Tips for Reinforcing Structured Authoring Concepts Before the Actual Transition to XML

One of the hardest things to do is to get people to move from their comfort zones. When you begin to implement your content management strategy and move to structured authoring, you will likely see some resistance from a few writers who will say, “That’s not the way we’ve always done it!” Ah, change! It can bring out the stubbornness in some people and make their boss’ hair turn gray as he drags them, kicking and screaming, into the new work environment.

But, there is an easier way to make the move from word processing to XML in a content management system (CMS). Take steps to change the way your staff works and thinks before actually making the transition and get them used to working in a structured environment by doing these things:

Enforce style.
Develop a custom editorial style guide for your organization, or choose a standard style guide, such as APA or Chicago style. Adhering to a specific style for your content base encourages consistency across the writing team.

Model content.
Build templates to enforce a specific structure as writers create new content. Templates determine the model of the content and provide the writers with a blank structure to “fill in”. Key phrases, such as “In this section, you will learn:” to begin every concept module, can be preset in the template for 100% consistency. Using templates, the writers will begin to build new habits of working within consistent patterns.

Minimize choices.
Establish a list of predetermined phrases or terminology for areas that can be narrowed down to a few options (e.g., “Click the CANCEL button” is a valid choice, whereas “Click CANCEL” and “Press CANCEL” are invalid options). Data validation will eliminate spelling and wording inconsistencies, and it will prevent other invalid content from being entered. Down the road, it will also increase your content reuse percentage when you load the content into a CMS.

Break it down.
As you assign writing tasks to your staff, begin to switch over to topic assignments rather than entire books or chapters. When working in structured authoring, the book paradigm is usually replaced with a more modular approach. These topic assignments will start to alter the current mindsets of the writers so they are prepared when they move to a structured authoring environment.

Call us at 717-764-9720 or visit our website for help in getting started with your content management strategy.

Tips for Easing Into Content Management

You may have a long-term goal to implement a component content management system (CCMS) and structured authoring, but you may only have the staff and budget to dip your toe in and wade slowly through the shallow end rather than to plunge into the deep end all at once. Is it possible to break the implementation down into manageable steps?

To incrementally implement a content management strategy, you can begin to get your ducks in a row prior to working in a CCMS. Then, to ease into the new process, you can use some CCMS features even before all your content is ready. Here’s how:

Start changing mindsets.
When moving to structured authoring and a CCMS, one of the toughest challenges is changing the way writers work. To get them to start thinking in terms of a “structure,” set up styles for unstructured content in your documents (e.g., H1, H2, Numbered List, etc.) and train writers to consistently apply these styles as they write new content. As an added benefit, these styles can also be used to make the conversion process to XML cleaner, easier, and cheaper.

Start big in the database.
You can install the CCMS and begin to use its features with your unstructured documents. Load files of content (MSWord, unstructured FrameMaker, etc) and begin using the CCMS as a document management repository. Use features such as workflow to manage the processes that need to take place on the documents and versioning to track all the historical versions of the documents.

Gradually go granular.
As you get the resources, start to convert active content into XML components and begin working modularly. Now, you will really see the benefits of content reuse in the CCMS as you drill down into the details of your content.

Maintain a mix.
Keep files of legacy content stored as documents in the CCMS along with your XML content. Now, all of your structured and unstructured content is stored in one place for easy retrieval. To save costs, convert pieces of legacy content as needed. If you convert everything to XML, you may find you spent a whole lot of money converting content you’ll never need again.

Call us at 717-764-9720 or visit our website for help in getting started with your content management strategy.

Criteria for Adopting a CMS

How do you know if a CMS is right for your organization? Many people struggle to find the answer to this question. Often, these are the questions we hear: Is my content base too small to make it worthwhile? Is the cost of a CMS too expensive for my organization? Is my staff too small to benefit from a CMS? What is the breakeven point for adopting a CMS?

You may be looking in all the wrong places for justification for a CMS. The size of your team, the size of your content base, and the cost of the system may only play a small role in the decision to implement a CMS. The more important factor is: how much will you save in time and costs if you implement a CMS? Here are some criteria to consider:

Better.
Analyze your content for reuse. If you have a significant amount of duplicated or similar content (30% or higher), a CMS might be the right tool to improve the quality and consistency of your content. Using a CMS, you can consolidate the duplication and reuse content instead for more content integrity. Higher quality content will result in better branding and trust in your products with your clients. It may even save your organization some money in customer support if your documentation is clear and lessens the volume of support calls.

