This is a high level overview of some common information management systems and concepts associated with information management systems.

1. Information Management Systems
An Overview of Documentation
Repositories and Information
Management Practices

2. Agenda
• Introduction/Overview
• Terms and Concepts
• FrameMaker
• RoboHelp
• Flare
• Wikis/Blogs
• Documentum
• Sharepoint
• Questions and Answers

3. A Moment of Ego

4. Your Speaker Today
• Over 15 years experience with training,
documentation, and instructional design
• In 2005, won the SBC “Going Beyond the Call”
CIO award for a unique and innovative help
system (built in Captivate)
• In 2008, produced a podcast that received a
teaching grant for “innovative uses of technology
in the classroom”
• MA degree in eLearning from the University of
Colorado

5. Basic Terms and Concepts

6. Terms and Concepts
In this section, we will be discussing the following
terms and concepts:
• Information Management Systems
• Authoring Tool
• Repository
• Templates/Document Styles
• Tags/Metatags
• Conditional Text
• Single-source
• Document controls
• Document versioning

7. Information Management Systems
Information management is a way of recording,
tracking, managing, and delivering information.
Information Management Systems are software
packages, business processes, or methodologies that
control an organization’s information management.
Examples of information management systems
include… well, they include pretty much everything in
the rest of this presentation.

8. Authoring Tool
An authoring tool is whatever you use to create
documentation or record information.
This can be an application like Word,
FrameMaker, RoboHelp, or even your web
browser (in the case of blogs and wikis).
If you want to use a library metaphor, the
authoring tool makes the “library books” and they
are stored in a repository, or “shelves.”

9. Repository
A repository is where documents are stored. For
electronic documents, this is a server or network
drive. Some repositories (like Sharepoint) have
additional functionality, like document controls and
document versioning.
Some authoring tools, like have their own repository
system. For example, RoboHelp has a RoboHelp
Server software package and FrameMaker has a
FrameMaker Server software package. These
applications integrate with the authoring software to
provide documentation. In a library metaphor, the
repository is the bookshelf.

10. Templates and Document Styles
Templates are standard ways of presenting the
information within the document. Templates ensure
consistent document presentation throughout the
organization.
Document styles are the way certain pieces of
information within the document are formatted.
These can include things like font type and size as well
as text color. Software uses styles for auto-generated
content, such as an index or a table of contents.
See examples on the next slide.

12. Tags and Metatags
Tags are ways of placing labels on information within
the document. Use tags for searching for information
or for using special information features (like
conditional text - see two slides ahead).
Metatags (sometimes called document tags) are
ways of placing labels on the documents themselves.
Use metatags for classifying information for retrieval.
Both of these assist in information search. For the web
savvy, think of these as keywords or hashtags.

16. Conditional Text
Conditional text is a feature in some
information management packages that only
displays or prints information tagged a specific
way.
It is often used with single source document
repositories.

18. Single Source
Single source is a information management
methodology where a single document can be
repurposed multiple times to multiple audiences.
Single source repositories consist of two
components – a library and a delivery document.
Let’s review the example on the next slide.

19. FrameMaker
Hierarchical
Book
A. Add a file to the book
B. Add a folder in the book
C. Add a group in the book
D. Save the book file
E. Delete a file from the book
F. Update book
G. Arrow keys to move book components
H. Display file heading text. Icon changes to
Display File Names on clicking.
I. Search in a book
J. Complete path of the book and book name
K. Generated FrameMaker file - TOC
L. .fm file
M. Folder
N. .xml files included in a book
O. Group of files
P. .mif file in a group
Q. Multiple sub-levels of folders
R. Status bar for the book

20. Document Controls
Document controls are policies or software
processes that limit accessibility to modify the
source documentation.
Document controls can be something as simple as
password protection or as complex as business
processes.

21. Document Control Process Example

22. Document Versioning
Document versioning is a feature in some
information management systems.
Document versioning involves tracking the
updates to the document. This can be a manual
process, such as a file naming convention, or it
can be automatic based on the information
management system used.

23. Overview of Common Information Management Systems

24. FrameMaker
FrameMaker is the standard for single-sourcing
applications. It was originally designed to produce
textbooks, but now produces websites as well.
It has the following characteristics:
• Strong template standards
• Strong document controls
• A self-contained document library
• Conditional text
• Ability to publish to multiple formats (primarily
.pdf, but it can publish to HTML and ebooks as
well)

25. FrameMaker and DITA
“What is DITA and Why Should You Care?” by Chris Benz
http://www.learningsolutionsmag.com/articles/524/
DITA is an XML-based open standard for structuring, developing,
managing, and publishing content. IBM originally developed DITA to
more efficiently reuse content in product documentation. In 2004,
IBM donated their DITA work to the Organization for the
Advancement of Structured Information Standards (OASIS) for
further development and release to the public.
The key to understanding how DITA works is to understand how DITA
uses topics, maps, and output formats. You develop your content in
DITA topics, use DITA maps to specify which topics go into which
deliverables, then process those maps to DITA output formats to
generate your final deliverables.

28. FrameMaker Client Story

29. RoboHelp
RoboHelp is a software package that produces
self-contained help systems using a single-source
methodology.
It uses either Word documents or HTML files to
build and compile help systems with menu trees,
keywords (tags) and search capabilities.

32. Flare
Flare is a software package that produces self-
contained help systems using a single-source
methodology.
It is similar to RoboHelp, and has multiple pieces
of software in the suite that contribute to a
dynamic online help system.

35. Wikis and Blogs
With the rise of robust search functionality, the
need for manually adding tags and metatags has
decreased and the use of automatic indexing has
increased.
In other words, we don’t browse anymore; we just
search. With this shift away from information
architecture and controls, wikis and blogs.

36. Wikis
Wikis are information structures with no
document controls and strong versioning. This
software is free which has lead to pervasive
adoption.
Wikis diffuse the work so no one person or group
is responsible for documentation. The workload is
everyone’s responsibility.

37. Perfect
World Wiki
Graphic from oddmuse.org

38. Wiki Motivation

39. Wiki Conflict Scenario #1

40. Wiki Conflict Scenario #2

41. Blogs
Blogs (or web logs) are information structures
with that mimic article and publishing platforms.
Each article is tagged with a publish date, and
people find information by searching or by
reading.
This software is also free and is more often used to
make announcements or promote items than to
store and retrieve information.

43. Documentum
Documentum is a repository with strong
versioning and document controls.
It is on a network drive or dedicated server and
you can access it either by a web browser or
through Windows Explorer.
It has a “check in/check out” system and a way of
indexing documents.

47. Sharepoint
Sharepoint is Microsoft shared network
platform. It contains functionality for blogs and
wikis. It also has controls in the form of user
profiles. Each Sharepoint user profile has set
permissions. These permissions allow the user to
either open the document in a “read only” fashion
or to edit the document.

50. Recap
• We learned what information management
systems are
• We learned some common terms
• We learned about some common applications,
what their advantages and disadvantages are,
and how they can be used in businesses
scenarios to benefit the company
• We read some comics and heard some stories

51. Time for Questions and Answers