dealing with the input providers
TRANSCRIPT
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Barry Schaeffer - Content Life-Cycle Consulting
Dealing With The Input Providers
April 30th, 2014
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Experience the DCL Difference
DCL blends years of conversion experience with cutting-edge technology and
the infrastructure to make the process easy and efficient.
• World-Class Services
• Leading-Edge Technology
• Unparalleled Infrastructure
• US-Based Management
• Complex-Content Expertise
• 24/7 Online Project Tracking
• Automated Quality Control
• Global Capabilities
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Valuable Content Transformed
• Document Digitization
• XML and HTML Conversion
• eBook Production
• Hosted Solutions
• Big Data Automation
• Conversion Management
• Editorial Services
• Harmonizer
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We Serve a Very Broad Client Base . . .
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. . . Spanning All Industries
• Aerospace
• Associations
• Defense
• Distribution
• Education
• Financial
• Government
• Libraries
• Life Sciences
• Manufacturing
• Medical
• Museums
• Periodicals
• Professional
• Publishing
• Reference
• Research
• Societies
• Software
• STM
• Technology
• Telecommunications
• Universities
• Utilities
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Barry Schaeffer
• 50 years of relevant professional experience to planning and change/project
management in today's information world
• Successfully shepherded organizations of all sizes and types through the often
tortuous process of meeting their growing information demands
• Frequent author & presenter in the content life cycle universe; publishing
articles in Datamation, FCW, GCN, Intranet Development Magazine, EMC
Community & CALS Journal. He was new media columnist for Newspapers &
Technology Magazine & is currently a featured columnist for CMSWire
• Specialties: Information life cycle analysis, change management,
organizational response to technology, authoring productivity design,
application of Concurrent Engineering principles to information management.
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Providers… who are they?
• The raw material for everything you deliver.
• May be located anywhere in the world.
• Not just people who type things.
• Usually know more about their content than you do.
• Are (usually) not hired to feed your systems.
• Have their own set of problems… not yours.
• Can be your best partner or worst nightmare.
…and why should we care?
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What do you want from them?
Co-operation and discipline!
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What do you want from them?
• Data with the necessary structure to create your output products
• Data delivered on-time
• Data with high consistency and low error rates
• Willingness to embrace, and meet, your needs, demands and schedules
• Willingness to trust you won’t do them in
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What do they want from you?
To be left alone to do
what they have
always done
If you can’t do that, then…
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What do they want from you?
• You to accept their data as close as possible to the way they are comfortable creating it
• You to work hard to cushion the changes to their procedures and tools
• You to provide funding for any changes you want them to make
• You to give them plenty of time to change… and a fall-backplan if it doesn’t go well
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How should you approach them?
• Start early: whatever happens, it will take time.
• Be transparent: if they sense they are being conned or ignored, they will push back… hard.
• Respect their current methods and tools
• Plan for minimum impact on their world
• Show them strong software support up front for any changes in their procedures
• Include them in the design effort: it will reassure them, and they often have great ideas
• Don’t assume you can tell what to do.
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What are your Options?
• Take their content as-is and convert/rework it: (minimum impact for them/highest cost and complexity for you)
• Change their authoring tools to fit your needs:(XML editors, etc: best for you/biggest changes for them)
• Enhance their current authoring environment to simplify conversion/minimize cleanup: (moderate impact on them but favorable for you.)
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The Challenges
Revisions
Prepare Convert Cleanup FinalAuthor
Revisions Revisions
XML?
XML?
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Take their content as-is and convert/rework it:
• Any content can be converted: the difference is in the amount of clean up and completion required… sometimes virtual re-authoring
• This is lowest impact but also maximum limit on quality of resulting content
• Unless you plan to stay with this approach, don’t start it. Once it works, even poorly, it will become the providers’ method of choice.
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Change their authoring tools to fit your needs:
• They are probably using Word or Word Perfect and want to continue it.
• If you decide (and can) push them into an appropriate authoring tool, they will resist, so:• Set up an authoring lab where you can show them tools you are
creating for them
• Make the editor you choose as comfortable as possible up front (nevershow it out of the box first.)
• Give them time to adapt; focus on early adopters; and always provide a fall back for those who need it
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Enhance their authoring environment to simplify conversion/minimize cleanup:
• Even word processing can be disciplined to make it easier to convert.
• Authoring applications can simplify complex structures, validate input and impose value lists, etc.
• Select your conversion method early so you know how close you must be to convert successfully.
• Work with providers to encourage them to make revisions to the final form
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So… what About Revisions?
• If the output changes after publication, you must revise your deliverable content
• If you have converted the source to something else… what do you revise?• Revise the original, but you must prepare, convert and cleanup each
time.
• Revise the pre-conversion form, but you must still reconvert and cleanup each time.
• Convince the authors to revise the final form… using the appropriate editing tool.
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Conclusions
• Getting from source to deliverable successfully is seldom a matter of black or white, but finding the right shades of grey.
• You will do it best if you understand each portion, function and participant going in.
• Starting right and including every participant will insulate you from mutiny by the authors
• Keep your wits about you, get help where you need it, tread carefully and you will be successful .
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Q&A
Linda Morone Cassola
Senior VP of Sales and Marketing
(718) 307-5728
Barry Schaeffer
Content Life-Cycle Consulting(703) 819-2135