Faster.
Measure how long it takes your editorial, review, translation, and publishing cycles. See if a CMS’s features can significantly pare down that time and expedite your processes through better organization of content and tasks, notifications to users, collaboration with others, and automation of busy work. The faster the work gets done, the sooner your products can hit the market and begin to generate sales for the organization.

Cheaper.
If you translate content into multiple languages, track your translation costs. Evaluate if a CMS can trim those costs through the reuse of base and translated content. Translations are one of the most costly areas of technical documentation, and, using a CMS, the savings potential is huge.

Call us at 717-764-9720 or visit our website for help in getting started with your content management strategy.

Busting the Myths of Component Content Management Systems

As we meet people who are just getting familiar with component content management systems (CCMS) and the concepts surrounding them, we find there are a number of common misconceptions floating around. Here are some of the myths we hear most frequently:

Myth #1: A CCMS will automatically structure my content.
Content must be prepared for a CCMS prior to loading it. If you have unstructured content, you need to convert it to a structured format, such as XML, and then load it into the CCMS. Once structured content is loaded, many CCMSs have tools built into the system that can help you clean up your content; for example, identifying and normalizing similar content to maximize reuse. While some of the more advanced CCMSs allow you to load unstructured content, it is a manual process to convert it to a structured format; there is no automated conversion that will magically do the work for you.

Myth #2: A CCMS will solve all my process problems.
CCMSs usually have a built-in or integrated workflow feature that can manage your content processes. However, the workflow is only as good as the definition you put into it. If you develop a complicated process and define it in the CCMS’s workflow, you will get a complicated process in return. It’s only as good as what you put into it, so it’s up to you to plan a good process.

Myth #3: A CCMS will work perfectly out of the box for me.
Because of the power a CCMS can provide through its configurability, it is rare for any two CCMS installations to look identical. Even organizations that use the DITA standard tend to make tweaks to their CCMS setup to accommodate their needs. Every organization works differently; the beauty of a CCMS is that it is adaptable to fit any circumstance.

Myth #4: A multilingual CCMS translates content.
To be clear, a multilingual CCMS manages translated content. Translators translate content. CCMSs can integrate with translation tools to help expedite and simplify the translation process. Once content is translated, it can be stored in a CCMS with the base language content where it can be reused, saving an organization a lot of money in future translation costs.

Myth #5: Formatting and structure are the same thing.
Actually, they are two very distinct parts. In structured authoring, the design (format) and the content hierarchy (structure) are broken apart, allowing the writers and subject matter experts to focus exclusively on the quality and accuracy of their content without getting caught up in the minutia of the presentation. Formatting is generally handled by a separate department devoted to creating and maintaining stylesheets which, when applied to the content during the publishing cycle, produce the desired “look and feel.” For more information on this topic, see our Crash Course for Content Management.

Call us at 717-764-9720 or visit our website for help in getting started with your content management strategy.

New Year’s Resolutions: Get Your Corporate Assets in Shape

A new year is upon us once again, and everyone is making their New Year’s resolutions. Topping the list is usually to get fit by eating better and exercising more. This year, resolve to get your organization’s content assets in shape, too.

Content is one of the most important assets a corporation owns. But many companies don’t give it the attention it deserves. Allocating only small budgets for technical communications, many teams are forced to work in a very manual way, causing duplicate efforts, inconsistencies in content, longer cycle times, and bloated production and translation costs – all of which negatively affect the organization’s bottom line.

So, start your year off by taking the first steps to get your content in top condition and begin to exercise a content management strategy:

Work that management team.
Warm up support from your management team for a new process and tools that will help to strengthen your content. Show them how structured authoring and a content management system will build savings for the organization. Without management’s backing, your resolution won’t go far – just as many people’s resolutions to get healthy fizzle out by the end of January.

Build the financial muscles.
Get money allocated for your new content strategy. A budget will give you the stamina you need to keep your resolution going.

Burn the fat from your content.
While you’re working on management’s support and a budget, you can take steps to get your content in better shape. Start working towards a structured environment by cleaning up your content. Standardize similar content, enforce rules and standards, use templates…do anything you can to prepare your content for a clean conversion.

Start a training regimen.
Build a training program for your staff and begin to get them familiar with structured authoring and content management concepts. Ongoing training can help to alter their habits to new writing methods and healthy content reuse strategies.

