Transcript CMAS - Authortech

CMS
A documentation concept for
Alstom
Traditional Method
Hardcopy
PDF
Product 1
Word files
Folder
Hardcopy
PDF
Product 2
Word files
Folder
• 20 product manuals with ~ 200,000 words each
– 4 Million words! …….. Per language!! (typically 6 languages)
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Nearly 3000 diagrams
A lot of maintenance
Divergence of “common” material
Very difficult and time consuming to reuse material
Multiple releases per year
Limited output possibilities
Key CMS Concepts
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Separate content from formatting
Modularised topics for re-use
Single source publishing
Translate ONCE
Multiple outputs (PDF, hardcopy, Word,
HTML, Help)
Resulting in much higher quality and consistent
documentation at much reduced operational cost (of
course initial investment is necessary)
CMS Method
PDF
Topics and
graphics
Database
Filter
Publishing
Engine
HTML
Help
Client
• Manuals produced by selecting and compiling
existing topics and graphics
• Advantages too numerous to list here – see next
slide
CMS Method
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Re-use of common topics
No divergence of common material
Multiple outputs
More consistency
Less room for error
Improved quality of documentation
Once written – once approved
Once written – once translated
Significantly reduced maintenance costs
Significantly reduced translation costs
Much improved version control
Much improved workflow (review and signoff)
Main Drivers
• Reduced costs for manual production
• Reduced costs for translations
• More efficient approach for maintaining
documentation
• Higher quality documentation
Options
• DITA-XML
– Darwin Information Typing Architecture
– Extensible Markup Language
– Open Source or value added providers
• Proprietary
– Author-IT (offers a unique solution)
DITA/XML system
DITA/XML solution
Single source publishing:
Structured authoring:
Localization:
Easy editing:
Open standard:
Y
Y
Y
N
Y
PDF
XML
database
Open source or
proprietary
publishing engine
HTML
Help
Cost: £100K to £1 million
XML editor
DITA-XML System
• Advantages
– Not proprietary
– Very Flexible – can do anything (at a cost!)
• Disadvantages
– Not yet at full maturity
– Needs a high degree of customisation
– Complex and very expensive to set up
– NOT user friendly
Author-IT system
Author-IT solution
Single source publishing:
Structured authoring:
Localization:
Easy editing:
Open standard:
Y
Y
Y
Y
N
PDF
Author-IT
proprietary
database
Author-IT
Publishing Engine
HTML
Help
DITA/XML*
Cost: £10K – £50K
* Get out of jail card
Author-IT client
Author-it System
Advantages
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Mature technology
Easy to set up
Easy to use (no clunky XML editors)
MUCH cheaper (order of magnitude)
Disadvantages
– Fewer possibilities for customisation (for unique
requirements)
– Can get locked in to vendor-specific solution
• Author-IT solution provides a “Get-out-jail card”
Our purposes
– 10 client licenses
– SQL centralised database
– 6 localisation licenses
– Enterprise PDF generator
– Training and support
– Customised publishing transforms
– Customised schemas
Costs of DITA/XML System
(for our purposes)
£200K - 300K
Why is it so expensive? After all it’s Open
Source isn’t it?
– Not yet mature enough technology
– Needs very technical people (or expensive system
integrators) to make it workable
– Few standard packages based on the standard
– Relatively small install base
– A lot of customization necessary
Costs of Author-it System
(for our purposes)
£30K
Why so cheap?
– Large installed client base
– Mature technology
– Little customisation necessary
Cost Savings
Cost savings can be made in two main
areas:
• Manual production
• Localisation
Case Study Criteria
The new P40 Agile range of products
• 3 technical manuals
• Total word count 600,000 words 100 diagrams
• Common material 450,000 words 75 diagrams
Manual production cost
Using traditional method
• 3 technical manuals, 9 man months total
• Total cost: £45,000
• Using CMS
• Common material: £11,250
• Product-specific material: £11,250
• Total cost approx. £22,500
Saving of £22,500
Translation cost per language
Using traditional method
• 600,000 words @ 10p per word
• Total cost: £60,000
• Using CMS
• Common material 150,000 words
• Product-specific material: 150,000 words
• Total cost approx. £30,000
Saving of £30,000 per language
Total project cost savings
Using traditional method
• Production of English Technical
Manuals:
– Cost saving of £22,500
• Production of manuals in 6 foreign
languages
– Cost saving of £180,000
Costs of not doing it (quality)
As well as direct cost savings, we should
also consider quality issues, which have a
direct impact on:
• Customer satisfaction: Higher quality
means better customer satisfaction and
probably higher turnover
• Support costs: Better manuals mean lower
support costs
So what’s the catch?
• Initial investment in infrastructure (large for an
XML-based solution, but minimal for Author-IT
• Content rewrite and migration is costly, although
this is also just a one-off cost
Why do we have to rewrite the
content?
• Content is stored in the database as standalone
topics
• Topics and graphics are selected and compiled
to form the manual
• We need to think in terms of discrete topics
rather than a sequential-type book. This is a
significantly different way of writing and
structuring documentation.
• Rewrite and restructuring of existing material is
necessary for the concept to work
Cost savings and break even point
One Year Projection
£350,000
£300,000
£250,000
£200,000
System costs
Savings
£150,000
£100,000
£50,000
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