# CCMS overview

**Category:** [CCMS](https://help.totalctrl.app/hc/totalctrl/totalctrl-help-center/en-US/categories/ccms)
**Updated:** 2026-08-19

## What CCMS is for

CCMS (Component Content Management System) is TotalCtrl's home for structured, reusable documentation. Instead of writing long monolithic documents, you author small, single-subject **topics**, organize them into **projects**, and assemble them into **publications** that you can publish as a web help portal, a knowledge base, or a PDF book. The approach is inspired by DITA, so the same topic can be reused across many outputs without copy-paste.
## The main building blocks

- **Projects** group related topics and carry settings like primary and secondary languages and an optional custom domain.
- **Topics** are the unit of content. Each topic has a type (Concept, Task, Reference, Troubleshooting, Policy, or Tutorial) and moves through a status workflow: Draft, In review, Approved, Published, Archived.
- **Snippets** are reusable content fragments you insert into topics — edit once, update everywhere.
- **Variables** are `{{token}}` placeholders (such as a product name) resolved at publish time, optionally per audience or product line.
- **Publications** assemble topics into an ordered map and build the final output.

## Where to start

Create a project, add a few topics, then build a publication. You can also **import** existing DITA content: upload a ZIP of `.dita` files (each becomes a topic) and an optional `.ditamap` (which creates a matching publication). From there you can route topics through [review and publishing](review-publish-topics) or [translate them](translate-topics). CCMS also pulls your **Glossary** terms and **Style** rules into the editor to keep writing consistent.

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## Related Articles

- [Build and publish a publication](https://help.totalctrl.app/en-US/articles/build-and-publish)
- [Translate topics](https://help.totalctrl.app/en-US/articles/translate-topics)
- [Reuse content with snippets and variables](https://help.totalctrl.app/en-US/articles/snippets-and-variables)
- [Review and approve topics](https://help.totalctrl.app/en-US/articles/review-publish-topics)
- [How the CCMS to String Manager sync works](https://help.totalctrl.app/en-US/articles/ccms-strings-sync-overview)

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