Technical communication teams provide critical value to organizations, but are often underfunded. In an age where companies are pushing products and changes to the market at breakneck speed, technical communication teams are more heavily taxed and under pressure to do more with less and faster. Implementing a structured authoring or content management solution requires the appropriate funding, but can also enable teams to achieve the efficiency they require to perform optimally. This presentation will provide the audience with the tools they need to perform a cost-benefit analysis and calculate the ROI of such a proposal. All attendees will receive an ROI calculator they can use to build their case and get the budget approval they need. Furthermore, we’ll discuss all the factors that you can take into account when making your case for new tools. This presentation is intended for anyone who is interested in demonstrating value and building a case for changes within their department. This presentation is based on the implementation of structured authoring or content management tools, but the benefits provided are easily transferable to other change and budget scenarios.

1. Measuring the Value of Structured Authoring
and Getting the Budget You Need

2. Stephani Clark
Stephani Clark is the Director of Customer Success at easyDITA, a
DITA Component Content Management System. She works to
train and assist users of easyDITA’s software.
Stephani lives in Rochester, NY with her husband and three-year
old son. Stephani enjoys spending time with her family, cooking,
reading, traveling, and organizing anything and everything.
Photo of speaker

3. easyDITA - One Tool
Manage PublishAuthor
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4. Agenda
1. Current Costs
2. Savings Opportunities
3. Implementation Costs
4. Calculating Your ROI
5. Making Your Case
6. Q & A

5. The Impact of an easyDITA Implementation
REDUCTION
IN TIME TO
MARKET
60%
UP TO
REDUCTION
IN COST OF
CONTENT
90%
UP TO
REDUCTION
IN HELP DESK
VOLUME
40%
UP TO
Based on Customer Data
Would these types of returns help you justify a
structured content management solution? Decorative Images with key stats

6. ROI Calculator

7. Access to the easyDITA ROI Calculator
go.easydita.com/dita-roi-calculator

8. Current Costs

9. People & Annual Costs
● How many?:
○ Product Documentation Authors
○ Product Documentation Reviewers
○ Learning & Training (L&T) Authors
○ L&T Reviewers
○ Support personnel
● Average salary for category?
● Percent of time spent on content or
review for each category?
● Cost of translation?
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10. Example: Product Documentation Team
Item Your Numbers Calculated Values
# of authors 5
Average salary per author $65,000 $325,000
# of reviewers 20
% of time spent reviewing docs 20%
Average salary per reviewer $75,000 $300,000
Cost of translation for product documentation $650,000 $650,000
Cost of product documentation $1,275,000

11. Example: Learning & Training Team
Item Your Numbers Calculated Values
# of authors 3
Average salary per author $65,000 $195,000
# of reviewers 10
% of time spent reviewing docs 20%
Average salary per reviewer $75,000 $150,000
Cost of translation of L&T content $100,000 $100,000
Cost of learning & training content $445,000

12. Example: Support Org
Item Your Numbers Calculated Values
# of support personnel 10
Average salary per support agent $50,000 $500,000
% of time spent on content 15%
Cost of content from support $75,000
Cost of delivering support $425,000

13. Total current costs
Product Documentation
$1,275,000
Learning and Training
$445,000
Support Origination
$500,000
The company spends
$2,220,000
/year on content, including:
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14. Savings Opportunities

15. Inefficiencies in the Traditional Content Creation
Process
Longer
Review
Cycle
!
Isolated
Content
Creation
!
Version
Control
!
Siloed
Work Flow
!
Splintered
Publishing
Formats
!
Change
Management
!
Decorative Images showing areas of inefficiencies

16. Centralized Process Provides Cost Savings
Decorative images showing a centralized content
management system.

17. Benefits of Structured Authoring
● Reduced time to market
● Publishing efficiency
● Reuse
● L&T Reuse
● Authoring efficiency
● Template updates
● Reviewing efficiency
● Translation savings
● Ticket deflection
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18. How does your team spend their time?
Measuring the Value of Technical Documentation, 2017, Jorsek, Inc. Chart showing how typical tasks
of a writing team.

19. Reduced time to market
● Looks at the cost of delaying product
releases due to content
● What is the value of a day?
● How many days per year do you estimate
you can save by moving to structured
authoring?
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20. Reduced time to market
Item Your Numbers Calculated Values
Value of a day $1,000
Days per year saved 10
Savings from TTM reduction $10,000

21. Documentation Reuse
● How much content do you expect to
reuse?
● Conservative estimate - 30%
● High level of reuse - 75%
● Consider how your
products/documentation are similar
or different
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22. Documentation Reuse
Item Your Numbers Calculated Values
Percent of reuse in documentation 30%
Total annual author salary $325,000
Savings from Reuse $97,500

23. Learning & Training Reuse
● How much L&T content do you expect
to reuse?
● Conservative estimate - 30%
● Common implementation - 50%
● With a good implementation, L&T
should be able to pull from product
documentation
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24. Learning & Training Reuse
Item Your Numbers Calculated Values
Percent of reuse in L&T documentation 50%
Total annual L&T author salary $195,000
Savings from L&T Reuse $97,500

25. Authoring Efficiency
● Looks at how quickly authors can find
and update content
● Higher efficiency with reuse and single-
source updates
● Common implementation - 10%
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26. Authoring Efficiency
Item Your Numbers Calculated Values
Efficiency in authoring 10%
Total annual Product Docs and L&T author
salaries
$520,000
Savings from Authoring Efficiency $52,000

