A content management system (CMS) is the collection of procedures used to manage work flow in a collaborative environment. These procedures can be manual or computer-based. The procedures are designed to do the following:

* Allow for a large number of people to contribute to and share stored data
* Control access to data, based on user roles (defining which information users or user groups can view, edit, publish, etc.)
* Aid in easy storage and retrieval of data
* Reduce repetitive duplicate input
* Improve the ease of report writing
* Improve communication between users