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n this webcast, Sarah O'Keefe discusses how to calculate the return on investment of an XML/DITA implementation for technical content. If you are considering XML and DITA, but are trying to figure out whether you can justify the cost and effort, this session is for you. You'll learn how to communicate the rationale for XML in terms that management understands.
Citation preview
Calculating the ROI forXML and DITA
Topic-Based Authoring
Sarah O’Keefe, Scriptorium Publishing
background imageflickr: thelastminute
Sarah O’Keefe
! Founder and president, Scriptorium Publishing
! Content strategy fortech comm
! Interested in collision ofcontent, publishing, andtechnology
! My ID: @sarahokeefe
! Scriptorium: @ScriptoriumTech
! #techcomm or #dita may be appropriate
Housekeeping notes
! Everyone is muted except for the presenter
! Please ask your questions through the Questions area in the webcast interface
! The presentation is being recorded; attendees do not appear in the recording
Overview
! Business case examples (with numbers)
! YMMV
! IANAL
! WYSIOO
! Big-picture musings on other issues (without numbers)
Localization provides aneasy cost justification.
Flickr: iancarroll
Localization cost
! Estimate 30–50 percent of total localization cost is desktop publishing
! With XML-based publishing, you can squeeze that cost to under 10 percent
! Cost savings: $20K–$40K per $100K in localization cost
Increased content reuse
Flickr: a-m-photo
Content reuse
! Baseline assumption:
! DITA = increased content reuse!
! 10,000 topics
! Development cost: $200 per topic (4!hours x $50)
! 5% more content reuse = $100,000 in savings (and additional savings in localization)
Are you copying andpasting?! Calculate cost of updates in multiple
documents
! Consider error rates
! Don’t forget the mental health toll
External content reusefor increased ROI! Software error messages
! Product specifications in product database and datasheets
! Product descriptions
! Training
! Tech support
Non-DITA problems forcontent reuse! Improve collaboration among writers
! Develop and enforce consistent style standards
A wise man once toldme…
“You should not implement XML as a substitute for creating a style guide.”
Also…
“Structure is no substitute for management.”
ROI depends on team(dys)function.
Flickr: kevenlaw
A high-functioning teamis a prerequisite to…! Share topics
! Communicate updates
! Minimize content “ownership” issues
! Smooth out inevitable conflicts
! Cooperate on assignments
Complex conditionalcontent may require XML.
Photo: www.christianholmer.com
XML can help with…
! Multiple conditional dimensions (platform, customer, audience, product)
! Huge number of possible variations
! Dynamic versioning instead of static publishing of a limited number of variations
Quality justification forcomplex conditional text! Eliminate redundancy
! More targeted information
! Meet customer requirement for personalized documentation
! Enable more versioning than supported in current toolset
! Enable dynamic publishing
Complex conditionalexample! 40 variations of a deliverable
! Configure and publish one at a time:
! 1 hour per variant
! 40 hours of work per deliverable, per release ($2,000)
! Dynamic publishing: publish once
Assumptions
! Tagging work does not change for static versus dynamic publishing
! Programming effort to enable dynamic publishing included in implementation cost
Complex conditionsrequire careful design.
Photo: Rachel Houghton
Yesterday’s content…
flickr: uhop
Time to market
Flickr: chris_radcliff
Time to market
! If product revenue is $1M per year, then each week of availability is worth about $20K in revenue.
! Accelerate delivery of first language
! Reduce delays in shipping localized versions
Newpublishing
architectures
Flickr: ccharmon
“One of the greatpowers of XML is tofree information
from being merelytext on a page, and
to give it otherkinds of roles.”
www.scriptorium.com/blog/2010/09/the-promise-of-xml-publishing.html
David KellySenior Technical Consultant
Integrating with user-generated content! Source content in XML
! Transform to accommodate user-generated content
! Use metadata to support unified search
Just-in-time publishing
! Topic-based rather than deliverable-based publishing
! Incremental deliveries for localization
! Content deliveries decoupled from software deliveries
Analytics
! Measure how topics are used
! Act on information about:
! Popular topics
! Unpopular topics
! Unsuccessful searches
! Topics with lots of comments
DITA implementationcost averages $106K.! Source: “The state of structure in
technical communication,” 2009. www.scriptorium.com/blog/2010/05/the-state-of-structure-in-technical-communication.html
Your business case needsto show more than $106K.! Localization
! Increased reuse
! Support for complex conditionality
! Faster time to market
! Support for new publishing architecture
Factors that increaseimplementation cost! Software integration issues
! Complex output/formatting requirements
! Inconsistent source files
! Source files that are not topic-based
! Content management system
! People
Change management iscritical
A few of my (not) favoritethings! Dysfunctional teams
! Information hoarding during implementation
! Tool-specific blinders
! Using XML/DITA to clone an existing, problematic workflow
Dysfunctional teams
! Improve communication
! Improve collaboration
! Build trust
! Provide project roadmap early
Information hoarding
! Do not reward this behavior
! Implicitly
! Explicitly
! Avoid communication bottlenecks
! Document project decisions
! Distribute project information
Tool-specific view of theworld! Ask for open minds
! Consider new features, not just cloning old features
! Try out a variety of XML tools
Cloning an existingworkflow! Identify best and worst features of
current workflow
! Identify new requirements that can’t be met with current workflow
! Understand how new workflow affects authors
Match any two forinstant XML justification
Topics 2,000+Writers 10+Supported languages 3+Deliverable formats 2+
flickr: booleansplit
Structured authoringsurvey! Researching adoption rates, issues, tools
! Open until March 1
! Participants get free results
! http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/structure
! Please participate, and tell your friends!
Coming attractions
! February 8: Attractive DITA output (it IS possible)!
! March: Trends in technical communication, 2011
! April: Structured authoring survey results
Questions? Comments?