By Melissa Walsh

If you're a player in the ED&D side of the house for an automotive (or defense or commercial vehicle) OEM or supplier, you may have stumbled upon folks from the service side of the house referencing "XML," "single-source publishing," "dynamic publishing," etc. And you may have walked away from the encounter with a clear-as-mud understanding of what they're talking about. 

The snapshot explanation that follows will get you acquainted with the concept and lingo of the structured content approach fundamental for developing content for service/operator technical publications and parts information since the late 1990s.

eXtensible Mark-up Language (XML)

Structured authoring for automotive (and defense and commercial truck) is based on eXtensible Mark-up Language (XML), which executes the strategy of developing and managing content as separate from format. Content owners and Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) plan topics to develop, which are subjects, themes, or talking points. Essentially, a topic is a chunk of content, or content module, that is understood in isolation and used in multiple contexts. Content developers, or authors, manage the development, editing, review, translation, and approval of each topic as a single source, or element. This includes both the structural hierarchy of topics and the mark up of topics, which adds meaning, or intelligence, to content as hidden, background information about a topic in the form of metadata and attributes. 

On December 18, 2015, the Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards (OASIS) ratified DITA 1.3 as the approved standard for authoring and publishing technical content. DITA stands for Darwin Information Typing Architecture, an open, topic-based XML standard first developed by IBM (in 2000) and used increasingly more widely in the automotive industry since the 1.2 release in 2010.  Enterprise IT rules and requirements determine what an organization uses as its Content Management System (CMS) repository for DITA files. End-user experience and allocated budget factor into what XML-based authoring tool is chosen.

XML-based Content Planning
​Initial XML-based content planning determines the XML Schema Definition (XSD), or a document definition for well-formed content structure. XSD becomes the content model, or architecture. This requires functional analysis by a team of representatives from all functional areas that develop and use the content. For many industries, a standard XSD is prescribed, such as DITA for automotive or S1000d for defense. Analysis and inputs by a functionally representative team ensures that the structure and mark-up, as consistent with the chosen definition or schema, make sense.

The team will also plan the Extensible Stylesheet Language Transformations (XSLT), or style templates required for required deliverables, such as XSLT for the Web (XML-to-HTML conversion) and an Extensible Stylesheet Language Formatting Objects (XSL_FO) for a formal print document (XML conversion to a PDF file). XSLT determines the formatting output for imported XML text, much like a styles template in a word-processing document. The difference is that XML content and XSLT formatting rules are stored and developed independently from the content module files. So with the task of responding to a Request for Proposal (RFP), for example, a program associate, as part of a proposal response, would have available in an XML-based content repository a high-level product design description leveraged from previous programs. The program associate would import this content with other content relevant for the proposal response into the XSL-FO stylesheet (pre-configured for showing the compay logo/branding) for distribution to management for review in Adobe Acrobat, before the new business lead submits the formal response to the customer in PDF-formatted, cleanly published document.

More about Darwin Information Typing Architecture (DITA)
DITA is a highly adaptable approach to XML and the fastest growing XML architecture for developing and publishing technical content, largely due to its birth as an OASIS standard for structured authoring and content reuse. Initially embraced as a Control Versioning System (CVS) used for software development, it is where the idea of object-oriented content (for reuse) matured.

DITA plus CMS (tied with a workflow and versioning API) is the automated form of XML-based structured authoring for the automotive industry. It is ideal for enterprises with “big data” ─ many documents that require disciplined processes for change management and configuration control to meet legal and regulatory compliance and industry standards included as requirements in program source packages. From a resource efficiency and cost-reduction standpoint, the DITA approach in XML-based content management is lightweight on a network and optimized for reuse, and a rapid, tracked release cycle.

Adobe FrameMaker XML Author ─ described as “a complete solution for bi-directional technical content” ─ has DITA 1.3 support built-in. Yet FM users may author content in native XML code using a WYSIWYG interface and further customize it with dynamic content filters, a Quick Element Toolbar (QET), and new table features. Authors may also write inline math equations in the content with FrameMaker XML’s native integration with MathFlow Structure and Style editors from Design Science, which are exported to published deliverables as high quality vector graphics. The Packager feature allows the sharing of content with all referenced object files from the DITA exchange CMS included.

