Process Re-engineering for Topic Based Authoring

Process Re-engineering for Topic-Based Authoring Rob Hanna Content Management Consultant ASCan Enterprises

What is Topic-Based Authoring?
“ Topic-based authoring is a modular content creation approach…”
“ A topic is a discrete piece of content that is about a specific subject, has an identifiable purpose, and can stand alone…”
http://en. wikipedia .org/wiki/Topic-based_authoring

Opportunities for Topic-Based Authoring
Speed to market
Reduced maintenance effort
Better opportunities for reuse
Balancing workload
Finer control for project management
Opportunities for collaboration
Clearer, more concise content

Challenges for Topic-Based Authoring
Writing process requires greater discipline
Loss of content ownership for authors
Less control over look and feel
Responsibilities redefined
Loss of context for SMEs and authors
More to manage

Topic-Based vs. Book-Based
Topic-Based Authoring
Multiple authors per book
Topics serve multiple products and audiences
Content is iterative
Presentation layout can be template-driven
Well suited for modular hardware/software products with short lifecycle or long life span.
Book-Based Authoring
One author per book
Books serve a single product and audience
Content is linear
Presentation layout requires manual work
Well suited for highly technical or one-of-a-kind products with a long development cycle and/or short life span.

Single-Sourcing
Single-sourcing is not about content reuse - it is about reusable content.

Single-Source Authoring
Single-source practices should be followed regardless of topic- or book-based approach.
Single-sourcing is all about maintaining a single, definitive source of content. Reuse is merely a benefit of single-sourcing.
Book-based authoring is used where content can generally only be reused in situations where reuse is planned.
Topic-based authoring makes it much easier to reuse content without anticipating its specific reuse context.

Topic-Based Architecture
Topics are standardized units of information based upon information type
Topics require only navigational reference for context and can be read in any order
Topics must all contain a descriptive title and normally include a body and metadata section
Topics represent a single unit of work for authors
Topics may contain other topics where there is an inseparable relationship from parent to child

Information Typing
Information types separate content into easily identifiable chunks of information
DITA identifies 3 specialized topic types
Information Mapping ® identifies 7 information types
Information Management Model TM identifies 11 information types
S1000D identifies 22 common data modules
Mil Spec 2361 identifies 55 work packages

Topic-based authoring changes how content is managed
The number of files your team will be working with will increase dramatically
Over time it will be more difficult to identify and track these files
You may be required to track successive versions of files
To manage your files effectively, you will need to introduce and manage metadata

Storage Conventions
Topics must be stored in a centralized repository or network drive
Your authors have gotten used to browsing for files and using folders and file names to manage them
Folders and file names will not be enough to track files – track them through an index
If free from file browsing, you can introduce much flatter directory structures and more meaningful file names

File Naming Conventions
Tracking files by topic title will breakdown over time
To effectively track topics, you need to introduce a fixed-length global unique identifier (GUID) for file names
GUIDs should include metadata attributes to help identify the files. Do not include version-specific attributes
GUIDs can be appended by a short descriptive text for ease of reference
For example: xxx-yyyy-00001-descriptor.dita where: xxx = information type, yyyy = scope, and 00001 = sequence of topic.

Use of Titles
Concise titles are crucial to the effective management of topics.
Titles should never include markup or special characters of any sort.
Alternate title markup allows you to create one title for publishing and another for navigation.
Consider all titles including sub-titles, figure titles, and table titles.

Content Aggregation
Unlike book-based authoring that flows from an outline, topic-based authoring can start with content and be organized into a map.
Maps can be query-based allowing for the automatic aggregation of content.
Most often maps are built by hand.
Using DITA, maps and map parts can be used in other maps.

Release Management
Managing versions of topics is complicated by the fact that they may change more frequently than the documents in which they are contained
Three major considerations affecting how content is controlled and released:
Freezing development of topics for approval
Combining different versions of components into separate deliverables
Concurrent development of product

How does topic-based authoring change how we work?

Typical Document Workflow Kick Off Book Planning Book Plan Review Approved Authoring Approved Publish Book Review Yes Yes No No Book Workflow Roles Manager Author Various Groups

Roles in Topic-Based Authoring
Manager
Librarian
Architect
Author
Editor
Subject Matter Expert (SME)

Topic-Based Workflow
Separate workflow into two independent iterative cycles:
Book-level workflow
Topic-level workflow

Topic-Based Workflow Kick Off Book Planning Book Plan Review Approved Authoring Approved Publish Book Review Yes Yes No No Book Draft Topic Editorial Review Approved Approved Ready Technical Review Yes Yes No No A A Workflow Roles Manager Architect Editor Author Subject Matter Expert

Content Reviews
Topic-Level Reviews
Peer Edit/Review
Structural Review
Technical Review
Book-Level Review
Sign-off/Approval

Working with Subject Matter Experts
Gathering Materials
SME Review
Traceability

Tools needed for Topic-Based Authoring
Start with tools you already have:
Email applications
Structured authoring editors
Web servers
Spreadsheets and databases
Code management tools
Develop requirements for CMS

Prototyping with a File System
Controlled access to central repository folders
Consider serving source content through a web server – revisions managed manually through a single point of contact
Serve metadata and access through a database-driven website (SharePoint).

Using Spreadsheet to Manage Metadata
Spreadsheet captures and manages metadata about each topic in the repository
Advanced spreadsheet development controls transactions in the repository and metadata creation
Spreadsheet can be used to organize and aggregate content stored in the repository
Spreadsheet can be used as a source for database-driven web interface

Using a Source Code-Management Tool
Source-code management tools allow you to manage revisions and releases of content
Working with XML, you can use these tools to show differences between revisions

Using a Component CMS to Manage Topics
Advantages include:
Automatic versioning of content
Automatic capture of metadata
Automatic file naming
Query-based search and retrieval of content
Automated workflow engine
Management reporting
Query-based content aggregation
Access control
Release management features

Thank you for attending
Please contact me at:
rob. hanna @ ascan .ca
+1 (905) 997-6563
Skype/AIM: singlesourceror
LinkedIn: http://www. linkedin .com/in/ singlesourceror

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Process Re-engineering for Topic Based Authoring

by Rob Hanna

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