Marcus Kesseler: Weaving XML Into Your Workflows: Use Cases, Tools, Pitfalls and Benefits

Component Content Management Systems: Lessons Learned from Corporate Publishing Marcus Kesseler StartWithXML – The British Library – London – 2009-09-02

Biography
Marcus Kesseler – Managing Director – SCHEMA GmbH
Marcus is one of the two founders of SCHEMA and as the computer scientist in the team is responsible for Research and Development.
Marcus did his first content-based project with SGML (XML’s direct ancestor) in 1991 and has been working with structured content ever since. Development of the SCHEMA Component Content Management System (CCMS) started in 1993 and was first deployed in 1996. Since then Marcus has been involved in optimizing processes using XML and CCMS principles in corporate publishing and publishing houses.

Abstract
Corporate Publishing is very often large scale publishing involving millions of pages, hundreds of authors, multiple formats, dozens of languages and very short re-edition cycles. These publications are mostly pure costs, hence all corporate publishing processes have to function under extreme budgetary constraints. In this presentation we describe what lessons can be learned from corporate publishing environments and how these lessons can be successfully applied in mainstream commercial publishing.

What we can learn from Corporate Publishing

Key Characteristics of the Corporate Publishing Environment (I)
Corporate Publishers have been using very sophisticated XML-based CCMS for many years. One can learn and profit from their massive experience:
Extreme cost pressure: There are no ‘Profit Centers’ in Corporate Publishing, only Cost Centers (no bestsellers in Corporate Publishing!)
Millions of text and media components
XML is simply a given
Multiple and evolving target formats a standard requirement (print pdf, web pdf, HTML, XML, etc)
Processes need to be actively supported by a workflow system
Make the re-use of information chunks as easy as possible

Key Characteristics of the Corporate Publishing Environment (II)
Everything is versioned
Even large publications (e.g. catalogs) can have very short publication cycle times (6 months going down to 3 months)
Highest possible degree of automation without compromising quality
The same content has to be published in dozens of languages (two of our current customers use 34 languages)
Never mind the XML used in the system’s core, about 60% of all users still would like to use MS Word as their editor
Important:
This list is essentially unchanged since 2002!

The Solution for Corporate Publishing: Component Content Management Systems (CCMS)

What is C omponent Content Management ?
The key idea behind Component Content Management is really simple:
Break down a document or publication into reusable text and media components (= modules, units, chunks) and perform all data management routines on that level:
Editing
Change management and tracking (who changed what and when?)
Attribution of components with metadata (e.g. target audience, classification, copyrights)
User access control
Composition (reuse in publications)

Advantages of C omponent Content Management
Three key advantages:
For content that changes over time and is regularly re-published as a new improved edition (e.g. self-help books), CCM enables much more effective publication life-cycle management
For content components that are re-usable in new publications, re-edition in new compositions is much easier
All CCMS are XML-based and therefore enable export into multiple publication formats (print, pdf, ebooks, epub, pure XML, etc)
One disadvantage:
Number of components under management is much larger, hence you need an IT system to enable effective management

Publication of Evolving Content without CCM: Publication A 1st Edition Publication A 2nd Edition Editing

Publication of Evolving Content with CCM: New Component Changed Component: In a CCMS this is simply adds a newer version to the content version stack of the same component Components Unchanged Component: In a CCMS this is not a copy but a reference to the original, unchanged component Editing Publication A 1st Edition Publication A 2nd Edition

Composition of new Publications with CCM Publication A Composition (and Editing) Publication B Publication C Publication D Publication E New components specific to new publication

Functional Architecture of the IT Infrastructure for a Publishing House

Functional Solution Architecture Text and Media Editors MS Word, XML Editor, Graphics Programs CCMS Publication Tools XML Export, InDesign, 3B2, XSL:FO Render Engine, Ebook Format Exports Publisher‘s E-Business Portal Interface to ERP System Workflow Engine (optional) Workflow Server

Functional Solution Architecture Upstream Content Acquisition Dataflow Author[s] CCMS Word Files XML + Media Files Editor MS Word XML Editor (?) Author[s] XML + Media Files MS Word XML Editor (?) DOC to XML conversion

Functional Solution Architecture Downstream Content Publishing Dataflow CCMS Layouter Layout Programmer Adobe InDesign Quark XPress Automated Layout Engine (XSL.FO, 3B2, etc) XML-based Formats Export Needed for each single publication Needed only for each publication type Handcrafted Layout (PDF) Automated Layout (PDF) HTML, XML All Ebook formats (Epub, Moby, etc)

Case Study: Pilot´s On Board Route Manual

Project Overview: Pilot‘s On Board Manual
Project goal: highly automated production of on board manuals for pilots of several airlines
Customer: IT subsidiary of a large European airline
Location: Zürich, Editors: 4
Challenges:
Manual is a loose leaf publication with fully automatic computation of update pages that depend on the airline’s subscription update frequency (weekly, monthly, quarterly, etc)
Customers: currently 40 airlines with customized layouts
Fully automatic, template driven layout generation of PDFs
Implementation time: 6 months

Productivity Benefits Editors Jan 2008: 4 Oct 2009: 3 Customers (Airlines) Jan 2008: 20 Aug 2009: 40 Mid 2010: 80-100 (Plan) Generated Media Jan 2008: Just print using laborious DTP-based process (Interleaf) Aug 2009: 1. Print automatically via ST4 / Flyer-Ex 2. HTML (day / night) via ST4 incl. Search 3. XML for GPS-filtered content (2010) Time needed per Jan 2008: Editing 2h, Layout 4h, QA 30min = 6,5h update Aug 2009: Editing 2h, Layout 1min, QA 30min = 2,5h

CCMS GUI

Editor: XMetaL (Tag View)

Editor: XMetaL (XML View)

PDF Publication

HTML Publication (day view )

HTML Publication (night view)

Lessons Learned

Key Lessons Learned from Corporate Publishing (I)
If possible use one generic DTD/Schema that you try to keep as simple and stable as possible. Rationale:
DTD/Schema changes often require corresponding modifications to multiple or even all modules in the publishing solution.
Using multiple DTD/Schemas will thwart efficient reuse of components across DTDs.
Try to keep exceptions (in structure, markup, layout) to an absolute minimum. Rationale: There is a conflict inherent in every highly automated system (assembly line or IT solution) between the desired degree of automation and the flexibility required.

Key Lessons Learned from Corporate Publishing (II)
Keep user interface for the role (external) “Author” as simple as possible, avoid XML editors and use MS Word-based workflows. Rationale: User acceptance.
Active workflow support does not work well for small teams/organizations. Rationale: The communication efficiency of a small integrated team working in one office/floor cannot be beaten by a system using rule-based workflows. Obviously, this does not apply to larger, distributed teams that don’t work together on a regular basis. Here workflow support is a must.

Key Lessons Learned from Corporate Publishing (III)
Try to keep semantic tagging of content to a “good-enough” minimum. Rationale:
Fine-grained/semantic tagging of content enables automation like downstream filtering, artful layout, automatic content composition, etc. But, experience shows that data acquisition costs will exhibit a faster than linear increase on the ratio of elements per 100 words.
Training authors and editors to use DTDs with dozens or even hundreds of elements consistently can be very challenging
System has to be open. Interfaces to other IT systems are crucial for most automation requirements.

Thank you for your attention! Questions? [email_address] / http://www.schema.de/en

Marcus Kesseler: Weaving XML Into Your Workflows: Use Cases, Tools, Pitfalls and Benefits

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