Managing Technical Content in an Enterprise XML Authoring Environment

1© Copyright 2008 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

Managing Technical Content in an Enterprise XML Authoring Environment

Paul MasalskySoftware Engineering Manager, EMC


Myths about moving to XML

“Documentation’s business role doesn’t change with XML authoring.”

“I converted a document to XML. Therefore I conquered XML authoring.”

“Technical doc deliverables can satisfy customers.”

“XML is SEXY.”


About EMC

2007 revenue: $12.7B– 1.4B R&D investment

Employees: ~41,000– 15,000 outside the US

4 major business units– Information storage– Content management/archiving – RSA information security– VMWare virtual infrastructure

EMC AND BUSINESS UNITS


About EMC: Future of digital information

“I’m sorry, I meant…100 billion dollars.”

• 1 gigabyte = Beethoven’s 5th Symphony• 1 terabyte = All x-rays in a large hospital• 1 petabyte = Half all US academic research library content• 5 exabytes = All the words people have ever spoken• 1 zetabyte = All grains of sand on all beaches in the world

2006 2010

Digital cameras

150 billion 300+ billion

Digital images 100 200+

Email boxes 1.6 billion 2.0 billion

Broadband internet users

800 million

1.3 billion

Digital music downloads

3 billion 26 billion

World: 161 exabytes created ( 2006)3 million times more than all words in all books ever written

988 exabytes will be created in 2010


EMC structured authoring objectives

Cost reductionTranslation: .17 to .47 per wordAverage help system: 250 words, 1000 help

topics, * .32 = $80,000

People: Focus on content Accelerated time-to-market Processes: Standardize for

review/approval, translation, etc. Tools: Standardize on one set of

tools and “eat our own dog food” Branding: Re-brand content from

OEMs, vendors, partners Consistency: Content structure,

style, look/feel Dynamic content generation Reuse Improved customer experience Simultaneous shipment


EMC’s UPD (dynamic publishing application)

http://www.emc.com/products/systems/clariion/ax100/support/support2.jsp


Enterprise XML authoring environment

EMC Enterprise Structured Authoring (ESA)

MultipleOutput Types

MultipleDoc Types

Specs

UserGuides

Training

Collateral

Authors/SubjectMatter Experts

Designers

Web/HTML

Print/PDF

Handheld/Wireless

CD-ROM

TranslationLocalization

Conversion

CMS

AutomatedAssembly and

PublishingServer


DITA to the rescue

Darwin: Allows for evolution of content types through inheritance and specialization.

Information Typing: Provides an information architecture for technical documents with base topic types of Concept, Task, and Reference.

Architecture: A model for extension of both design and processes.

Sources: http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/xml/library/x-dita1, Dr. JoAnn Hackos, CIDM


EMC DITA object types

topic

taskconcept reference

emc_glossary

emc_task

api_reference

cli_reference

param_reference

msg_reference

DITA_Map

Bookmap

Release_Notes Map


DITA advantages

Information managed as chunks

Increased usability and consistency of information

Content single sourced to output formats

Increased reuse potential

Specialization allows for evolution of object model

Chunking allows for localization cost reduction


Preparing to convert docs to DITA

Update Frame and RoboHelp styles

Rewrite unstructured content to fit information architecture

Identify areas for potential reuse and single sourcing

Evaluate conversion software

Consider creating custom scripts (EMC uses Mif2go, custom XSLT)

FRAME STYLES Heading2Task

Heading2Task_EMC

Heading2Concept

Heading2Concept_Glossary

Heading2Reference

Heading2Reference_API

Heading2Reference_CLI

Heading2Reference_Error_Message

Heading2Reference_Parameters

Heading3Task

Heading3Task_EMC

Heading3Concept

Heading3Concept_Glossary

Heading3Reference

Heading3Reference_API

Heading3Reference_CLI

Heading3Reference_Error_Message

Heading3Reference_Parametersz


Authoring in ESA


Importing content into the CMS

CMS Interface


Client authoring with DITA and a CMS

Checkin and checkout DITA source content

Preview documents locally (via DITA maps)

Search the CMS content repository

Insert links and references

Create new DITA topics (with specializations)

Publish DITA content:– Render PDF, HTML,

Javahelp, WinHelp, RTF, PS

– XSL, XSL/FO style sheets

– CTS integration– Support for profiling


Updating DITA maps

XMetaL map editor


Updating DITA topics

Checking in an object


Inserting a cross reference

Linking to DITA content


Inserting content references, reusable components

Inserting DITA references


Transforming to PDF or help

Publishing documents


Sample PDF output


Sample Webhelp output


Localization workflow


EMC RapidDeploy

Getting started

Fully integrates XML-based, single-source publishing, designed to be operational and delivering ROI in six weeks.

• Requirements specification and design

• Installation and configuration

• Testing

• Knowledge transfer

• Project management

• Production deployment


Technology

Managing Technical Content in an Enterprise XML Authoring Environment