Be A Hero – ELIMINATE “END GAME” RoundUp 2007, Austin TX November 6 th, 2007

© 2007 – Quadralay Corporation Agenda  Introduction  What Did We Learn From You ?  What is “END GAME” ?  How to Get Rid of “END GAME”  Choosing a Strategy.  Create a Starting Point.  Becoming a Hero !  Q&A

© 2007 – Quadralay Corporation Introduction  20 + Years in Technical Publications  10 Years in Production Shops  10 Years in Publishing Software  Graphics  Content Management  Editing Tools  Publishing Engines  Document Conversion

© 2007 – Quadralay Corporation What Did We Learn From You ? The Boss “I don’t understand what’s so difficult – anyone can write. All you have to do is create the content and then just publish it.” The Reality Standards Software Products Focus has been on creating the content and formats but not the publishing process.

© 2007 – Quadralay Corporation What Did We Learn From You ? “JUST PUBLISH IT” Covers a lot of stuff.. Tight schedules Increasing requirements Limited budgets Changing user needs Lack of management understanding Writers are tenacious. “THE END GAME”

© 2007 – Quadralay Corporation What is “END GAME” ? “END GAME”  Phrase Came From A Customer  Steps needed to create output formats (HTML, PDF, Online Help etc.)  Not about Content or Styling.  Repeatable for every release  Potential bottleneck (c.f. webmaster)

© 2007 – Quadralay Corporation What is “END GAME” ? “END GAME” Can Be Your Worst Nightmare

© 2007 – Quadralay Corporation How to Get Rid of “END GAME”.  Examine requirements  Legacy content?  Printed manuals?  Images?  Online format types?  Other languages/locales?  Lifetime of content?  Update interval?  Software budget?  Strive for automation  No post-conversion edits  Automate post-conversion steps  Avoid visual Q/A requirements at end  All errors identified by system

© 2007 – Quadralay Corporation How to Get Rid of “END GAME”.  Avoid over-reliance on best practices.  Flaws must be identifiable  Enforce conformance up-front  Avoid HTML lists unless enforced with structured editor  Track updates  Keep previous version for “diff” analysis  Compare conversion engine changes  Compare content changes  Simplifies final review  Prevents future migration difficulties

© 2007 – Quadralay Corporation Choosing a Strategy Topic or document based? Authoring environment? Publishing system?

© 2007 – Quadralay Corporation Choosing a Strategy  Topics require up front effort  Documents are harder to reuse  Smaller means more work  DTD, Schema, or unstructured? Choose wisely... Topic or document based?

© 2007 – Quadralay Corporation Choosing a Strategy  Adobe FrameMaker » Large documents » Powerful cross-reference and book operations » Best of both worlds (XML and WYSIWYG) Authoring environment?

© 2007 – Quadralay Corporation Choosing a Strategy  Microsoft Word Available across enterprise Reduced training cost MS Office integration Authoring environment?

© 2007 – Quadralay Corporation Choosing a Strategy  DITA-XML Standards Based Variety of Authoring Tools Business Systems integration Separates Content from Formats Authoring environment?

© 2007 – Quadralay Corporation Choosing a Strategy  Standardized/productized  Open architecture  Content Management System Integration  Ability to maintain  Total cost of ownership  Support for new formats (i.e. Vista)  Automation/workflow flexibility Publishing system?

© 2007 – Quadralay Corporation Create a Starting Point.  Create simple style template Headings Lists Bullets Note/alert styles

© 2007 – Quadralay Corporation Create a Starting Point.  Create sample use cases  Images  Tables  Print vs. online  Popup, glossary, etc.

© 2007 – Quadralay Corporation Becoming A Hero !

© 2007 – Quadralay Corporation Becoming a Hero !  Free the writer Focused on content not tool used Provide ability for individual publishing  Peace of mind for management Means for tracking content Regular scheduled build runs Means for adapting to future requirements Ultimate goal

© 2007 – Quadralay Corporation The Three Components Map Document Style to Output Style Source + Map = On Demand Publishing Output Lights Out / Hands Off for Automation

© 2007 – Quadralay Corporation Work Flow – Developing The Rules Styles Template Document Style = Output Style Document Designer

© 2007 – Quadralay Corporation Work Flow – On Demand Publishing Source Documents Writers / Production Output Source + Map

© 2007 – Quadralay Corporation Work Flow – Automation Source Documents CMS Output Lights Out / Hands Off

© 2007 – Quadralay Corporation Work Flow – Overview Source Documents Output Document Style = Output Style Source + Map Lights Out / Hands Off Styles Template

© 2007 – Quadralay Corporation Questions ?

© 2007 – Quadralay Corporation Contact Info Alan J. Porter VP-OPERATIONS WebWorks.com Quadralay Corporation 9101 Burnet Road, Suite #105 Austin, Texas Tel: x232 Cell: