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Chapter

                                                                                    1
Content Management from the
Ground Up


Intro
        Clay Helberg
           Principal Writer at SPSS Inc.
           Worked as a statistical consultant for the University of Wisconsin Medical School
           before joining SPSS in 1996.
           Has worn many hats at SPSS, including statistician, technical writer, training
           instructor, and most recently, XML architect and programmer.
           Has worked with XML and XSLT since 2000, with Epic since 2002, and with
           XSL-FO since 2003.
           Maintains an elaborate Rube-Goldberg-esque system of tools to provide authoring
           and production support for technical publications at SPSS.
           Telecommutes from St. Cloud, MN.

        SPSS Inc.
           Statistical (data analysis) software company
           Flagship products: SPSS, Clementine
           Used in academic research, business analytics, marketing, data mining
           $210M revenue for 2002
           Diverse user base: data entry staff -> university professors
           Documentation is in XML (custom DTD) stored as files in source control



                                            1
2

Chapter 1


            XML Use
                Documentation is in XML (custom DTD) stored as files in source control
                Generate various output formats (Online help—HTML and CHM, tutorials,
                print/PDF) that ship with our software



Why Content Management?
            Why do we want Content Management? The usual reasons:
                Reuse
                Consistency
                Availability of content
                Workflow



Our Setting
            Publications Department

       E Writers

            Nine writers in home office

       E Editors

            Three full-time editors

       E Production

            One full-time production manager

       E Remote offices
                Four writers in Rochester, MN office
                Two writers in Cambridge, MA office
3

                                                  Content Management from the Ground Up


           Three writers in UK office
           Four full-time telecommuters

       Other departments

    E QA

    E Tech support

    E Marketing

    E Design

       Our dream: collaboration across departments to create and use content




Why a Homebrew System?
       There are lots of “canned” CMS systems available. Why are we building our own
       instead of just buying one?
4

Chapter 1


                We already have Source Control System (IBM/Rational ClearCase), which solves
                some of the trickier problems.
                Prepackaged systems are expensive—especially in a time of tight budgets.
                Cost of integrating a purchased system with our software build process offsets the
                value of the system.



What We Get from Source Control
            The source control system gives us a lot of the features of a CMS:
                Versioning/history
                Ownership data
                Ability to attach triggers (event handlers) to content changes
                Access control



What We Have to Add
            Other features that we want, but don’t get “for free” with source control:
                Search & Insert
                Enhanced metadata
                Company-wide access
                Workflow management


Search & Insert
                Find content based on FTS, metadata
                See where each content fragment is referenced
                Insert reference to desired fragment in document
5

                                                     Content Management from the Ground Up


Enhanced Metadata
       Currently have version numbers, labels and person who created version

       Need to add:
          Keywords (all files)
          Project leader (project files)



Company-wide Access
          Remote access to content
          Remote transformation from XML to end-user documentation (various formats)
          Remote editing of content



Workflow Management
          Access control
          Ownership of files and projects
          Ability to route files for review, edit, production, etc.
          Change tracking



Roll Out Plan
       We’re planning to roll out our custom CMS solution in four phases:
          Phase I: Search and Reuse
          Phase II: Remote Access
          Phase III: Workflow Management
          Phase IV: Remote Editing
6

Chapter 1


Phase I: Search and Reuse
            Basics already implemented (demo)
            Figure 1-1
            CMS Search Dialog




               Text search
               Limit by version
               List of hits
               File details for selected hit
               Link backtracking (“Used where”)
               Autogenerate reference to selected file
               Open selected file
7

                                            Content Management from the Ground Up


Figure 1-2
Implementation of CMS search




Our implementation uses Lucene from the Apache project
(http://jakarta.apache.org/lucene/docs/index.html) to create the
searchable index of our content on the back-end, and to provide the searching
function in the front-end.

The ClearCase functions are controlled using ClearCaseJava, an open-source project,
which in turn relies on the Jacob open source project to provide the COM-Java
bridge required.

We use Javascript to control the XUI search dialog, and Java to manage the interface
between the Lucene index, ClearCase, and Epic.

Will eventually add:
   More metadata options
   Smarter parsing of XML content while building the index
8

Chapter 1


               Index compilation from dedicated server
               Web-based searching (For more information, see “Phase II: Remote Access”
               on p. 8 .)



Phase II: Remote Access
            Web interface to content:
               Searching
               Check in/check out
               Building end-user documentation from XML source

            Editing would be done on user’s machine by downloading file(s) and opening with
            local software (Epic, Word 2003, Emacs, etc.), then uploading when done.