Converting Legacy Content to XML-ready Content
A structured-content strategy moves content developers away from inefficient formatting-centric word-processing to strategic topic-based structured authoring and single-source publishing. Topic-element structure allows assignment to SMEs by topic for developing and reviewing content for their topic of specialization. Therefore, it is not feasible to convert each legacy file, one-to-one, to an XML-structured file.
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Conversion from word-processing formats to XML applies mapping of styles to XML element tags. Conversion is imperfect, as word-processing styles are formatting-based and XML tags are semantically driven. To eliminate redundancy, a good practice is to index legacy content prior to the conversion process and take care to convert “final” or latest versions.  Word-processing styles in legacy documents should also be updated for topic-associated modules of content so that they’ll map directly to corresponding tags for XML topic elements. (New content generated directly in the authoring tool is initially tagged to the refined, prescribed topic-element structure.) A best practice when initiating the actual conversion process is to conduct a pilot-run with a small set of legacy files to validate and refine steps in preparing files for conversion.

​Further reading:
Technical Documentation and Process 
DITA ─  the Topic-Based XML Standard
​Content Strategy 101

© 2017, Powerplay Communications

By Melissa Walsh
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So you're working out a strategy for empowering your organization with intelligent management of its content. You know that legacy content management practices are insufficient for fast-paced automotive projects that rely on and generate a great deal of content.

As you pitch your recommendations – perhaps to a room full of managers and engineers who are okay with revisions of spreadsheets and powerpoint files saved all over the network drives without version-control and structure – prepare your arguments for structured-authoring and single-sourcing in content management as not only based on best practices in the publishing industry but also as a bottom-line strategy for gaining workflow efficiency and achieving economies of scale.

​Demonstrate how quality content is a highly valuable asset for your enterprise ─ namely, retrieving content readily for reuse and repurposing content for multiple deliverable types and audiences. Then stress that, if users can’t find enterprise content, they can’t use it as an asset. A lack of ease in retrieving content leads to lost resource time and risk in submitting documentation for current programs and proposal responses to new RFPs. Carefully planning for modular, topic-based, structured content upfront and investing in tools to support required enhancements to content development processes and repositories are critical steps toward reducing lost time and rapidly responding to new opportunity. 

Methodology
Undertaking a content strategy project should follow a deliberate, planned process. Upon the acceptance of the recommendations described in your business case, work to implement an enterprise content strategy would follow, guided by colleagues selected for an enterprise Content Working Group and according to the steps below:

1. Identify and interview stakeholders.
2. Establish implementation goals and milestones.
3. Define a pilot project and the roles and responsibilities of the pilot team.
4. Set up a schedule for pilot development and launch.
5. Build the system (install tools, train resources, etc.)
6. Convert legacy content.
7. Deliver pilot batch of content in all desired publishing formats.
8. Facilitate meeting with the pilot team on best practices and tweaks for enterprise roll-out.
9. Build and deliver content following the new strategy, procedures, and tools.
10. Capture project knowledge.

Your Content Working Group ─ representatives from all functional areas that develop and utilize enterprise content ─ will examine enterprise content needs with the aim of implementing a formal Enterprise Content Management strategy. Each participant will contribute to the group’s discussion an understanding of their functional area’s content needs and how content is currently developed, maintained, distributed, and archived. A content-management SME/consultant will introduce the group to the technology and benefits of XML-based structured authoring. With that knowledge, the group will map out a strategy for meeting the enterprise’s particular needs for content management with marked gains in efficiency. The group will consider in its strategy common efficiency features of XML-based structured authoring, including:

• Translation (localization) savings – critical for global business
• Single-sourcing – users review and revise content in one place
• Content reuse – eliminate content development redundancy
• Structured authoring – reduce formatting time; fully utilize author expertise
• Versioning – single source files show history of revision and relevance for programs/products
• Minimalism – content is concise
• Specialization – element topics customized by authors/SMEs
• Multiple output formats – publish to HTML, PDF, EPUB, etc. from single source
• Dynamic lists – push live-data lists, such as for parts and tools, to menus set up in authoring templates
• Metadata – supports ease of content archiving, retrieval, and conditional processing
• Conditional processing – rapid build of content variations for special deliverables
• Modularity – separating content from format; focus on concise and accurate content topic by topic
• Light-weight content management – store content in the network in single, modular content files that are catalogued via rich metadata

Enterprise Needs Assessment
Your enterprise Content Working Group will examine the current content management processes, or gaps in those processes, and survey content creators and users throughout the company. The needs assessment should investigate these questions:

• How many content deliverables does the organization write or revise each year?
• What is the average length (wordcount) per deliverable?
• What percentage of this content is reused (copy & paste)?
• How many heads are dedicated to content generation?
• What percentage of time do content generators spend on formatting?
• What is the per-hour cost of content development?
• How many content pieces are localized each year?
• What is your vendor’s per-word rate for content translation?
• How many target languages, including the source language, do you deliver content in?
• How many different formats do you deliver documentation in (paper, PDF, mobile app, RTF, etc.)?

