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I am in the late stages of proposing an XML documentation system which will replace our current documentation methodologys.
The problem I am having is in coming up with a concrete method of cost-justifying this to show hard or even soft dollar savings.
I can give all the examples in the world of benefits but without actual numbers I can never justify spending in excess of $200,000 to implement a new system.
I am having a great deal of difficulty coming up with some sort of formula to show the cost savings.
My intial project will be to convert approximately 70,000 pages of Word documents into XML. I have not had the opportunity to analyse the contents for potential re-use so would have to come up with a generic number for that.
I guess basically what I need to know is:
a) How much time does it take to author in a structured environment vs a DTP or paper based tool like FrameMaker or Word. I need to include time to make the web ready.
b) How do I estimate the ongoing savings for maintenence
c) How do I attach a $ figure to soft benefits such as having a well formed document that is fully searchable with no real effort after the style sheets etc. are in place.
I appreciate any help or insight into this. Even though this is not really a tools based issue I feel these questions will probably come up with other.
Karen Koldyk
SQA Tech. Writer
Fleming Companies Inc.
kkoldyk -at- email -dot- fleming -dot- com
(405)858-6574
