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© 2006 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. Cisco ConfidentialPresentation_ID 1
Making it Real: Implementing DITA
for Cisco IOS Technical
Documentation
Mark Novembrino, Senior Technical Writer
© 2006 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. Cisco ConfidentialPresentation_ID 2
Focus
Cisco has over 65,000 employees, and many tech doc groups with diverse requirements.
“Making it Real” is about the path to implement DITA for Cisco IOS Technical Documentation, not all of Cisco.
© 2006 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. Cisco ConfidentialPresentation_ID 3
Cisco IOS Tech Docs – What We Do
Deliver technical documentation for:•10 Cisco IOS software trains•30+ Cisco IOS software releases•4000+ Features•16K+ Commands•45+ Technologies•Multiple platforms
© 2006 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. Cisco ConfidentialPresentation_ID 4
Cisco IOS 101
Cisco IOS trains represent a collection of features intended to run on one or more hardware platforms and to meet a market requirement.
Cisco IOS “releases” represent the successive iterations of a train.
The feature set for a given train changes throughout the Cisco engineering development process, and features move in and out of a given release. Features are also “ported”, i.e., a feature in a given release is implemented in another release.
© 2006 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. Cisco ConfidentialPresentation_ID 5
What we deliver today
Configuration Guides
© 2006 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. Cisco ConfidentialPresentation_ID 6
What we deliver today
Command references
© 2006 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. Cisco ConfidentialPresentation_ID 7
So What’s the Problem?
Customers are asking for more (dynamic retrieval of information, customized content, wiki-based delivery, etc.)
Customers need to access information based on their products, their software installs, and their feature sets.
The existing model does not scale.
Translation is difficult and poorly implemented.
© 2006 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. Cisco ConfidentialPresentation_ID 8
How do we take this…
© 2006 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. Cisco ConfidentialPresentation_ID 9
…and this…
© 2006 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. Cisco ConfidentialPresentation_ID 10
IP Services and Ease of Deployment
• Security, Firewall, Intrusion Detection
• IP Telephony
• Wireless Networking
• QoS / Service Assurance
• IPv4 and IPv6 Routing
IP Services and Infrastructure
• High-End Platform Support
• Core and Edge IP/ MPLS Routing
• MPLS Virtual Private Networks (AToM)
• Enterprise Core Infrastructures
Scale and Availability
• Core IP/MPLS Routing
• Large-Scale Peering
• PoP Consolidation
• Converged Packet Infrastructures
• Continuous System Operation
Cisco IOS SoftwareM/T Releases
Cisco 7x00Cisco
3800Cisco800
Cisco 1800
Cisco 2800
Cisco 6500
Cisco 4500
Cisco 3750
Cisco 2970
Cisco ASR 1000
Cisco ASR 9000
Cisco 7600
Enterprise/SP Edge(Cisco Catalyst switches
Cisco 7x00 and 10000 Series)
Service Provider Core(Cisco 12000 and CRS-1 Series)Access
(Integrated Services Routers)
CRS-1
Cisco IOS Software 12.2S Releases
Cisco IOS XRSoftware
…and this…
Cisco ASR 5000
Cisco Nexus 7000
CRS-3Cisco 12000
© 2006 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. Cisco ConfidentialPresentation_ID 11
And deliver this…
Integrated repository of common, reusable, managed content components
Coordinated workflow for content development, sharing, and translation
One-to-many output to a variety of formats (HTML, PDF, online help, eReader/Kindle, etc.)
Customized and dynamic content delivery
© 2006 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. Cisco ConfidentialPresentation_ID 12
We use DITA, of course!
© 2006 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. Cisco ConfidentialPresentation_ID 13
Episode III: Making it Real
© 2006 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. Cisco ConfidentialPresentation_ID 14
Starting with the Business Requirements
© 2006 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. Cisco ConfidentialPresentation_ID 15
Getting There - Defining Business Requirements
Examine existing processes
Examine existing deliverables
Coordinate with marketing and engineering processes
Consider market trends
Interview customers
Review web site feedback
© 2006 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. Cisco ConfidentialPresentation_ID 16
Getting There – Analyzing Content
How does the existing content design synch with the business requirements? Where are the gaps?
Follow a top-down approach. Look at the larger chunks and work down into the smaller bits.
Identify patterns of commonality and reuse.
© 2006 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. Cisco ConfidentialPresentation_ID 17
Getting There – Developing an Information Model
The content architecture looks at the big picture.
The information model look as the big picture, but also drills down into the details.
No “official” definition of these terms, however. The purpose of both designs is to map your content to the XML structures in a constructive way.
We started with in-house DTDs, and then decided to move to DITA.
© 2006 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. Cisco ConfidentialPresentation_ID 18
What is DITA? DITA (Darwin Information Typing Architecture) is an XML-based
information architecture defined and maintained by the OASIS* technical committee. Originated at IBM and was donated by IBM.
Darwin: DITA utilizes principles of inheritance for specializationInformation Typing: Focuses on the meaning and purpose of the content (concept, task, reference)
Architecture: DITA offers a model for extension both of design and of processes
*OASIS = Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards
© 2006 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. Cisco ConfidentialPresentation_ID 19
Publication Flow
Map
Topic
Topic
Topic
Topic
Topic
Topic
BookMap
Map
Topic
Topic
Map
Topic
Topic
Topic
Topic
Topic
Topic
Topic
Topic
Topic
Topic
Topic
Topic
Topic
Topic
D
I
T
A
O
T
Topic Creation Assembly (Maps/BookMaps) Transformation Output
© 2006 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. Cisco ConfidentialPresentation_ID 20
OASIS standard – Tangible DITA support from OASIS community – we are all facing the same challenges!
