A Content Management System or (CMS) was developed in the early days when  some of the larger companies started to come online with all thier content and need a way to manage the content. The solution meant getting away from static web sites and implementing the use of a database and a scripting language to automate the data.

As an example a company that runs a small magazine or community newspaper may have an archive of thousands of articles that have appeared over the years within thier publications and now need to be organized and accessable through a web site without having to create a separate web page for each article.

The  only solution without having a web site that is 2000 pages in size was to create a dynamic web site where the data can be stored in a database that will only display a specific article when a visitor to the site requested it or when an administrator (you) tell it to be visible when a button is pressed. The system would also allow for an administration area where employees could work simultaneously on content and other areas of the site.