Information Management SystemsAn Overview of Documentation Repositories and Information Management Practices

Agenda

•Introduction/Overview•Terms and Concepts•FrameMaker•RoboHelp•Flare•Wikis/Blogs•Documentum•Sharepoint•Questions and Answers

Who is this guy?A Moment of Ego

Your Speaker Today

•Over 15 years experience with training, documentation, and instructional design

•In 2005, won the SBC “Going Beyond the Call” CIO award for a unique and innovative help system (built in Captivate)

•In 2008, produced a podcast that received a teaching grant for “innovative uses of technology in the classroom”

•MA degree in eLearning from the University of Colorado

What do I need to know about Information Management Systems?Basic Terms and Concepts

Terms and ConceptsIn this section, we will be discussing the following terms and concepts:• Information Management Systems• Authoring Tool• Repository• Templates/Document Styles• Tags/Metatags• Conditional Text• Single-source• Document controls• Document versioning

Information Management SystemsInformation management is a way of recording, tracking, managing, and delivering information.

Information Management Systems are software packages, business processes, or methodologies that control an organization’s information management.

Examples of information management systems include… well, they include pretty much everything in the rest of this presentation.

Authoring Tool

An authoring tool is whatever you use to create documentation or record information.This can be an application like Word, FrameMaker, RoboHelp, or even your web browser (in the case of blogs and wikis).If you want to use a library metaphor, the authoring tool makes the “library books” and they are stored in a repository, or “shelves.”

RepositoryA repository is where documents are stored. For electronic documents, this is a server or network drive. Some repositories (like Sharepoint) have additional functionality, like document controls and document versioning.Some authoring tools, like have their own repository system. For example, RoboHelp has a RoboHelp Server software package and FrameMaker has a FrameMaker Server software package. These applications integrate with the authoring software to provide documentation. In a library metaphor, the repository is the bookshelf.

Templates and Document StylesTemplates are standard ways of presenting the information within the document. Templates ensure consistent document presentation throughout the organization.Document styles are the way certain pieces of information within the document are formatted. These can include things like font type and size as well as text color. Software uses styles for auto-generated content, such as an index or a table of contents.See examples on the next slide.

Tags and MetatagsTags are ways of placing labels on information within the document. Use tags for searching for information or for using special information features (like conditional text - see two slides ahead).Metatags (sometimes called document tags) are ways of placing labels on the documents themselves. Use metatags for classifying information for retrieval.Both of these assist in information search. For the web savvy, think of these as keywords or hashtags.

Conditional Text

Conditional text is a feature in some information management packages that only displays or prints information tagged a specific way.It is often used with single source document repositories.

Single Source

Single source is a information management methodology where a single document can be repurposed multiple times to multiple audiences. Single source repositories consist of two components – a library and a delivery document.Let’s review the example on the next slide.

FrameMakerHierarchical BookA. Add a file to the bookB. Add a folder in the bookC. Add a group in the bookD. Save the book fileE. Delete a file from the bookF. Update bookG. Arrow keys to move book componentsH. Display file heading text. Icon changes to Display File Names on clicking.I. Search in a bookJ. Complete path of the book and book nameK. Generated FrameMaker file - TOCL. .fm fileM. FolderN. .xml files included in a bookO. Group of filesP. .mif file in a groupQ. Multiple sub-levels of foldersR. Status bar for the book

Document Controls

Document controls are policies or software processes that limit accessibility to modify the source documentation.Document controls can be something as simple as password protection or as complex as business processes.

Document Control Process Example

Document Versioning

Document versioning is a feature in some information management systems. Document versioning involves tracking the updates to the document. This can be a manual process, such as a file naming convention, or it can be automatic based on the information management system used.

Which Information Management Systems are available?Overview of Common Information Management Systems

FrameMakerFrameMaker is the standard for single-sourcing applications. It was originally designed to produce textbooks, but now produces websites as well.It has the following characteristics:• Strong template standards• Strong document controls• A self-contained document library• Conditional text• Ability to publish to multiple formats

(primarily .pdf, but it can publish to HTML and ebooks as well)

FrameMaker and DITA“What is DITA and Why Should You Care?” by Chris Benz http://www.learningsolutionsmag.com/articles/524/

DITA is an XML-based open standard for structuring, developing, managing, and publishing content. IBM originally developed DITA to more efficiently reuse content in product documentation. In 2004, IBM donated their DITA work to the Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards (OASIS) for further development and release to the public.

The key to understanding how DITA works is to understand how DITA uses topics, maps, and output formats. You develop your content in DITA topics, use DITA maps to specify which topics go into which deliverables, then process those maps to DITA output formats to generate your final deliverables.

FrameMaker Client Story

RoboHelp

RoboHelp is a software package that produces self-contained help systems using a single-source methodology.It uses either Word documents or HTML files to build and compile help systems with menu trees, keywords (tags) and search capabilities.

Flare

Flare is a software package that produces self-contained help systems using a single-source methodology.It is similar to RoboHelp, and has multiple pieces of software in the suite that contribute to a dynamic online help system.

Wikis and Blogs

With the rise of robust search functionality, the need for manually adding tags and metatags has decreased and the use of automatic indexing has increased.In other words, we don’t browse anymore; we just search. With this shift away from information architecture and controls, wikis and blogs.

Wikis

Wikis are information structures with no document controls and strong versioning. This software is free which has lead to pervasive adoption. Wikis diffuse the work so no one person or group is responsible for documentation. The workload is everyone’s responsibility.

Perfect World Wiki

Graphic from oddmuse.org

Wiki Motivation

Wiki Conflict Scenario #1

Wiki Conflict Scenario #2

Blogs

Blogs (or web logs) are information structures with that mimic article and publishing platforms. Each article is tagged with a publish date, and people find information by searching or by reading.This software is also free and is more often used to make announcements or promote items than to store and retrieve information.

Documentum

Documentum is a repository with strong versioning and document controls. It is on a network drive or dedicated server and you can access it either by a web browser or through Windows Explorer.

It has a “check in/check out” system and a way of indexing documents.

Sharepoint

Sharepoint is Microsoft shared network platform. It contains functionality for blogs and wikis. It also has controls in the form of user profiles. Each Sharepoint user profile has set permissions. These permissions allow the user to either open the document in a “read only” fashion or to edit the document.

Recap

•We learned what information management systems are

•We learned some common terms•We learned about some common

applications, what their advantages and disadvantages are, and how they can be used in businesses scenarios to benefit the company

•We read some comics and heard some stories

Questions?Time for Questions and Answers