Prepare for Your CMS Discovery Call
Use this guided checklist to align stakeholders, gather the right information, and make your first conversation with a CMS partner fast and productive.
Target Outcomes
- 1Clarify goals & audiences
- 2Map content & integrations
- 3Define workflows & governance
- 4Set budget, timing, success KPIs
1) Business & Content Goals
Why this CMS project? What success looks like.
- Primary goals (conversion, education, self-serve, SEO)
- Top audience segments & journeys
- Key properties (site, blog, docs, landing pages)
- Must-have features (preview, localization, roles)
2) Technology & Integrations
What systems the CMS must connect with.
- Website stack (framework, hosting/CDN)
- Auth & SSO (Okta, Azure AD, SAML/OIDC)
- Marketing & data (CRM, MAP, analytics)
- Commerce, DAM, search, personalization
3) Operations & Governance
Who does what, and how content ships.
- Team roles & permissions
- Workflow (draft → review → approve → publish)
- Compliance (PII, SOC 2, HIPAA, GDPR)
- SLAs, support, training plan
Pre-Call Checklist
- What business outcomes are you prioritizing in the next 6–12 months?
- Which audience journeys do you want to improve first?
- How will you measure success (KPIs below)?
- What’s the “must launch by” date and why?
- What core content types do you publish? What fields matter?
- Do you need localization, multi-brand, or multi-site controls?
- What is your editorial cadence and publishing volume?
- Any content migration needs (from legacy CMS/files/spreadsheets)?
- Frontend stack and hosting/CDN preferences?
- Auth/SSO requirements (Okta/Azure AD, SAML/OIDC)?
- Which systems must integrate (CRM, MAP, analytics, DAM, search, commerce)?
- API/data requirements (webhooks, GraphQL/REST, rate limits)?
- Compliance needs (SOC 2, ISO 27001, HIPAA, GDPR/CCPA)?
- Roles/permissions, audit trails, approval workflows?
- Data residency, backup/DR, SLAs, support tiers?
- Accessibility (WCAG 2.2) and performance budgets?
Integration Inventory
| System | Purpose | Connection Type | Criticality | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CRM (Salesforce) | Lead routing & attribution | API (REST), Webhooks | High | Sync forms, campaign IDs, consent |
| Analytics (GA4) | Engagement & conversion | Tag manager / SDK | Medium | Server-side tagging preferred |
| DAM (Bynder) | Asset sourcing | API (GraphQL) | Medium | Renditions & rights metadata |
Define Success (KPIs)
- Conversion Rate +X%
- Time-to-Publish ≤ X hrs
- Organic Traffic +X%
- Page Speed (LCP) ≤ 2.5s
- Author Adoption ≥ X users
- Error Rate ≤ X%
Roles & RACI
| Area | R | A | C | I |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Content Modeling | Content Lead | Product | SEO, Design | Legal |
| Integration Design | Engineering | CTO | Vendors | Marketing |
| Governance | Ops | COO | Security | All Authors |
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Pro tip: Bring 2–3 recent pages you love (and why), plus one page you want to fix. This speeds up scoping and solution design.