DITA for Enterprise Business Documents Subcommittee Enterprise Content Metamodel: Information Type Definitions Specialization Focus Area Rob Hanna February

DITA for Enterprise Business Documents Subcommittee

Enterprise Content Metamodel: Information Type Definitions

Specialization Focus AreaRob Hanna

February 7, 2011


Agenda

• Introduction• Describe Business Document Environment• Content Classes• Introduce 3 Content Models– DITA Information Model– Information Mapping™– Enterprise Content Metamodel

• Abstract Layer• Examples


ENTERPRISE BUSDOCS SCSpecialization Focus Area


Specialization Focus Area

• The goal of the Specialization Focus Area is to make recommendations for structural and domain specializations needed to support enterprise business documents

• The first task is to identify potential new information types that would require structural specialization

• Once the information types have been determined, the Focus Area will examine specific domain specializations common across all information types in this domain


Objectives for the Metamodel

• Develop a universal metamodel to describe typical business document content

• Identify reusable semantic structures with a compatible granularity to the DITA standard

• Describe a framework for adoption of a DITA standard for enterprise business documents


Business DocumentsTypically include controlled items such as:

• Policies and procedures• Product development and

maintenance documentation

• Technical publications• Sales and marketing

materials

Typically do not include items such as:

• Memoranda and correspondence

• Newsletters and social media

• Third-party materials• Database and financial

outputThese items along with business documents represent business records


Research

• Content Models– Information Mapping™– DITA

• Document Models– Military Specifications (S1000D, 2361, 2167, 498)– ISO (9000, 15489)

• Business Object Models– Rational Unified Process/Unified Modeling Language– Zachman Framework– Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL)


BUSINESS DOCUMENTSDrivers


Nature of Business Documents

• Business documents are– a conglomeration of different types of information– managed using extensive metadata– process-driven– referenced by content used elsewhere in the process

• While there are no widely adopted standards for content models, there are typical document types and recognizable structures in most business documents


Accountability

• A convergence of factors are driving business towards– process certification,– regulatory requirements,– needs for improved efficiency, and– measurable quality

• These demands require– better metadata,– finer granularity of information,– centralization,– process automation,– information ownership, and– traceability


Evolution of the Enterprise Topic

• What is a topic?– fundamental building blocks used to capture knowledge

about any given subject– a single definitive source of information– designed to be used and reused in their entirety or in

part– independent of any containing document or map and

can be used in any appropriate context


Enterprise Business Content Lifecycle

Input: Topics

Output: Information

Product

Repository: Information

Core


Reusability


Traceability


Traceability

• Businesses use many purpose-built applications and databases to manage business information such as:– Requirements management tools– Bug tracking systems– Software testing tools

• The metamodel should incorporate traceability for business documents to integrate with these systems


CONTENT CLASSESSeparating Topics According to Behavior


Content Classes

• Early on in the discussion on topic specializations, the focus area discovered that content needed to be broken down into classes to describe its properties and behaviours

• DITA had first dealt only with one class of content – the topic – which was a standalone chunk of content that existed outside of any single document

• New innovations such as the DITA Bookmap introduced classes of content that did not fit with this description

• This focus area has categorized content into four classes that describe the different properties of content


Content Classes I & II

• Class I Content– Represents portable, non-contextual information topics

living outside of documents. Class I Content requires specific sub-structures unique to the topic type.• For example: DITA concept, task, and reference

• Class II Content– Represents non-portable, contextual information topics

that resides only within a given document. Class II Content requires very general, common sub-structures. • For example: Executive summary, chapter summary, document

foreword, dedication, etc


Content Classes III & IV

• Class III Content– Represents boilerplate text that can reside outside of a

content repository and may be produced automatically at publishing time.• For example: Legal disclaimer, company information, table of

contents, index, advance organizer, cover page, etc

• Class IV Content– Represents content needed to aggregate documents

from the three previous classes of content including metadata about the document.• For example: DITA map or bookmap