27. Template Updates
● Looks at how much time authors can
save by applying template updates in
one place
● Common implementation - 5%
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28. Template Updates
Item Your Numbers Calculated Values
Efficiency in template updates 5%
Total annual Product Docs and L&T author
salaries
$520,000
Savings from Template Updates Efficiency $26,000

29. Reviewing efficiency
● Can reviewers do their work at the
same time, in the same place, see all
comments, etc.?
● Can authors can accept/reject
changes?
● No review system - 0%
● Collaborative review system - 10%
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30. Reviewing efficiency
Item Your Numbers Calculated Values
Efficiency in reviewing 10%
Total Reviewer salary x % of time reviewing $450,000
Savings from Reviewing Efficiency $45,000

31. Translation efficiency
● How much time/effort will be saved
on translation (consider reuse)?
● Conservative estimate - 40%
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32. Translation efficiency
Item Your Numbers Calculated Values
Efficiency in translation for Product Docs 40%
Cost of translation for Product Docs $650,000 $260,000
Efficiency in translation for L&T Content 30%
Cost of translation for L&T Content $100,000 $30,000
Savings from Translation Efficiency $290,000

33. Publishing Efficiency
● How much time does the typical
author spend formatting output?
● Microsoft Word - 30%
● Desktop publishing tools (Articulate,
InDesign) - 50% or more
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34. Publishing Efficiency
Item Your Numbers Calculated Values
Time spent formatting, per author 30%
Total annual Product Docs and L&T author
salaries
$520,000
Savings from Publishing Efficiency $156,000

35. Support Costs
● How much can good
documentation & publishing
reduce your company’s support
load?
● Conservative estimate for ticket
deflection- 25%
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36. Reduction in Support Costs
Item Your Numbers Calculated Values
% Ticket Deflection 25%
Cost of delivering support $425,000
Savings from Ticket Deflection $106,250

37. Total Savings
Reduced Time to Market
$10,000
Savings from Reuse
● Documentation
● Learning & Training
$195,000
Savings from Efficiency
● Authoring
● Template Updates
● Reviewing
● Translation
● Publishing
$569,000
Support Cost Reduction
$106,250
The company saves
$880,250
/year in these areas:
Decorative images and graph
showing savings by category

38. Cost of Implementation

39. Cost of Implementation
● Software/Hardware Costs
○ Licensing - CCMS and/or authoring tools
○ Hardware - if needed
● Implementation support costs
● Productivity during transition
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40. Software/Hardware Costs
● SaaS or On-premise
○ Software licensing
○ Hardware/database costs
○ Costs to install, maintain, update
○ Third-party tools required
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41. SaaS Licensing Costs
Item Price per
User
Quantity Calculated
Values
Annual easyDITA Business Subscription
*Includes 20 Reviewer Licenses per Author
$3,000 8 $24,000
Total Software Licensing Costs $24,000

42. Implementation Support Costs
● Consulting or other third-party implementation
costs (e.g. content conversion)
● Training & support
● Publishing setup & development
● Integrations
● Customizations & configurations
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43. Implementation Costs
Item Your Numbers Calculated Values
Cost of consulting/implementation $100,000
Cost of training $9,600
Cost of publishing (plugins and automation) $40,000
Total Implementation Costs $149,600

44. Productivity During Implementation
Chart showing productivity dip

45. Productivity During Transition
● How much of your team will be dedicated to
the implementation?
● How much time will they spend on it?
● Common - 30% of the team spending 75% of
their time on implementation in Year 1
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46. Productivity During Transition
Item Your Numbers Calculated Values
% of team dedicated to implementation 30%
% of time dedicated to implementation 75%
Total annual Docs and L&T author salaries $520,000
Total cost of implementation resources $117,000

47. Total Costs
Item Your Numbers
Software & Hardware $24,000
Implementation Costs $149,600
Productivity Costs $117,000
Total Year 1 Costs $290,600
Total Recurring Costs
* Includes subscription costs + 10% of publishing budget for
updates/maintenance
$28,000

48. Total Cost of Implementation
Software/Hardware
$24,000
Implementation Support
● Consulting
● Training
● Publishing Setup
● Customizations
● Integrations
$149,600
Productivity During
Implementation
$117,000
Recurring Costs
$28,000
The company will spend
$290,600
to implement the system,
and will have recurring
annual costs.
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49. Calculating Your ROI

50. Calculating ROI
Year 1 Cost + Annual Cost
Annual Savings
+ Implementation Time
$290,600 + $24,000
$880,250
+ 1 Year

51. ROI
= 1.4 Years

52. Annual ROI (ongoing)
Total Annual Savings
Total Annual Costs
$880,250
$24,000

53. Annual ROI (ongoing)
= 31.25x

54. Making Your Case

55. Consider Future Goals or Requirements
● New publishing outputs
● Localization requirements
● Additional products or projects
● Resource allocation
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56. Making Your Case
● Begin preparing at least 6 months before your annual
budget is due (Note: fiscal years vary by company)
● Look at all cost and savings opportunities
○ Build a little wiggle room into your ask (maybe 20-30%)
● Start with goals and what you need to accomplish them
● Talk about value all the time
● Consider:
○ Cost of doing it
○ Value of doing it
○ Cost of not doing it
○ Cost of doing it wrong
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57. Questions?

58. Thank You