Reference Architecture: Content Management

Status: Proposed | Date: 2025-07-28

When to Use This Pattern

Use when building:

• Public websites and intranets
• Content portals with editorial workflows
• Headless CMS backends for mobile apps or multi-channel publishing

Overview

This template implements content management systems meeting WA Government compliance requirements, combining security isolation, managed infrastructure, and edge protection.

Core Components

Project Kickoff Steps

Foundation Setup

1. Apply Isolation - Follow ADR 001: Application Isolation for CMS service network and runtime separation
2. Deploy Infrastructure - Follow ADR 002: AWS EKS for Cloud Workloads for CMS container deployment
3. Configure Infrastructure - Follow ADR 010: Infrastructure as Code for reproducible deployments
4. Setup Database - Follow ADR 018: Database Patterns for Aurora Serverless v2 content storage

Security & Operations

1. Configure Secrets Management - Follow ADR 005: Secrets Management for database credentials and API keys
2. Setup Logging - Follow ADR 007: Centralised Security Logging for audit trails and editorial tracking
3. Setup Backup Strategy - Follow ADR 014: Object Storage Backups for content and media backup
4. Configure Edge Protection - Follow ADR 016: Web Application Edge Protection for CDN and WAF setup
5. Identity Integration - Follow ADR 012: Privileged Remote Access for editorial authentication

Implementation Details

Content Workflows & Editorial:

• Configure content workflows and editorial approval processes
• Setup media asset management and CDN integration per ADR 016: Web Application Edge Protection
• Implement headless CMS API following ADR 003: API Documentation Standards
• Configure content moderation and approval workflows

Compliance & Accessibility:

• Configure WCAG 2.1 AA accessibility compliance and automated testing
• Setup jurisdiction-specific compliance requirements (e.g., privacy policies, cookie consent)
• Implement content governance and retention policies per ADR 015: Data Governance Standards
• Configure multilingual content management if required

Performance & SEO:

• Setup SEO metadata management and structured data (JSON-LD)
• Implement content performance monitoring per ADR 007: Centralised Security Logging
• Configure CDN caching strategies and cache invalidation
• Setup content analytics and user behaviour tracking