What is a content management system (CMS)?

A content management system (CMS) is critical to the success of almost every website and intranet, it keeps track of every piece of content on your Web site and supports the creation, management, distribution and publishing of design elements, article content and product, while allowing full management of site user registration including mailing lists and scheduled promotions.

Covering the complete lifecycle of the content and elements  a CMS provides tools for creating content,  publishing, and finally archiving and enables the ability to manage the structure of the site, the appearance of the published pages, and the navigation provided to the users.

The major advantage of using a CMS is that it requires almost no technical skill or knowledge to manage.