The Content Management System provides capabilities such as menu creation, access control, and the ability to extend the CMS in various ways. It allows non-technical users to create custom content, to manage users, the regular maintenance of security updates / upgrades, and has sophisticated tools for managing access control.
The Content Management structure is founded upon Articles, Categories, Modules, Components, and Menus.
Articles
Articles are fundamental pieces of CMS content and are essentially, website pages. They are the bottom level in the content hierarchy. Inside an Article you can, for example, host a blog, an ‘article’, or a report. Articles are generally accessed by a Menu item, and they are the main component on web page. Individual articles are assigned an Access Level: the default Access Level is Registered, meaning that anyone who is registered on the site can view the Article. Articles can be grouped using categories. An Article can only belong to one category; the default category is Uncategorized.
Access articles from the Administrator side of the CMS via the menu Content->Articles
Categories
Categories are a hierarchical tool for grouping articles on the platform. Categories allow you to set an Access Level that restricts access to any articles that are in a specific category. For example, if you publish a group of financial reports you might want to restrict access to these assets. To do this, you might create a category called Financial Reports and assign the Access level Financial Reports to the category. (The Access Level Financial Reports must already exist as a Viewing Access Level.) Assign all financial reports articles to the Financial Reports category, and those articles will be protected from general consumption.
Categories are also useful for creating blogs. Blogs allows the site to display lists or groups of articles based on a category. In the manufacturing world, a blog to display results of line inspections could be useful. Create a category Line Inspections, create an article for each time a line inspection occurs, and assign the Line Inspections category to the articles. Create a menu item of type Articles->Category Blog and choose the new category Line Inspections. Menu items require an Access Level be assigned: be sure to set it appropriately.
Access categories from the Administrator side of the CMS via the menu Content->Categories
Note: The use of Categories is optional.
Modules
Modules are lightweight and flexible pieces of functionality that can be inserted into a page to display certain types of pre-configured content. Typical examples of a module include a log-in module, a news feed, breadcrumbs, a list of articles in a blog, or a special-notice pop-up. A single module can appear many times on a site on different pages. The platform template determines where modules can live on a webpage.
Access modules from the Administrator side of the CMS via the menu Extensions->Modules
Components
Components are the main content on a webpage. Articles that are added to the system are generally treated as Components by the CMS.
Components that are also Extensions are the largest and most complex extension of the platform; they are essentially software 'packages' that extend the CMS and provide new functionality. In general, pages such as the Process Layout and Model Explorer, are delivered into the CMS via extensions/components. Components are added or updated in the platform via the Extensions menu item in the Admin Console of the system.
Components are accessed by a Menu item and Access Control for the Component is configured at the Menu item level*.
Access Components from the Administrator side of the CMS via the menu Components
*Certain ThinkIQ components allow for more granular ACL settings (Add, Update, Delete) in the configuration of the component.
Menus
Menus provide navigation of the site and are configurable. There is one configurable menu called Custom, and a second, protected menu called Product. The Product menu is managed by the system internally; the Custom menu is accessible and can be updated and changed by Site Administrators.
Menu items generally direct the user to a Component. Components can be Articles or Extensions that are added to the system.
When creating a Menu item, there are various choices that can be made. The first main choice is what type of menu item is being created. The CMS allows for configuring many menu types, such as those based on Articles (single article, category blogs), System Links (menu headings, url links) or components, such as the Model Explorer and Process Layout.
Two other important choices made when creating a menu include the Parent Item in the menu under which to put the new item, (or keep it at the Root), and Access – what Access Level is allowed to access – or even see – the Menu item. Both selections are chosen from drop down boxes. Learn more about how Access Levels work here.
Access Menus from the Administrator side of the CMS via the menu Menu