Web Content management systems are often used for storing, controlling, versioning, and publishing industry-specific documentation such as news articles, operators' manuals, technical manuals, sales guides, and marketing brochures. A content management system may support the following features:

• Import and creation of documents and multimedia material
• Identification of all key users and their content management roles
• The ability to assign roles and responsibilities to different content categories or types.
• Definition of the content workflow tasks, often coupled with event messaging so that content managers are alerted to changes in content.
• The ability to track and manage multiple versions of a single instance of content.
• The ability to publish the content to a repository to support access to the content. Increasingly, the repository is an inherent part of the system, and incorporates enterprise search and retrieval.
• Some content management systems allow the textual aspect of content to be separated to some extent from formatting. For example the CMS may automatically set default color, fonts, or layout.

A web content management system is a computer system used to manage and control a large, dynamic collection of web material (HTML documents and their associated images). A CMS facilitates document control, auditing, editing, and timeline management. A Web CMS provides the following key features:

• Automated Templating: Create standard visual templates that can be automatically applied to new and existing content, creating one central place to change that look across all content on a site.
• Easily Editable Content: Once your content is separate from the visual presentation of your site, it usually becomes much easier and quicker to edit and manipulate. Most CMS software include WYSIWYG editing tools allowing non-technical individuals to create and edit content.
• Scalable Feature Sets: Most CMS have plug-ins or modules that can be easily installed to extend an existing site's functionality.
• Web Standards Upgrades: Active CMS solutions usually receive regular updates that include new feature sets and keep the system up to current web standards.
• Workflow management: Workflow is the process of creating cycles of sequential and parallel tasks that must be accomplished in the CMS. For example, a content creator submits a story but it's not published on the website until the copy editor cleans it up, and the editor-in-chief approves it.
• Document Management: CMS solutions always provide a means of managing the life cycle of a document from initial creation time, through revisions, publication, archive, and document destruction.

A web site content management system often runs on the website's server. Most systems provide controlled access for various ranks of users such as administrators, copy editors, senior editors, and content creators. Access is usually via a web browser program, possibly combined with some use of FTP for uploading content.

Content creators submit their documents to the system. Copy Editors comment on, accept, or reject documents. Layout editors layout the site. The editor in chief is then responsible for publishing the work to the live site. The content management system controls and helps manage each step of this workflow, including the technical task of publishing the documents to one or more live web servers.

The content and all other information related to the site is usually stored in a server-based relational database system. The content management system typically keeps a record of previous website editions and in-progress editions.

The pages controlled and published through the content management system can then be seen by the visitors to the website.

In larger organizations these server based documents need to communicate with desktop applications and Open Document Management APIs perform the necessary "translations". They have made substantial cost and time savings to document management overall, and assist in smooth flow of documents through enterprises, applications and processes.

Reference: Wikipedia
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