In this presentation I explain how an organization can use a 3-step architecture to involve all the stakeholders of the production process in the development of DITA documentation. The architecture adds a community portal both upstream and downstream of the documentation team. The upstream and downstream portals can plug into the existing tools and processes of the documentation team through the use of DITA documentation topics and maps. As a result more people are involved in the process without having to buy additional licenses of (expensive) specialized XML editors and/or CMS's. Watch the video at http://www.pronovix.com/leveraging-communities-improved-dita-documentation-process-drupal

1. LEVERAGING COMMUNITIES
Documenting products
with DITA in DRUPAL
Kristof Van Tomme
dita@pronovix.com

2. COPY
COLLECTION
PROCESSING
AND
ENHANCING
ASSEMBLY &
FEEDBACK
Developers
Managers
Product owners
Documentation
professionals
Sales
Support
Managers
End-users
LEVERAGING COMMUNITIES
Information
PULL
Information
PUSH

3. COPY
COLLECTION
PROCESSING
AND
ENHANCING
ASSEMBLY &
FEEDBACK
Developers
Managers
Product owners
Documentation
professionals
Sales
Support
Managers
End-users
User stories
Technical
specification
Functional
specification
Community
Feedback
LEVERAGING COMMUNITIES

4. COPY
COLLECTION
PROCESSING
AND
ENHANCING
ASSEMBLY &
FEEDBACK
Developers
Managers
Product owners
Documentation
professionals
Sales
Support
Managers
End-users
User stories
Technical
specification
Functional
specification
Simplified
TOPICS
Community
Feedback
Self service
Documentation
Assembly
Edited
TOPICS
Editing
Usability
improvements
DITA MAPS
& EXPORTS
LEVERAGING COMMUNITIES

5. COPY
COLLECTION
PROCESSING
AND
ENHANCING
ASSEMBLY &
FEEDBACK
Developers
Managers
Product owners
Documentation
professionals
Sales
Support
Managers
End-users
User stories
Technical
specification
Functional
specification
Simplified
TOPICS
Community
Feedback
Self service
Documentation
Assembly
Edited
TOPICS
Editing
Usability
improvements
DITA MAPS
& EXPORTS
LEVERAGING COMMUNITIES
MODULAR
3-STEP
PROCESS

6. LEVERAGING COMMUNITIES
Modular 3-step process
Copy
collection
and
Pre-formatting
Drupal site
Simplified
TOPICS
Edited
TOPICS
& example
MAPS
Existing
Documentation
Process
Editor of choice
Assembly of
documentation
documents
and
Feedback
Drupal site

7. PROCESSING
AND
ENHANCING
ASSEMBLY &
FEEDBACK
Developers
Managers
Product owners
Documentation
professionals
Sales
Support
Managers
End-users
User stories
Technical
specification
Functional
specification
Simplified
TOPICS
Community
Feedback
Self service
Documentation
Assembly
Edited
TOPICS
Editing
Usability
improvements
DITA MAPS
& EXPORTS
LEVERAGING COMMUNITIES
COPY
COLLECTION
UPSTREAM

8. LEVERAGING COMMUNITIES
Collecting and reusing artifacts from the
production process
● Different types of materials
● User stories
● Functional specifications
● Technical specifications
● Issue tracker logs
Aggregate, index, search, map and re-use

9. LEVERAGING COMMUNITIES
Drupal modules you could use
● Aggregate/Import
● Feeds (RSS, CSV, HTML, TXT, OPML, XML)
● Table Wizard and Migrate (SQL, CSV)
● CMIS API (Sharepoint, Alfresco)
● Search
● Apache Solr, Faceted search
● Tag
● Taxonomy

10. LEVERAGING COMMUNITIES
New modules for the Upstream process
● Poorman's DITA
● Use a Drupal form to create basic DITA topics
● Currently implemented for tasks and concepts
● Search and insert
● Search aggregated content and insert it in the forms

11. PROCESSING
AND
ENHANCING
ASSEMBLY &
FEEDBACK
Developers
Managers
Product owners
Documentation
professionals
Sales
Support
Managers
End-users
User stories
Technical
specification
Functional
specification
Simplified
TOPICS
Community
Feedback
Self service
Documentation
Assembly
Edited
TOPICS
Editing
Usability
improvements
DITA MAPS
& EXPORTS
LEVERAGING COMMUNITIES
COPY
COLLECTION
Editing
Usability
improvements
DOC-TEAM

12. LEVERAGING COMMUNITIES
Pre-formatted starting material for the
professionals
● Modular process: no need to switch DITA editor
software
● No extra licenses needed to involve all
stakeholders (upstream and downstream)
● Better integration of different information silos
● Less field knowledge required from the
documentation professionals
● Better and more feedback from end-users

13. COPY
COLLECTION
PROCESSING
AND
ENHANCING
ASSEMBLY &
FEEDBACK
Developers
Managers
Product owners
Documentation
professionals
Sales
Support
Managers
End-users
User stories
Technical
specification
Functional
specification
Simplified
TOPICS
Community
Feedback
Self service
Documentation
Assembly
Edited
TOPICS
Editing
Usability
improvements
DITA MAPS
& EXPORTS
LEVERAGING COMMUNITIES
DOWNSTREAM

14. LEVERAGING COMMUNITIES
Modular: import DITA documentation
● Upload individual files
● Import folders
● Automatic checkout from a version controlled
documentation repository
● Drupal checks for updates
● Other import options can be tailored for specific
use cases to plugin to existing processes

15. LEVERAGING COMMUNITIES
Community feedback and subscriptions
● Feedback mechanisms
● Tagging (taxonomy)
● Flagging/bookmarking (flag)
● Rating (voting API, Fivestar)
● Comments & change suggestions
● Update subscription options:
● Subscribe (Messaging and Notifications framework)
● RSS (views)

16. LEVERAGING COMMUNITIES
User driven assembly and export
● Bookmark relevant documentation topics
● Create a new DITA map in the GUI
● Export the map and the topics it contains

17. LEVERAGING COMMUNITIES
Assembly toolbox
● Build DITA map using Graphmind mindmap UI
● Drag and drop
● Build and execute queries from Views
● Build custom queries from a GUI (Views)
● Execute queries in Graphmind
● Export
● To pdf, xhtml, online help with the DITA Open Toolkit
● Export DITA topics and map

18. LEVERAGING COMMUNITIES
Kristof Van Tomme
PRONOVIX
dita@pronovix.com