Project CSP/Essential features of a CSP framework/Research review

CSP (Content Services Platform) or ECM (Enterprise Content Management) is a current topic of interest for many organisations in the public and private sectors as they try to grapple with enormous volumes of data and information scattered among a plethora of different information systems and repositories (physical and digital) that have little or no integration.

CSP and ECM are frequently used interchangeably, however CSP is the newer term. They are used to describe a collection of capabilities which enable organisation to create, manage, analyse and extract information across a variety of different repositories. Gartner distinguishes CSPs by reference to some of their core capabilities, e.g: "CSPs are best aligned with use cases that cover the more formal aspects of how content is used in an organization. This is in contrast to content collaboration tools (CCTs), which are often used in more informal, ad hoc collaboration. As such, CSPs typically provide advanced capabilities for content intelligence, records management, process automation and federation." Source: Critical Capabilities for Content Services Platforms, published 17 November 2020, by Lane Severson, Michael Woodbridge, Marko Sillanpaa

Below are three different descriptions of CSP/ECM derived from research carried out by Gartner, Forester and AIIM.

Gartner describes 9 core capabilities of CSPs

Records Management	Records management covers the features that enable an organization to be compliant with regulatory and organizational mandates. It includes certification with international standards and formal controls for long-term content preservation.
Content Intelligence	Content intelligence is a set of capabilities that enable content classification, metadata augmentation, integration of computer vision and natural language processing to provide content understanding without requiring manual intervention.
Productivity Intelligence	Productivity intelligence is primarily enabled by graph technology across a platform used to identify similar work patterns and to suggest or push content to users proactively. Advanced capabilities enable the ability to link content across files, sites and conversations based on common themes or entities without human intervention.
Process Automation	The most basic feature of workflow and process is typically ad hoc task assignment, which can be used in an approval-type process. More advanced features enable authorized users to create flows and UIs (represented as forms) suitable for end users to utilize for any number of business processes.
Security Intelligence	Standard security and privacy controls enable the organization to provide role-based access across a variety of endpoints. Advanced capabilities proactively identify, classify and control sensitive content.
Open APIs	REST APIs that expose content services for developers to call as a part of application development efforts. Additionally, developer documentation and low-code functionality is considered as a part of this capability.
Federation	The ability to extend content services such as security, search and records management to external content systems via prebuilt connectors and to manage content objects in place.
NWN Connectors	New work nucleus (NWN) connectors cover the breadth and depth of the CSP’s integration into productivity applications such as workstream collaboration, meeting solutions, email and calendar, collaborative work management and content collaboration tools.
Business App Connectors	Business app connectors focus on the breadth and depth of the CSP’s integration into line-of-business applications such as enterprise resource planning, customer relationship management and human resources management.

Source: Critical Capabilities for Content Services Platforms, published 17 November 2020, by Lane Severson, Michael Woodbridge, Marko Sillanpaa

Gartner also provides a functional definition for CSP in the same report although there is a slightly different categorisation to the capabilities.

Content repository:	Large-scale content repository capable of storing tens of millions of content objects and related metadata in a single customer instance Ability to store all content types, regardless of format
Document and content management library services:	Ability to upload content and create new content from scratch within the platform Native document management capabilities that allow users to work directly on content stored in the platform, with facilities to check content in/out and create new versions Ability to track and maintain version history Provision of templates for the creation of new content
Records management:	Ability to create and manage retention policies that define how long content is retained when it gets to a certain state Ability to automate deletion of content when it exceeds its defined retention period Ability to lock content and metadata, making it immutable when it has reached a given state Ability to automate the application of retention policies based on classification, location or metadata state
Process automation:	Provision of out-of-the-box workflows for content routing and approval The ability for authorized users to define (without the need to write code) workflows that automate document routing and the assignment of tasks The provision of a task management component to identify and take action on tasks assigned to individual users or groups
Open APIs:	A REST-based API, available for consumption by customers, that provides access to the majority (more than 70%) of core product features
Security and privacy controls:	Ability to apply and maintain granular levels of security, including create read, update, delete and download
Metadata:	Ability to define and apply metadata models for specific content types Ability to define different types of metadata, including text, numeric, date and boolean data Ability to apply ad hoc metadata tags to content Ability to enforce different controls on metadata completion, including look-ups from predefined lists and making certain metadata mandatory
Search:	Ability for end users to perform a full text search for text that might occur anywhere within content stored in the system Ability for end users to perform a metadata search
Collaboration:	Ability to synchronize content with a local device for accessing remotely and while offline Ability to share content with internal and external recipients from the UI
Enterprise administration:	A unified administration console that allows administrators to manage users, groups, roles, and general system performance and capability parameters Ability to integrate with enterprise directory information services for user/group/role/security management (must include general LDAP and Active Directory support) Support for single sign-on (SSO)
Reporting:	Ability to define and run reports that describe system usage
Mobility:	A mobile client available on both IoS and Android platforms that provides access to basic document management capabilities

Forrester identifies the following core capabilities that users require of ECM platforms:

Content migration

Packaged applications

Integrations and interoperability

Repository scale

Metadata

Search

Intelligent content services

Lifecycle management

Knowledge/social graphs

Developer support

App design/development tools

Collaborative content services

Transactional content services

Source: The Forrester Wave™: Content Platforms, Q2 2021, The 14 Providers That Matter Most And How They Stack Up by Cheryl McKinnon June 14, 2021

AIIM describes the capabilities of ECM as

Capture:	A smart enterprise content management solution should be capable of entering content into the system intelligently. This means digitizing paper documents, cataloging video and audio, and managing documents across value segments (i.e., contracts, invoices, marketing materials, etc.)
Analyze:	With all of these documents and contact types now entered into the system, you need to be able to explore these documents in a sophisticated manner. ECM should be able to extract and infer metadata and create bridges between unstructured content and search capabilities.
Map:	Creating a pathway between business needs and document storage requires mapping. Content needs to be stored optimally, retrieved intelligently, and extracted uniquely. By mapping content out, ECM not only organizes — but optimizes — your content library.
Preserve:	Content archiving is mission-critical for compliance and regulatory reasons. Typically, content is saved when changes are made, so content that requires few human touch points risks being removed for space in the cloud. Enterprise content management involves improving archive content across channels to keep crucial content protected — as well as all subsequently connected data sources.
Store:	Finding content a home within your IT architecture is essential for visibility, preservation, and security. Enterprise content management involves gluing content to specific systems (both SaaS and on-site.) This makes content retrieval natural — since each component is nailed to its parent system and roles are spread amongst multiple systems.

Source: AIIM: What is ECM?