Call us at 717-764-9720 or visit our website for help in getting started with your content management strategy.

Getting a Little Respect for Technical Writing

Technical writers sometimes feel like the ugly step-child. They have too much work, and there’s never enough staff to do everything that must be done. And, the work was needed yesterday! In some organizations, the focus is placed on the engineering and marketing of the product, but the technical documentation is merely perceived as an afterthought. Since technical documentation is a cost of doing business rather than a revenue generator, it tends to get the small end of the budget stick.

But you can raise awareness for the importance of having clear, accurate documentation and eliminate the disrespect for technical communications by making sure that your documentation is indeed up to snuff. Tools like content management systems (CMSs) can help to improve the quality and consistency of your documentation by single sourcing and reusing content. Then, you can work on building metrics that prove the value of good documentation. Use these metrics to change the perceptions about technical documentation and the writers who work hard to perfect it. Here’s what you can do to show your technical documentation team‘s worth:

Count your calls.
Quality documentation allows consumers to understand how to use your products. If the documentation is clear and accurate, then the volume of calls to your help center will diminish, saving the organization money in the support department. Track the number of complaints that result from poor documentation. One of our clients saved over $1 million/year in support efforts after implementing a CMS and polishing their documentation.

Measure your brand.
Is your brand considered top tier? Or are you lingering lower on the list with the average brands? There is a direct correlation between quality documentation and the amount of trust a user has in a company’s brand. If the documentation is poor, consumers might assume the brand is of lesser quality, too. Once consumers think your brand is inadequate, this perception will spread like wildfire through word of mouth. With the help of a CMS, good documentation can build trust with your consumers and improve your branding.

Monitor the sales.
Is your messaging to the consumer clear and consistent? If your labeling or advertising says one thing about your product, but the documentation says something different, then consumers might become confused and simply return (or never purchase) your product. Inconsistent messaging can push consumers away, and result in increased sales—for your competition. A CMS can manage your entire content base to ensure your messaging is consistent across the board and increase your sales.

Call us at 717-764-9720 or email us for help in getting started with your content management strategy.

Tips for Finding the Best CMS for Single Sourcing Your Content

When thinking about moving your content into a content management system (CMS), there are a few key principles to consider. The first principle is single sourcing. A CMS is a great place to store one copy of your content so that it can be shared with many users. By single sourcing your content, you eliminate all duplicate copies of the content and consolidate your content base down to one trusted source of content. Now, all users who access the content will always get the most current version, and older copies won’t be floating around anymore. In addition, single sourcing your content leads to higher quality documents since the content that is being reused across your publications is current and consistent.

Different CMSs have different ways of single sourcing content. Some CMSs single source the entire document and repurpose it for publishing. Other CMSs single source the content components at a more granular level in order to gain maximum content reuse within and across documents. It’s important to do your homework and ask the right questions to be sure that the CMS you choose will give you the most effective single sourcing solution for your content. Here are some things to look for to find the best single sourcing CMS:

Compare the new to the old.
When new content is added or changed in the CMS, is existing content checked for its prior existence and reused if appropriate? If not, you will end up right back where you started – with a whole lot of duplicate content in your CMS. Then, your “trusted source of content” can no longer be trusted.

Track its use.
Can the system immediately tell you and act upon all the current uses of a given content component? It should. Isn’t that one of the main reasons you are buying a CMS in the first place – to better organize and track your content?

Store pure content.
Can the system show the content components independently of any specific use of that content? Content should be stored in its purest form – with no context tying it down – to get the most effective single sourcing and reuse. Consider the following: Johnny Depp, Johnny Depp, and Johnny Depp might be stored three times in a CMS that stores content with its tags, hence duplicating the actual content in the CMS multiple times. Other CMSs that store pure content would only store “Johnny Depp” once and reuse it in its different contexts. If his name changes to “Jonathan Depp,” CMSs that store the pure content only require one change, whereas the other CMSs require multiple changes. Pure content storage is the ultimate single sourcing of content.

Never duplicate content…ever.
Can the system easily allow the same content to be used in many different views, hierarchies, and configurations without ever duplicating the content? As your CMS usage grows in your organization, you may find that different groups use the same content with different configurations. Make sure the CMS you choose can handle this scenario without duplicating the content to accommodate the differences.

Call us at 717-764-9720 or visit our website for help in getting started with your content management strategy.

