Since nobody else has chimed in on this one, let me offer a few
comments.
It seems to me that the big advantages of structured authoring
fall into a few general areas:
-enhanced ability to publish content in different forms
(definition A of "single sourcing")
-enhanced ability to reuse content in different contexts
(definition B of "single sourcing")
-reduced translation costs from direct reuse of existing
translated content modules
-more consistent organization of information across different
documents
-more consistent organization of content written by different
writers
-more consistent presentation of similar information types
-content is (theoretically) portable across a range of different
structured authoring/editing/publishing tools (i.e. you're
not locked into a proprietary file format)
For a lone writer, unless you have a significant requirement for
single sourcing (under either or both definitions of the term),
or have your documents translated into a lot of languages,
the return on investment for migrating to a structured
documentation environment is likely to be rather small.
The big payoffs from a financial standpoint (the key ingredient
of the business case for converting) stem from the reuse of
content. This is a direct, demonstrable, quanitifiable benefit.
From an internal organizational standpoint, the big benefits are
the ability to avoid editing the same information multiple times
in multiple source files for multiple deliverables, and the enahnced
ability to use content from multiple writers. Both of these can
yield improvements in productivity, but the improvements are
much larger in departments with multiple writers. This is a
direct benefit that can be hard to quantify, and which will not
be apparent immeidately because productivity often falls off
for months while writers become comfortable with the new
tools and new way they have to approach their work.
The big payoff from the customer's standpoint is the improved
consistency and predictability that comes from adherence to
a defined document structure. There may also be a long-term
benefit in faster development/update cycles for documentation.
In the long run, the customer benefits may be the biggest
payoff, but because they are an indirect benefit they are very
hard to quantify.
Because it can take so long before the advantages of
implementing structured authoring are obvious, it's
important to get a commitment from management that has
a long enough term to get you over the hump. There have
been many cases where the setup/conversion costs and
initial reduction in productivity has caused management to
pull the plug before the tipping point is reached. One
useful strategy to avoid this is to do a small, *non-critical*
project as a pilot so that you can demonstrate feasability
before asking for a longer-term commitment to a full rollout.
Fred Ridder
From: Miriam Boral <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: framers@lists.frameusers.com
Subject: structured Frame
Date: Sun, 09 Sep 2007 05:09:19 -0500
Hello Everyone,
I'm the sole tech writer for a very small company, but we have a large
suite of documentation. I'm beginning to teach myself structured Frame both
because I feel it's the way of the future (and therefore worth learning)
and also to explore how it might (or might not) be beneficial to the
company I work for. I'm interested in hearing from others about their
experience working with it and how they feel it benefits their work.
Thanks very much.
Miriam Boral
_________________________________________________________________
More photos; more messages; more whatever. Windows Live Hotmail - NOW with
5GB storage.
http://imagine-windowslive.com/hotmail/?locale=en-us&ocid=TXT_TAGHM_migration_HM_mini_5G_0907
_______________________________________________
You are currently subscribed to Framers as [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Send list messages to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To unsubscribe send a blank email to
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
or visit
http://lists.frameusers.com/mailman/options/framers/archive%40mail-archive.com
Send administrative questions to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Visit
http://www.frameusers.com/ for more resources and info.