Phase III: Workflow Management
               Document status tracking (create, update, edit, format, complete)
               Change tracking
               Alerts and messages on status change
               Access control (content owners can accept/reject changes made by others)



Phase IV: Remote Editing
               Document editing via web interface
               Similar to Contributor (but we can’t afford E3, so we’re exploring other options)
               Implementation TBD

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DIY Content Management

  • 1. Chapter 1 Content Management from the Ground Up Intro Clay Helberg Principal Writer at SPSS Inc. Worked as a statistical consultant for the University of Wisconsin Medical School before joining SPSS in 1996. Has worn many hats at SPSS, including statistician, technical writer, training instructor, and most recently, XML architect and programmer. Has worked with XML and XSLT since 2000, with Epic since 2002, and with XSL-FO since 2003. Maintains an elaborate Rube-Goldberg-esque system of tools to provide authoring and production support for technical publications at SPSS. Telecommutes from St. Cloud, MN. SPSS Inc. Statistical (data analysis) software company Flagship products: SPSS, Clementine Used in academic research, business analytics, marketing, data mining $210M revenue for 2002 Diverse user base: data entry staff -> university professors Documentation is in XML (custom DTD) stored as files in source control 1
  • 2. 2 Chapter 1 XML Use Documentation is in XML (custom DTD) stored as files in source control Generate various output formats (Online help—HTML and CHM, tutorials, print/PDF) that ship with our software Why Content Management? Why do we want Content Management? The usual reasons: Reuse Consistency Availability of content Workflow Our Setting Publications Department E Writers Nine writers in home office E Editors Three full-time editors E Production One full-time production manager E Remote offices Four writers in Rochester, MN office Two writers in Cambridge, MA office
  • 3. 3 Content Management from the Ground Up Three writers in UK office Four full-time telecommuters Other departments E QA E Tech support E Marketing E Design Our dream: collaboration across departments to create and use content Why a Homebrew System? There are lots of “canned” CMS systems available. Why are we building our own instead of just buying one?
  • 4. 4 Chapter 1 We already have Source Control System (IBM/Rational ClearCase), which solves some of the trickier problems. Prepackaged systems are expensive—especially in a time of tight budgets. Cost of integrating a purchased system with our software build process offsets the value of the system. What We Get from Source Control The source control system gives us a lot of the features of a CMS: Versioning/history Ownership data Ability to attach triggers (event handlers) to content changes Access control What We Have to Add Other features that we want, but don’t get “for free” with source control: Search & Insert Enhanced metadata Company-wide access Workflow management Search & Insert Find content based on FTS, metadata See where each content fragment is referenced Insert reference to desired fragment in document
  • 5. 5 Content Management from the Ground Up Enhanced Metadata Currently have version numbers, labels and person who created version Need to add: Keywords (all files) Project leader (project files) Company-wide Access Remote access to content Remote transformation from XML to end-user documentation (various formats) Remote editing of content Workflow Management Access control Ownership of files and projects Ability to route files for review, edit, production, etc. Change tracking Roll Out Plan We’re planning to roll out our custom CMS solution in four phases: Phase I: Search and Reuse Phase II: Remote Access Phase III: Workflow Management Phase IV: Remote Editing
  • 6. 6 Chapter 1 Phase I: Search and Reuse Basics already implemented (demo) Figure 1-1 CMS Search Dialog Text search Limit by version List of hits File details for selected hit Link backtracking (“Used where”) Autogenerate reference to selected file Open selected file
  • 7. 7 Content Management from the Ground Up Figure 1-2 Implementation of CMS search Our implementation uses Lucene from the Apache project (http://jakarta.apache.org/lucene/docs/index.html) to create the searchable index of our content on the back-end, and to provide the searching function in the front-end. The ClearCase functions are controlled using ClearCaseJava, an open-source project, which in turn relies on the Jacob open source project to provide the COM-Java bridge required. We use Javascript to control the XUI search dialog, and Java to manage the interface between the Lucene index, ClearCase, and Epic. Will eventually add: More metadata options Smarter parsing of XML content while building the index
  • 8. 8 Chapter 1 Index compilation from dedicated server Web-based searching (For more information, see “Phase II: Remote Access” on p. 8 .) Phase II: Remote Access Web interface to content: Searching Check in/check out Building end-user documentation from XML source Editing would be done on user’s machine by downloading file(s) and opening with local software (Epic, Word 2003, Emacs, etc.), then uploading when done. Phase III: Workflow Management Document status tracking (create, update, edit, format, complete) Change tracking Alerts and messages on status change Access control (content owners can accept/reject changes made by others) Phase IV: Remote Editing Document editing via web interface Similar to Contributor (but we can’t afford E3, so we’re exploring other options) Implementation TBD