The document discusses the content life cycle (CLC) and how it can help identify business requirements for how content is treated throughout its lifecycle. It provides examples of CLC models and recommends holding a workshop to map out the current content process, including the roles, products, and tools involved. The workshop aims to optimize the content workflow and inform the selection of a content management system. The results of one such workshop identified business needs, removed content silos, defined an end-to-end CLC, and focused on standardizing roles, products, and transitioning authoring technologies to better support publishing to multiple formats and audiences.

1. The Content Life Cycle
A Strategic Compass for People, Products and Technology
Lavacon
November 15, 2011
Mollye Barrett

2. Use the Content Life Cycle
The content life cycle helps identify business
requirement for how content must be treated,
handled and processed.
Identify requirements for an end-to-end content
lifecycle with a focus on roles of people, information
products produced and technology currently used.

3. Directional Wheel
www.cdgroup.com/EX2/images/Content_Lifecycle. gif

4. Circles with Arrows

5. Circles in Circles
http://www.langsolinc.com/cf/LANGUAGE/ContentFiles/Global%20Content%20Value%20Chain.png

6. http://metatorial.com/images/poster_big.jpg
Flowchart

7. Content Life Cycle Thought Leaders
Authoring, Repository, Assembly, Delivery, Archive
Ann Rockley, Managing Enterprise Content: A Unified Content Strategy
Capture, Manage, Deliver, Store, Preserve
Association for Information and Image Management (AIIM)
Authoring, Repository, Assembly/Linking, Publishing
JoAnn Hackos, Content Management for Dynamic Web Delivery
Collect, Manage, Publish
Bob Boiko, The Content Management Bible
Creation, Editing, Publishing
Gerry McGovern, New Thinking
Production, Delivery
Tony Byrne, CMS Report

8. About the CLC for a Unified
Content Strategy
One Technical Publications team with 20 writers
covering 14 products used 48 tools to produce PDF,
HTML and HTML Help.
Learn what every content creator does in the course
of their normal day.
Not everyone views their work in the same way,
Work with a group to determine how they see their work.

9. CLC Workshop
• Identify how focus content is treated, handled and processed.
• Listen for problems. Look to optimize activities. More than
authoring and publishing.
• Use workshop as a change management opportunity; let
people know what is coming. Frame business process with
the content lifecycle, not software functionality
• With information gathered, develop an impromptu content
life cycle. Discovery presents opportunities for automation,
areas of workflow improvement, ways to measure cost and a
way to make a tacit technical publication process explicit.
• Understand projects and prepare for a content management
system. Know what to look for!

10. Workshop: Products, Tasks, Tools
Product Tasks Tools

11. Products: No Reuse

12. Products: Reuse

13. Products: Reuse, One Audience

14. Products: Reuse, 17 Audiences

15. CLC Workshop: Tasks
automate workflow/reports track/attributes/conrefs IA role
SME
SME
conversion
conversion research reuse
reuse troubleshoot
troubleshoot
reviews
reviews
style sheets add structure workflow/reports workflow automate style
web design
web design plan/replan
plan/replan peer reviews
peer reviews edit rebrand
rebrand
workflow workflow transforms/workflow automate
post
post usability
manage
manage proof publish
publish
documents
documents design
version control IA role add role
quality system
system content
track
track scripting
scripting analysis
control admin
admin
add structure DITA workflow/reports metrics SVG
graphic
graphic
organize
organize structure
structure herd/nudge
herd/nudge estimate
estimate tweaking
tweaking
IA role
queries
queries meetings

16. CLC Workshop: Tools
Rename
Tumblr SharePoint
CMS WinMerge
CMS Paint
utility
RoboHelp Wordpad/ HTML Help
DITA OTK
Snagit Camtasia SQL
capture Notepad Workshop
oXygen
DITA OTK CMS/Web Flash
ePublisher Confluence Perl
CMS Shared View
oXygen services Develop
CMS
ANT
CMS JAVA
CMS Saxon
CMS RenderX
CMS Inset Plus
DITA OTK
Subversion
CMS TextCrawler Snagit Visio DITA OTK
CMS
DITA OTK DITA OTK DITA OTK DITA OTK
WebWorks FrameMaker WIN Grep
CMS AXCM RoboHelp
oXygen oXygen oXygen oXygen
DITA OTK
Flare Acrobat
oXygen

17. Workshop Content Life Cycle

18. Published Content Life Cycle

19. Published Content Life Cycle: Roles

20. Published CLC Details

21. CLC Results
• Identified business requirements: personas and unified content
• How content is treated, handled and processed: removed
content silos and publish from one source across products
• End-to-end content lifecycle: include published model that
supports Web Help, HTML Help, PDF
• Focus on roles:
• People – writers, information architect, system admin
• Information products – Online Help, User Guide, Admin
Guide, Forms Guide, Install Guide, Function Guide, Quick
Reference Guide, Form Builder, Report Builder
• Technology – Frame, Flare and RoboHelp to DITA with
automated publishing, 17 audiences for all information
products.

22. Discussion
Mollye Barrett
ClearPath, LLC
mollye@clearpath.cc