Content Management Systems. They’re all over this publishing world. 
75% of the vendor booths at any publishing conference are occupied by CMS suppliers. It’s all the rage. In publishing, if you are a software provider, there is a very good chance you are a CMS vendor.
We face this all the time. When we talk to new customers and tell them that we are a software provider for the publishing industry, their initial reaction is:
Not another Content Management System!!
So, in response to the question, “Is Appingo a Content Management System?“, the answer is no.
However, in response to the question, “Does Appingo help me manage my content?“, the answer is a resounding YES.
Let me be more clear. Appingo is not what many people think of when they think of a Content Management System. We are not an XML engine. Appingo does not tag your content or “crunch” the words into various formatted outputs (book, e-book, pdf, etc). There are a lot of systems out there that do that. A lot. And they are pretty cool things. However, they’re generally expensive, complicated, take forever to install and implement, and most times they make the production process more complex and frustrating. We haven’t met too many production executives/managers who wouldn’t give their left arm to throw their content management systems out with the window.
Appingo was built to manage the processes and workflows which drive the making of a book. In doing this, Appingo does a GREAT job managing the files and content that drive that process (you can see a video on how Appingo manages content on our site here — watch the Content Management video). Appingo organizes and manages content according to how a production manager THINKS about his/her content. This is an important point. A production person tags files in their heads in certain ways. When you ask a production person about a file (for example – I need the latest version of the Nighttime Train illustration), a production person immediately thinks of a few things:
- The project which used the illustration.
- Who did the illustration.
- When the illustration job was assigned.
- What kind of file it is — an illustration, a photo, etc
- Where the illustration goes in the final product (Ch. 3, Ch. 4, or maybe even the page number).
- The name of the file.
It’s important to note that the FIRST THING they think of is THE PROJECT which uses the illustration. That’s why Appingo organizes all files by PROJECT. The second thing they usually think about is WHO DID THE JOB. See below for a screen shot of our File tab in any of our projects. As you can see, every file is clearly tagged and listed by WHO did the WORK. A production person can sort that list and QUICKLY find any file they want by person:
Appingo also tags content by creation date, the schedule it was used in (this could be by Chapter) as well as by the TASK the content was uploaded TO and the TASK it was used BY. This last piece is the way a production person who uses Appingo thinks about content. By TASK. Hopefully the entire publishing world will be thinking about content THIS WAY very soon 
The above screenshot is showing the Appingo FILES tab, which lists all files used in a PROJECT. Appingo also has a separate ART LOG which really helps production people manage all the ART that is used by a project. I’m not going to explain everything about the Art Log here….you can find more info on the website and/or during your initial training once you sign up But here is a quick screenshot:
The Art Log is a big win.
And by the way….Appingo stores all your content on our servers. In the cloud. Which means you can access them EASILY (meaning…not in an FTP site)from anywhere with Internet access.
Bottom Line: Appingo is NOT a traditional Content Management System, but it DOES a brilliant job of managing content for the publishing process.
We like the way one of our customers put it:
I’m more interested in managing the people and the process which creates/produces the content than I am in managing the files.
This is the world in which we live…
Derek