XML Authoring Must Haves
The enterprise will select an XML-authoring tool for generating structured content. The need for XML-based content development will grow as the need for efficiency grows with new business. Here is what to look for when considering acquisition of an XML authoring tool[1]:

• It can create a new XML file, open an existing XML file, and modify and save an XML file.
• It can validate an XML file against a Document Type Definition (DTD) or XML schema on OPEN and SAVE commands (always running a validation check for well-formed content).
• It is a DITA-aware application[2].
• It includes a publishing engine (such as a Java-script component).
• It includes translation-management support.
• It includes workflow-management support.
• It is easy to use; authors may work in a WYSIWYG view.
• It includes topic and element templates (so that the user doesn’t need to customize tags and code).
• The metadata menu meets the enterprise’s needs.
• All SMEs will be able to use the tool (rather than merely submitting content in Word or emailing it to a technical writer).
• Mapping is not too complicated for users.
• Exporting to HTML and PDF is simple.

CMS Must Haves
Adobe, for example, offers a Web-based Component Content Management Solution (CCMS) for DITA-based content development, storage, and delivery. If your enterprise opts not to authorize purchase and use of Web-based solution, here is what to look for when considering implementing a network-based CMS:
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• It supports storing modular topic files.
• It supports single-source authoring (write/revise in one file with multichannel output).
• It supports automatic updating/synchronization of a topic across all deliverables.
• It has sophisticated search/retrieval capability.
• It includes workflow features.
• It has native XML features (not just treating XML as a data type).
• It includes referencing features for identifying status of files and impact of revision to a topic.
• It includes version history and checked-in/checked-out status.
• It is compatible with the XML-authoring tool of choice.

CMS
Your XML-based authoring tool should hook with your CMS. For example, Adobe FrameMaker provides easy, menu-based connectivity with third-party CMS applications, enabling integration with off-the-shelf CMSs, including Microsoft SharePoint and Documentum. Adobe offers an FrameMaker XML Publishing Server for ease of mapping elements withing the CMS.

PLM
Check the specifications of your enterprise's Product Lifecycle Manager (PLM) –engineering suite of applications for managing assembly/parts information and product design changes – for connectivity with your CMS and XML authoring tool. XML export of layered model and parts files should flow into image and table elements of your content topic structure. Any current or recent PLM should be XML-ready and compatible for dynamic publishing to XML-based publishing applications. The Export function in Agile, for example, includes options for XML-data export; the application also allows import of XML-structured data. Your content lead should test the export of live PLM data to XML (DITA 1.3) elements in XML authoring tool templates.

Implementing a better way to manage enterprise content will benefit your enterprise both in significant cost-savings for managing current programs and generating new business. What’s more, eliminating manual rework and redundancies in internal documentation and external deliverables will improve the utilization of human resources, making them more available for technical innovation and productivity where their skills are most needed. 

[1] MS Word does not meet these objectives, though presented as an XML-compatible application.

[2] DITA is the preferred XML schema standard for the automotive industry.

​Further reading:
Technical Documentation and Process 
DITA ─  the Topic-Based XML Standard
​Content Strategy 101

© 2017, Powerplay Communications

By Melissa Walsh
​
​An automotive supplier will win new business with an innovative, proven product design. But when it comes to managing that new business, content is king. A pressing reality in today’s automotive industry is compliance to an extensive and growing inventory of standards and requirements. Compliance drives the need for content-management discipline, collaboration, and efficiency. What rules for meeting compliance are best practices for developing and maintaining structured, dynamic content.
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The Return of Investment (ROI) projected for tools and processes applied for   developing and maintaining structured content is substantial ─ a financial benefit of:

1) improved utilization of resource time and collaboration of work products;
2) decreased lost time due to inefficiencies in developing, maintaining, retrieving, reusing, and publishing content.

The investment is in:

1. Tools (and their process workflows) for collaborative content development, such as SharePoint or Documentum, which enable a structured repository that is version controlled and allows a customized enforceable workflow for writing, review, and approval of content;
2. An XML-based authoring tool, such as Adobe FrameMaker, Altova XMLSpy, JustSystems XMetaL, or ArborText's Epic Editor, which renders intelligence to content structure with topic-based mark-up.