Writing Tips to Avoid Confusion in Your Translations

When writers create content that will eventually be translated into many different languages, they must really focus on more than just good grammar, clarity and spelling. There are a lot of things we say in the English language that doesn’t translate well – or doesn’t translate at all – into other languages. For example, acronyms and slang phrases usually don’t work so well when translated. Americans can relate to being out in left field, but people in countries where baseball isn’t popular won’t understand it.

To avoid confusion and eliminate issues in the translation cycle, follow these tips when writing your content:

Say it one way and one way only.
Avoid overusing synonyms. There may not be as many different ways of saying the same thing in other languages. Instead of alternating between small, little, petite and tiny, choose one word and stick with it.

Don’t shift gears.
When a word has more than one meaning, use it in one context only. For example, shift can mean a change in state, a physical movement or a period of work time. Don’t switch back and forth between definitions.

Keep it universal.
Avoid using symbols that may not have a meaning in other languages, such as $, /, or -. Stick with symbols that are more globally accepted. If you’re not sure, don’t use it.

Be complete.
Avoid sentence fragments. Now, connect it. Connect what to what? In your translation memory, this clause may or may not be grammatically correct depending on context.

For more writing tips, download our Quick Reference Card for Authoring for Translation and Localization.

Call us at 717-764-9720 or visit our website for help in getting started with your content management strategy.

Tips for Repurposing Your Content

One of the great things about putting your content in an XML content management system (CMS) is that your content is now ready for anything! Why? Because structured content is portable. You can reuse and repurpose your content into many different deliverables for your consumers. Even if you begin by putting technical documentation into your CMS, you can use this content to create many different publications in all kinds of formats. Here are some ideas for repurposing your content:

Make an app for that.
Apps (applications) can be created for virtually anything, and they can run on smart phones, laptops, desktop or tablet computers. Consider your consumers and see if it makes sense to publish some of your content to an App. For example, create an App for remote or mobile staff such as field service technicians or nurses to look up information while on the job. Consumers of your products might enjoy looking up product instructions through an App as well.

Give them what they need.
If you sell a software product, consider providing context-sensitive help in the software in addition to compiled help. Context-sensitive help will give the users only the information that is appropriate for a specific window. Users can get the information they need when they need it without fumbling through an entire manual.

Educate your consumers.
Consider repurposing your technical documentation to a knowledge base or training website for your internal staff or clients. It’s a great way to provide self-paced, free or fee-based training that’s available 24/7.

Wrap it.
Product packaging and labeling often times contains information that also resides in the documentation, such as features or specifications. Consider reusing this content and publishing your packaging from the CMS too. You will be sure that the information is consistent in all places.

Call us at 717-764-9720 or visit our website for help in getting started with your content management strategy.

Make Your Content Matter

How many people really read an entire user guide from beginning to end? Or even one chapter? The purpose of technical documentation is to provide the consumer with useful, action-oriented tasks that can be read and understood quickly. But many times the documentation is filled with lots of redundant or useless information that is meaningless to the consumer.

With much of the technical documentation in electronic form, it’s easier than ever for users to search for a specific instruction or topic. That topic might be the only content they read. As writers, we need to make each word of content matter to the user. To pare down the clutter in your documentation, follow these tips:

Trash the fluff.
Is it necessary to have a chapter outline when you already have a table of contents? Are those descriptive paragraphs that go on and on really valuable to a user who is only looking for information on how to use your product? If the answer is No, get rid of it.

Name that task in 10 words or less.
Use a minimal amount of words to convey the steps needed to use your products. Make it easy to understand and quick to read. You can slash pages of content from your documentation just by rewording sentences to the bare minimum. For example:

“In order to activate the laptop for use, the user must press the Power (PWR) button and hold it for a period of 2 seconds. Then the button is released.”

could simply be stated as
“Press and hold PWR until the Windows logo appears.”

30 words vs. 9 words…which would you read? Keep it simple and to the point.
(Source for example: JoAnn Hackos)

Don’t let users hang.
In addition to providing the tasks for the user to do, tell them what the most frequent pitfalls are and how to recover from them. If you hit the wrong button and launch a process that you didn’t intend to run, how do you stop it? Provide information on how to avoid common errors and mistakes – this is useful information too.

Track FAQs.
If you track the questions that are often asked by your consumers, use that information to refine your documentation and clear up any vague or misleading instructions. Put a process in place with your support team to capture this information and provide it to the communications team for analysis and action.

Call us at 717-764-9720 or visit our website for help in getting started with your content management strategy.