1 / 23

CMS

CMS. A documentation concept for Alstom. Traditional Method. 20 product manuals with ~ 200,000 words each 4 Million words! …….. Per language!! (typically 6 languages) Nearly 3000 diagrams A lot of maintenance Divergence of “common” material

onawa
Télécharger la présentation

CMS

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. CMS A documentation concept for Alstom

  2. Traditional Method • 20 product manuals with ~ 200,000 words each • 4 Million words! …….. Per language!! (typically 6 languages) • 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

  3. Key CMS Concepts • 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)

  4. CMS Method • Manuals produced by selecting and compiling existing topics and graphics • Advantages too numerous to list here – see next slide

  5. CMS Method • 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)

  6. Main Drivers • Reduced costs for manual production • Reduced costs for translations • More efficient approach for maintaining documentation • Higher quality documentation

  7. Options • DITA-XML • Darwin Information Typing Architecture • Extensible Markup Language • Open Source or value added providers • Proprietary • Author-IT (offers a unique solution)

  8. DITA/XML system

  9. 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

  10. Author-IT system

  11. Author-it System Advantages • 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”

  12. Our purposes • 10 client licenses • SQL centralised database • 6 localisation licenses • Enterprise PDF generator • Training and support • Customised publishing transforms • Customised schemas

  13. 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

  14. Costs of Author-it System(for our purposes) £30K Why so cheap? • Large installed client base • Mature technology • Little customisation necessary

  15. Cost Savings Cost savings can be made in two main areas: • Manual production • Localisation

  16. 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

  17. 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

  18. 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

  19. 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

  20. 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

  21. 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

  22. 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

  23. Cost savings and break even point

More Related