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The value of these systems is that they let IT & IM types design and build
the systems of their dreams. They also feed this misguided management notion
that good analysts/writers can be replaced with monkeys that punch keys
because all the intelligence is in the authoring/publishing system. We've
tried to implement one for years, and the costs of developing it have far
outweighed any savings from reuse of the text. Furthermore, it has added so
many steps to the publishing process that we have to stop content
development months ahead of product launch. There has to be a team to
convert Frame to SGML, then convert the SGML to XML, then convert the XML to
HTML files. Then this has to be packaged on a CD. Then the CD has to be
tested. We've cut down on duplication of content, but we've added 15 odd
programmers and specialists to maintain the system, a handful of people to
manage the conversion process, a team for the testing and approval
process....
Not to mention that the leviathan is so hard to change it can't accomodate
new media types readily.
There is a direct benefit to organizations such as legal publishers and
Lexis Nexis: these companies convert the exact textual content of print
publications into online, searchable/processable databases. For example, if
you want to know how many times a negative adjective was associated with
George Bush's name in the last 6 months, Lexis Nexis will let you do that.
But in a technical publishing environment it's not as applicable. I want to
put interactive, graphical training and animated content online. I want
voice over. This can't be generated from text, no matter how good your SGML
programmers are. It's best to develop original content for each output
medium.
To reduce costs and duplication requires good HUMAN management of the
development process--so that the material being developed for online
delivery is not replicated in print unless there is an explicit need, and
vice versa.
Given the rapidly advancing nature of online technologies, a scaleable and
adaptable content or document management system is needed. Not some
leviathan that requires a team of coders 6 months to analyse. It's cost
prohibitive to modify and adjust the leviathan.
The emperor has been buck naked all along, but the IT types have so
bewitched technopeasant managers who are awed by the whiz bang of it all
that we're burning money in heaps to build a moon rocket for a trip to the
corner store.
Regards,
Glenn Emerson
"When all you have is a hammer, all problems begin to look like nails."
-----Original Message-----
From: Andrew Plato [mailto:intrepid_es -at- yahoo -dot- com]
Sent: Monday, November 13, 2000 6:34 PM
To: HALL Bill; Techwrl-l; 'Glenn Emerson'
Subject: RE: Real value (was implementing single-source) - demonstrated!
"HALL Bill" wrote...
> Secondly, although we have a large volume of data to manage, because the
> project has been implemented late in project life cycle, the volume of
work
> to manage is not that large, as essentially all authoring was complete.
Our
> costing following the delivery of Ship 4 were based on reductions against
a
This is a BIG difference. Most of your documents done and static. In essence
Bill, you're just implementing a complex version management system.
When do you WRITE? It sounds to me like all this system does is provide a
way
to keep all your documents organized. We have a system to handle that too:
a
Windows NT file server!
There is a whopping mega huge difference between organizing STATIC text and
working in a dynamic, volatile environment, as is the case in many high-tech
firms. Volatile environments just are not well suited to huge, expensive
documentation management systems.
In my opinion writers should focus 80% to 90% of their effort on content and
20% - 10% on organization/layout/format/design/etc. From what it sounds like
to
me, you spend 95% of your time categorizing text, coding templates, and
reorganzing tables. When do you sit down an actually WRITE the content? Is
all
your time spent managing and maintaining this system?
I see kilobytes worth of text from yourself and others about the amazing
value
these systems have... how do they make content more accurate? How are people
better writers with these systems? How does it allow people to get concepts
and ideas written more accurately? How does it speed up the process of
gathering information, writing it, formatting it, and then delivering it.
It doesn't. It just gives all the text more structure. Again, if the text
is
wrong, it doesn't much matter how well organized it is.
Your system just helps deliver text faster. It does not make the writers
smarter or more capable of understanding the technologies or designs they
have
to document. In essence, you have built one gargantuan file server with a
customized front-end application. Great - but you could have done the same
thing with a copy of VSS, FrameMaker, and some decent policies regarding
updating material (and saved about two million dollars).
The ROI on these systems is only valuable if:
- You have a gargantuan amount of documentation.
- The text is essentially static.
- There are few graphics or media.
- You have a large number of people working on these documents.
- You need to output the same text to multiple formats.
This makes up probably about 150 to 200 companies world-wide. Not to
mention
the fact that most firms just outsource this function to document management
firms and forget implementing it in house.
Again, I think you and Don are preaching to a small set of very large
companies. These systems simply will not benefit the majority of tech pubs
groups. Better management, tools, and training will.
Andrew Plato
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