INFORMATION MODELSExamining


Information Models

• To identify the necessary information types needed to support business documents, the focus area will study available information models– DITA information model

• Breaks information types into Topics

– Information Mapping™• Breaks information types into Information Blocks

– Information Management Model• Breaks information types into Information Objects

• This is not necessarily an exhaustive list of models and others may be looked at as they surface


DITATask-based User Technical Information


1) The DITA 1.0 Information Model• DITA was designed to support

Task-based authoring methodology for end-user documentation

• This approach consists primarily of identifying specific tasks users need to perform to be successful with their product

• Concept and reference information is added to supplement the tasks and give the user better understanding of the product to improve likelihood of success

Alarm Clock User Guide

About Alarm Clocks

Setting Clock

Setting Wake Up Alarm

Setting Radio Alarm

Installing Batteries

Radio Settings

Battery Specifications


DITA Information Types

• Class I– Procedural

• Task

– Descriptive• Reference

– Explanatory• Concept• GlossEntry


DITA Bookmap

• The Bookmap introduces new placeholders for topics that don’t ideally fit with the initial concepts of topics (or Class I Content) such as:– Class II Content – contextual content for the specific document

• <dedication>• <bookabstract>• <preface>

– Class III Content – boilerplate text common to many documents• <notices> • <colophon>• <booklist>


Limitations

• While DITA can be manipulated to suit any output, it is often done at the expense of maintaining useful semantic mark up and consistency of content

• Many DITA adopters have limited their deployment of information types to Concept and Task, where Task covers all procedural information and Concept covers everything else

• Extension beyond task-based information types is highly desirable


INFORMATION MAPPING™Structured Business Documents


2) The Information Mapping® Approach

• Owned by Information Mapping International nv of Belgium http://www.informationmapping.com/en

• A scientifically-based method of structured communication• Developed by Harvard researcher and based on 40 years of

research and application• Applied to all communication media - paper and electronic• Used in 30+ countries around the world• Communicates any and all complex information

http://www.informationmapping.com/en


Information Types

User question

“What is the (value)?”

“What must I do?”

“How do I do it?”

“How does it work?”

“What does it look like?”

“What is it?”

Information Type

Fact

Principle

Procedure

Process

Structure

Concept


Presentation Modes for Information Types

Each of the 6 Information Types has its own best practices for

presentation that visually reflects the purpose of that type


Example

• Content objects defined by their purpose or Information Type

Fact

Fact

Fact

Process

Process


Presenting Fact

This FACT block…

re-displayed as…


This PROCESS block…

Presenting Process

re-displayed as…


… here published in a paper document …

The results are tagged content objects …

… and displayed for easy comprehension.

Result


Challenges

• Information Mapping® models content at a different level of granularity to DITA

• Information Mapping® focuses on the appearance of the rendered content more than the semantic markup of the source content

• Information Mapping® isn’t widely used for structured authoring with XML

• The methodologies are proprietary and any use of their approach may be limited


ENTERPRISE CONTENT METAMODEL

Content Ecosystem


3) The Enterprise Content Metamodel

• Created in 2002 by Rob Hanna• Published in 2005 STC Conference Proceedings as the

Information Management Modelhttp://www.ascan.ca/stc/whitepaper_imm.pdf

http://www.ascan.ca/stc/whitepaper_imm.pdf


Modeling Enterprise Content

• The model started as a map of dozens of dissimilar types of content found within an enterprise linked in various ways through traceability

• For example– RFP elements were linked to proposal elements– Proposal elements were linked to requirement elements– Requirement elements were linked to design elements– Design elements were linked to specification elements– Specification elements were linked to procedural elements

• As information changed in one element, other elements within the chain were impacted


Model Construction

• This model breaks down into 11 information types describing enterprise content

• Each of the 11 types can be specialized into more specific types as needed

• While not modeled after DITA, it shares very similar characteristics and should prove to be entirely compatible

• Information types fall into one of four categories answering the “How”, “Who”, “What”, and “Why”


Who? What?

How?