Information exchange – For example, partner and OEM documentation must be embedded in own documentation
Leveraging popular tools – Tool support for DITA is growing (SDL Trados, Just Systems, ArborText, AntennaHouse, ...)
Proven methodology – Topic-based writing has a proven success
Community development – new information types, improved processing, ...
No need to reinvent the base vocabulary - Create a DTD in 1/2 day with 10 lines vs. 6 months with 100s of lines; automatically pick up changes to the base
Avoid enormous vocabularies – Plug-in the DTDs for your requirements
Interoperability at the base type – Guaranteed reversion from special to base
Fast prototyping – People can be convinced quicker because base processing will also apply to specialized elements
Support for extending the architecture quickly and reusing investment in transformation logic
Why DITA – the Generic Answers
© 2006 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. Cisco ConfidentialPresentation_ID 21
Why DITA – for Cisco IOS Docs
It perfectly models the component level structures (concept, reference, and task topics) that we’ve already created.
It is designed to deliver exactly the sort of dynamic content defined as part of our business needs.
© 2006 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. Cisco ConfidentialPresentation_ID 22
Getting There – Developing an Information Model
© 2006 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. Cisco ConfidentialPresentation_ID 23
Getting There – Developing an Information Model
© 2006 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. Cisco ConfidentialPresentation_ID 24
Getting There – Developing an Information Model
The most critical activity is to engage end users (i.e., technical writers) in the development of the info model. They understand their content and the end goal of that content.
© 2006 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. Cisco ConfidentialPresentation_ID 25
Mapping Content Structures to DITA
© 2006 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. Cisco ConfidentialPresentation_ID 26
Mapping Content Structures to DITA
© 2006 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. Cisco ConfidentialPresentation_ID 27
Getting There – Finding the Tools
There are many components to consider:•Conversion/Migration•Rendering•Authoring•Review•Publishing•Workflow•Content Management• Integration with Databases and Metadata
© 2006 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. Cisco ConfidentialPresentation_ID 28
Getting There – Finding the ToolsPoints of Research:
•Existing tools in the company•Conferences•DITA and XML web resources• Industry experts and consultants
The most critical activity is to get end users early access to tools and listen to their feedback prior to purchase.
No technology religion.
© 2006 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. Cisco ConfidentialPresentation_ID 29
Getting There – Finding the Tools
Our choices:•Conversion/Migration – Custom tools developed in house.•Rendering – DITA Open Toolkit / Stylesheets developed in house
•Authoring – Xmetal 5.5/6.0•Publishing – Custom tools developed in house.•Content Management – SDL Trisoft 2011• Integration with Databases and Metadata – Custom tools developed in house.
© 2006 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. Cisco ConfidentialPresentation_ID 30
Why We Chose Trisoft Addressed all of our business requirements
Full support for all DITA functionality out-of-the-box.
XML-based repository with version control, security, taxonomy and search
Integration with leading XML authoring tools (XMetal, ArborText, and FrameMaker)
Conditional text and variables
Assembly of publications with version control on included content
Multilingual environment with translation management and in-context pre-translation
Integrated workflow
Highly intuitive, well-designed user interface
Engaged and committed support team
Our users *like it*…it models a process with which they are familiar.
© 2006 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. Cisco ConfidentialPresentation_ID 31
Getting There – Defining Content Architecture
Why did does this slide appear *after* “finding the tools”?
Because knowing something about the tools may affect how you define your content architecture. Both activities are related. Of course, the content architecture must drive the tools (not the other way around), but understanding the tools may “inspire” changes to the architecture.
© 2006 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. Cisco ConfidentialPresentation_ID 32
Defining Workflow
Top-down approach•Train lead runs tool to build feature list•Feature list is converted to a DITA topic map•A feature tracking publication drives workflow based on the feature list / topic map.
© 2006 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. Cisco ConfidentialPresentation_ID 33
Defining workflow
•It’s important to be “realistic” with workflow.•Simple is good.
© 2006 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. Cisco ConfidentialPresentation_ID 34
Getting There – Drafting the System Architecture
Defines all of the components and the interactions and communications between each.
Useful for developers to see the big picture and how their bit relates to the whole.
© 2006 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. Cisco ConfidentialPresentation_ID 35
Getting There – Putting it Together
Develop design/functional specifications
Implement, integrate, and configure tools
Develop training plan
UAT and beta test systems
Rollout
© 2006 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. Cisco ConfidentialPresentation_ID 36
Where we are today?
A fully-implemented system ready to roll out to production.
Early adopters developing and publishing content.
Training plan in place.
Full migration of content underway.
Roadmap for the future.
© 2006 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. Cisco ConfidentialPresentation_ID 37
Lessons Learned There are many moving parts. Find the right tools for
the job.
Remember that the tools are not the solution. They are a means to an end.
Usability is the goal: The system has to get the job done…what was defined in the business requirements…but people also have to like it!
Follow an inclusive process.
Debunk the “afraid of change” myth: In the tech doc community, writers are not “afraid of change”. They just don’t have time for change. The system has to improve processes, not make them harder!
© 2006 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. Cisco ConfidentialPresentation_ID 38