[1] Specifically, CMIS defines an abstraction layer for controlling diverse document management systems and repositories using web protocols.

CMIS provides a common data model covering typed files and folders with generic properties that can be set or read.

Many of the original contributors to the specification believed [3] a simplified and standardized way to access unstructured content across all vendors would increase the adoption of ECM products, but only if the standard could remain compatible with existing deployed systems, much the way that ODBC Open Database Connectivity did for the relational database market in the 1990s.

This ongoing project[5] to foster interoperability[6] among ECM systems is supported by the collaborative efforts of governmental, commercial, vendor, and consulting organizations.

Participants in the process include Adobe Systems Incorporated, Alfresco, EMC, FatWire, HP, IBM, Liferay, Microsoft, Nuxeo, OpenText, Oracle, and SAP.

From the CMIS Specification 1.1, page:[14] "[...] this data model does not cover all the concepts that a full-function ECM repository [...] transient entities (such as programming interface objects), administrative entities (such as user profiles), and extended concepts (such as compound or virtual document, work flow and business process, event and subscription) are not included."