Why?

Enterprise Content Metamodel

Task

Concept

Governance

Event

ReferenceActivity

Resource

Ability

Requirement

Design

Objective

Proposed

Resource Event Event ObjectiveWhere? When?

Standard DITAStandard DITA

Task

Concept

Reference


Task-based Information• The Task information type

is central to the model• Task describes how

something is performed• Reference describes the

tools used in the Task• Task produces an Event

• Activity describes what is to be performed by the Task

• Governance describes limitations on the Task

• Concept provides terms for Governance

Task

Concept

Governance

Event

ReferenceActivity


Resource-based Information

• Activity describes what is to be performed

• Activity is performed by a Resource

• Activity requires a certain Ability

• Resource possesses given Ability

Task

Concept

Governance

Event

ReferenceActivity

Activity

Resource

Ability


Product-based Information

• Reference describes a tool and its benefits and features

• Design describes how the tool is built to Requirements

• Requirement governs Design and functionality

Reference

Requirement

Design

Task

Concept

Governance

Event

ReferenceActivity

Resource

Ability


Business-based Information• Objective

describes the goals, business reasons, or mission affecting change

• Resources, Concepts, and Requirements are suited to meet an Objective

• Objectives may be related to previous Events

Objective

Resource Concept Requirement

Task

Concept

Governance

Event

ReferenceActivity

Resource

Ability

Requirement

Design

Event


ABSTRACT LAYERManaging the Root of Inheritance


Abstract Information Types

• Upon examination of the semantic substructures for these 11 content types, we identified similarities between several of the types precipitating the creation of 6 abstract information types

• The abstract information types are derived directly from the base topic type and form the basis for all information contained within the model

• Procedural• Explanatory• Descriptive• Advisory• Temporal• Criterial


Information Type Similarities

• Advisory– Governance

• Temporal– Event

• Criterial – Objective– Requirement– Ability– Activity

• Procedural– Task

• Explanatory– Concept– Design

• Descriptive– Reference– Resource


Inheritance from Abstract LayerBase

Topic

Abstract

Explanatory

Abstract

Descriptive

Abstract

Procedural

Abstract

Directive

Abstract

Criterial

Abstract

Temporal

Tech Pubs

Concept

Tech Pubs

Reference

Tech Pubs

Task

Bus Docs

Concept

Bus Docs

Reference

Bus Docs

Task

Bus Docs

Governance

Bus Docs

Objective

Bus Docs

Event

Bus Docs

Design

Bus Docs

Resource

Bus Docs

Requirement

Bus Docs

Ability

Bus Docs

Activity

DITA TC

TechPubs

BusDocs

Advisory


EXAMPLESBusiness Document


Business Document Examples

• The objects described in the model can be used to create business documents

• Business documents will contain a mix of content classes but will primarily consist of Class I content

• The traceability and reuse potential for many of the objects is substantial

• Presenting three possible examples:– Request for Proposal (RFP)– Software Incident Report– Meeting Minutes


Request for Proposal (RFP) example

• Class I Content– Objective Object describes the goals of the RFP process– Concept Objects define the terms used– Governance Objects define the rules of engagement– Activity Objects describe who is responsible for what– Task Objects describe the process for submittal– Objective Object describes the background for the RFP– Requirement Objects describe each required element

for the RFP respondent


Software Incident Report example

• Class I Content– Event Object documents the incident– Resource Object identifies the user– Activity Object describes what the user was trying to

accomplish– Task Object lists the steps taken to reproduce the

incident– Reference Object describes the impacted systems– Reference Object describes the system error


Meeting Minutes example

• Class I Content– Objective Objects describe the meeting agenda– Resource Objects identify participants– Event Objects document discussions– Objective Objects describe recommendations stemming

from discussions– Activity Objects list action items for Resource Objects– Objective Objects (for action) and/or Concept Objects

(for information) describe new business– Governance Objects (requiring immediate action) or

Objective Objects (for future action) describe motions


QUESTIONS?Thank you for your time