S.F. transportation group buys content system

Metropolitan Transportation Commission

San Francisco's Metropolitan Transportation Commission will start to roll out a new content management system from Percussion Software Inc. this spring.

The commission's Web site has several thousand pages, including subsites for the Bay Area Toll Authority and the Regional Transportation Plan, and provides information to citizens and local, state and federal agencies on three major airports, two major seaports, almost 20,000 miles of highways and roads and more than 24 transit agencies.

Percussion's Rhythmyx 5 Enterprise Content Management system will free the commission's small Web staff from the small but frequent tasks that consume much of their time, according to Joel Markowitz, the commission's manager of advanced systems applications. Using the new system, each office within the commission will release and maintain its information. For example, the human resources department will handle job announcements directly rather than managing them through the Web team.

"It gives our professional users responsibility for creating content, and our Web site visitors easier access to more up-to-date information," Markowitz said in a statement.

The solution will also allow the Web team to add interactive features and put out and support this year's update to the Regional Transportation Plan, which is released every three years, officials said.