dealing with the input providers

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Barry Schaeffer - Content Life-Cycle Consulting Dealing With The Input Providers April 30 th , 2014

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Page 1: Dealing With The Input Providers

Barry Schaeffer - Content Life-Cycle Consulting

Dealing With The Input Providers

April 30th, 2014

Page 2: Dealing With The Input Providers

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

Page 3: Dealing With The Input Providers

Valuable Content Transformed

• Document Digitization

• XML and HTML Conversion

• eBook Production

• Hosted Solutions

• Big Data Automation

• Conversion Management

• Editorial Services

• Harmonizer

Page 4: Dealing With The Input Providers

We Serve a Very Broad Client Base . . .

Page 5: Dealing With The Input Providers

. . . 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

Page 6: Dealing With The Input Providers

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.

Page 7: Dealing With The Input Providers

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?

Page 8: Dealing With The Input Providers

What do you want from them?

Co-operation and discipline!

Page 9: Dealing With The Input Providers

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

Page 10: Dealing With The Input Providers

What do they want from you?

To be left alone to do

what they have

always done

If you can’t do that, then…

Page 11: Dealing With The Input Providers

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

Page 12: Dealing With The Input Providers

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.

Page 13: Dealing With The Input Providers

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.)

Page 14: Dealing With The Input Providers

The Challenges

Revisions

Prepare Convert Cleanup FinalAuthor

Revisions Revisions

XML?

XML?

Page 15: Dealing With The Input Providers

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.

Page 16: Dealing With The Input Providers

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

Page 17: Dealing With The Input Providers

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

Page 18: Dealing With The Input Providers

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.

Page 19: Dealing With The Input Providers

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 .

Page 20: Dealing With The Input Providers

Q&A

Linda Morone Cassola

Senior VP of Sales and Marketing

(718) 307-5728

[email protected]

Barry Schaeffer

Content Life-Cycle Consulting(703) 819-2135

[email protected]