will be updated in the release, as well as code that relies on features that have been deprecated. This code may break after upgrade.
- Rich-text editor customizations—Some web CMSs have their own bespoke rich-text editors, while others integrate third-party rich-text products, such as TinyMCE or CKEditor. Any rich-text editor customizations will be at risk of breaking after the rich-text editor upgrade has taken place.
TESTING
Consider what’s required to perform a thorough testing of the upgraded system and affected websites. The testing plan should include the following steps:
- Regression testing of all of the websites impacted by the upgrade
- Testing of the web CMS functionality (such as creating a new webpage, new widget, workflow approvals, and uploading images)
- A back-out plan of how the upgrade can be reversed should unexpected problems arise
SECURITY AND COMPLIANCE
A major security issue can quickly move the upgrade from a business-as-usual maintenance task to an urgent top-priority job. While scheduled upgrades are generally the best way to stay on top of modern technology trends, it’s worth keeping an eye on vendor release notes for security vulnerability fixes and reprioritizing the importance of the upgrade if needed.
IS THE CLOUD THE ANSWER?
Many cloud-based CMSs are marketed as products that require minimum upkeep. There is some truth to this, because the core system may be set up to upgrade automatically, alleviating the need for manual intervention. Nonetheless, the main contributing factor to difficult upgrades remains the level of customization. Upgrading an out-of-the-box, vanilla web CMS is as simple as clicking a button. However, the more customizations you have (whether they’re in the cloud or not), the more issues and bugs may surface after each upgrade. It is a good idea to review and challenge customizations regularly. Some of them may prove to be nothing more than old habits.
HOW OFTEN TO UPGRADE?
There is no hard-and-fast rule for how frequently organizations should upgrade their web CMS. From the vendor’s standpoint, applying every update and every patch that’s been released is ideal. It would mean that the system is constantly up-to-date and as secure as possible. Unfortunately, system upgrades take time and cost money. The cost of the upgrades and the risk of breaking existing functionality prevent organizations from implementing upgrades as often as vendors would like. Many large organizations upgrade their systems once or twice a year (sometimes less often), depending on their attitude toward risk and their appetite for innovation.
CONCLUSION
At best, an outdated web CMS makes it harder for an organization to achieve its business goals. At worst, it can break websites due to compatibility issues with modern browsers and code, as well as open up an organization to a website security attack. To determine the frequency of software upgrades for your organization, regularly review vendor release notes and your own custom code. This technical audit will help you create a maintenance schedule that keeps the websites in good working order for years to come.
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MARIANNE KAY (