• Core consulting skills (project management, written & verbal communication, client management, selling, teamwork, confidence)
• People-centric application experience (Collaboration, process, workflow)
• Document-centric application experience
• Documentum fundamentals: Workflow, Security, Object Model, Documentum Foundation Classes (DFC)
• Basic Documentum administrative tasks (repository care-and-feeding, best practices, installing content server, creating a repository) 
• Documentum Query Language, Basic SQL
• Basic XML/XSLT
• Basic operating system (starting/stopping processes, navigating the Documentum installation folder hierarchy, running programs/scripts, editing files, changing permissions/owners of files, setting environment variables, using XServer (for UNIX), administering users and groups)
• Basic Relational Database (relational concepts, minimal SQL, ability to speak somewhat intelligently with a DBA)
• Basic Java (knows what a classpath is, can write and compile a class, can leverage Javadocs)
• Basic BASIC
• Basic Web Development Kit (WDK)
• Basic application server
• HTML, JavaScript, CSS
• Ability to negotiate IT processes and human resources
• Troubleshooting and debugging

• Intermediate to Advanced WDK, Business Objects Framework (BOF)
• Java Server Faces, Struts, other frameworks
• JSP, servlets, JDBC, EJB
• Web services
• All other Documentum products such as Web Publisher, InputAccel, Content Rendition Services, WebCache, Site Delivery Services, Content Intelligence Services, Digital Asset Manager/Rich Media Services, Business Process, Reporting Gateway, JDBC Services, Manager/FormsBuilder
• Documentum federations, replication
• High availability/high performance, load testing
• Enterprise architecture
• Identity management (Netegrity, Oblix)
• Portals in general, Documentum WDK for Portals
• Imaging, COLD, fixed asset management
• Structured authoring tools (Epic, Framemaker, XMetal)
• Web Services
• Advanced XSLT, FOSI, SGML, Schema/DTD
• Apache FOP
• Enterprise Integration
• Industry-specific or horizontal solutions (Collaboration/eRoom, Records Management, SarbOx, Aerospace, Pharma, Oil&Gas, Manufacturing)

So, a "great" Documentum consultant would have all of the "Desert Island Documentum Skills" nailed as well as the "Fringe/Value-Add Documentum Skills" applicable to the project at-hand.

10:01:32 PM    

Ann Rockley recently posed a question to the CMPros listserv about the skills needed for a successful Enterprise Content Management professional. Here's my reply:

To really drill down on this topic, you have to be specific about what the ECM professional is trying to do. As we've discussed ad nauseum in other threads, the definition of "ECM", "CM", and "DM", etc., mean different things to different people and often are umbrella terms--particularly with ECM--for different types of activities that require different skillsets.

As someone who's done a fair amount of recruiting in this space, I can tell you there are many ECM professionals who spend many years working only in very specific ECM niches with very little exposure to the entire ECM spectrum of solutions.

So, my thoughts to Ann are from the perspective of a technical ECM consultant working on large implementations of packaged ECM offerings, primarily around WCM and document-centric workflows, with moderate amounts of customization.

Soft skills

Change management. The ability to anticipate and smooth out issues related to the substantial amount of change created by the implementation of ECM initiatives is critical.

Communication/leadership. Another key skill is the ability to sell the value of the ECM initiative to executive leaders, build consensus, recruit a champion, etc. Communication skills also play a part in crafting, sharing, and selling a vision of ECM at all levels of an organization.

Business process analysis. Most ECM initiatives include workflow. An ECM professional needs to know how to understand and possibly improve the business processes related to the content being managed.

Subject area expertise. It helps if a professional understands one or more CM "sub-disciplines" or horizontals such as technical publishing, WCM, imaging, compliance, etc. There may also be vertical industry niches in areas such as pharmaceuticals, energy, manufacturing, health care, etc. that professionals may choose to specialize in.

Technical skills:

 - XML/XSL
 - Java or .Net as well as one or more scripting languages
 - Application server platforms
 - Packaged content server offerings
 - Information architecture
 - Scanning hardware, storage solutions, etc.

Regarding academic curricula

As far as academic offerings, using what's available today it seems like a computer science/library science double major would get you close. Obviously, a purpose-built curriculum incorporating relevant offerings from computer science, library science, and business administration would seem like the most optimal.

9:17:07 PM    

The March 28 issue of Infoworld has a cover story on corporate blogging called The Enterprise Blogosphere. It covers both blogs and wikis in the corporate environment and sidebars on JotSpot, Movable Type, TWiki, and Socialtext.

4:58:19 PM