Content Goals
Investment in content management will generate efficiencies in resource management and program controls. The right content authoring and publishing tools and supporting processes will move the enterprise forward in meeting the following objectives:

• Developing information that is controlled and accessible by associates who can analyze it and identify deficiencies;
• Ensuring that confidential and proprietary information is securely stored while remaining accessible by associates requiring access;
• Maintaining a system that tracks and manages content changes related to engineering design changes, product release, internal and external program communication, training, quality, and leadership;
• Meeting industry standards that require:
  • All documents approved for adequacy before distribution,
  • Documents reviewed periodically to verify their validity,
  • Document revisions identified,
  • Relevant versions of applicable documents readily retrievable,
  • Uniquely identifiable documentation,
  • Proper disposition of obsolete documents as “historic,” “obsolete,” “superseded,” or “do not use”;
• Maintaining a document-control process that:
  • Supports product development,
  • Presents record of verification, inspection, or testing of products,
  • Defines industry standards, customer requirements, product specifications,
  • References managing processes,
  • References decision-making;
• Developing and managing semantically meaningful content that is:
  • Repurposed easily,
  • Reused efficiently (without copying and pasting),
  • Retrievable instantly,
  • Stored securely,
  • Represents the structure of supported product/service.

Content Collaboration
Technical, business, and marketing communications personnel develop several types of program and product content. Though different functional teams produce content for different purposes and different audiences, it is important that they do not work in isolation. Much of what they write can be stored, retrieved, and leveraged cross-functionally ─ collaboratively. When content is produced and stored in a structured, modular way, content updates are synchronized and outputs are generated from a single-sourced, light archive of semantically valuable and reliable content.

Listed below are some of the enterprise-published deliverables that can be generated collaboratively from a structured-authoring architecture and single-source model for content management:

• Product design and development – component descriptions, specifications, requirements, other design development collateral such as schematics and drawings;
• Software – data dictionaries, diagnostic messages, design specifications, etc.;
• Online help – content created by subject-matter experts that’s context-sensitive and tagged with unique identifiers;
• Training and education – instructor-led training presentations and handouts, e-learning content, training manuals, user guides;
• Technical support – knowledge-base from customer-care personnel, wiki content, technician cheat-sheets;
• Product-interface labels – a database of labels for providing date, language, location, etc.;
• Web services – Website content (HTML5 output);
• Sales – Proposals, sales support collateral, presentations, data sheets, manuals.

Intelligent Content: A Systems Engineering Approach
Smart content management adopts a systems engineering approach for generating documentation and published deliverables, just as agile program management brings benefits to product development and delivery. This approach begins with envisioning holism for content development and distribution with single-source versioning, viewing, and publishing ─ applying structured authoring for the decomposition of content into modules and separating the maturation, revision, and storage of that content from formatting. This approach considers how the modules of content interact and merge and complement one another for different outputs and deliverables. It captures the emergent properties of content, or the metadata – information about the content as to how it is to be delivered, by whom, for whom, and for what purpose or requirement.

Though each content module is concrete, meaningful information, it is also “marked up” for abstraction and collaboration. Each content module is marked as an element within a pre-defined content architecture; the element is assigned attributes identifying information hierarchy, topic indexing, context, etc. Abstraction employs a mathematical model that “nests” elements for a content structure that is consistent with the system, product, process, or program outputs (deliverables) and retrieval and repurposing needs. Elements are nested as a root node (base node for the element), children (of the root) nodes (become parent nodes to nested children nodes), and sibling nodes in the content management repository. For example, in design specification content for a braking system, the power brake unit is the root element, which is parent of the master cylinder, which might be structured as a sibling to the fluid reservoir. Good attribute mark-up ─ the assignment of rules and categories for elements ─ captures the purpose, scope, and function of element content. Attribute mark-up also produces isomorphism of the content repository, making content retrieval and repurposing efficient and easy to manage for collaboration across enterprise functions. How well elements are structured and marked up for meaning determines the rate and worth of the return on investment for the Extensible Markup Language (XML) planning and tools.

Smart Content Management
Implementing a better way to manage enterprise content will benefit an automotive supplier, manufacturer, or service enterprise both in significant cost-savings for managing current programs and generating new business. What’s more, eliminating manual rework and redundancies in internal documentation and external deliverables will improve the utilization of human resources, making them more available for technical innovation and productivity where their skills are most needed. During a time of rapid business growth for an enterprise, finding better ways to manage enterprise content is critical for managing the development and delivery of an increasing amount of work products with limited resources. 

Further reading:
Technical Documentation and Process 
DITA ─  the Topic-Based XML Standard
​Content Strategy 101

© 2017, Powerplay Communications