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Business Partnering and DITA

Business Partnering and DITA. Carolyn Henry Mary Paquet Jennifer Wickman. Goals. A before, during, and after look at the transition to DITA in a business partner relationship. We will look at: Benefits Challenges Recommendations for success.

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Business Partnering and DITA

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  1. BusinessPartnering and DITA Carolyn Henry Mary Paquet Jennifer Wickman

  2. Goals A before, during, and after look at the transition to DITA in a business partner relationship. We will look at: • Benefits • Challenges • Recommendations for success

  3. Introduction to the IBM and Rocket Software business partner relationship Rocket Software • Rocket Software est. 1990 • Rocket develops white-label products and services for some of the world's largest, most respected, software and hardware manufacturers. Currently Rocket has developed more than 60 software products for its OEM partners, which has generated billions of dollars in revenue for its partners.

  4. Introduction to the IBM and Rocket Software business partner relationship (cont’d) IBM’s business partner relationship with Rocket Software • IBM began partnering with Rocket in the early 90s. The initial focus was working with DB2-related products, but the partnership has grown over time to include many types of products and areas in IBM. • Real benefit to IBM because Rocket provides: • Expertise • Resources • Products that complement IBM’s existing offerings • IBM provides (for the Tools business): • Packaging • Manufacturing • Sales • Service

  5. Workload and work experience before moving to DITA Background: • Rocket environment – The books and help were separate • Books: structured FrameMaker with an IBM-supplied overlay (Frame 2000) • Help: SGML files • IBM environment – Writers used Epic Editor, SGML, book paradigm • File management was simple (only one file per chapter vs. 700+ DITA files) Drawbacks of previous procedures: • There was no single-sourcing between books and Help • Structure was inconsistent and required more effort on the part of each individual writer • The template that was used to maintain consistency was a sample book in PDF format • Portability of files before converting to DITA was difficult – differences between editors – differing authoring environments

  6. Starting the move to DITA • Moving to DITA was an IBM strategic direction. • IBM approached product teams at Rocket about the move. • IBM arranged education for business partner writers.

  7. Transition Challenges • Learning a new authoring mark-up language – simultaneously with business partners • Developing and communicating best practices • Changing our writing paradigm • Educating reviewers on the new paradigm • Developing new file management strategies

  8. Transition Recommendations • Include business partner’s products in second wave of adoption • Hold combined education sessions for both teams of writers • Have frequent checkpoints • Maintain open lines of communication • Educate all documentation reviewers early and set expectations • Schedule the transition according to product releases and needs, not as an arbitrary deadline

  9. After the transition Joint business partner goals: • Continue to transition all of the products to DITA • Source all new deliverables in DITA • Convert older products to DITA as time allows

  10. Benefits of using DITA • Increased productivity • Increased standardization within one organization and between business partners • Quick to get up and running with DITA • Enables reuse: • Call same files easily for both help and books • Small information units that can be mixed and matched • Easily modify documentation structure to reflect changing product structures

  11. For Example: DB2 Recovery Expert and DB2 Grouper

  12. Sample DITAMAP

  13. Benefits of using DITA Continued • Improved translation experience: • Facilitated translation process • Shared translation memory between help and books = cost savings!

  14. Long term benefits of DITA • Open source: • Use DITA to develop products for multiple companies • Writing skills applicable to all companies that adopt DITA • Growing pool of writers over time • Increased satisfaction for both partners

  15. Questions ?

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