Establishing content governance

Content governance is a formal system of checks and balances that regulates your content development. Project success depends on clearly defined roles and responsibilities of everyone involved in the content development process. So how do you get buy-in? And what’s involved in putting a content governance plan together? 

Getting buy-in

Establishing content governance involves changes to processes and workflows, and change is often uncomfortable.

Get input from everyone who will be affected by the changes you are making. Be transparent about what people should expect and how you will support them. You may still have some who are resistant to change, but if they feel as though they are part of the process it will likely go much more smoothly.

Building the plan 

When you build your plan, include a representative from each department that’s involved in the content development process. Your governance standards should include the following:

• Content and maintenance standards 
• Workflows for content development with clearly defined roles and responsibilities 
• Standards for archiving content
• Short-term and long-term goals 

Your content standards and workflows will need to evolve over time, so ensure you know who will be responsible for communicating any future changes or updates within your organization. What will you do if someone leaves the organization? How will you onboard future employees?

Document, document, document 

Without process documentation, content governance will decay over time. You need to document everything and keep it in an accessible location for the stakeholders. 

Understand that changes happen. Roles may need to be reassigned. Customer needs might change. Be flexible and recognize that you will have to make updates to your content governance processes. When you make updates, don’t forget to communicate to all relevant stakeholders.

To establish successful content governance in your organization, make sure you take your unique requirements into account. Your regulatory, localization, and specialization requirements will all affect your risk tolerance and the level of content governance that makes sense for you. If you need help establishing a plan for content governance, contact us.