by the numbers: making the case for reuse based on facts with joan lasselle and amber swope

By the Numbers: Making the Case for Reuse

Joan Lasselle and Amber Swope

Introductions

• Joan Lasselle is the President of Lasselle-Ramsay, Inc.

• Amber Swope is a DITA Specialist at DITA Strategies, Inc.

What success looks like

Content confusion

Address confusion

• Inconsistency

• Lack of appropriate access

• Readers can’t find the information they need

Quantifying the reuse opportunity

Observation

Comparison

Analysis

Observation

Directed observation

Comparison & analysis

How we do it

This is the first example string

This is the fifth example string

• 3 characters would have to change to make them the same

• 32 characters in longest string• Matching score = (39-3)/39 = 91% match

Example

• Text strings are then assigned to clusters based on the matching score.

• The higher the matching score, the more likely to obtain reuse, and the greater business impact

Sample data

Lots of data

Matching content

Quantified opportunity

Types of reuse

① Programmatic reuse

② Template reuse

③ Variable reuse

④ Content repurposing

What do the numbers say?

• For you/your team• Initial baseline• Measurement tool• Play what if? (different analytical

views)• Run it over and over again

Example

Building your business case

• Content• Process• Tools

Summary Q&A

• Automated comparison with analysis is the key to knowing your reuse potential

• Get the numbers BEFORE you start your project

Questions

Joan LasselleLasselle-Ramsayjoan.lasselle@LR.com

Amber SwopeDITA Strategiesamber@ditastrategies.com