Digesting the

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Digesting the Alphabet Soup of Technical
Writing and Publishing

• Presented by
• Bret Freeman
• Vasont Systems

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Common Acronyms

• XML - eXtensible Mark-up Language
• DTD Document Type Definition
• DITA - Darwin Information Type Architecture
• XSLt eXstensible Stylesheet Language Transform
• XSL-FO - eXstensible Stylesheet Language
  Formatting Objects
• CMS Content Management System

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Structured Writing Advantages

• Reuse, Reuse, Reuse
• Change/update
• Consistent messaging
• PRODUCTIVITY
• Multi-channel publishing
• Single-sourced information
• New product generation
• Cost savings

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Structured Writing Challenges

• Paradigm Shift
• Documents are not documents
• Styling/format comes later
• Writing style changes
• Tools
• New tools are always a challenge
• Training is necessary
• Content may look different in new tools

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Why Structure My Content?

• Reuse opportunities
• Metadata
• Translation management
• Time savings
• Cost savings
• Consider each of these areas to determine how to
  modularize your content efficiently for your
  organization.

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Migrating to a Structured Writing Environment

• Situational analysis
• What are you doing now?
• Whats wrong with it?
• How do you envision your solution?

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Migrating to a Structured Writing Environment

• Data Analysis
• Find the existing structure (there is one!)
• Select a content model (off-the-shelf or custom)
• Content Model Considerations
• Content should be intuitive
• Content should be repurposeable
• Content should be definable
• Content should be available

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The Basic Building Blocks for a Structured
Writing Environment

• Data
• Content Model
• DTD and customizations
• Transforms (more on this later)
• Style sheets
• Tools
• Authoring
• Storage, management and retrieval
• Publishing

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Tools Architecture
The CMS
Storage, Management and Retrieval
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The CMS
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CMS Example Loading Content
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CMS Example Modularized Content
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The Authoring Tool
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Authoring Tool Example Raw XML Content (ugly!)
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Authoring Tool Example XML Content in an
Authoring Tool
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The Publishing Tool
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Publishing Tool Example XML Published to
Multiple Channels
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Publishing Tool Example XML Published to
Multiple Channels
XSLT/XSLFO Stylesheet
XML File
Deliverables
XSLT/XSLFO Processor
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The Basics of Content Management
What is Content Management? What will a CMS do
for me? How does a CMS work? Do I really need a
CMS?
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What is Content Management?

• The process of organizing reusable pieces of
  content in the most efficient way and storing and
  tracking them in a database
• Purpose To share content in order to minimize
  writing efforts, provide consistent messaging
  throughout many different publications, and
  publish to multiple media channels

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What Will a CMS Do For Me?

• Content is smarter and more powerful
• Content can be reused throughout one or multiple
  products
• The quality of the content is guaranteed by
  eliminating duplicate or inaccurate information
• Editorial cycles are shortened
• Revisions are tracked and managed
• New products can be generated quickly from the
  database by repurposing or reusing content,
  adding new revenue streams for your organization

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Choosing the Right System for Your Specific Needs
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Where Do We Start?

• Business Goals
• Technical Requirements
• RFI/RFP
• Tools Selection
• Project Plan
• Implementation

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Business Goals

• Identify Business Goals
• Shorten time to market
• Reduce costs
• Improve accuracy
• Improve customer experience

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Business Goals

• Quantify the Goals
• Results
• Accurate map of current state
• Identify opportunities for improvement
• Established comparative baseline

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Business Goals

• Quantify the Goals
• What does it cost now?
• Time and/or money
• Gather metrics
• Challenges
• Time consuming
• Hard to get the numbers
• You still have to do your regular job

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Develop Technical Requirements

• Content Life Cycle
• Manage
• Configurations
• Version control
• Ease of use
• Multi-language
• Process automation
• Deliver
• Assemble content
• Print, Web
• Static, dynamic

Reuse Repurpose
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RFI/RFP

• Equipped to make an informed decision
• Level the playing field
• Out-of-the-box solution does not exist
• Show me
• Sound basis to compare solutions

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Project Plan

• Develop Costs for Solution
• Personnel
• Tools
• Implementation
• Customizations
• Integrations
• Training
• Lost productivity
• Calculate ROI
• Obtain funding

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Key Points

• Understand Why
• Homework
• Define How
• Analysis
• The Solution
• Content rules
• Be an Educated Buyer
• The perfect fit

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Questions?
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Thank You!

• Bret Freeman
• Senior Sales Engineer
• bfreeman_at_vasont.com
• www.vasont.com