1. WHITE PAPER ASSIGNMENT
(This contentwaspublished asa white paperin InterglobeTechnologiesforinternalmarketing purpose)
Redefining Outlook onTechnical Publications
Need to Know
Technical publicationsare deep-seatedasthe majorcomponentof anyproductdevelopment and
marketingsegmentin all types of industriestoday. Failure tounderstandthe technical publications
processhas repercussionsat laterstages of the product developmentlifecycle,affectingemployee
productivityandcustomersatisfaction. Aneffective technical publicationsdeliverymodel buildsupon
your existingcapabilitiestocapture,manage,store,preserve,anddeliver up-to-date business
information.
Enterprise ContentManagement Systems have alleviatedproblemsassociatedwithinformationaccess
and data integrity, whichturnsto reduced costsandinefficiencies.Itstreamlinesyourcontentcreation
and publishingprocess,offeringamore formal solution toupdatingexistingdocumentationorfor
creatingnewinformation. However,these contentmanagementsystemsare incompetentto subdue
any challenges imposedby the traditional technical publishingsystems.
Challenges with Technical Publications
InabilitytoReuse Information: The abilitytosingle-source yourcontentandreuse itona
multitude of channelsisanassettothe organization’s internalcosts,productivity,andcustomer
satisfaction. Failure todoso implies overtime anddelayeddelivery,subsequentlyresultingin
revenue losses,lossof customersatisfaction,and mislaidnew marketopportunities.
WastedEffortsin Manual Updates: Performingmanual updatesacross aseriesof similar
documentscanconstrict the scope of documentmaintenance andcanbe detrimental tothe
interests of the organization. Changestoredundantcontent distributedatmultiple locations
impactsbothauthoringefficiencyandresponse time.
Inconsistenciesin DocumentStructure: Anidealtechnical publicationsmodel fedwith
unstructuredinformation willstumble miserably. Thiscancause additional review cycles forthe
documentat the time of updatesandleadto additional complexitiesmakingitdifficultforthe
readersto understand.
InabilitytoDeliverPersonalizedContent: Failure todeliverpersonalizedcontentcateringtothe
requirementsof yourclientsacrossgeographical boundariesmayresultinlossof business.
2. Meetingthe needsof worldwide customers lendsahandin winningnew marketopportunities
and bringingrepeatbusinesstoyourorganization.
Moving from TraditionalApproach to Componentization
The conventional paradigmof technical publications actsasa bar for the product developmentand
deliverymodel of anybusiness. Formulti-channel deliveryof information, itiselemental tobreak a
technical documentintoreusable components (knownascomponentization).Splittinginformationinto
meaningful definable segmentseases contentmanagementand improves the scope of contentre-
purposingand re-publishing.
Organizationscandecipherthe needsof variousaudiencesand thenleveragethisapproachtocollate
and reuse theirinformationcomponentsto deliverlocalizedcontent.The logical segmentsof
information shouldbe interchangeable tobe reusedinmultipleinstances acrossdifferentpublications
that cater to the needsof yourglobal clientele.Inthisrespect,componentizationisthe cornerstone of
automatedpublishingsystemsthatpublishcontenttovariedmediatypeswithouthumanintervention.
Interglobe’s Edge in Technical Publications Arena: Growing from Scratch to a Business Vertical
Interglobe hastakenaleapforwardto move squarelyanddynamicallyintothe contentservicesarena
offeringtechnical dataandpublishingsolutionstoleadingairlines inthe world. Interglobe,aleaderin
aviation,hospitality,andtravel relatedservices, isreckonedforitshuge customerbase comprising some
of the bigplayersintravel industry. Expandingitsbusinessportfolio withtechnical documentationhas
createda newsegmentof opportunitiesforthe company toforay intonew markets.Currently,the
technical publicationsdepartmenthas successfullycompletedthree projects fora leadingsouth-east
Asianairline, foranindustrygiantinairtransport communicationsandIT,andfor OmanGSL.
Initial Challenges Confronting Interglobe’s Techpubs Department
BuildingfromScratch:
Witha minimal intellectual graspof the technical publicationsprocess, Interglobebuiltacore teamof
authorsthat couldsuccessfullystreamline workflowsand produce qualitative content flawlessly
matchingthe needsof the customers. Initial challenges involvedhandlingcomplexitiesof each
documentationphase and reducingturnaroundtimewithoutaffecting the productdelivery.
ReducingDependencies:
One of the majorefforts required wasreducingdependencyonsubjectmatterexperts fordomain
knowledge. Collatingthe scatteredknowledge inone place andbuildingarepositoryof up-to-date
3. information worksroundtooptimize the technical publicationsworkflow, achieve timelydeliveries,and
minimize supportcalls.
ScalingdownComplexities forBiggerScreens:
Big screensintroducedcomplexitiesto the documentdesignandmade wayforunprecedented errors
onlyto bringdown qualityand customersatisfaction. Itwascritical tofendoff unwantederrorsand
create a consistentgenericstructure tobe usedfordocumentingboth procedural aswell asbusiness
content.
Targetinga Global Audience:
Creatingcustomized contentfordifferentaudiencesinthe same areaof interestinitiallyrequireda
multitude of changes.These changes derivedthe needforcreatingareadyreckoner thatcan be utilized
as a base forgeneratingcontenttailoredtoourbusinessneeds andconsequentlyminimizingthe
changes.
4. Technical Publications Business Delivery Model
InterGlobe Technical Writing Team
Live Application
Demos
Document Scope
Analysis
Prototype
Preparation
Document Creation
Quality Checks
Document
Publishing/
Maintenance
Customer
Feedback/Fixes
Document
Integration with
Application
Client
Provide Application
Demos
Monitor Standards/
Information
Accuracy
Provide Document
Feedback
Final Assessment/
Application Testing
Online Meetings
Standup Calls
Fueling Innovation and Success in Technical Writing
The technical writingteamat Interglobe evolvedfromsquare one toproduce a comprehensive
setof documentationthatcouldbe easilycustomizedfordifferentcustomers,enablingcontent
reusabilityandthusincreasingorganization’sproductivity.
Initial setof publicationswere designedina waythat furtherchangesrequiredminimal effort
and itwas easyto conditionalize the existingelementsformeetingthe discrete requirementsof
our global customers.
Developmentof aknowledgebaseembracingall the essential product-specificinformation
helpedthe customerstoshowcase theirproductinabetterway,reducingtrainingcostsand
minimizingsupportcalls.
5. Developingaprototype atinitial stagesof the productdocumentationpavedthe wayfor
reducingunwantedcomplexities,thusincreasing authoringefficiency,documentationquality,
and customersatisfaction.
The use of productizationapproachwhendevelopingsoftware deploymentguideswasa
buildingblocktothe entire documentationrelatedtodeployment.The teamof technical
authorspreparedagnosticdeploymentguidesthatprovedhandyforanycustomerwhohas
somethingtodowithdeployment.
